The year Qi Si turned sixteen, his uncle—who had volunteered to become his guardian—finally couldn't take it anymore. Maybe it was because Qi Si behaved strangely, or because feeding one more mouth was too much trouble. Either way, his uncle sent him to summer camp.
The camp was deep in the mountains, ran like a military operation, and spent every day preaching the doctrine of "absolute equality and a world united as one." It practically had "cult" written all over it.
That was where Qi Si met Jin Yusheng, in a cult compound disguised as a summer camp.
Hundreds of children were locked up in dozens of iron huts. The average age was around ten, and only three were sixteen: Qi Si, Jin Yusheng, and a delinquent girl. The three of them were packed into one room.
The children were let out only for meals and prayers. They weren't allowed to whisper to one another or do anything beyond the rules.
As for what those "rules" were, Qi Si still couldn't figure it out. He only knew that plenty of children were dragged off and punished for breaking them.
The adults said it was a form of sacrifice. Everyone was guilty, and their god wanted humanity to suffer for its original sin.
They made the children trace meaningless triangles over their chests, perform rituals, and pray to a god whose name they didn't even know.
They begged frantically for the god to answer, declaring that when it descended once more, the strange and the mysterious would run rampant across the world, shattering all unjust rules and order.
Qi Si hadn't planned to leave. He was unlucky wherever he went, as usual, and the misfortune he faced at the camp was at least more straightforward.
Until... his delinquent roommate died for