A shrouded lake, still and colorless, stretched endlessly into the haze. Cold mist clung to the surface like a veil, obscuring the edges of reality. Within that liminal space, a faint glow pulsed—soft, eerie, and violet in hue—casting strange, flickering reflections across the water.
There, lying amidst the thin layer of mist above the lake's surface, was a man.
Wang Ming.
His expression was dazed, eyes wide with disorientation as he slowly sat up. His breath fogged slightly in the chilled air, and for a long moment, he simply stared at the strange door standing upright not far from him—an impossible sight. The door floated, unsupported, several centimeters above the water's surface, wreathed in violet qi and drifting purple motes that shimmered like distant stars.
"…What is happening?" Wang Ming muttered aloud, his voice hoarse and uncertain. "Why am I here… in this place?"
His brows furrowed deeply as fragments of memory stirred within him—scenes of horror, a battle, screaming, blood...
Then it struck him.
"Ah… I remember now."
He inhaled sharply. His body tensed.
"I was devoured—completely swallowed—by that damn Zerg alien at Base Camp… along with the others. My coworkers… they were all…"
He trailed off, a bitter chuckle rising in his throat. Slowly, he stood up, his boots pressing against the water's surface, but making no sound.
"So this is the afterlife, huh?"
A breeze passed through the mist, whispering through unseen spaces, carrying with it the soft scent of something old—books? Dust? Blood?
Wang Ming raised his arms slightly, closing his eyes and inhaling the otherworldly air, before exhaling a sigh that trembled with resignation.
"My life… wasn't completely meaningless," he murmured. "But it was filled with regrets. The greatest one? I couldn't even land a single scratch on that bastard who tore me apart. He must've enjoyed the taste, right?"
His voice cracked on the edge of a laugh, but there was no joy in it....only a hollow echo swallowed by the surrounding mist.
"…Well, what does it matter now? I'm already dead."
His gaze returned to the door tall, ancient-looking, and etched with symbols that pulsed faintly with violet light. The air around it shimmered, as though reality itself rejected its presence.
"And what is this place, anyway?" he muttered, turning his head slightly. "A lake with no end… mist for a sky… one strange-ass door floating like a ghost…"
He narrowed his eyes. "Bit boring for an afterlife, isn't it? Just one color… purple, everywhere."
A quiet laugh slipped from his lips—soft, self-mocking.
Still, something about the door gnawed at his curiosity. Slowly, deliberately, he walked across the shallow water, noting how it rippled gently under his feet but made no sound. The door remained fixed, untouched by the surface tension beneath it, as if it existed in a space between worlds.
When he stood before it, Wang Ming leaned slightly forward, observing the structure with more scrutiny.
"…Strange. The water's about six or seven inches deep, but the door's hovering just a few centimeters above it. No supports. No reflections. Nothing."
He tilted his head.
"That's not creepy at all."
Despite himself, a sense of childlike wonder flickered in his eyes. Then he smirked.
"Well," he muttered, "I'm already dead. What's the worst that could happen?"
Reaching forward, his fingers stretched toward the strange structure. But before he could touch it before he could even feel the space grow cold around his fingertips the door abruptly creaked open on its own.
The air split with a groan that seemed to come from the depths of the void itself.
Wang Ming instinctively recoiled, startled, but it was too late.
From within the violet glow, several tentacles burst forth black, slick, and otherworldly. They twisted unnaturally, their movement silent and swift. Five, no, six wrapped around his limbs and torso before he could even scream properly.
"No ,wait, what the hell is this....?!"
His voice echoed once, then was silenced.
The tentacles yanked him forward without mercy, dragging his struggling form into the yawning door. The mist surged around them, parting for the unnatural appendages.
Then the door slammed shut.
The lake returned to silence.
Darkness swallowed everything.
…
Wang Ming's eyes fluttered open again.
This time, he found himself standing before a wooden pedestal—simple in design, but covered in carved runes that shifted and rearranged themselves when he looked directly at them. Upon the pedestal lay a single book, its cover closed, but faintly pulsating with the same purple aura that had surrounded the door.
The atmosphere here was heavy, suffocating almost. The air felt thick with forgotten knowledge and ancient authority.
And then he heard it.
A voice. Cold. Mechanical. Inhuman.
[The Door of the Myriad Realm has been opened. Controller detected.]
The words were flat, devoid of emotion, yet they resonated directly in his mind.
Wang Ming stiffened, his brows drawing tight.
"Door of the Myriad Realm…? Controller? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
His voice trembled slightly not with fear, but with the unfamiliar weight of cosmic incomprehensibility pressing upon him.
He looked around, searching for the source of the voice, but the space was empty. Or perhaps, it was merely veiled,just like the mist before.
Before he could process further, the voice returned, this time with rhythmic clarity:
[First travel of the new controller is beginning. Countdown: 3… 2… 1… Initiating.]
"No, wait—what do you mean first travel.."
But his words were cut short.
A great pressure bore down on his mind, as if the heavens themselves had pressed a thumb to his forehead. His thoughts scattered. Vision collapsed inward. His body dissolved into pure awareness.
Darkness. where he could see nothing, just feel his body his hands, his legs his eyes his face but he can't move them nor was he able to see anything in the darkness.
Then, a voice—a human voice, distant but unmistakably real called out from the void like a rope flung to a drowning man waking him up from the pure darkness he was previously in .
"Wang ming! Wake up quickly! Lord Zi has summoned you!"
Hearing the unknown voice Wang Ming slowly openned his eyes while his head still in pain he opened his eyes and found himself in an unknown room...