A prank! A premeditated prank! An utterly vile one!
A chill ran down Su Jin's spine as the thought suddenly sprang into his mind.
The baffling contents, the courier slip—it couldn't be some hitman organization sending a package to the wrong address.
That piece of paper spontaneously catching fire wasn't completely incomprehensible either.
Maybe it was some high-grade magician's flash paper... designed to ignite on its own after coming into contact with skin for a certain amount of time.
But how could they send a real gun? That was absurd. What was this all about?
Could it be that client, Old Wang?
Impossible! That dumbass had just been demanding that he call and apologize.
Su Jin's scalp tingled faintly as countless movie scenes flashed through his mind.
All plots about bored, wealthy elites secretly orchestrating elaborate setups to toy with ordinary citizens.
Maybe in a little while, several guys would pop up, drag him off to some dark hole to lock him away, and the moment he opened his eyes, he'd be dumped into a survival-in-the-wilderness game.
Cursing under his breath, Su Jin decisively dialed the police.
"Ring... ring... ring..."
The ringing droned on. Su Jin's lips were parched as he anxiously rehearsed what he was going to say.
Finally, the call connected, and Su Jin spoke immediately.
"Hello! My name is—"
"Hello, this is—"
Halfway through, the woman's voice cut off abruptly just as she began to speak, replaced by a cold, mechanical voice echoing directly inside Su Jin's mind.
"Do not disclose company information in any form. A second violation will be severely punished! Put on the mask immediately and make haste with your preparations."
Listening to the harsh dial tone from the receiver, Su Jin keenly caught the anomaly... His pupils began to lose focus.
Bizarre! This was getting more and more bizarre!
An intercepted call could still be explained by technology, but the audio quality of that mechanical voice and the dial tone at the end weren't even remotely the same!
At first, it was a normal human voice through the phone, but the mechanical voice afterward sounded like it had resonated straight inside his head.
His Mi 6 was seven years old; there was no way a single earpiece could produce spatial stereo audio!
Numbly, Su Jin picked up his phone, opened Xunlei, and tapped on a movie with a blue dot next to its title.
Soon, indelicate sounds drifted from the phone. After watching for a brief moment, Su Jin expressionlessly locked the screen, quickly discarding his previous hypothesis.
*A Two-Day, One-Night Hot Springs Date*. He had downloaded two films the night before, but hadn't gotten around to reviewing this one due to the pulsatile dehydration his body had undergone last night.
Even if those AV studios loved reusing props and sets, and the trope was ancient, this was his favorite actress's latest release, her first time shooting a hot springs series; his imagination in a dream could never produce such rich detail.
With a despondent expression, Su Jin took two steps back and plopped down in front of the computer.
A glance from the corner of his eye made his pupils contract violently!
In the corner of the job recruitment page on the computer screen, the words were glaringly displayed: Tiandao Unlimited Liability Company!
Wait... wasn't that the pop-up from earlier?!
Quick on his feet, Su Jin grabbed the mouse and moved swiftly to click the page, but the instant the cursor hovered over it, the entire page closed automatically.
In a panic, he began typing to search for it.
*No matching company found...* As if none of it had ever existed.
Dazed, Su Jin let out a breath and shut his eyes tightly, burying his fingers into his hair.
What on earth is going on... Can I still run?
No. Some organization has already targeted me. If I just walk away now without a care, the consequences will probably be even worse.
After a moment, he raised his head, slowly reached to his left, and picked up the transparent mask he had casually set aside, inspecting it closely.
No matter how he looked at it, this thing seemed like an ordinary plastic mask. Yet the voice on the phone told him to put it on...
Frowning, he scrutinized it cautiously for several minutes before tentatively bringing it against his face.
The moment it touched flesh, an icy sensation washed over his entire face, and the mask vanished without a trace!
The mask was gone; his fingers felt only his own skin.
Before Su Jin could react, the sight before his eyes immediately diverted his attention.
In his vision, a shifting line of numbers inexplicably appeared.
1:32:11
1:32:10...
Su Jin stared wide-eyed in stunned silence for a full ten seconds before sinking back into the chair, his chest heaving.
The room was dead quiet, save for his racing heartbeat and the faint whir of the computer fan.
Pulling himself together, he immediately rushed to the mirror in the bathroom.
He frantically picked and scratched at his jawline, trying to pry off the mask that had already vanished.
After feeling around for a while until his cheek turned bright red, he finally gave up completely and looked at himself.
Aside from the floating string of numbers and his violently twitching eyelid, the reflection in the mirror was entirely normal.
This wasn't some billionaire's game anymore. This was a fucking ghost encounter!
Gritting his teeth, Su Jin turned on the tap and vigorously splashed cold water over his face several times.
Calm down... I have to think calmly right now!
A bizarre object had entered his body. Whether it was good or bad was impossible to tell, but since he couldn't remove it now, he could only put it aside.
Since the mask wasn't an ordinary object, the pistol and the briefcase had to have something weird about them too.
Go check those two things first.
00:59:23
00:59:22...
More than half an hour had passed.
On the bed, Su Jin sat quietly, the briefcase and pistol laid out in front of him.
It was hard to say he had regained his composure; after all, the string of bizarre events had completely shattered his common sense.
The mask was completely impossible to take off.
The two items on the bed were just as he expected—anything but ordinary.
No information about the handgun could be found online. The magazine couldn't be removed, and the single bullet he had accidentally discharged left behind neither a spent casing nor a slug. Conducting any further shooting tests was currently impossible.
The briefcase was even more bizarre. When his palm reached the bottom, a peculiar synesthesia resonated in his senses; beneath it lay another cubic meter of space... only undetectable to the naked eye.
He had tried putting a few things inside; retrieving them was as simple as a thought, remarkably convenient.
This thing was practically a magical artifact from a novel, except that items that were too large couldn't fit inside.
If he had obtained such a treasure in the past, he would have been ecstatic, but right now he had no mood for celebration.
The more miraculous the items were, the heavier the psychological weight became.
*Dying world. Apocalypse...* Every single word was enough to scare the piss out of anyone.
The current situation had completely surpassed his comprehension, and there wasn't much time left to think.
What should I do? Prepare according to that notice?
After agonizing for a while, Su Jin picked up his phone with heavy hands.
Half an hour later.
Thanks to delivery services, mounds of supplies had piled up inside the small rented room.
Looking at the cluttered, messy room, Su Jin felt an unspeakable bitterness in his heart.
It wasn't that he hadn't thought about running away, but the numbers hung before his eyes like a shadow he couldn't shake.
Having undeniably run into a supernatural event, the best choice right now was to prepare honestly and obediently. Thrashing about recklessly would only get him killed faster.
00:31:09
00:31:08...
He sorted the supplies into neat categories and packed them away.
Sitting before the computer, Su Jin stared wide-eyed, breathing heavily. He picked out a life insurance policy, designated his parents as the beneficiaries, which would pay out after two years of disappearance.
Then, on legitimate lending platforms, he took out several loans, totaling just under a hundred and seventy thousand yuan.
He drafted an online gift agreement of one hundred and fifty thousand to his parents, minimizing the risk of the funds being reclaimed as much as possible.
He transferred ten thousand to the landlady for six months of rent, along with a few messages asking not to be disturbed, and converted the rest into cash to carry with him.
Finally, he cleared his browser history.
With everything taken care of, Su Jin dialed his home with a heavy heart.
Before long, Mother Su's groggy voice came through the line: "Son, why are you calling at this hour? Haven't you gone to sleep yet?"
"Ah, I transferred some money to you and Dad. Can you check if it came through?"
"Transferred money...? Ah?! A hundred and fifty thousand! Where did this money come from?" Mother Su's voice instantly perked up, and Father Su's voice could be heard faintly in the background.
Su Jin forced a smile, making his tone sound a bit more excited. "Good news, of course! Another company tried to poach me, so our President Li gave me a sum of money on the spot to get me to stay. I don't need it right now, so you and Dad keep it. Spend it however you like."
"Really? Our son has made something of himself—companies are fighting over you now! You scared me half to death just now; I thought the money didn't come from an honest source." Mother Su sounded much more energized.
"No way. When has your son ever walked the crooked path? President Li just transferred the money to me, and I was so happy I forgot you two were asleep. Uh... um, by the way, the company has a massive project coming up. I might have to work overtime continuously for a few months. Don't call me on your own, alright? Wait for me to call you."
"Son!" Father Su's voice chimed in. "Overtime has its limits—don't run yourself ragged! Don't let a little extra money go to your head; it's not like you sold your life to them... The harder you work, the more they'll order you around. Just put on a good show in front of leadership and leave it at that."
"I know. Get some sleep, you two. I have to be at the company early tomorrow."
Hanging up the phone, Su Jin lowered his head and let out a deep sigh.
He had done everything he could.
So be it. If misfortune truly befell him... at least he had fulfilled his filial duty.
00:00:12
00:00:11
00:00:10
In the final ten seconds, Su Jin's eyes remained glued to the countdown, his hand thrust into the inner pocket of his trench coat, gripping the pistol's handle tightly.
3, 2, 1, 0!
As the timer hit zero, Su Jin's pupils shrank. A blinding point of light burst into existence before his eyes!
Before his shocked gaze, the pinpoint of light expanded in a flash, ultimately turning into a golden luminous gateway standing upright before him.
Blinking hard a couple of times, Su Jin quickly snapped out of his profound shock.
A miracle! An absolute miracle!
Was this the work of aliens, or gods and ghosts?
The portal is just standing there motionless. As long as I don't go in, nothing should happen, right? Should I try sticking my phone in first to test it?
Just as the thought crossed his mind, Su Jin's eyes went wide. The golden portal lunged violently toward his face, engulfing him in an instant...
Chapter 2