WebNovels

Chapter 1 - Chapter 1: Whispers of Fate

The city at night still pulsed with life. Neon lights bathed the streets in artificial brilliance, and traffic moved like veins of fire through the endless steel jungle. Billboards flashed advertisements in dizzying repetition, each one competing for the attention of eyes that never seemed to rest.

To most people, it was a scene of comfort—proof that the world remained stable, predictable, alive. But to Lin Ye, it was nothing more than noise.

He walked home from another long day at work, shoulders slouched under the weight of exhaustion. His cheap earbuds buzzed faintly with the voice of a news anchor:

"…unexplainable electromagnetic anomalies have been recorded across multiple regions of the globe. Experts speculate these disturbances may be linked to intensified solar activity…"

Lin Ye scoffed under his breath. "More nonsense."

News had become background static in his life—wars, disasters, rumors of collapse. None of it mattered. What mattered was rent. What mattered was surviving a job that drained him every single day. The end of the world? That was just a phrase used to sell headlines.

At least, that was what he thought.

The streets narrowed as he cut into a side alley, chasing the fastest route back to his apartment. The air smelled faintly of oil and damp concrete. A streetlamp flickered weakly above him, buzzing as if it might go out at any moment.

Then, the world stopped.

It wasn't gradual. One heartbeat, the city roared with life. The next, silence consumed everything. The hum of the streetlamp vanished. The noise of cars faded. Even the air seemed to freeze inside his lungs. Lin Ye staggered to a halt, his chest tightening as if he had stepped into another dimension.

And then he saw it.

A thin crack of light split the darkness before him. It widened, peeling reality apart like fragile paper. From that wound in the air, a translucent screen unfolded and floated before his eyes.

> [Destiny Selection System has bound to Host.]

[Host: Lin Ye]

[Initialization complete.]

His heart lurched violently.

"This… hallucination?" His whisper echoed in the dead silence.

The screen flickered, and with it came a voice—not through his ears, but directly inside his skull. Cold, mechanical, devoid of emotion.

> [Impending event detected: The Apocalypse.]

The words sent ice flooding through his veins. He stumbled back, nearly tripping over his own feet, but the screen followed, anchored to his vision no matter where he moved.

Then three lines of text appeared, glowing faintly with an aura that felt almost alive:

1. Ignore everything and go home to sleep — You will perish in the initial wave of destruction within 72 hours.

2. Leave the city immediately and head north into the mountains — You will survive for three months before being hunted by an entity known as the Devourer.

3. Travel to the top floor of Future Tower in the city center — In 72 hours, you will obtain a chance to overturn your destiny.

His lips trembled. "What… what kind of sick joke is this?"

The voice pressed again, flat and unyielding:

> [Please make your first Destiny Choice.]

Lin Ye shook his head violently. This couldn't be real. Maybe he had overworked himself and finally snapped. Maybe this was a dream, or a psychotic break. Yet the coldness of the voice, the unnatural stillness of the world—it all screamed otherwise.

Sweat slid down his back. His throat felt dry, his tongue heavy. Which option was safe? Which was a trap? The words "Devourer" and "Apocalypse" clung to his thoughts like venomous hooks.

His mind spiraled.

If he chose nothing… would the system simply vanish? Could he force reality to return to normal?

But before he could test that thought, a piercing scream ripped across the silent night.

He snapped his head upward. The sky was no longer dark blue—it was bleeding. A streak of crimson lightning tore across the heavens, splitting the clouds open. The glow reflected in the glass of skyscrapers, staining the city in shades of blood.

One by one, the lights of the metropolis began to die. Billboards winked out. Windows went black. Streetlamps flickered, then extinguished. Within seconds, the city that never slept collapsed into a void of suffocating darkness.

Lin Ye's knees nearly buckled. "This… this can't be real."

The screen pulsed. Numbers appeared, crisp and merciless:

71 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds.

A countdown.

His body trembled uncontrollably as the truth settled over him like a shroud. Whatever this "system" was, it had bound him. Whatever this "Apocalypse" meant, it had already begun.

The city outside looked unchanged, yet in that instant Lin Ye knew: the world he had taken for granted was gone.

Fate itself had moved its pieces, and he was trapped on the board.

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