Chapter One: Crimson Twilight
2
After showering and changing into civilian clothes, dusk had already fallen. Zhao Yan walked out of the fire station with his shoulder bag, glancing back at the red entrance. The plaque reading "Dongcheng District Fire Brigade, Third Company" glowed faintly in the twilight.
The commute home required seven subway stops. He strolled leisurely along the sidewalk, pausing briefly at his usual convenience store to grab two rice balls and a bottle of water. The cashier auntie recognized him and slipped an extra can of Red Bull into his bag.
"Xiao Zhao, you don't look too good."
"Just got back from a mission," Zhao Yan replied with a smile.
"You really need to take care of yourself, you kids these days..." The auntie chattered on, then suddenly let out a "Huh?" and glanced toward the door.
Zhao Yan followed her gaze—
The sky was burning.
This was no metaphor. The clouds in the west were genuinely ablaze, a chaotic blend of gold, crimson, and orange—as if someone had overturned a painter's palette. But what was strange was how vivid the colors were, almost unnaturally so. And—they were moving, gathering together, as if assembling something...
"What the heck is that?" People on the street stopped in their tracks, pulling out their phones to snap photos.
More and more people looked up. Traffic slowed to a crawl as drivers rolled down windows and craned their necks. The entire street seemed frozen in time, everyone with their heads tilted back, mouths agape, staring fixedly at the sky.
Zhao Yan pushed open the glass door and stepped onto the sidewalk.
This time he could see clearly.
It wasn't a sunset at all.
The colors formed words. Huge, spanning the entire sky, like molten gold. They twisted and turned, finally settling into characters he'd never seen before, yet somehow understood—
[Global Secret Realm Live Stream Activated]
[First Wave of Explorers in Position]
[Countdown: 00:00:17]
[Wishing you all... a pleasant game]
The last four characters were written in a peculiar, almost playful style, ending with a smiley face.
"A prank?" a man in a suit beside him forced a calm smile. "Holographic projection? Which company would spend that much..."
His words caught in his throat, unfinished.
Because the sky split open.
Not the clouds—the sky itself. Like a giant pane of glass shattered, cracks spread outward from the golden letters, blanketing the entire horizon in an instant. Beyond the fractures lay not starlight, not the cosmos, but pure, blinding white—so dazzling it made one dizzy.
Zhao Yan's firefighting instincts kicked in faster than his brain—he lunged toward the nearest pedestrian, intending to pin them down for cover.
But it was too late.
The white light engulfed everything in an instant.