A Brand-New Era

The next day, dawn was just breaking.

In a spacious, well-lit office.

"Su Bai. No father or mother. Date of birth unknown. Grew up at Sunshine Orphanage and currently attends Star Sea Middle School as a third-year high school student. Eighteen years old. Has hyperthymesia. His Oracle is... Wrath? Holy shit, Wrath!"

Li Ming sprang to his feet, flipped the file in his hand facedown on the desk, and stared at Gu Jiuge, who sat opposite him. "Are you sure?"

Gu Jiuge crossed his legs and gave one a couple of light bounces. "I know you're in a hurry, but don't be in such a hurry."

Li Ming let out a long breath, slowly sat down, and poured himself a cup of tea.

His hands were trembling. He poured enough tea to fill two cups, yet failed to fill even one.

It was hard to believe that this man, who now couldn't even pour tea properly, had used an ordinary folding knife just two months ago to slash the third-tier disaster Thanatos to the brink of death.

Thanatos, that supremely arrogant fellow, that conceited fellow who dared call himself a god, had tasted fear for the first time.

Gu Jiuge frowned, his tone tinged with disdain. "All right, all right, stop shaking. Do you have fucking Parkinson's or something?"

Even the cafeteria aunties didn't shake this much!

Li Ming's weathered face reddened. He put down the snuff bottle with an embarrassed smile. "Come on, tell me about that kid."

Gu Jiuge tapped lightly on the desk and said thoughtfully:

"That kid... he's extremely meticulous, and far more mature than others his age. If I weren't so experienced, I reckon he would've fooled me too. He knows very little about the specialized knowledge of the Transcendent field, and he doesn't know how Oracles are ranked.

"So, since he could name 'Wrath,' I think his Oracle must be 'Wrath.' Normally, any Transcendent who can freely control their heterochromatic pupils can use their Oracle.

"The strange thing is, he doesn't seem able to use his Oracle. Otherwise, Qingxue's arrow wouldn't have grazed his skin. I think... it might have something to do with his bloodline."

"Bloodline?"

Li Ming's expression grew grave.

He was decent enough when it came to taking up a knife and hacking people, but he had never once passed a test in any of the three great Transcendent disciplines-alchemy, kinetics, and bloodlines. If Great Xia weren't so desperately short of top-tier Transcendents, how could he have held on to a captain's position?

If he asked Lin Luo, who excelled in both character and academics, about this, the kid would surely know. Unfortunately, he had gone to Tianjing to argue with those old stick-in-the-muds and wouldn't be back anytime soon.

Qingxue was out of the question. The girl was still inexperienced, and her greatest strength and weakness were both that she wasn't smart enough.

Chu Ning might know, but the crazy girl was on vacation these past few days. She was probably behind the wheel of a Hummer or a Ferrari, racing on who knew what track. Disturbing her now would just be asking for trouble.

As it happened, Gu Jiuge was also a thickheaded fool who knew only how to hack people with a knife. The two academic failures were completely in the dark, staring blankly at each other.

"This is no small matter..." Li Ming suddenly lowered his voice and asked, "Should we ask Tianjing for instructions?"

Gu Jiuge sipped his tea and sneered.

"And then dozens of helicopters bring over a hundred Transcendents here to seal off our Suzhou? Then seven or eight lunatics in white coats pop out and drag Su Bai off to be locked up in the 'Ark'? And in the end, a kid with a bright future gets driven out of his mind?"

Li Ming glared at Gu Jiuge. "Isn't that a bit of an exaggeration?!"

Gu Jiuge leaned forward slightly, fixing Li Ming with a piercing gaze.

"Captain Li, the arrival of the Transcendent era is like the opening of a grand play. You have to understand, it wasn't we who chose the Transcendent; the Transcendent chose us.

"We're like clowns, one after another, about to step onto the stage. We can never choose the roles we play in this era. All we can do is give our all to our clumsy performances before the curtain falls.

"In other words, it wasn't Su Bai who found 'Wrath'; it was 'Wrath' that found Su Bai. It isn't his fault. Although he's unwilling to trust us, we should give him enough time. If you report this to the higher-ups, he'll definitely become a target for 'erasure.'

"Making a child who's done nothing wrong pay the price for a mistake... sorry, I just can't do it."

Li Ming was quite surprised. "You brat, why are you suddenly putting on this solemn act? Aren't I discussing it with you? I didn't say I was definitely going to..."

Gu Jiuge cut Li Ming off decisively. "What's there to discuss? Even if you're the captain, you have to listen to me on this. If something really does go wrong with Su Bai, I'll take half the responsibility!"

Li Ming pressed a hand to his forehead. "You sound so fucking righteous, but can I ask... why only half the responsibility?"

Gu Jiuge spread his hands. "Seven years ago, you tricked me into coming here to be a gravekeeper. If something happens to me, do you think you can get away? I'll definitely drag you down with me!"

"Doctor, I'm sick."

"What's wrong?"

"Neurasthenia."

"Neurasthenia?"

"Yes. I had a dream last night. A nightmare."

"What was in the dream?"

"A palace cast in bronze, thirty-two gilded pillars, seven tall wooden chairs with high backs, and a rectangular stone table."

"Uh... that sounds pretty nice. Why do you call it a nightmare?"

"Because when I woke up, I suddenly realized that the palace wasn't cast in bronze, but made of white bones. Those thirty-two pillars were built from the flesh and blood of indescribable monsters. The stone table in the center of the hall was a heavy coffin covered in dust, and the seven wooden chairs with high backs around the table were ancient longswords, still in their sheaths, with strange runes carved into them."

"..."

The young school doctor stopped scribbling with his pencil and gently pushed up the gold-rimmed glasses resting on his nose. He glanced at Su Bai, sitting opposite him, and fell silent for a moment. "And then... you developed neurasthenia?"

Su Bai nodded firmly, his tone resolute. "I did. A particularly severe case!"

Bang!

The young school doctor slammed the infirmary door shut.

Su Bai sat on the steps outside the infirmary, sinking into deep thought and self-doubt as a cool breeze brushed past him.

Ever since The Contaminated Novelist had come looking for him, he had had the same nightmare two nights in a row.

A palace of white bones, pillars of flesh and blood, a coffin for a long table, ancient swords for stone chairs.

The palace in his dream was actually an incomparably magnificent and imposing tomb.

Inside the tomb was a coffin, guarded by seven ancient swords.

Was this... really just a dream?

If it was a dream, why were its images so deeply shocking?

If it wasn't a dream, whose tomb was that palace?

And what did the seven longswords surrounding the coffin foretell?

"Sigh..."

Su Bai put his thoughts aside and sighed softly. He rose from the steps and gazed into the distance at the deep sky, blue as the sea.

At that moment,

he suddenly had an extremely strong premonition.

Starting today, the course of his life would probably undergo an earth-shaking change.

Words Gu Jiuge had once spoken slowly echoed in Su Bai's ears.

"This is a brand-new era, and this era belongs to-Transcendents!"

Is that so?

Maybe.

P.S. The twenty thousand words of setup are complete. The main story begins.