"The train was arriving at Stonepress Station. Please exit through the doors on the left."
Zhou Yao followed the crowd off the train. The moment he stepped out of the carriage, most of the chill that had clung to him dissipated.
He looked back at the enormous machine, and a string of text appeared clearly before his eyes.
[The Yin Mountain Metro
Type: Underworld Creation
Rank: Unknown
Description: Unknown]
The train sped into the depths of the tunnel, swallowed by the darkness like prey by an invisible maw.
Zhou Yao shivered and hurried out of the station. Only after the sunlight fell on him again did he whisper in a voice only he could hear, "Another station has been added."
People came and went around the station, taking everything before them for granted. Yet the million residents of Yin Mountain City seemed unaware of one thing.
Yin Mountain City was merely an insignificant fourth-tier city under the Human Federation. It had neither the funds nor the ability to build a subway.
Only Zhou Yao knew for certain that this station had appeared out of nowhere two months ago.
At first, the Yin Mountain Metro had only two stations. But as time passed, the number kept growing. In just two months, it had already expanded to eleven stations.
It had completely blended into the lives of Yin Mountain City's residents, becoming an indispensable means of transportation. No one questioned the metro's existence.
No one except Zhou Yao.
As he walked home, Zhou Yao's thoughts churned.
He could spot the anomaly because he didn't belong to this world.
Two months ago, he had been an ordinary wage slave on Earth. He was struck by a falling object while heading home after working overtime, and when he woke again, he had transmigrated into the body of a high school senior with the same name.
Over the past two months, Zhou Yao had gradually figured out the world he was in.
It was a world where the supernatural was on full display. Myths lost to history had transformed into Celestial Circuit Realms that enveloped the mortal world. Even an unremarkable fourth-tier city like Yin Mountain had a Realm of its own.
Those who ventured into the Celestial Circuit Realms to uncover lost myths were known as Mythic Walkers.
This wasn't a secret. It was taught in textbooks.
If Zhou Yao got into college, he could even enter a Celestial Circuit Realm through official Human Federation channels and become a Mythic Walker who wielded the power of myth.
But the appearance of the Yin Mountain Metro had cast a shadow over his heart.
People online had long talked about Mythic Invasions. They happened when lost myths within the Celestial Circuit Realms began to mingle with the present world, bringing disaster as they invaded reality.
There was no doubt that the Yin Mountain Metro was a Mythic Invasion.
Though Yin Mountain City was only a small fourth-tier city, it had a certain number of Mythic Walkers. Yet these people, who wielded supernatural powers, had taken no action against the metro. They let tens of thousands of people enter and exit it every day.
There were only two possible explanations. First, the Yin Mountain Metro was connected to a Mythic Invasion, but the danger was manageable and didn't merit the cost of an official response.
Second, the memories of every living thing in Yin Mountain City, including the Federation's Mythic Walkers, had been altered. None of them realized there was a problem.
Zhou Yao walked home, his steps heavy.
Traffic streamed down the street. A middle-aged man passed him, and a voice came from his phone: "Yeah, yeah. I'll take the subway. It's only twenty minutes from Stonepress Station to Copper Pillar Station."
If the second explanation was true, it meant the memories of a million people across the whole city had been altered, and their common sense rewritten.
Zhou Yao could notice the anomaly only because he was a transmigrator, with memories of another world to compare it against. But that didn't mean his own perceptions had been left entirely untouched.
Over the past two months, he had tried dropping hints to others, but nothing had changed.
That made Zhou Yao realize that if he wanted to put a real stop to all this, he would have to publicize the truth on a large scale or report it to the Federation authorities.
The Yin Mountain Metro could alter people's perceptions, but it might not be able to tamper with physical records. Something as major as building a subway had to have left a mountain of documents. If the authorities checked the records, they would probably find some clues.
But doing so would undoubtedly expose Zhou Yao's own secret and put him in danger.
If even the perceptions of Mythic Walkers could be altered by a Mythic Invasion, how could an ordinary high school senior like him have discovered it?
The Human Federation was a vast political entity that united civilizations from all over the world, and it even had a noble class written into law.
Even if exposing his secret resolved the Mythic Invasion, being targeted by various factions afterward might not be much better than facing the invasion itself.
"Fate, in the end, has to be in my own hands!"
Zhou Yao murmured softly.
He turned down the last street and entered an old residential complex.
In the security booth, an old man lowered his head over a yellowed newspaper. Several bright-red floral quilts hung from a metal rack below, and the pungent smell of detergent drifted on the breeze. From the teahouse on the first floor came the clatter of mahjong tiles, mixed with a few coarse laughs and curses, blending into the street's clamor.
Back in his fifth-floor apartment, Zhou Yao found the place empty. He was long used to it.
His parents had died in an earthquake when he was twelve.
His aunt had wanted to take him to Ganyang City, but the Human Federation's strict Household Registry Law and his own resistance had forced her to give up. Instead, she sent him a generous allowance every month.
Thanks to his aunt's allowance and the inheritance his parents had left him, the original Zhou Yao had been able to stay in school all the way through his final year of high school.
As for Zhou Yao's transmigration, that was another matter entirely.
He pushed open the bedroom door. A huge full-length mirror stood beside the wardrobe, reflecting his appearance.
The mirror showed a handsome face with sharp features. His black hair was long enough to nearly cover his eyebrows, and his complexion was somewhat pale from a prolonged lack of exercise.
Most striking were his eyes. His dark pupils shone like stars in the night sky. Looking closely into them, one could almost see unknown shadows stirring in their depths.
Zhou Yao's eyes flickered, and the virtual interface appeared again.
[Name: Zhou Yao
Rank: Mortal
Talent: None
Mythic Factor: 100
Avatar: None (Select a Mythic Material and expend 100 Mythic Factor to create an avatar)]
As a transmigrator, Zhou Yao naturally had a few unusual traits.
On the very first day after transmigrating, Zhou Yao had discovered that his eyes could see through creations related to myth. However, the detailed information he could glean about an object was limited by his own knowledge.
His ability to discover the Yin Mountain Metro was due in large part to this power.
As for his other ability, creating an avatar, it required Mythic Material and 100 Mythic Factor. Just from the name, he knew those two things were connected to the lost myths of the Celestial Circuit Realms.
Zhou Yao was just an ordinary person with no way to enter a Celestial Circuit Realm and obtain myth-related objects, so at first he hadn't paid it much attention.
That changed when the Yin Mountain Metro gradually revealed the true nature of its Mythic Invasion, putting Zhou Yao under immense pressure.
Faced with a Mythic Invasion, Zhou Yao's first thought was to leave Yin Mountain City.
But the Human Federation had a strict Household Registry Law, and it was difficult for ordinary people to leave the place where they were registered. Most spent their whole lives in a single city, and Zhou Yao was only a high school senior.
The most legitimate route was to go to college in another city after the national entrance exams. That was the only way to escape the restrictions of his registry. But the Yin Mountain Metro was growing much faster than Zhou Yao had expected. He might not have time to get into college.
In that case, creating an avatar to gain supernatural powers ahead of time was Zhou Yao's only hope of protecting himself.
So Zhou Yao began actively gathering information on Mythic Material. Relying on his special ability to see through mythic creations, he searched all across Yin Mountain City.
Once he started looking, Zhou Yao really did find quite a few prospects.
Some large shopping malls, specialty shops, and antique streets in Yin Mountain City sold low-grade Mythic Material.
But Zhou Yao was disappointed to find that anything connected to myth—even the lowest-grade Soul Shard from a wandering spirit—cost hundreds of thousands at least.
The old apartments in Yin Mountain City weren't worth much. Even if he sold his home, he wouldn't have enough to buy Mythic Material.
With no other options, Zhou Yao could only try his luck and hunt for a bargain.
After spending over a month frequenting shops and antique streets, Zhou Yao finally found an inconspicuous piece of Mythic Material two weeks ago.
Thinking of it, Zhou Yao opened a drawer and took out a glass vial about the size of his thumb.
Light from outside the window shone through the vial. A tiny strand of fur inside glinted gold.
[Hair of Unknown Rat Demon
Type: Demon Remains
Quality: False God Ember
Mythic Trait: Unknown
Description: A strand of hair from an unknown rat demon from the Shattered Realm. Divine Wind swirls around it, concealing its form. Only those with a bond to the rat demon clan can see it. Listening closely, one seems to hear the lingering, mind-bewitching words of a demon.
"Where there are saints, there are thieves!"]
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