"Everyone stand by! Do not move any closer!"
"Hell… the entire city is gone. There's nothing left."
"Not even ruins…"
"At this rate… we're all going to die."
Lin Wenzhi woke to the noise of sharp, urgent voices bleeding into each other. His head throbbed violently, a dull, splitting pain that pulsed behind his eyes. A high ringing filled his ears, drowning out half the sound around him.
For a moment, he didn't move or open his eyes. He just lay there, trying to piece things together through the fog.
Ship..... Right. He was on a ship. Which meant he was back at Jing'an City.
…Great.
His lashes trembled before his eyes slowly opened, grey irises unfocused at first as the world swam into view.
The first thing he saw was a uniform. An armed personnel. "You're awake."
Lin Wenzhi barely had time to react before he was yanked upright, his body swaying as his vision tilted.
"The guide is awake." Another voice. Louder.
His head screamed in protest, pain spiking sharply as he was dragged forward.
"—fuck…" The word barely left his lips.
They pulled him into another larger, colder room. Screens flickered along the walls, displaying shifting data, terrain scans… or what used to be terrain.
Uniformed men and suited figures, all tense and focused, turned as one to look at him. And Lin Wenzhi was dragged to a stop in front of one of the suited men.
The man's lips curled into a polite smile.
"We apologize for the rough handling, Mr. Lin," he said calmly, like nothing was wrong. "Are you awake?"
Lin Wenzhi opened his mouth then immediately winced. A sharp pain lanced through his skull, cutting off whatever he was about to say. His brows furrowed slightly.
That was definitely not a normal tranquilizer.
The man watched him closely and smiled wider. "We'll take that as a yes."
Lin Wenzhi stared at him drowsily.
The man clasped his hands lightly behind his back, posture relaxed.
"We'll be brief," he continued. "You're going to be deployed immediately. We will drop you into the zone. You will stabilize Shao Xinyuan. At any cost."
Lin Wenzhi's jaw tightened. "...And if I die?" The words came out rough, edged with lingering irritation.
"If you die," The man didn't hesitate. "then you'll be free from all of this, won't you?"
Lin Wenzhi stared at him and let out a quiet scoff. "…Right."
The man chuckled and ordered, "Dispatch the guide."
Before Wenzhi could say anything, two armed personnel grabbed him by the arms and dragged him out.
They took him straight through the ship, to the hatch.
The moment it opened, the world outside roared.
Wind slammed into him like a physical force, violent and unrelenting.
The sky... was gone.
No. Not gone.
It looked like something had torn a hole through reality itself. A massive, swirling void stretched from the ground to the sky, devouring everything in its path.
Dark mist churned violently within it, thick and alive, threaded with flashes of lightning that split through the black like veins.
The remains of the city were being pulled into it. Buildings, steel, debris. Everything was spinning, grinding and erasing.
Lin Wenzhi's eyes narrowed against the wind, his hair whipping wildly across his face. "…You've got to be kidding me."
This was worse. Way worse than before.
Back then, it was a rift.
Now? This looked like the world was being deleted.
The wind howled louder, sharp enough to sting against his skin. Loose debris slammed against the sides of the ship, some pieces getting ripped apart mid-air.
If he stepped in there wrong, he wouldn't even die properly. He'd be torn apart molecule by molecule. And they wanted him to go in. To the center of that. To him.
Lin Wenzhi almost laughed.
A jet pack was strapped onto his back.
A hand tapped it once, almost pushing him off. "Go on."
Lin Wenzhi looked over his shoulder. His hand shot out, grabbing the man's fingers...
CRACK.
Two snapped instantly.
A sharp scream was swallowed by the wind and Lin Wenzhi jumped straight out of the ship.
The storm swallowed him immediately.
The wind tore at his body, dragging him off balance mid-air as the jet pack roared to life behind him.
"...shit!" He adjusted quickly, gritting his teeth as he forced control over the unstable flight.
Debris flew past him at deadly speeds. Concrete. Metal. Fragments of what used to be buildings.
One wrong move and he'd be impaled mid-air.
"Great. Just fucking great," he muttered, squinting through the chaos and the closer he got, the worse it became.
The mist. It wasn't normal. It moved like it was breathing.
Lin Wenzhi's stomach twisted. He lowered himself carefully, fighting against the pull of the storm as his boots finally hit the ground. If it could even be called that.
The earth beneath him was cracked, unstable, barely holding together under the pressure of whatever this was.
He staggered but forced himself upright.
That was enough flying.
Immediately, he pressed the control at his chest. The jet pack compressed, folding into itself until it became a compact unit strapped tightly to his back.
Lin Wenzhi immediately covered his nose with his palm, his face twisting in irritation.
"Those idiots didn't even give me a mask," he muttered under his breath. "They really sent me here to die."
Every breath burned on the way in. He pushed forward anyway.
The wind howled violently around him, dragging at his clothes, threatening to throw him off balance at any moment. Fragments of rubble floated past erratically, some whipping by fast enough to split skin.
One passed too close to his head.
Lin Wenzhi jerked back. "…Ugh!!"
Soon..... Bodies of both humans and monsters. He started noticing them the deeper he went. They were mostly half-buried beneath debris.
He inhaled sharply and shouted, "Shao Xinyuan!"
The wind swallowed his voice instantly.
Lin Wenzhi clicked his tongue. "Shao Xinyuan!"
He moved faster, his eyes scanning, searching… and froze.
There. Not far ahead.
A figure was kneeling, completely still in the center of the storm. Rubble hovered around him in slow, unnatural motion, like everything in that space revolved around him alone.
His hair, no longer tied, hung loose, shoulder-length strands whipping violently in the wind. His head was bowed with hands clamped tightly over his ears like he was trying to shut something out.
Lin Wenzhi hesitated. "…I can't believe I am doing this."
Then he moved slowly… Carefully. Each step measured as he weaved through floating debris, ducking under a chunk of broken concrete, sidestepping a metal beam that suddenly shifted direction mid-air.
Finally, he stopped right in front of him.
Up close, the pressure was worse like standing too close to something that could crush him without trying.
Lin Wenzhi stared down at him. "…Now what?"
He exhaled sharply and dropped into a crouch in front of him, resting his arms loosely on his knees.
"Hey," he snapped.
No response. Not even a twitch.
The wind picked up. The storm roared louder. Lightning cracked violently overhead.
Lin Wenzhi frowned. "Shao Xinyuan."
Still nothing.
His patience snapped. "Oi—"
He reached out and pressed his hand against his forehead, pushing his head back. "Look at me when I'm risking my life here..."
He stopped.
Oh.... Oh!
That face. That sharp, defined, unfairly perfect face with high cheekbones, pale skin stretched smooth over sculpted features, lips slightly parted...
"Wake up, sleeping beauty." Wenzhi hissed with displeasure.
Those predatory eyes snapped open. One burned crimson. The other... warm brown, locking onto him instantly.
Lin Wenzhi blinked once. "…Well. That got your attention."
He started to pull his hand away but his wrist was caught fast.
Shao Xinyuan's grip locked around it, fingers tight, almost desperate as he forced Lin Wenzhi's hand back against his forehead.
"Don't." His voice was low, rough like it had been dragged through something sharp. "…It's quiet now."