My name is Notug. I am a very, very ordinary person, so ordinary that no one can remember my face. Until one day, I had a strange dream.
In that dream, I saw a person wearing a green shirt; he looked very cool. After a moment of silence, he said:
"You are the savior of this world!"
When I heard him say that, I wondered:
"What are you talking about...!"
Before I could finish speaking, I was awakened by the ringing of my phone:
— Ring.wwww Ring.wwww —
I started walking towards my phone and saw that it was just the alarm clock ringing. I thought: "So it's just the alarm clock!"
I opened my phone and started scrolling through TikTok, watching live streams of some TikTokers. While I was watching a live stream, I heard a loud sound:
— Scraaaape! —
I started running outside. When I opened the door, I saw many strange monsters jumping down from a patch of the universe. While I was staring, a green monster in the distance was staring intently at me. That monster had very firm muscles, and it had a layer of cream on its head, making it look very bizarre. When I saw all the monsters jump down, I went back inside and closed the door. As I closed the door, I heard a sound:
— Boom boom! —
I hurriedly opened the camera and saw a monster standing there. I didn't dare to open the door, fearing I would be attacked. After a while, I saw the knocking stop, and I thought: "Maybe that monster has left!"
As soon as I thought that, it began to pound on the door violently. The pounding was so strong that the door and the wall cracked. Frightened, I backed into a corner. The monster pounded even harder. Then, something inevitable happened: the wall collapsed. I was pinned under bricks and stones, and the monster began to search for me in the rubble. After a minute or two, it found me. It just grabbed me, slammed me to the ground very hard, and then threw me elsewhere. The monster started to get bored with me because I wasn't moving at all. I thought: "Maybe someone will come to save me, or maybe a girl with a sword will come and kill that monster!"
But I didn't feel anyone. While I was lost in thought, a boy holding a sword came towards the monster. The boy was wearing a Superman costume and holding a stick that looked like a cheap toy from a store. The boy said:
"Hey, you green dummy! Come out here and fight me!"
When the monster heard the boy speak, it lunged at him, with a horrific roar. The ripping sounds made my skin crawl. But I discovered something: I was actually not dead. However, the monster had rendered me immobile. I could only utter one sentence:
"Help! ~~~"
My voice was weak, and I started to feel tired and faint. When I woke up, I saw some people in white moving me on a vehicle. They were probably doctors. I looked around and saw many sad people sitting there. I thought to myself: "Perhaps they are the survivors of that tragedy... Or perhaps they were lucky to be in the hospital when the monsters attacked."
I hadn't recovered yet, so I fainted again... After a while (about 5 hours), I woke up. My head ached like it was being hammered. I felt like I had been hit by a bull dozens of times and run over by a truck. I looked at the ceiling, at the light bulb flickering like in an abandoned house struck by lightning outside the door. I thought, "This must be a hospital room."
Suddenly, a person in white came and said to me:
"You're awake? When I saw you in such a state, I thought you had passed away!"
I looked at him for a moment and thought: "He must be a doctor."
While I was thinking, my sister came and said:
"I thought you were dead! They said you were hit by that green creature and then thrown into the rubble, but you survived in such a strange way!"
My sister was crying. I didn't understand why she was crying so loudly. I wondered blankly: "The current world is gradually collapsing, monsters are rampant, and I am lying in the hospital, lying like a vegetable..."
Two days after recovering in the hospital, I was finally able to sit up, eat, and think about the current situation. Outside the hospital, people were running around in panic, their screams, sirens, and helicopter sounds (emanating from loudspeakers) echoing throughout the building. Suddenly, a mustachioed man in a doctor's coat came up to me and said:
"Young man, you are the most special one!"
He continued:
"Your sister only needs to pay 7 million yen! Now we have only one way: to send you off." The doctor sighed.
I chuckled inwardly, thinking: "No, I'm probably just lucky. Back then, I must have drunk Coca-Cola, that's why."
The doctor sighed.
"Umm... you'll be discharged in 3 more days. I'll see you in 3 days!..."
Then, he left.
A moment later, as I sat quietly contemplating why I had survived... Suddenly, a huge noise erupted from downstairs:
— BANG!!! —
The hospital's loudspeaker blared loudly!:
— MONSTERS! THEY ARE BREAKING IN!!! —
People were running in chaos, and the loudspeaker continued to blare:
— THE MONSTERS HAVE FOUND THIS HOSPITAL!!! —
Suddenly, the door to the room burst open with a "pop," and a strange girl appeared, holding a glowing sword in both hands, like a toy sword from the market. She moved faster than a typical NPC... She said:
"If you don't want to die! Follow me!" She said it in a rather contemptuous tone. Before I could even think, a very loud sound echoed from outside:
– ROOOOAAAAA… – thud! (the scream vanished)
I trembled uncontrollably, but the girl grabbed me by the collar and dragged me away. She pulled me outside.
In the hallway. A horrifying scene unfolded: monsters crawling everywhere, patients running in panic, an old man using a pair of foam sandals to whack a banana-bodied monkey directly on the head. Dust and smoke filled the air. Blood, fire, and the sound... TikTok was still playing somewhere.
The girl dragged me to the emergency exit stairs and introduced herself:
"I'm Lucy, part of an organization called 'Light Remnants,' it sounds a bit strange, but accept it!"
I listened to her and replied:
" I am... NoTugX. I don't understand why you're dragging me along?" I asked, looking at her with suspicion.
She looked at me, then let me go and looked down. Confused, she said to me:
"Here, this is our organization's base! I heard you survived an encounter with a monster, and our organization needs you..."
I looked at the base. It was very clean. I saw a few more people there, and I thought they must be special like me... Although the headquarters was clean, the atmosphere was very somber, giving me a strange, chilling feeling. Dim purple lights reflected on the black, polished metal floor like dead water. Lucy walked while looking back at me and said:
"Don't look around so much, this base is beautiful!"
Then she pointed at a camera and said:
"All the cameras here are alive, they even scold us!"
I was extremely surprised and said:
"Huh?"
She continued to look at me and tell me strange things:
"These cameras always have a bad impression of people. Once, we secretly ate the chairman's cookies. Suddenly, a camera sprayed black ink in my face and yelled: 'WHY ARE YOU EATING THE CHAIRMAN'S COOKIES?!' It surprised us and annoyed us; it was the first time we heard a camera speak."
I could only listen in silence. Partly because I was bewildered. Partly because my shoulder still hurt. Lucy turned back to look at me, handed me an eye-shaped badge, and said to me:
"Here, put this on. If you enter the central area without this, it will... send you away."
I asked her, puzzled:
"Send me away where?" I asked, my voice filled with curiosity.
She replied:
"Send you to hell, alright!"
Her words sent a shiver of cold down my spine. She began to lead me deeper underground, to a place with bizarre stone statues and ancient scripts carved into the walls. Suddenly, she pointed at a large wall, where an inscription in gilded letters clearly read:
–We save no one.–
I was puzzled and asked:
"Your organization's motto looks so fake. And why does it say 'we save no one'?"
I continued to ask:
"It's written so boldly. What is the purpose of the people who founded this organization?"
Lucy replied:
"We don't know the organization's goal. But we were told by someone who has been here for a long time... about 20 years ago, during the war, an organization was established to create monsters for war, but..."
Her face suddenly darkened, and she continued:
"The experiment failed, monsters spread everywhere, and cities were destroyed. A man named Zenin sealed them himself and sent them to another universe. But those monsters... ate my parents!"
I felt she looked very sad, but I pressed on:
"What about the organization?"
She suddenly became angry and said to me:
"You ask when I'm sad! I'll just say it quickly! Our former chairman, he's the one who brought me to this organization!"
I was surprised and asked:
"But... it says 'saves no one'! Why did he save you?"
She turned her face away and said:
"Actually, after saving me, he saved 2-3 other people, my comrades!... But among them was a traitor. He killed the chairman. Luckily, my comrades and I saw it and killed him!"
I remained silent, while Lucy looked away, walking and saying:
"So this organization isn't for rescuing people, understand!"
A moment later, she and I arrived at the chairman's room. The room was located deep underground. The steel door opened with a creak... Inside was a circular room, surrounded by hundreds of screens. I saw a man sitting with his back to us. His hair was white, and he wore a pure black suit. He was sipping tea with a... robotic hand. Lucy bowed before him and said:
"Greetings, sir! This is the one chosen by the god Thread!"
The man slowly put down his teacup, turned his chair around, and said to me:
"You woke up earlier than I expected, NoTugX."
I was surprised and asked:
"You know me?"
He replied:
"You're the guy who's trending on TV. I saw it, so I know!"
I took a step back, but he held out his hand in front of me, not to shake it, but he... offered me a white mask. He leaned into my ear and said:
"Welcome to Light Remnants. You won't be an ordinary person anymore."
I thought: "What can my brain even comprehend? He's already let me in! How boring..."
After I finished thinking, I asked him:
"You don't even know if I agree yet?"
He looked at me and said:
"I can tell you agree just by looking at you!"
I had to bow down to him, but I also had a little faith in this organization. I snatched the mask and walked out of the room. As I was about to close the door, he laughed loudly and said:
"A loophole in history. A crack in logic. And you... are now a part of it!"
I found his words very confusing, but I ignored them...
That evening, the sky was overcast. The wind blew gently, but it carried an unusual coldness. On a dark corridor leading outside the base, I walked slowly beside Lucy. I spoke very little to her, just like when we walked down the dark corridor; I quietly observed the surroundings. In this place, whenever they went outside the base, they had to always pay attention to every sound, every fleeting shadow. Lucy, her long hair gently flowing in the wind, turned to look at me and said:
"Aren't you going to say anything?"
I looked at her shyly. I didn't understand why a strange feeling came over me. I stammered in response:
"I... I'm just thinking about my sister. She... didn't visit me yesterday, and she hasn't today either. Maybe I'm just worrying too much."
I scratched my head and looked at her. My brief answer made Lucy fall silent as well. We continued walking, the sound of our shoes lightly scraping against the stone, mixed with the crunch of dry leaves. Ahead, the protective gate creaked open, the metal bars making familiar scraping sounds. Outside, the scenery was completely different—no longer the deceptive peace within the city walls, but a landscape of gray and red from collapsed buildings and scorched marks. She and I took a few more steps until Lucy stopped and placed her hand on my shoulder:
"We can't go any further! Your mission is to find your sister, it has nothing to do with me, but... something feels wrong!"
A strong sense of unease washed over me, but I tried to maintain a calm expression. She left.
After she left, I walked alone towards the northeast, where some soldiers had reported seeing the silhouette of a girl wandering. I entered a narrow path, with collapsed walls on either side, crumbling bricks falling sporadically. The smell of smoke and dust hung in the air. I walked faster and faster, my eyes constantly scanning the nooks and crannies. In my mind, there was only one question: "My sister... where is she?"
But the fear hadn't disappeared. My hands still trembled as I drew my sword. He glanced at me, said nothing, and continued to block attacks and clear a path for me to attack the monsters. He fought incredibly fast—his mace swung so quickly that it was hard for the naked eye to follow. Each swing created a new opening in the encirclement, forcing me to take advantage of it to advance. The battle dragged on. Sweat mixed with dirt trickled down my face. But the more we fought, the more fear gave way to concentration. I began to coordinate with him more smoothly—when he swept to the left, I lunged to the right; when he raised his shield to block, I struck a counter-attack. Finally, the swarm of monsters retreated. All that remained were their corpses and our heavy breaths. He lowered his shield, turned to look at me, and said:
"You did a good job."
I looked at him and asked:
"What's your name?"
He looked at me and replied:
"HighG!"
A few hours later, I sat alone by the window of the base, lost in thought. Outside, the sky was dyed red by distant fires. Alarm sirens wailed intermittently. The chaotic scene stretched before my eyes, but my mind was fixed on one thing: "Where is my sister?"
HighG walked past the corridor, saying nothing, just gently placing a hand on my shoulder before quietly leaving. I remained seated, my eyes following the flickering lights outside. I understood in my heart that from now on, each day would only become more difficult. But I also understood that I had crossed a threshold I dared not before.
And somewhere, amidst the darkness, a tiny spark of hope remained—the hope of finding my lost sister...