Mysterious Disappearance

Basic information of the missing person:

Name: Fang Tianyi

Gender: Male

Age: 25

Cause of disappearance: Unidentified

Physical characteristics: Height ***, Weight ***, Hairstyle **, Special marks (such as scars, tattoos)

Time of disappearance: Exactly 22:00

Location of disappearance: Room 1202, Building 2, Jiayuan Residential Complex (at home)

Recent photo: Resembles Daniel Wu

In the evening, veteran detective Old Li bit down on a nearly burned-out cigarette, squinting as he looked through the curling blue smoke at the thin missing person investigation report on his desk.

"Little Liu!" Old Li's voice carried the hoarseness left by years of heavy smoking as he tapped the report with his finger.

"Are you sure? A 25-year-old, physically fit adult male vanished into thin air right inside his own home, with the doors and windows intact and security cameras catching no one leaving?"

Young officer Little Liu stood beside him, furrowing his brow. "Yes, Brother Li. I checked the scene. The twelfth floor, the anti-theft grilles are completely intact with no signs of being pried open.

The hallway cameras cover both the elevator and the stairwell. From yesterday afternoon when his parents last saw him until his disappearance was discovered at 10:00 PM, there is no record of him leaving during this entire period.

His mother said she only heard a shout come from the room, as if he had been startled, and when she rushed in, no one was there—she only saw the computer still displaying anime."

"Hmm... Regardless of how he vanished, what's the motive? Relationship disputes? Financial problems? Or... did he offend someone?" Old Li flicked the ash from his cigarette.

"None found so far. Fang Tianyi had a simple social life; he was just an ordinary office worker with no recent anomalies. His mother is driving herself crazy with worry."

"Strange as hell, it actually turned into a locked-room disappearance?" Old Li stubbed out the cigarette butt in an ashtray filled with stubs, his murky eyes revealing the stubbornness forged from years of handling cases. "You can't glean any flowers just by reading this report.

Little Liu, tonight at ten o'clock, come with me to the scene again. I have to see for myself just how locked this 'locked room' really is."

"Got it, Brother Li."

A piercing pain dragged Tianyi out of a chaotic nightmare.

It was not a dream!

His lung lobes twitched violently like a broken bellows, and every breath carried a rich scent of blood and the decay of soil.

The wound on his left shoulder was already numb, but at the slightest movement, that heart-piercing pain would instantly course through his whole body, reminding him of his current situation—he was still alive, but he might die very soon.

He leaned his back against a giant tree scorched black by an explosive tag, and cold rain pierced through the sparse branches, beating mercilessly against his face. Shifting his vision upward, an 'X' mark on his forehead was the pattern of the Caged Bird curse seal.

A Hyuga Branch House Genin, in the 37th Year of Konoha, somewhere in the Land of Rain during the Second Shinobi World War.

The fragments of memory were chaotic and absurd.

Just a day ago, he was still Fang Tianyi, an ordinary office worker. He remembered resting at home over the weekend, rewatching Naruto, with a strange, thick, unbadged ancient book he had picked up at a second-hand book stall placed beside him.

When he caressed the pages, they suddenly opened automatically, erupting with an indescribable suction... After letting out a scream, when he woke up, he was already on this flesh-and-blood battlefield, his mind filled with the complete memories of a teenager named Hyuga Tianyi.

Tossed from a peaceful era onto a battlefield, the past day felt like a nightmare.

His squad had been ambushed and scattered as they fled. One of his teammates had died a miserable death, and to keep the enemy from pursuing Tianyi, that teammate had even deliberately taken off his headband and tied it around his arm.

It exposed the seal of the Branch House's Caged Bird, and it was solely by relying on this caution that he had managed to barely escape here, though he was already at the end of his tether.

I'm going to die... I'm really going to die in this ghost place... Soaked in sweat, boundless panic made his heart beat erratically. He wanted to go home! He missed that safe, peaceful world!

In his despair, he instinctively fumbled toward the depths of his ninja tool pouch. There, that strange book that had crossed over with him lay quietly. This was his only modern attachment.

At that moment—the book in his hand suddenly and without warning grew scorching hot!

*!?* Tianyi looked down in astonishment.

He saw that the originally blank cover flickered with flowing light, and four archaic and mysterious large characters suddenly emerged—Book of Ten Thousand Worlds!

Immediately following, below the title, a clear line of small text appeared like a projection:

[Communication possible daily at 22:00, limited to 10 minutes]

[Can two-way transfer non-living items]

[Space capacity: 0.3 cubic yards]

This sudden change was like casting a beam of light into endless darkness! Tianyi's heart beat wildly as he tried to judge the time... it was about ten o'clock!

Hope! An unprecedented sense of hope dispelled part of the cold and excruciating pain!

He no longer cared about lurking or concealment, and trembling almost violently, he brought the book to his mouth, crying out in a hoarse, tearful roar:

"Mom! Mom, are you there!? Can you hear me? I'm Tianyi! Your son! Answer me, Mom!"

Fang's mother was sitting in her son's room, tears streaming down her face. Several police officers, including Old Li and Little Liu, were still analyzing the case files in the living room, trying to find clues.

Suddenly, a young man's voice laden with tears and hoarseness rang out in the room out of thin air.

This voice was so familiar—it was precisely her missing son, Fang Tianyi!

Mother Fang sprang up from her chair in a panic, looking around in frantic excitement. "Tianyi?! Tianyi, where are you?! Mom can hear you! Mom can hear your voice! Where are you?"

Her exclamation immediately drew Old Li and Little Liu from the living room.

"Ma'am, what's wrong?" Little Liu asked urgently.

"The voice! My son's voice! He's calling me!" Mother Fang rambled incoherently, pointing at the empty room.

Old Li furrowed his brow and strode quickly into the room. His sharp gaze swept rapidly across the space; there were no abnormalities, nor did he hear anything. It seemed to be auditory hallucinations caused by her son's disappearance.

Right at that moment, Fang Tianyi's anxious, desperate voice sounded from the book on the desk once again, this time even louder:

"Mom! I'm here! This book brought me across, I'm in the world of Naruto! It's very dangerous here! There's a war going on! I'm injured! I might... I might not be able to come back!"

"The sound is coming from this book! A war? Injured?" Old Li's expression changed drastically. Picking up the book, he immediately barked at Little Liu, "Record! Turn on the law enforcement recorder! Record all video and audio!"

At the same time, he said to Mother Fang quickly and clearly, "Ma'am, calm down! Ask him for specifics! What kind of environment is he in? Who is the enemy?"

Enduring her grief, Mother Fang shouted toward the air, "Tianyi! Tianyi, don't be afraid! Officer comrades are right here! Make it clear, where are you fighting? Who is hitting you?"

"Naruto! Officer uncle, I'm in the world of Naruto! Konoha Year 37, the Second Shinobi World War is happening, and the enemies are Amegakure ninja!

My shoulder was pierced by a kunai! I bled so much blood!" Tianyi's voice carried heavy panting and pain.

"Naruto? Ninja World? Leaf Village? Amegakure? Kunai?" Old Li furrowed his brows deeply. These terms completely exceeded the scope of his cognition.

He looked blankly at the youngest person beside him, Little Liu. "Little Liu, what he's saying... what kind of stuff is that? Have you ever heard of it?"

Upon hearing "Naruto" and "Konoha," Little Liu's expression had already shifted.

Prompted by Old Li's question, he immediately reacted and explained at a rapid-fire pace: "Brother Li! Naruto is a very famous anime work from Footpan Chicken Country!

There really are Five Great Nations in it, including the 'Land of Fire' and 'Konoha' where the protagonist is located, plus the Land of Wind, Land of Water, Land of Lightning, and Land of Earth! That world... is constantly at war year-round!"

"Anime? Cartoons?" Old Li's tone rose involuntarily, his face plastered with a sense of absurdity.

"You mean Fang Tianyi, a living breathing man, went missing for a whole day, and the result is that he crossed over into some... cartoon? And this cartoon is even a war story?"

"Uh... you could look at it that way." Little Liu's expression was also quite colorful.

Yet he knew now was not the time to fuss over anime versus cartoons; he had to make Old Li understand the severity of the matter.

"But Brother Li, the war in that cartoon is completely different from our modern warfare!

The ninja in there use supernatural abilities called 'ninjutsu', capable of spitting fire, unleashing water, and summoning giant beasts! Their individual combat power is terrifyingly extreme, and powerful ninja... possess the power to destroy a country!"

"Destroy a country?!!" Old Li drew a sharp breath, the sense of absurdity on his face instantly replaced by immense shock.

Having handled cases for many years and encountered the most vicious and ruthless fugitives, he still could not fathom the concept of "destroying a country single-handedly."

"Are you sure? This cartoon has that kind of setting?"

"Absolute fact!" Little Liu nodded heavily, his expression turning grave. "If he really crossed over into that world, and moreover during the Second Shinobi World War, then given our ordinary human physical and mental limits—and based on my understanding of that anime...

His current situation is extremely dangerous! That place is a wasteland where human lives are treated like grass. For a modern person on that battlefield, the mortality rate is terrifyingly high!"

Listening to Little Liu's reply, Old Li fell into contemplation.

Just now, this book had emitted the missing person's voice, and it possessed a certain logical coherence. Despite his doubts, five or six parts of him already believed it.

Yet the instincts of a veteran detective demanded that he secure the final piece of the puzzle to confirm this unimaginable fact.

He spoke into the book, adopting as steady a tone as possible: "Tianyi, what you're saying is too... heaven-defying. Can you... prove it?"

"Prove it?... Okay! Okay! Wait a second!" The voice on the other end paused for a split second before growing even more urgent.

In the forest of the ninja world, Tianyi suddenly recalled one of the rules of the Book of Ten Thousand Worlds: it could two-way transfer non-living items!

Enduring the agonizing pain, he immediately pulled a kunai from his ninja tool pouch.

This was the thing that could best prove his identity and situation at the moment!

"Transfer! Pass this over!" he roared, pressing the kunai tightly against the pages of the scorching Book of Ten Thousand Worlds.

The next second, the book flared with brilliant light, and the kunai seemed to be swallowed by an invisible force, turning into particles and vanishing right on the book!