"Tongtian Shixiong, long time no see."
Her ethereal, gentle voice drifted through the quiet hallway late at night, like a spring breeze brushing across a still lake. But when the words reached Lin Fan's ears, they struck like a bolt from the blue, leaving him dizzy and his thoughts nearly frozen.
Shixiong...?
This gentle, graceful woman, who looked as if she had stepped out of an ancient painting, had called Tong Tian... her senior brother?
Lin Fan whipped his head around to look at Tong Tian. The instant the woman spoke, Tong Tian had come to a halt. His normally unchanging, impassive expression had shifted for the first time—a trace of surprise, and a complicated emotion, as if he had confirmed something, flickered across his deep-set eyes before vanishing.
He turned to face the woman. After silently studying her for a moment, he finally spoke. His tone was no longer the indifferent flatness he used with Lin Fan. Instead, it carried the weight of a peer addressing a peer, tinged with emotion.
"Nüwa... junior sister."
N-Nüwa?!
Lin Fan felt as if he were about to suffocate. Blood rushed to his head, and his vision blurred.
Tong Tian! Nüwa!
Anyone with even a little exposure to Chinese culture knew what those two names meant! They were the supreme deities of myth, who had created the world, molded humans from clay, and repaired the heavens with sacred stones! Their names were etched into the very roots of the nation's heritage!
And now, one man called himself "Tong Tian," while the other was addressed as "Nüwa." They were standing right in front of him, in the hallway of his shabby old apartment building, talking like senior and junior disciples reunited after a long separation in some martial arts movie?!
Absurd! Utterly absurd!
Lin Fan pinched his thigh hard. The sharp pain told him this wasn't a dream. Everything that had happened from last night until now—the handsome man in ancient robes, the delicious instant noodles, the swordlight in his eyes, the thugs fleeing in terror... At this moment, all those unbelievable events seemed to have found an explosive explanation, one powerful enough to overturn his entire worldview!
Could they really be...
No! Impossible! This was insane!
Lin Fan shook his head hard, trying to suppress the shocking thought. It had to be a coincidence! Or some kind of massive, immersive role-playing event he didn't know about? Yes! That had to be it!
As Lin Fan waged an inner battle, trying to force reason to explain what he was seeing, Nüwa—the woman they had addressed by that name—turned her gaze toward him.
Her eyes were gentle and compassionate, filled with a love that seemed to embrace all creation. It was as if she could see through every trace of his panic and disbelief. She inclined her head slightly toward Lin Fan and performed an elegant, old-fashioned salute. Her voice was still ethereal and melodious.
"You must be the one who took in Tongtian Shixiong. A younger member of the Human Race—I, Nüwa, thank you."
S-She was thanking me? And calling herself Nüwa? Calling me... a younger member of the Human Race?
Lin Fan's mouth hung open, but his throat felt clogged with cotton. He couldn't get a word out. All he could do was stand rigidly and look into Nüwa's sincere—at least, utterly sincere-looking—eyes, feeling the scientific worldview he had built over more than twenty years crumble piece by piece.
Tong Tian didn't seem to object to Nüwa thanking Lin Fan. He simply added, "If not for him, I would still be sleeping on the streets."
Nüwa's gaze softened even further. It even held a hint of... curiosity? She seemed to be examining a younger man who had done something remarkable and deserved praise.
"This is no place to talk," Tong Tian said, glancing at the quiet surroundings and the lit windows of a few apartments upstairs. His brow furrowed slightly. "Let us go inside."
With that, he headed straight for the building entrance, as if he were the owner of the place.
Only then did Lin Fan snap out of it. He fumbled for his keys and tremblingly unlocked the entrance. His mind was still in chaos, so he could only rely on instinct as he ushered the two "deities" into his ten-square-meter rental.
When Nüwa followed Tong Tian into the cramped, cluttered room, so full of the trappings of an overworked office drone's life, a trace of undisguised surprise crossed her pure, watery eyes. There was also a faint hint of something like heartache, so subtle it was almost impossible to notice.
She surveyed the room, her gaze passing over the single bed piled with odds and ends, the old table that doubled as a desk and dining table, and the stack of instant noodle boxes in the corner. The air still seemed to carry the mixed smell of instant noodles and cheap laundry detergent.
So this was where the younger generation of the Human Race lived now? So... cramped and shabby?
It was worlds apart from the sacred dwelling she remembered, perched above the Nine Heavens, looking down over the Primordial Era and receiving the worship of countless living beings.
A complicated, indescribable emotion lingered in her heart. Was it sorrow over the passage of time? Or pity for the circumstances of those who came after her? Perhaps it was both.
She let out a soft sigh, almost inaudible, yet it seemed to carry the weight of countless ages.
Tong Tian had clearly grown used to this—or perhaps numb to it. He walked over to the yoga mat against the wall, sat cross-legged, and resumed his meditative pose, as if that brief exchange downstairs had used up all his social energy.
Lin Fan, meanwhile, was so nervous he didn't know what to do with himself. He looked at Nüwa, standing in the middle of the room, so out of place in her surroundings and radiating a holy glow—at least in his imagination—and felt that his little hovel was defiling her immortal aura.
"Um... Nüwa... Miss?" Lin Fan struggled for a while before managing an awkward form of address. He hurriedly pulled over the only reasonably clean chair in the room. "Please, have a seat."
Nüwa looked at him and smiled. Her smile was like snow melting in the first warmth of spring, soothing and comforting. It instantly eased much of Lin Fan's tension.
"There is no need for such formality. Just call me Nüwa," she said gently. She didn't seem to mind the cheap plastic chair and sat down with effortless grace, as if it were a lotus throne in the heavens. "I came without warning and have troubled you."
"No trouble at all! None!" Lin Fan waved his hands repeatedly, feeling as if he were dreaming. He glanced at Tong Tian in the corner, then at the woman before him, who might be the ancestor of humanity. His life had been careening in a completely unpredictable direction ever since last night.
"How did you find this place, Junior Sister?" Tong Tian asked suddenly with his eyes still closed, interrupting Lin Fan's rambling thoughts.
Nüwa's face took on a thoughtful expression. "I awoke from a state of chaos and sensed that the laws of this world were unlike those I knew. Spiritual energy was almost nonexistent, and my divine sense was severely suppressed. Yet I felt a pull from somewhere... And then I sensed a trace of Shixiong's faint sword intent lingering in this world, so I followed it here."
She paused and looked at Tong Tian with concern. "Shixiong, you seem... greatly weakened?"
Tong Tian didn't open his eyes. He merely gave a flat "Mm." "The Heavenly Dao has changed drastically. The damage caused by crossing worlds is no trivial matter. As I am now, I am no different from an ordinary mortal."
Nüwa nodded in understanding. Her own situation was hardly any better. Her divine powers of creation and the merit she had earned repairing the heavens were almost completely suppressed in this world. She could only rely on her nature as a Saint to maintain her basic form and retain a few faint perceptions.
The two were speaking in modern language Lin Fan could understand, but the content sent chills through him.
Damage from crossing worlds? The Heavenly Dao changing? Lingering sword intent?
The words kept battering at the "scientific explanation" he was trying to cling to.
He couldn't help interrupting. "Um... forgive me for asking, but are you really... the Tongtian Cult Master and Goddess Nüwa from mythology?"
As he asked, Lin Fan felt as if he had used up all his strength. He stared intently at Nüwa and waited for her answer.
Nüwa turned toward Lin Fan. Her gaze was clear and honest, without a hint of hesitation. She nodded lightly. "If the myths you know are accurate, then my Shixiong and I are those very people."
Boom!
Although he had already suspected as much, hearing the earth-shattering answer confirmed by one of them still felt like a bolt of lightning had struck Lin Fan's mind, leaving it completely blank.
It was true... It really was true!
Myth had become reality! Saints from the Primordial Era had ended up in his home!
He collapsed onto the edge of the bed, staring blankly at the woman in front of him, then at Tong Tian in the corner. He felt like he needed oxygen.
His worldview had been shattered. It couldn't be put back together.
Seeing him like that, Nüwa's eyes flashed with apology. She spoke gently. "I understand that this is difficult for you to accept. However, it is the truth. The Primordial Era... is no longer a safe haven. We had no choice but to end up in this world."
There was a reassuring strength in her voice, and Lin Fan's racing heartbeat eased a little.
He took several deep breaths, struggling to calm himself. No matter how unbelievable it was, the facts were right in front of him. The question now wasn't whether he believed it, but... what to do next.
He already had the Tongtian Cult Master at home, and now Goddess Nüwa had arrived too?
How had his tiny rental become a temporary refuge for two Saints from the Primordial Era?!
He could already picture his meager wallet growing thinner by the minute...
"Then... Goddess Nüwa," Lin Fan said, struggling to adjust how he addressed her. "What are you planning to do now?"
Nüwa shook her head. A gentle, slightly bewildered expression appeared on her face, at odds with her status. "I have only just arrived in this world. Everything is new, and it will take time to understand it. For now... I have nowhere to go."
Right.
Lin Fan groaned inwardly. Right, so he was going to have another mouth to feed.
He looked at Nüwa's incomparably gentle and graceful face, and at the uncertainty in her eyes as she faced this unfamiliar world. The little bit of sympathy he had as an overworked office drone began to well up again. He couldn't exactly send the ancestor of humanity out to sleep on the street, could he?
He sighed in resignation. "If... if you don't mind how basic things are here, you can stay for a while. The conditions are pretty bad, though. You might have to put up with some discomfort."
Nüwa's eyes brightened slightly. It was the relief of having found somewhere to stay for the time being. She gave Lin Fan another solemn salute. "In that case, I will trouble you. Thank you, younger member of the Human Race."
She was thanking him again... Lin Fan wasn't sure he deserved it. He hurriedly waved his hands. "No, no, there's no need to be so polite. Just call me Lin Fan."
He looked at the room's only bed and began to worry about sleeping arrangements again. Making Goddess Nüwa sleep on the floor? That would be ten thousand times worse than making the Tongtian Cult Master sleep on the floor.
As if she had noticed Lin Fan's predicament, Nüwa gently raised her hand and pointed to the small, empty corner of the room, which Lin Fan had just cleared of some clutter.
"I can sit here in meditation," she said gently, with a calmness that left no room for argument. "The world itself is my shelter, and that too is cultivation."
As she spoke, she rose and walked to the corner. She sat gracefully on the floor, her long skirt spreading around her like a blooming lotus. She closed her eyes. A faint, vital energy began to flow around her, completely different from Tong Tian's sharp, icy sword intent. The cramped room seemed to grow a little fresher and more peaceful.
Lin Fan watched her settle into the same state as Tong Tian, as if she could sit there until the end of time. He couldn't help thinking that Saints really were Saints. Their adaptability—and how little trouble they caused—was unmatched.
He looked at Tong Tian meditating in the left corner, then at Nüwa sitting quietly in the right, and felt as if his tiny rental had suddenly become some kind of... extraordinary sacred ground.
And he was the sacred ground's... caretaker? And nanny?
After tidying up in a daze, Lin Fan lay down on the bed, exhausted. Too much had happened tonight, and the flood of information had overwhelmed him. He needed time to process it all.
But he had no idea that outside his tiny rental, in another corner of the city, an investigation into him and the two "roommates" in his home was already underway.
It was late at night, but the lights were still blazing in an unremarkable office building in the city center.
On the surface, the company was an ordinary business consultancy. Inside, however, security was tight, and its information-processing capabilities and access rights far exceeded those of any ordinary business.
In a conference room filled with display screens and streams of data, Chen Jing, who had met Lin Fan earlier that day, stood with a serious expression in front of a massive LCD screen. It was divided into several sections, each showing somewhat blurry surveillance footage.
One clip came from a road near the Residential Complex where Lin Fan lived. It showed him supporting Tong Tian, who appeared to be in an abnormal state, as they entered the complex.
Another clip came from a privately installed camera near the Abandoned Construction Site, positioned at an awkward angle. The footage wasn't very clear, but it showed Lin Fan and Tong Tian confronting several thugs. Then the ringleader suddenly screamed and collapsed, while the knife-wielder inexplicably fainted.
The final clip came from a camera in the hallway downstairs from Lin Fan's apartment. It clearly showed Nüwa appearing, talking with Tong Tian and Lin Fan, then going upstairs with them.
"Target Lin Fan, male, twenty-six years old, programmer at a local internet company, with a simple social background and no unusual history," a technician reported nearby. "The identities of the two strangers who appeared in his home cannot be verified. There are no matches in our database. It's as if they appeared out of thin air."
Chen Jing stared at the figures of Tong Tian and Nüwa on the screen, especially Tong Tian. Even through the blurry footage, his extraordinary, almost overbearing presence was impossible to miss.
"Focus the analysis on the footage from the construction site," Chen Jing said gravely. "Did Target Two, Tong Tian, make any obvious physical contact or use any tools during the incident?"
"No, Group Leader." The technician quickly operated the controls, enlarging and slowing down the footage. "Based on analysis from multiple angles and simulations of possible energy fluctuations, Target Two did not move or make any gestures. The abnormal states of Target Thug A, the buzz-cut man, and Target Thug B, the knife-wielder, began almost the instant they made eye contact with Target Two."
The conference room fell silent.
Eye contact alone had made people mentally collapse and lose the ability to move?
That was completely beyond the scope of modern science and the known potential of the human body!
"What about the energy readings? Did we detect any unusual radiation, electromagnetic fluctuations, or other unknown signals?" Chen Jing pressed.
"No. The environment at the scene was completely normal. We detected no unnatural energy radiation, known or unknown."
That made it even more bizarre. The phenomenon couldn't be explained by any existing scientific theory.
Chen Jing turned her attention to the footage of Nüwa's appearance. "How did Target Three, Nüwa, appear? Track her movements before she showed up."
"Unable to track." The technician shook his head. "We pulled footage from every nearby intersection and shop. Target Three seems to have... appeared suddenly in that hallway. Before that, there's no record of her entering the complex."
Appeared out of thin air?
Chen Jing's brows drew tightly together. A man of unknown identity with strange abilities, and a woman of equally unknown identity who seemed to have appeared from nowhere, had both ended up at the home of an ordinary office drone named Lin Fan.
This couldn't be a coincidence!
What role did Lin Fan play in all this? Did he know the two people's real identities and abilities?
"Group Leader, should we take action? Bring Target Lin Fan in for questioning, or search his residence..." A subordinate beside her made a gesture indicating a covert search.
Chen Jing considered it for a moment, then shook her head. "Don't alert them yet. Target Two's abilities are unknown and bizarre. Acting rashly would be too risky. Step up surveillance of Target Lin Fan and his residence. Use our highest-level clearance. I want to know everything about him—his family background, education, job performance, social circle, bank statements, even his browsing history! Three minutes. No, I want a preliminary report within ten minutes!"
Her gaze was sharp and full of unshakable resolve.
"Also, contact the analysis department at headquarters. Send them the surveillance footage from the construction site and all the data. Have them use their most advanced analysis models and figure out how that man... did it!"
"Yes!"
At her command, the entire conference room sprang into action. Keyboards clattered, and instructions flew back and forth.
Chen Jing went to the window alone and looked down at the sleeping city. Neon lights flickered, and traffic flowed like a river. Everything seemed peaceful.
But she knew that beneath this calm surface, unknown changes were quietly unfolding.
The ordinary programmer named Lin Fan, and the two mysterious "roommates" in his home, might be the key to uncovering it all.
She picked up an internally encrypted communicator, dialed a number, and reported in a solemn voice:
"Report: Major changes at Target 'Shelter.' Two new, extremely high-risk unknown individuals have appeared. One is suspected of possessing supernatural abilities. Requesting an increase in the surveillance level and authorization to initiate the 'Mythology Genealogy' matching program."
There was a brief silence on the other end of the line. Then a steady, middle-aged man's voice came through.
"Approved. Stay safe, and report back at once."
The call ended.
Chen Jing put down the communicator and turned her gaze back to the image frozen on the screen: Tong Tian's face, still extraordinary even through the blur.
Who are you, exactly, both you and that woman who appeared out of nowhere?
Meanwhile, Lin Fan, completely unaware of all this, tossed and turned in bed under the "protection" of two Saints from the Primordial Era, pondering an extremely practical question—
What should he make for these two honored ancestors for breakfast tomorrow morning?
Did he even have enough instant noodles?
Before you continue