[Alliance] Death

After returning home, Ren Yi went to bed early to prepare for the next day's test.

Early in the morning, Ren Yi was awakened by clattering from the kitchen.

He rubbed his eyes, sat up, threw back the covers, and got dressed. As soon as he opened his bedroom door, warm steam carrying the aroma of cooking oil drifted over from the kitchen.

Ren Man stood at the stove, flipping a fried egg.

His movements were brisk and precise. The stovetop had been wiped spotless, and even the steam seemed confined beyond some invisible boundary.

Breakfast was plain noodle soup, and the brothers dug in the moment Ren Yi sat down.

As Ren Yi slurped his noodles, he marveled at his brother's cooking. In this life, he truly had never suffered when it came to food.

"Brother, the test will probably take three hours. The sleep pod will sound an alarm when it's over. If I haven't woken up by then, just put me in bed."

Ren Man nodded, holding his bowl and chopsticks as he gazed steadily at him.

Ren Yi gave his brother a confident smile under his gaze, then got up and left.

He entered his room, where something resembling a high-end gaming pod from a movie in his previous life stood beside the bed.

Ren Yi muttered, "Giving every graduating student a high-end sleep pod... The Alliance is way too rich."

He lay down in the sleep pod, and the lid closed. An electronic screen appeared before his eyes.

[14 minutes and 27 seconds until the test begins. Please read the examination information carefully first.]

Ren Yi moved his eyes, and his report card immediately appeared on the screen.

The Alliance's education system was vastly different from that of his previous life. The main subjects were divided into three categories: physical education, science, and life skills.

According to the Alliance's stated approach to education, every subject centered on practical content.

For example, physical education included "wilderness survival" and "combat," science included "general knowledge" and "electronic repairs," and life skills included "cooking" and "first aid"... It was absurdly hardcore.

Ren Yi's scores in the three subjects were 91, 99, and 100. According to Teacher Zhang, that put him in the top three in his entire grade.

Ren Yi closed his report card, and a page of examination information popped up before him.

[1. About the test itself]

[The test is one of the most essential public institutions of the New Era Alliance. It is intended to help every new citizen find the most suitable path for their development.

The test will be conducted through a deep-sleep network pod.

You only need to follow the instructions, relax your body and mind, and go to sleep.]

[2. About the purpose of the test]

[The test will activate the talent most important to your future.

You do not need to understand how the test works.

You only need to believe: it will make you better.]

[3. After the test]

[When you wake from the sleep pod, you may experience mild aftereffects.

Some citizens may experience brief mental fatigue, confusion between dreams and reality, or a distorted sense of time during the test.

Please do not worry. These will not affect your body.

Please rest well. The aftereffects will disappear within seven days.]

[We look forward to your growth.]

After reading everything carefully, Ren Yi checked the "read" box and waited quietly.

The countdown soon reached zero. The next second, Ren Yi felt as if something had gently flicked the switch of his consciousness.

Click—

The entire world was like a candle flame pinched out between two fingers.

He sank into darkness.

Ren Yi was awakened by the sleep pod's alarm. He didn't know how much time had passed.

His whole body was exhausted, as if his strength had been drained away, and his head was terribly groggy. The pod's lid was already open, and a red low-power warning flashed faintly in the corner.

Ren Yi slowly sat up and rubbed his temples.

"...Is it over, Brother?"

He sat up, enduring the buzzing in his head, switched off the sleep pod's power, and inched out of the room.

The living room was silent. Reddish-purple light slanted in through the window; it seemed to be evening already.

"Brother...?"

There was no response. Ren Man should have taken time off specifically to look after him. Had he gone out to buy groceries?

Ren Yi shook his head. He felt terribly dizzy, and the living room floor seemed to slope beneath him, as if one careless step would send him tumbling down.

Ren Yi sat at the dining table for a while, then fumbled for his phone and called Ren Man.

"The number you have dialed is outside the service area. Please try again later—The number you have..."

No signal.

He went on to call Lu Zihan and the other classmates he knew, but received the exact same message.

"Did a cell tower blow up?" Ren Yi wanted to make a joke of it, but found he couldn't smile at all.

Unease washed over him like cold water.

Something seemed wrong.

He looked around, and his gaze finally settled on the window.

The sunset.

Since he'd come out of his room, sat down to recover for a while, and made a dozen or so calls, nearly half an hour had passed.

Yet the light streaming in through the window seemed frozen, unchanged.

Ren Yi looked outside. Their balcony faced east, so the sun wasn't visible from it in the evening.

The balcony faced a lake. Its waters were tinged purplish red, shimmering with reflected light. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Ren Yi stood, took a couple of steps, and slowly inched his way to the door.

The door wasn't locked, but when he pushed it, he found that something seemed to be blocking it.

Fortunately, whatever it was didn't seem too heavy. Ren Yi pushed with all his might and finally got the door halfway open.

Their apartment opened onto an exterior corridor. Just outside the front door was an open-air walkway, and after pushing the door open, he finally saw... the sunset.

A huge black-and-purple fissure stretched across the sun. The sky was like a vast curtain, and now that curtain had been torn apart.

Black liquid poured down from the sky along the fissure, forming enormous black waterfalls.

Beneath the waterfalls, the neighborhood he knew had been reduced to ruins.

Ren Yi finally understood why he had felt that the floor was tilted.

It wasn't because he was dizzy. Their entire building was leaning at an angle against the one next to it, teetering on the verge of collapse.

Ren Yi's mouth fell open.

I woke up, and the world got a total makeover into a fantasy apocalypse?

No, none of that matters. What matters is...

"Brother...!" Ren Yi's cry caught in his throat halfway out, as if someone had seized him by the neck.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the obstruction that had been blocking the door.

A pair of legs stretched out from behind it.

Ren Man lay there at an angle.

He must originally have been sitting with his back against the door, but had fallen to one side when Ren Yi pushed it open.

"Brother!" Ren Yi's voice trembled slightly.

He hurriedly lifted Ren Man up. Sunlight fell on Ren Man's skin, giving Ren Yi a brief illusion that he was still warm.

There wasn't a single wound on Ren Man's body. He looked as though he were asleep.

No, this is fake.

Ren Yi thought.

Then I should be waking up soon.

Unfortunately, his prayer had no effect.

The roar of the black waterfalls striking the ground carried from far away. Apart from that, there was silence. It was as if he were the only living person left on the planet.

He looked around. Every escape route had long since been cut off.

Ren Yi felt a trace of weariness and loneliness.

He sat beside Ren Man, waiting for the sun to sink completely into the purplish-black fissure, waiting for this world's two artificial moons to rise before him and break apart, waiting until the world was plunged into complete darkness.

A very, very long time passed. The black tide slowly crept up, and the building they were in finally gave way under the strain, plunging into the black sea with a muffled roar.

Ren Yi died that day.