"Thud! Thud! Thud!"
Wang Yong knelt before his parents' graves and knocked his forehead against the ground three times. Then he hugged his knees, curled up there, and buried his head without a word.
He couldn't even cry.
His head hurt, too.
He pounded his forehead with his fist, constantly feeling that something was missing, yet unable to remember anything.
His mother had drowned. Her body had never been found.
The school was still being repaired after the fire.
His eyes were vacant as he looked at the living allowance Sky City had deposited into his bank account on his phone. The corners of his mouth twitched upward in a hollow smile.
Wang Yong leaned against the gravestone.
The surroundings were poor, close to the outermost edge of Night Spirit City. There was no public cemetery here; the graves stood behind the shabby little house his family rented.
He looked at the house. It no longer seemed like home.
When his father had been beaten to death, he had thought life couldn't get any worse. Only now did he realize that it could.
When would these days ever end?
He stood up, dusted off his backside, and staggered back into his room, collapsing headfirst onto the bed.
In his daze, someone seemed to be murmuring beside his ear.
"It hurts... it hurts so much..."
His head felt as though a needle had pierced his temple, punched through his skull into his cerebral cortex, and begun stirring his brain.
The excruciating pain made his tightly shut eyes bulge slightly. Two trails of bloody tears slipped from their corners.
"Son, just bear with it. It'll be all right if you bear with it. Things are hard now, but once you start earning money, the good days will come."
His mother's nagging echoed in his ears.
Wang Yong's heart grew numb again.
Yes.
Just bear with it.
He clenched his jaw, his teeth grinding audibly.
He had no idea how much time passed. Somewhere between sleep and waking, the world before his eyes began to rearrange itself.
Wang Yong stood motionless, dazed.
In the blue-black night sky, an enormous Crimson Moon slowly turned. Its red halo swallowed the surrounding stars, making it shine all the more brilliantly.
Wang Yong looked ahead and finally realized that he was standing on a vast white altar.
The altar stretched beyond sight. An indescribable pillar rose into the heavens, joining the firmament above.
"Where am I?"
"In a dream." Suddenly, a figure appeared before him. Black mist wreathed the figure, making it seem both real and illusory, and its voice sounded mechanically synthesized.
"I am a bishop of the Eternal Church." The shadow drifted unpredictably.
"The fact that you passed the test and entered this place means you possess tremendous potential..."
"I can restore the memories that were erased..."
Beneath the Crimson Moon.
Within the dream.
A moment later, Wang Yong suddenly cried out and crouched down.
At last, he understood why everything had felt wrong. His memories had been altered. Beneath the reality of this world, another side lay hidden.
"What do I have to do?" He abruptly raised his head to look at the shadow, his eyes filled with resolve.
"Your life, your soul, your flesh-devote everything to Him, and He will grant you power." The shadow slowly twisted. In an instant, the black mist became a boundless tide, engulfing heaven and earth, swallowing the Crimson Moon, the altar, and Wang Yong.
Finally, it became a single eye, suspended in the darkness.
"So that's how it is..."
"In this world, people are born unequal."
"Only before disaster, suffering, and death are people equal..."
"I understand."
"Before I knew it, more than half a month had passed since I transmigrated to Planet Earth. Since I had nothing better to do, I figured I'd jot down a few things and take stock.
No pollution incidents happened during this time. Every day, aside from eating and sleeping, all I did was get trained by the captain.
Luckily, I wasn't the only one getting trained. Everyone in the Ninth Team got dragged into intensive training.
Generally speaking, pollution incidents aren't that frequent. Over the past thirty years, only seventy or so have occurred throughout Sky City's jurisdiction since they started assigning them code names.
But their frequency has increased significantly over the last ten years.
According to some experts, this is because the Heavenly Dao is becoming increasingly unstable and distorted.
Speaking of which, isn't Lu Mingwang in the Eighth Team? Why is he training with our Ninth Team?
I get it now. This gives the Eighth Team's captain an excuse to keep coming over to flirt with our Captain Meng.
I'd noticed something going on between them ages ago, except she was making advances and Captain Meng was nimbly dodging them.
That hopelessly oblivious straight guy!
If I pull off Captain Meng's wig one day, Captain Ye will probably give up on him.
Anyway, this world still feels incredible to me.
For example, the common language here is actually the Great Xia Language, just like in my previous life.
Then there's the culture, art, food, and technology, all almost identical to Earth's. They even have English and plenty of other languages. I strongly suspect this is a parallel version of Earth, except the unstable Heavenly Dao disrupted the course of civilization.
Technology seems a little more advanced than on Earth, though. I heard the Twin Star Corporation has already developed some simple biomechanical devices and exoskeleton devices that can replace certain human organs.
One thing that bothers me is Sky City's rigid class hierarchy and outrageously high taxes.
Apparently, even taking a dump in Night Spirit City makes money for the nobles up in Sky City.
Luckily, I belong to the Dawn Blade, so I don't have to pay taxes.
My strength has been increasing rapidly lately. By pushing my physical limits through training and absorbing the Mirror Spirit's energy, I've already grown a second tentacle.
Yikes-
Am I going to turn into a tentacle monster someday?
If I become a webnovel writer, wouldn't that mean I could put out a hundred updates a day?
Back to the point.
I've studied it for ages, but I still can't figure out why an ordinary Sequence 9 talent can affect the anomalies in a forbidden zone.
What secrets are hiding here?
Alice seems less and less like my Second Personality. It's working very hard at sleeping, binge-watching shows, and devouring romance novels.
Still, [Soul-Seizing] has developed a new ability.
Once every seven days, I can fire a Soul Ray that attacks an enemy's soul directly.
Lu Mingwang actually took me to the Harmony Club yesterday!
The guy looks so sunny and cheerful, but it turns out he likes having fun deep down, too.
The girls at the club had too much of that jaded hostess air about them. Looking at it that way, Li Yunyao and Sister Li really are much prettier.
But the girls said such nice things, and they even played Aeroplane Chess with me.
Li Yunyao and the others only ever make fun of me for being childish.
Hah.
What do they know about a man's happiness?
Lu Mingwang is hooked on going to the club. He said it helps vent his pent-up misery and reduce negative emotions.
I think he's absolutely right. As long as he's paying, I'm certainly happy.
PS: I ran into Captain Meng at the club. We both pretended not to see each other.
PPS: I've been thinking about something. Captain Meng's Sequence 8 talent is [Iron Block], which apparently makes his entire body as hard as iron... ummm... no wonder the girls at the club had tears running from the corners of their mouths when they saw him.
PPPS: I'm starting to feel sorry for Captain Ye. She still brings Captain Meng breakfast every day. A simp who keeps simping ends up with nothing. Captain Meng, you bastard!
There was another strange encounter.
Lately, every time I go out, I run into a young man who keeps watching me.
I know I'm handsome, but you're a guy. Why do you keep staring at me?
At first, I thought it was a coincidence, but I've run into him for a week straight now, and he's getting stranger and stranger.
I'll have to think of something.
Before you continue