The world was burning. Towering machines marched across a ruined city, their crimson eyes glowing like stars of destruction. Above them, countless warships filled the heavens while a lone figure stood atop a shattered skyscraper. His robes fluttered in the violent wind. Golden Qi erupted from his body like a raging storm. The armies below trembled. A woman’s voice suddenly echoed through the battlefield. “Kai… run!” she screamed. The young man slowly turned around, there was blood on his hands, tears in his eyes, then everything exploded in blinding light. Kai Ashford suddenly opened his eyes from his sleep. He sat upright on his bed, breathing heavily, and sweat drenched his clothes. The room was dark, only the pale moonlight entered through the curtains. He stared at his trembling hands again, the same dream, the same burning city, the same voice and the same strange feeling of unbearable loneliness. He lowered his head and rubbed his face. “What was that?” he muttered q

The crimson eyes of the machine glowed like twin suns in the darkness. Kai’s body froze, his heartbeat pounded so violently that it echoed inside his ears. The machine slowly raised its cannon. A cold mechanical voice filled the underground chamber. “Target confirmed. Beginning extermination protocol.” Kai instinctively took a step backward, his mind was blank. Fight? Run? How do you fight a machine the size of a truck? His trembling fingers tightened around the ancient book, then his phone vibrated with a loud buzz. Unknown Number: “Listen carefully. Panic will kill you faster than the machine.” Kai swallowed hard, his eyes never left the enormous weapon pointed at him. Kai: “Who are you?” The reply appeared almost instantly. Unknown Number: “Later. If you want answers, survive first.” The machine fired beams at Kai. BOOM! A brilliant blue beam exploded from the cannon. Kai’s pupils shrank instantly and without thinking, he threw himself to the side. The beam

The rain had stopped before dawn, but the weight pressing against Kai Ashford’s chest remained. He woke after only a few hours of restless sleep, immediately reaching for his phone on the bedside table. The conversation with the mysterious girl was still gone. Every message had vanished as though it had never existed. He stared at the blank screen for several long seconds before letting out a slow breath. “Did something happen to her?” he muttered quietly, worry creeping into his voice. It was a strange feeling. He had never seen her face, never heard her voice, and didn’t even know her real name, but yet after everything that had happened, the silence felt unsettling. She had saved his life more than once. The thought that she might now be in danger because of him filled him with guilt. Kai forced himself to get dressed and head to work. As he walked through the bustling morning streets, life appeared completely normal. Office workers hurried toward train stations with cups

Kai could not take his eyes off the dark monitor. Even after the words *THE GAME HAS BEGUN* disappeared, an unsettling feeling lingered in the hidden library. His mind kept replaying every strange event since he had entered the abandoned district. It had all happened too fast. Only a few days ago, he had been an ordinary young man struggling to pay rent and scrape together odd investigation jobs. Now the government was hunting a cultivator they could not even identify, mysterious hackers were risking their lives to protect him, and some unknown force seemed to already know his true heritage. He exhaled slowly, trying to steady his thoughts. “I feel like everyone knows my story except me,” he said quietly, frustration bleeding into his voice. “I am tired of chasing answers that only create more questions.” Aria looked at him with quiet sympathy before closing several encrypted programs on her screen. “I understand how you feel,” she said softly. “But if I tell you everything now,

The mechanical voice echoed through the hidden library, so calm and emotionless it sent a chill down Kai’s spine. *”…To the individual known as the Last Cultivator… we know you are listening.”* Silence followed. Kai looked toward Aria instinctively. She was already moving, fingers racing across the keyboard as streams of code flooded every monitor in the room. One by one she disconnected network cables, shut down wireless receivers, and threw up multiple encrypted firewalls. “That broadcast is not directed at us specifically,” she said, trying to keep her voice steady despite the tension underneath it. “It is being sent out across thousands of frequencies at once.” Kai frowned. “So they do not actually know where I am?” “No,” Aria said immediately. “If they knew, this building would already be surrounded.” Kai let out the breath he had been holding without realizing it. Shen Tian folded his hands behind his back, watching the monitors without a trace of panic on his face.