The streets of Xuanjing never truly slept.
Even after midnight, pale streams of luminous energy continued to pulse beneath the transparent pavement like veins hidden beneath living skin. Towering buildings of glass and alloy reflected countless holographic advertisements, their colors blending into ribbons of light that drifted across the city skyline. Information flowed endlessly above the streets, projected by suspended panels that shifted from breaking news to commercial promotions in perfect silence.
Among the countless establishments scattered throughout the district, the Blue Circuit Cafe remained one of the brightest.
Cool blue lights spilled through its crystal walls, washing the sidewalk in soft radiance. On ordinary nights the café buzzed with students, engineers, and programmers exchanging theories over cups of coffee while translucent interfaces floated between them.
Tonight, however...
An unusual silence lingered inside.
Only a handful of booths remained occupied. The countless holographic displays hovering above each table illuminated the otherwise dim interior, their shifting streams of data casting moving reflections across polished metal surfaces.
Inside one of the semi-private booths sat four university students surrounded by floating windows filled with complex simulations.
Lin Yuexin slowly leaned back, rubbing the stiffness from her fingers after nearly three continuous hours of debugging.
The simulation was finally stabilizing.
Across the table, Qin Ruo looked moments away from collapsing face-first onto the console, while Zhao Wenxi remained perfectly focused, refusing to relax until every variable had settled into place.
Yuexin almost smiled at the familiar contrast between them. Her eyes drifted back toward the main display. "Something is wrong."
A tiny fluctuation, it lasted less than a second. So faint that most people would have dismissed it as visual noise.
But Yuexin had spent enough nights staring at system behavior to recognize the difference between random interference and intentional movement.
The projection pulsed again.
She leaned forward, eyes narrowing as the countless windows responded to her commands. Streams of code separated into different layers before rearranging themselves beneath her fingertips.
The others immediately noticed the change in her expression.
"What happened?" Meiling asked quietly.
Yuexin didn't answer.
Not yet.
Her fingers continued dancing across the console, isolating the disturbance from billions of surrounding calculations.
The simulation zoomed outward.
Entire districts unfolded across the projection until only a single point remained highlighted. A tiny, faint, almost invisible. Yet it continued to pulse with remarkable consistency.
"There..." Yuexin's voice barely rose above a whisper. "It isn't random."
The words immediately erased the exhaustion lingering around the table. Qin Ruo straightened. Even Wenxi leaned closer. The highlighted point lay only a short distance from the cafe itself.
A heavy silence settled over the group then curiosity arrived first, excitement followed immediately after.
Qin Ruo was already halfway out of his seat before anyone could stop him. If the anomaly was genuine... They could become the first civilians to witness an unexplained distortion.
Wenxi hesitated because what they're gonna do was very risky. Meiling folded her arms, her excitement noticeably absent. Unlike the others, she wasn't looking at the projection. She was imagining everything that could go wrong.
Like if the distortion involved the ARB or authorities arrived or if they were mistaken for participants instead of witnesses. Explaining themselves would become a nightmare.
Finally, Yuexin broke the silence.
"We won't get close." Her calm voice steadied the room. "We'll only observe from a distance."
No one looked particularly convinced. But still they didn't argued.
The familiar sounds of Xuanjing gradually faded as they left the brighter commercial district behind. Neon signs became fewer. The conversations of passing pedestrians disappeared one after another until only their own footsteps echoed between the buildings.
None of them mentioned it yet every one of them sensed the same thing. The closer they approached, the quieter the city became.
Yuexin checked the signal again. Its intensity had nearly doubled then they turned into a narrower street lined with aging light poles. One of the overhead lamps flickered without any reason. Then another.
Yuexin instinctively slowed. "This is the place..."
Her voice carried none of its earlier confidence. The others stopped beside her. Nothing appeared unusual. There were no people, vehicles or any disturbance. Which somehow made everything feel even worse.
A ripple spread through the empty street which was barely visible. Like heat rising from sunlit asphalt.
Meiling's unease deepened. Something inside her screamed that they should leave immediately.
She opened her mouth to speak but it was too late.
The distortion shuddered. Once. Twice. Instead of expanding... it collapsed.
The surrounding space folded inward toward a single point.
Toward Yuexin.
Her pupils widened. She barely managed to take half a step backward before reality itself twisted around her.
The world fractured.
Her figure blurred like reflected moonlight on disturbed water.
"Yuexin!" Meiling lunged forward.
For the briefest instant, their fingertips touched. But it was too late. Yuexin was gone.
The only thing that was left was the cold sensation of Yuexin's fingertips. The distortion disappeared as though it had never existed.
The blinking streetlights steadied. Everything returned to normal as if nothing had happened.
Except... Lin Yuexin no longer existed there.
Qin Ruo stared blankly at the empty space. He stumbled upon a rock and fell down.
"What... What just happened?"
No one knew. The shock was too great for them to answer. In an instant everything turned upside down.
Elsewhere...
Yuexin stumbled forward, nearly losing her balance as the world snapped violently back into focus.
THUMP— THUMP—
Her heart thumped like it playing drum. Her breathing came in uneven gasps.
The street looked almost identical, the same architectural style, the same floating advertisements, the same towering skyline.
Yet every instinct inside her rejected what her eyes insisted upon. Everything felt wrong. Her hands began trembling uncontrollably. A pressure settled deep inside her chest.
"No..."
The word escaped before she realized she had spoken.
Footsteps echoed behind her. Every hair along the back of her neck stood upright. Before she even realized, dark figures emerged from every direction.
Panic tightened around her throat.
"Why...? Why is this happening to me?"
Fear finally shattered whatever composure remained.
"Who are you?" Her voice cracked. "What do you want from me?"
No answer came.
That silence terrified her far more than any threat could have. Without hesitating any minute, she ran forward as fast as she could. The city blurred around her as desperate footsteps echoed through unfamiliar streets.
Behind her, someone barked a sharp order. "Don't let her leave the perimeter!"
"Perimeter?" She had no time to understand those words. Every instinct screamed at her to keep moving.
A floating display flashed overhead as she sprinted beneath it. The broadcast distorted for a split second before stabilizing.
A familiar face appeared. Lian.
Beneath it, a headline scrolled across the screen.
THE YOUNG RISING STAR LIAN ANNOUNCES INDEFINITE HIATUS
Yuexin's pace faltered. "What...?" That's not possible."
Before she could process it, an overwhelming force descended upon her. She felt like something heavy fell on her. But she couldn't see it. Every step suddenly weighed several times more than before. Her body slowed against her own will.
"Spatial suppression." Recognition flashed across her mind.
A Gravity Suppression Field. One of the rarest pieces of authority-grade technology in existence which only the highest-ranking officials possessed equipment capable of manipulating localized gravity.
Someone important was hunting her.
She turned sharply— and collided with another person. Strong hands caught her before she could hit the ground.
Yuexin looked up.
A tall young woman stood before her, dressed in a black leather jacket that concealed a disciplined, battle-ready posture. Her expression was cold enough to freeze conversation itself, and her eyes carried the quiet confidence of someone long accustomed to danger.
Behind them, the pursuers had stopped. No one stepped forward any further.
The woman spoke only two words. "Step aside."
One pursuer attempted to move. His body halted abruptly in mid-step.
"A restriction field." Realization spread through the group almost simultaneously. Before anyone could react further... the woman disappeared. No. She moved so quickly that the eye simply failed to follow.
A single strike shattered the attacker's stance. His weapon slipped from numb fingers before clattering across the pavement.
No one wished to become the second target. The remaining pursuers exchanged silent glances. They had already reached the same conclusion. This confrontation was no longer worth continuing.
One by one... they withdrew into the darkness. Only after the last presence vanished did the invisible pressure disappear. Yuexin released the breath she hadn't realized she was holding. A nervous laugh escaped her lips.
"That..." She swallowed. "That was terrifying."
The woman finally looked at her. As though examining something invisible beneath her skin.
A faint mechanical voice echoed inside her earpiece.
Temporal misalignment detected.
Unregistered existence confirmed.
Anomaly verified.
The woman's expression never changed.
"You shouldn't be here."
Yuexin stared at her for several long seconds before letting out a weak laugh. "I'm beginning to understand that."
A brief silenced followed.
"What is your name?"
Yuexin hesitated.
Only briefly.
"...Chen Xian."
Yuexin thought to herself, "Only a fool would tell their real name to someone like her".
The woman accepted the answer without comment. "Come with me."
Yuexin glanced back. The world that somehow resembled home while feeling completely alien. Then she looked at the woman again.
"Do I have a choice?"
"No."
She sighed. "I figured."
Straightening her shoulders, she forced herself to smile despite everything.
"Fine. But if I almost die again..." She looked directly into the woman's emotionless eyes. "...someone's paying for it."
For the first time, the woman's expression shifted. It wasn't quite a smile. But something close. "You can try."
Yuexin narrowed her eyes. The woman turned without another word. After one final glance toward the impossible city around her, Yuexin quietly followed.
Behind them, the street remained perfectly still.
As though it had swallowed yet another secret into the endless silence of Xuanjing.