Thunder and Memories

Xiang Yi's fingertips were ice-cold. Before him, the three-tiered birthday cake resembled a execution platform piled with cream, the flames of twelve colorful candles dancing and casting an irritating, glaring light on the fancy chocolate character "Yi" in the center of the piping. His gaze was nailed tightly to the edge of the cake--a ring of exquisite chocolate hoops, neither more nor less, exactly twelve, symbolizing this "complete" first year of his life.

Yet those pitch-black, glossy hoops resembled twelve cold shackles or bottomless well mouths. A sense of unprovoked chill darted upward fiercely like a viper, shocking him into a violent shiver. Ten Rings? A vague, stone-cold thought crashed into the deep pool of his consciousness, rippling only a barely perceptible circle before sinking into the darkness, far too fast to grasp.

"Xiao Yi, smile! Say cheese!" His mother, Lin Wanqing, half-crouched, her expensive silk skirt hem brushing the smooth bluestone floor, aiming the lens of the latest digital camera at him like a dark hole. The camera flash exploded abruptly, stinging his eye sockets painfully. He tugged at the stiff corners of his mouth, the plate of strawberries and cream piled heavy in his hand dragging him down, and the sweet, cloying aroma drilling into his nasal cavity only summoned a churning wave of nausea.

His father, Xiang Haishan's, thick palm landed heavily on his slender shoulders with unquestionable familiarity. That heavy affection made it almost impossible for Xiang Yi to breathe. "Go on, kid! Get some fresh air! Don't run too far!" His father's hearty voice carried the warmth of sweat. As if granted a pardon, Xiang Yi put down the plate, turned, and fled the brightly lit, clamorously noisy courtyard. The lingering sweet scent of cake and warmth in the air had now become a suffocating cage.

The back door of the villa connected to a wooden boardwalk leading to the viewing platform. Stepping into the gloomy dusk, the mountain wind mixed with the crisp scent of pine needles and damp earth rushed at him, instantly blowing away the feverish heat and cloying sweetness clinging to his body. The boardwalk meandered, the gnarled branches of ancient pines on both sides dancing wildly in the deepening shadows like lurking ghosts. Overhead, on the deep blue velvet curtain, a few cold stars gazed down indifferently.

Anxiety, however, grew like a maggot in his bone, multiplying wildly in the depths of his heart. His heartbeat hammered in his chest, thudding heavily and numbing his eardrums. An invisible, immense sense of being watched seized him, cold and sticky, making the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. He stopped abruptly, his hands gripping the cold wooden railing tightly as he breathed heavily. His gaze swept across the steep mountain wall outside the boardwalk, where jagged, strange rocks looked like the fangs of a giant beast in the dim light.

At that exact moment--

Crack--!!!

A giant python pale enough to blind the eyes ripped across the entire gloomy blue firmament, chopping violently down onto the steep mountain ridge opposite! Following closely behind was an apocalyptic roar!

Rumble--!!!

That sound was not merely transmitted; the entire heaven and earth were being crushed violently! The boardwalk beneath his feet bounced, and the vault of heaven above collapsed! A terrifying wave of air carrying the scorched stench of sulfur and ozone crashed fiercely into Xiang Yi's chest, instantly bursting the residual air in his lungs! His blood coagulated for a second, then surged upstream into his head amidst the violent shock! Everything in his field of vision--the boardwalk, the pine shadows, the distant mountains, the cold stars--twisted, tore, and disintegrated madly in the blinding white light!

"Ugh, ah--!"

Dizziness and a feeling of weightlessness struck overwhelmingly! The world beneath his feet seemed to collapse instantly! He instinctively wanted to grab the railing, but his body felt as though it had been struck fiercely by an invisible giant hammer! An irresistible force plucked his entire body from the boardwalk and hurled it violently toward the void!

The cold, salty mountain wind filled his nose, mouth, and ears instantly. The sky spun, and the earth turned! Beneath his feet lay only the rapidly enlarging, all-consuming dark abyss! The heartbreaking, despairing screams of his parents, piercing through the thunder, exploded from the direction of the villa far away as if across lifetimes:

"Xiao Yi--!!!"

That voice, like a red-hot branding iron, scorched fiercely upon his chaotic consciousness. The next second was the destructive impact of his body against the hard mountain rocks.

Crack!

A clear, teeth-grinding sound of bones fracturing burst out within his body. Before the sharp pain could wash over his entire head, the back of his head slammed heavily against a protruding, cold rock!

Bang!

A thick darkness carrying a strong rusted taste instantly drowned out all his senses. The cold, hard mountain rock pressed tightly against his back, the chill piercing into his bone marrow like poisonous needles. His consciousness floated and broke in the boundless dead silence, like drowning in the deepest icy sea.

...How much time had passed, perhaps only a fraction of a second, perhaps an eternity. A speck of pale light suddenly exploded in the absolute darkness!

Countless sharp fragments carrying information like a tsunami rushed violently into his shattered consciousness!

--A greasy computer screen reflected a numb, tired face. The murmured complaints of a colleague at the neighboring workstation buzzed, and the air was filled with the sour bitterness of cheap coffee that had gone cold. The manager's spitting roar, the striking downward red arrow on the KPI spreadsheet... Day after day, a suffocating gray cage. It was him, an office drone submerged in the steel forest of the city, whose name had long since blurred, leaving only a string of cold numeric codes.

--The scene burst open abruptly! Dazzling visual effects! Stirring electronic explosions! His fingertips traced afterimages on the phone screen, precisely controlling that assassin hidden in the shadows of the canyon; with a flash of a blade, the enemy fell listlessly! "Victory!" The teammate's "Like" icon beat wildly! The brief, illusory thrill was the only crack to escape reality--Honor of Kings. Every hero's move, every dark corner of the map, and the ecstasy of every desperate counterkill were carved into his bones and blood.

--The scene twisted and reorganized crazily once again! Even more magnificent and terrifying! The red-and-gold armor trailed a tail flame, exchanging fire with grotesque alien giants in the shattered skies of New York! The green-skinned giant roared and tore through the ruins! The blond god holding Mjolnir summoned ten thousand bolts of thunder! The blue-purple-skinned giant wearing the Infinity Gauntlet snapped his fingers coldly and unstoppably to destroy the universe! Avengers, S.H.I.E.L.D., Hydra, Thanos... Cold steel needles pierced densely into his boiling brain! The Marvel Universe! Those lights and shadows he had once stayed up late to chase now pressed down with a suffocating, real weight.

"Get lost! Out--!" Xiang Yi emitted a silent, near-death roar within the ruins of his consciousness. Two torrents strong enough to blow up a soul--the desperate, gray memories of an office drone and the world-destroying Marvel cognition--collided, tore, and ground madly against each other like out-of-control steel beasts within his narrow sea of consciousness! Every collision brought the excruciating pain of his soul being sliced inch by inch! The humming of the office air conditioner was instantly torn apart by the energy shrieks of the New York battlefield! The blade flash of the assassin in the game was replaced the next second by the despair of tens of millions of living creatures turning to ashes under Thanos's snap! The barrier between reality and illusion completely collapsed, and the "self" was ground into powder.

"Ugh..." His throat rolled, and a warm liquid carrying a heavy rusted taste welled up. His bodily perception stripped away rapidly, leaving only that destructive storm inside his skull. His parents' desperate cries, separated by ten-thousand-year black ice, were as distant as the echo from another universe...

(...Abnormal energy fluctuation detected... Meets minimum threshold...)

(...Spiritual threshold nearing collapse...)

(...Soul wavelength match rate 97.8%... Forced binding initiated...)

A series of cold, rigid, and completely lifeless mechanical voices ground forcibly into the core of his consciousness storm like rusted gears! Every syllable carried the sharpness of metal friction, freezing the soul.

(Binding confirmed. Host: Xiang Yi.)

(Core system loading... 1%... 5%...)

(Warning! Host vital signs continue to deteriorate! Mental power severely overdrawn! Life countdown: 179 seconds... 178 seconds... 177 seconds...)

The ticking of the countdown struck precisely like the cold hammer of a funeral bell upon the last surviving fragments of his consciousness. That beating number was an absolutely ruthless death sentence.

Death?

This word, like the only burning spark in the dark, suddenly lit up the chaotic ruins of his consciousness! The day-to-day numbness in the office, the virtual blade light in the game, the earth-shattering crisis of the Marvel Universe... All the chaotic fragments were given an extremely clear, extremely heavy sense of reality at this moment by this cold countdown!

A scorching torrent originating from the most primitive and savage depths of life suddenly roared skyward from the bottom of the abyss of consciousness! It overpowered the excruciating pain of a torn soul! It overpowered the fear of impending death!

"Screw destiny! My life! Don't you even think about taking it just like this!!"

"Death? Get lost! I want to live! I want this world to remember my name!!"

This silent roar from the abyss of the soul, carrying a refusal to submit and a frenzy that could crush everything, slammed fiercely like a fire burning the eight wastes against that cold countdown! Slamming toward that all-consuming, unrecoverable dark abyss!