The Door to a New World

At the East Sea Road Police Station, Detective Zhou was gathering the officers in the lobby for a meeting. He was emphasizing public security and management issues in the city, his tone harsh and his attitude fierce, like a bull on the verge of charging.

Even through a wall, it felt like their ears were trembling.

In the break room, Gu Jianlin sat on the sofa, staring blankly at the white ceiling.

"It's been taken care of."

Chen Qing sat beside him, carefully bandaging his wounds. She instructed him, "I used a special regenerative medicine from the Ether Association. It's very helpful for recovering from external injuries. Rest for a few days, and you'll be fully healed. Under normal circumstances, you won't need to go to the hospital again. Of course, if you're worried, you can still get another checkup at a public hospital."

She knew all too well how cautious and ruthless this boy could be. It was hard to imagine that he was only seventeen.

Gu Jianlin now had a bandage around his forehead and gauze on his right shoulder. He was covered in blood and dust, looking like a high school boy who had just been in a gang fight—a truly miserable sight.

"Thank you, sis."

He spoke sincerely.

Chen Qing was momentarily unaccustomed to it. The image of this boy pointing a gun at her forehead had left too deep an impression.

Yet looking at him now, he seemed like such a well-behaved and polite boy.

If one ignored his bedraggled state, he was even better-looking than the young master.

At that moment, Lu Zicheng pushed open the door and gently closed it behind him.

"Young Master, has everything been resolved?"

Chen Qing stood to greet him and asked calmly.

Lu Zicheng pulled over a chair and sat down, then lit a cigarette. He said languidly, "Of course. I've already reported it to the higher-ups. The East Sea Road Police Station is just a bunch of ordinary people. How hard could it be to fool them?"

The Parrot perched on his shoulder squawked strangely, "Half a pound of Mind-Beguiling Tea, and everything's settled!"

Listening to their conversation, Gu Jianlin was utterly confused.

"Kid, do you have a lot of questions?"

Lu Zicheng held his cigarette between his fingers, crossed one leg over the other, and smiled. "No rush. We'll take them one at a time."

Gu Jianlin hesitated for a second, then gave a quiet hum.

"For example, you must be wondering why Detective Zhou and the others showed no reaction despite such a vicious incident taking place, one that even involved the suspect's death. That's because we used Mind-Beguiling Tea to hypnotize them."

Lu Zicheng explained, "They never saw that corpse at all. As far as they understand it, we had a fierce fight with the criminal, and he realized he was outmatched before jumping from the car and fleeing. This afternoon, they'll probably issue a wanted notice... Of course, we'll make some alterations to it."

Gu Jianlin asked doubtfully, "Alterations?"

Lu Zicheng nodded. "Basically, we'll replace the suspect with some ordinary humans we happen to be hunting—people who came into contact with supernatural incidents. Once we catch them, we'll erase their memories and let them go. Aside from hunting Fallen and maintaining the world's Order, the Ether Association mostly does boring things like this."

So that was how it was. This was how the supernatural world kept itself hidden, and why ordinary people could never reach it.

Gu Jianlin asked curiously, "Why do that?"

Lu Zicheng shrugged. "Because remembering these things isn't good for them. They're ordinary people. They can't endure the mental contamination from ancient times like you can. They'll go mad."

Gu Jianlin pointed at himself. "Me?"

"Yes. We didn't erase your memories not because you're Professor Gu's son."

Lu Zicheng gave him a deep look and exhaled ring after ring of smoke. "It's because, like us, you're an Ascender whose mind and soul have evolved. We're the same kind. Oh, I nearly forgot—the question you care about most should be whether your father was an Ascender, right? I can tell you that he was. He was one of us."

Gu Jianlin had finally received a definite answer, but his feelings were unusually complicated.

For the past seventeen years, his father had been living in another world.

It was a world where Ancient Gods and Ascenders coexisted, filled with countless unknowns and mysteries.

So his father hadn't been a profiler at all. He had been an Ascender.

No wonder he had always seemed so far removed from Gu Jianlin's world.

"Among seven billion people worldwide, only a tiny fraction possess the aptitude to evolve and become Ascenders. The circumstances that lead to becoming an Ascender vary, but at least one thing is certain."

Lu Zicheng raised a finger, his tone becoming mysterious and profound. "They have all traveled through time and space."

Gu Jianlin's heart tightened as he recalled his bizarre experience inside the Kirin Immortal Palace.

"Uh, if you'd studied at an Ascender school since childhood, then you'd naturally understand what I'm saying."

"Unfortunately, you haven't. So I'll have to explain it in the simplest terms possible. It's enough if you understand the general idea."

"The so-called other time and space can also be called another dimension. It objectively exists, but normally cannot be observed by people. Think of the difference between two dimensions and three dimensions—how you perceive the world determines what you can know."

"And in the world of ordinary humans, there are things they cannot comprehend either. Have you seen a movie called The Hidden Number? There's a mathematician in it who claims that there is another integer between three and four."

"He believed it was the key to humanity understanding the four-dimensional world. As long as he found that integer, he could travel through time and space."

Lu Zicheng paused. "That number was called bleem!"

Gu Jianlin thought for a moment. "I've heard a little about it."

He had come across clips of that movie on short-video platforms not long ago.

Seeing that he understood, Lu Zicheng continued, "In the human world, there are a small number of people with the aptitude to perceive higher dimensions. By chance, they receive the call of that dimension, their spirits ascend, and they gain spirituality. At the same time, they travel through time and space and witness some unimaginable phenomena."

Gu Jianlin asked calmly, "For example?"

Lu Zicheng shrugged. "For example, you've probably heard of some famous supernatural incidents from decades ago."

Gu Jianlin commented, "That explanation is a little..."

"Outrageous, right? We fucking made it up."

Lu Zicheng curled his lip. "Some people also claimed they were abducted by aliens, when in fact they were simply transported from home to somewhere hundreds of kilometers away overnight. Later, experts explained that they were mentally ill. That includes the Tunguska Explosion, dragon-fall incidents in certain places, even the legends of Atlantis, and so on."

Gu Jianlin pondered for a moment. "So they all traveled to another dimension?"

Lu Zicheng smiled. "More precisely, most of them entered dimensional fragments where that lost civilization existed. Their consciousness could only travel through time and space to see bizarre things, much like hallucinations. Although we strive to erase their memories and conceal the existence of the supernatural world, word has always leaked out over the years."

So that's how it was.

Lu Zicheng suddenly stubbed out his cigarette and said with a smile, "Those people all have the qualifications to become Ascenders. Their consciousness has been tempered by that world, and they possess spirituality within their bodies. With a little guidance, they can awaken."

"--Spirituality is what distinguishes humans from Ascenders."

For some reason, Gu Jianlin felt that there was something off about the look in this man's eyes.

"But you are different."

Lu Zicheng walked behind him and placed both hands on his shoulders, enunciating each word. "You truly entered that world. You bear the mark of that lost civilization. Among seven billion people, you're an exceedingly rare self-awakened individual—one in a million. If I'm not mistaken, you entered... the Kirin Immortal Palace!"

It was as though thunder had exploded beside his ears.

Gu Jianlin was horrified, and his body suddenly tensed.

"Relax. Though I'm not a self-awakened individual, I've entered that world too."

Lu Zicheng sounded unconcerned. "It was indeed terrifying—watching ancient corpses chase you down, all sorts of absurd monsters, even seeing ancient corpses rise from their coffins with your own eyes."

Gu Jianlin fell silent, because his experience in the ancient tomb seemed somewhat different.

You might not believe this, but I was the corpse that rose from the coffin.

"As expected of Professor Gu's son. Your overall qualities are the strongest among any newcomer I've seen. I don't know what exactly you went through. The Kirin Immortal Palace may not be the most dangerous Ancient God ruin, but its danger level is definitely not low. The fact that you made it out alive already proves your talent."

With his hands behind his back, Lu Zicheng commented, "As for your first battle against an Ascender today, it was flawless. It even makes me want to applaud you! Looking at you, I see my younger self."

After he said that, Chen Qing looked at him with an odd expression.

"Is that so?"

Gu Jianlin did not react much.

"You should be proud. For an ordinary person who hasn't awakened to kill a Fallen in return is extremely rare."

Lu Zicheng said with a smile.

Gu Jianlin hesitated briefly. "Did you have the same experience as me back then?"

Lu Zicheng froze, then cleared his throat. "Of course. When I was young, I encountered an out-of-control Fallen for the first time, just like you. I hadn't awakened a hereditary path either, so I relied entirely on wisdom and courage to kill it in return."

Gu Jianlin had just been about to say something when he heard the Parrot's sarcastic squawk.

"Thanks for the plane gift from someone still talking tough!"

The smile at the corner of Lu Zicheng's mouth froze, then gradually vanished.

The air in the break room turned cold.

Reading the situation, Chen Qing took the Parrot off his shoulder and said, "I'll go feed it something."

Even that seemingly proud Parrot cooperated obediently.

It seemed to know that if it didn't retreat quickly, it would soon be stewed into soup.

Only after the door closed again did the atmosphere become rather awkward.

Gu Jianlin could only say, "Your pet has quite the personality."

"It's just a stupid bird brought back from an ancient tomb."

Lu Zicheng said with a straight face, "As you can see, everything in the supernatural world—whether Ascenders or Fallen, the so-called hereditary paths, or even the technology we possess, whether artificial intelligence or the results of research into genes and consciousness—all originated from another world. A lost civilization, a race exiled beyond the dimensions."

He deliberately paused before saying the name. "The Ancient God Race."

Gu Jianlin froze. He had heard that name once again—the true rulers of this planet, according to legend.

"The Kirin Immortal Palace you entered is the world of an Ancient God. Its dimension is still unstable, so it hasn't officially opened yet."

Lu Zicheng shrugged. "Before long, Ascenders from the human world will enter to level up and kill monsters, fighting each other to the death."

Gu Jianlin was a little dazed.

"We forge the future from the past."

Lu Zicheng said meaningfully, "Within the dust of history, we excavate the power to move forward. We are humanity's Ascenders, seeking the traces of the Ancient Gods, exploring religion and philosophy, the truths of the world, the birth and death of the universe, the origin of everything."

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