Sky Rail

Ever since he had nearly been sent flying head-on by a big truck yesterday, Ji Jue had been groggy and absent-minded. After returning home from the hospital examination, he had closed his eyes and slept like the dead.

Only after waking up now did he finally feel a little of the relief and joy of surviving a great calamity.

He might not have gotten the delightful plotlines of reincarnating in another world, blowing up a Crystal Ball during a magic test, or shaking his mighty body and gathering a vast harem, but... at least he was still alive, wasn't he?

Being alive was good. Being alive was very good. Being alive was fucking fantastic.

Having lived from the age of nine until today, Ji Jue had not lived enough yet. He felt like he probably, perhaps, maybe could live another forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, or eighty years.

If he was unlucky, then he was unlucky. If he was poor, then he was poor.

It was not as though life had become impossible to live.

Long live life!

It was just... hadn't the scar faded a little?

The old house left behind by his ancestors had weathered countless storms. The wooden floor creaked beneath his feet, and even with Ji Jue's careful maintenance over the past few years, its decline could not be concealed.

While washing up in front of the mirror, Ji Jue could not help but raise his head and carefully examine... the scar that stretched from beneath his neck all the way to his face.

Like a snake entwined around his back.

The burn scar was so ugly and savage, yet now it seemed to bear faint traces of fading.

More importantly, he seemed to be a little different.

More precisely, everything seemed a little different.

The entire world seemed subtly changed.

If he had to compare it to something, it was like the phantom sensation of a patient suddenly feeling an amputated limb again... all of a sudden, it was as though he had gained another eye, another hand, another entirely new sense.

But whenever he tried to experience it closely, everything became vague and ambiguous.

The more carefully he tried to feel it, the more elusive the sensation became, making people dizzy and disoriented. It was as if something had gotten stuck halfway, neither up nor down, unbearably uncomfortable.

After washing his face, he sprawled onto the sofa, reached out, and picked up the remote, wanting to watch something else to distract himself. Yet the TV screen merely flickered, the image cutting in and out.

"Broken again?"

Ji Jue scratched his head, bent down, and pressed the switch. It remained the same.

After all, it was an old TV, indeed older than Ji Jue himself, with even a convex screen. He had patched it up and repaired it over the years, but this time, it did not seem to be the same old problem.

Just as he stood there at a loss, he heard a voice that sounded like a hallucination:

[Bro, stop turning me on. My butt hurts.]

"What?"

Ji Jue reflexively pressed it again. Hearing a groan, he could not help but freeze in place, dumbstruck as a wooden chicken. With great difficulty, he raised his head and looked towards the source of the voice.

The TV.

[My butt... hurts.] The TV said.

"What the—"

Ji Jue went pale with fright and fell backward onto the floor.

A corpse... no, the TV could talk?!

Then the TV stopped making a sound.

As though he had nearly killed it, leaving Ji Jue panicked and bewildered again, until he finally gathered his courage, went around to the back of the TV, and suddenly understood.

Of course its butt hurt.

The power cord at the back had aged and cracked, and it was leaking electricity!

After rummaging through the cabinet for ages, he finally found Electrical Tape and pliers and repaired the power cord. It was not as complicated as he had expected; rather... it was surprisingly simple.

Then he heard a groan of release.

[Much better.]

The TV said, [The voltage has been unstable recently. Stop turning me on all the time. The picture tube is nearly done for too...]

Its voice grew quieter and quieter until it could no longer be heard clearly.

Ji Jue was growing increasingly dizzy.

When he examined the TV, it was as though a formless eye had opened once more, allowing him to see its internal structure and operation. When he listened, hallucination-like words reported its condition.

When he touched the TV, a formless hand acted within it, sensing the degree of wear in every component, its service life, and even interfering with its operation.

Yet all of this seemed to be built upon his mental energy.

Once he used this power, he could feel his energy draining rapidly. In only a few minutes, it felt as though he had gone days and nights without sleep, exhausted enough to drop dead.

He did not doubt in the slightest that if he did not stop, dropping dead would be no joke.

It would be reality.

Now, in the silence, Ji Jue bowed his head and looked at his wrist.

Even when he was utterly exhausted, that clear pulse and perception remained. It required no extra effort at all, as though it had already become part of his body.

That strange Wristwatch.

To Ji Jue's astonishment, the number on its dial had fallen from near full back to its initial value, even less than it had been from the beginning.

[01]

Besides that, what drew even more attention was the marking on the dial—more than half of what had originally been a 0 had turned gold, as though it were stuck at some point in a progress bar.

The instant he gathered what little energy remained and poured it into it again, a waterfall of information seemed to emerge before his eyes.

[Chosen Ceremony initiation begins. Welcome to Sky Rail Group.]

[Error report transmission failure, attempt 1,789,989.]

[Temporary employee detected in life-threatening danger... calling stations within range, no signal response. Calling Headquarters Support Center, no signal response... Error! Error! Error!]

[Temporary Worker Emergency Survival Protocol activated—during the protocol's effective period, Talent will be forcibly activated as an ability—Spiritual Substance reserves depleted—protocol ended—duration: 0.4 seconds.]

[Unknown error detected. Error, error, error, error. Signal response lost. Unable to complete upload. The Human Resources Management Program reminds you to become a Chosen One as soon as possible, proceed to Central Station, and complete regular employment onboarding.]

Ji Jue's vision blackened.

Not from exhaustion, but from bewilderment.

There were too many new terms, all crammed into his head at once, leaving him unable to understand for a moment: Chosen Ceremony, Sky Rail Group, temporary worker, protocol, error, Chosen One, Central Station, onboarding...

But through guessing and piecing things together, he seemed able to understand a little.

It seemed that through some Chosen Ceremony, he had inexplicably become bound to this Wristwatch, and had even submitted a résumé to some company he had never heard of, only to be automatically hired?

But this crappy company seemed like a ramshackle outfit too. It had nothing, nobody had ever come looking for him, and he did not know whether it still existed.

When his life had been in danger, it activated something called the Temporary Worker Survival Protocol, forcibly activated his "Talent," turning it into a Superpower, and in the process burned all the fuel dry.

Finally, it seemed to be telling him to hurry up and become a Chosen One, then find a place called Central Station and become a full-time corporate beast of burden?

"Hello?"

Ji Jue cautiously raised his wrist and asked, "Anyone there?"

No one responded.

In the silence, even the Wristwatch hands were too lazy to make a sound as they turned.

As though it did not want to pay attention to him.

"Don't go quiet on me." Ji Jue asked curiously, "What are your company's benefits like? How large is it? What business do you mainly do? How are the salary and benefits? Do you have annual leave and year-end bonuses?"

The Wristwatch remained silent.

Ji Jue gradually felt at ease.

"Come to think of it, when did I become your temporary worker? Did you get my consent? Was there a signed confirmation?"

He lay on the broken sofa and found a relaxed position. "I've been a temporary worker for so many years. Even though I haven't done a damn bit of work, that isn't a reason for you not to pay me! Can you make up for it? What about social insurance and housing funds?

"You haven't been evading taxes, have you? Watch out, or I'll call and report you..."

The silence persisted. Ji Jue was the only one talking to himself like a clown, but being a clown was not bad. At least it meant this thing did not really contain some ten-thousand-year-old Old Ghost or other strange monster.

Well, if it could not talk, then he would just leave it alone.

It had made him a temporary worker without paying him, and he had used the watch without paying for it either. They were freeloading off each other—both sides won, win-win-win. Simply wonderful for you, wonderful for me, wonderful for everyone; together, they would win all the way home.

So for now, he did not need to worry about someone Falling from the sky, slapping him dead, and repossessing company assets.

Besides, Sky Rail, Station... he had never Heard of any of them. The Federation had so many major cities, yet there were only a few railway lines going back and forth, all managed and operated by the respective city governments. He had never Heard of any Sky Rail Group.

The Wristwatch had remained in his family home since Ji Jue's maternal grandfather's generation. No one had come looking for it all these years, so that lousy company perhaps, possibly, seemingly, most likely... had been gone for a long time.

Ji Jue Sighed in Relief and finally felt at ease.

When he closed his eyes and felt carefully, he could sense something gradually emerging within his body, thread by thread, thin and drifting like mist, yet gathering drop by drop into a river.

It gradually filled him, dispersing some of his exhaustion.

And within it, a nearly negligible thread flowed toward the Wristwatch, storing itself there and causing the number on the dial to rise again—[03]

So this was Spiritual Substance?

He had accumulated it for so many years before reaching over ninety, only for the Survival Protocol to burn it all up in less than a second... But after his Talent had undergone one forced activation, the speed at which his Spiritual Substance recovered seemed much faster, countless times faster than before.

He should only be one final step away from truly turning it into an ability.

Then did that mean... he was about to become a Superpower user?

Ji Jue's eyes lit up.

A long time ago, he had read a comic said to have been passed down from before the Calamity Era. It had several heroic figures, each more badass than the last, each more magnificent than the last.

In it, First Baby was strong, invulnerable to blades and spears, and could shoot lasers from his eyes; Second Baby was rich, dressed in black with a mask, and took his adopted son and Sworn Daughter along to punish evil and uphold justice; Third Baby was a woman, holding a treasured sword and rope, overflowing with sensual charm; Fourth Baby wore red, ate fast, ran fast, did everything fast, and died fast every time...

Was it Eighth Baby or Ninth Baby? His Superpower was especially extraordinary!

He could talk to fish, and the fish would answer him.

Just like himself.

When he talked to the phone, the phone answered him too, even telling him that his number was overdue!

That was amazing!

Though saying so was a little punchable, it did not stop Ji Jue from being genuinely happy.

He really did seem different from before now.

Perhaps he no longer needed to grind himself to the bone or live so painfully. Maybe he could live happily with ease and simplicity.

How wonderful.

Even if he flunked his exams, he would not need to fear. Even if his thesis was rejected, he would not need to worry. If he could not obtain Level Two Engineer certification before graduation, it would not matter much. He would not have to fear being unable to repay his student loans, starving to death, or ending up destitute on the streets.

After all, I have superpow—

BOOM!

A warning Loud explosion, like Heaven's Punishment itself, erupted from downstairs.

Ji Jue poked his head out from the stairwell in confusion and saw a door flung open by the raging wind.

Sparse rain fell in through the doorway.

And a line of muddy footprints winding deep into the Living Room...

An uninvited guest had arrived in an instant!