July 23, 2037. Ruins of Luo City Steel Mill.
The azure glow from Li Beichen's mechanical eye pulsed in sync with the retinal projection counting down: 1h37m. His grip tightened on the high-frequency particle blade, its edge steaming with crimson mist as rainwater vaporized lingering bloodstains.
"Old Li! Southeast breach!" Zhang Cheng's gravelly shout crackled through the earpiece. The surgeon who'd once wielded scalpels to save lives now operated a shuddering autocannon, sparks flying where his prosthetic arm fused with the weapon's frame.
Thirty meters away, three armored behemoths slammed against concrete walls. Towering at three meters, their exoskeletal plates bristled with serrated spikes. One creature turned abruptly, revealing a half-human face - a young man in tattered lab coat, gold-rimmed glasses still clinging to his left eye.
Li's pupils contracted. He'd witnessed this mutation pattern when the crimson rain first fell two years ago: the virus preserved distinctive traits of high-potential hosts. These semi-humanoid infected always evolved into Abyssal Monarchs within seven days.
"That's New Era Group personnel!" He barked into the comms. "Target joint weak points!"
A hunched figure exploded from drainage pipes before he finished speaking. The swift-type zombie's decaying fingers grazed Zhang's neck as Li's left hand snapped forward. Blue-white lightning arced across his palm, coalescing into a crackling whip that ensnared the creature's throat.
The stench of charred flesh permeated the air. When the seventh crystalline core clinked into his pouch, Li's ocular implant flared scarlet. Biosensors confirmed only two human signatures remained in the compound.
"Chronosphere charged." The AI steward Mobius whispered. "Anomalous fluctuations detected in temporal anchors."
Zhang erupted in wet coughs, tearing open his bulletproof vest to expose three oozing black gashes. "Got scratched." He tossed a metal case with a bloody grin. "Last three antivirals. Don't waste 'em on dead meat."
Rainwater sluiced down Zhang's ashen face. Li remembered the doctor's nagging warmth two months prior, injecting their final glucose ration into his veins. The apocalypse's cruelest law demanded merciless pragmatism.
"Initiate countdown. Five minutes." Li turned toward the central sphere glowing with liquid metal sheen. Twelve tungsten struts anchored the device New Era Group had christened "Chronos' Hourglass", purchased with twenty monarch-class cores.
As the timer hit zero, Zhang lunged at the console. His amber-clouded eyes crinkled with familiar mirth: "Secret... My sister's in South City bunker..." The particle blade through his heart silenced the sentence.
Li's hand didn't tremble. Two years had taught him to grant mercy before corruption. Blood seeped into power conduits as the machine emitted violet radiance.
Memory Fragment 1: First Rain
July 16, 2023. Skyview Apartments, Luo City.
Su Wan's wedding gown still lay spread across their bed, champagne bubbles dancing in crystal flutes. Beyond floor-to-ceiling windows, sunset mutated into unnatural crimson. His bride's delighted cry echoed: "Beichen! It's Van Gogh's Starry Night come alive!"
When the first scarlet droplet kissed her lashes, Li had joked clumsily: "Heaven scattering petals for us." Then blue filaments glowed beneath her skin. Static prickled where their palms met.
"I think... I can control lightning..." Su's sparking fingertips illuminated the storm. Dozen bolts struck the TV tower simultaneously, its flaming skeleton a falling torch.
Disintegrating in the temporal stream, Li floated through memory currents. He watched his 22-year-old self sob over a cooling body. The blackened hole in Su's temple marked where she'd guided his shaking gun.
"Paradox alert!" Mobius' warning echoed through the void. Li's consciousness flared awake, glimpsing colossal tendrils amidst crimson clouds - cosmic horrors feeding on lightning. Primordial dread froze his psychic core.
Weightlessness seized him. Crashing onto hardwood floors, he heard a phone alarm playing Wagner's Bridal Chorus. The digital clock glowed: July 9, 2023. 6:30 AM.
Drenched in cold sweat, he stumbled to the balcony. Mist-shrouded skyscrapers stood intact. Rush-hour traffic snaked through overpasses below, street vendors calling out breakfast orders. Faint arcs danced in his left palm, a crimson countdown burning inside his forearm: 167:59:48.
Fingers brushed the Gauss pistol in the wardrobe's hidden compartment when Li froze. Behind unopened wedding photo packages, the sender's signature screamed impossibility: "Su Wan" - a name that shouldn't exist in this timeline.
---