The cold floor of the Buldam Express train car trembled faintly beneath Yan Shuo's shoe soles as he stepped inside. He glanced to the right and left, finding an unusual sight: the carriage was fairly empty. Only a handful of passengers sat far apart, immersed in their own silence, as if each of them carried secrets too heavy to share. Yan Shuo continued walking, passing through corridor after corridor that exuded the scent of metal and stiff circulated air. Eventually, he found an empty seat in the middle row, a position that granted him a sense of privacy amid the emptiness of the car.
He dropped into the seat, letting his back rest against the hard backrest. By reflex, his hand slipped into his pocket and pulled out his phone. For him, there was no day without games. In a world that was beginning to feel increasingly irrational, the pixels on his screen were the only reality he could fully control. His thumbs began to move, but his concentration shattered when a low static buzz echoed from the carriage speakers.
"Attention, the train will depart shortly. Please stay clear of the doors and mind your safety."
The conductor's voice sounded flat and emotionless, as if utterly unenthusiastic. The automatic sliding doors closed with a sharp hiss of air, locking them inside the metal tube. The train slowly began to move, leaving Central Station behind. Vibrations traveled from the rails to the floor, then up into Yan Shuo's bones. That was when a strange sensation struck him.
An inexplicable sense of unease crawled up the back of his neck. Yan Shuo turned off his phone, the black screen now reflecting his pale face. His heart pounded violently against his chest with an irregular rhythm. Panic swelled without any clear cause, an existential anxiety that made his palms slick with cold sweat. He gripped the edge of the seat, trying to regulate his breathing, but his lungs seemed to reject oxygen itself.
He tried to suppress the inner turmoil, forcing his logic to function. Yet the panic did not fully fade. To distract himself from his internal madness, he turned his phone back on. The screen showed 08:57. With slightly trembling fingers, he reopened the app, attempting to drown himself in the game to kill the invisible fear. Outside the window, the cityscape slowly faded, replaced by towering industrial buildings as the train sped toward Buldam City.
Far from the railway line, in a corner of the city forgotten by sunlight, the atmosphere felt far heavier. In a narrow alley flanked by damp concrete walls covered in graffiti, a woman walked with undeniable authority. She had a slim yet firm build, wearing neatly cut black trousers and a dark top that clung perfectly to her body, giving off an impression that was both functional and threatening. Her straight black hair fell loose, framing a face with flat, emotionless eyes devoid of empathy. In her left hand, she held an old communication radio that continuously emitted static.
She stopped in front of a man who stood in stark contrast to her neat appearance. The man wore a dull silver jacket and white trousers that were now filthy. His dark red hair was messy, covering part of his sharp, ice-cold eyes. He lay sprawled among piles of trash, sipping alcohol from a glass bottle as if the world around him did not exist.
Without any pleasantries, the woman approached him. With a swift motion and no warning, she snatched the bottle from his hand.
Crack!
The glass bottle shattered directly against the man's head, drenching his face and silver jacket with liquor. He let out a low growl, a sound more beast than human. He rose slowly, letting shards of glass fall from his shoulders. His eyes flashed with anger as he glared at the woman, but that fury quickly extinguished when he saw the lethal calm in her gaze.
"Alright, alright… I'll do it as soon as possible," the man muttered hoarsely, turning his face away.
The woman briefly glanced at her radio before looking back at him. "There are many guards around the outskirts of Laskas City. We can start causing chaos there. So work fast, bastard."
The red-haired man merely snorted. "Fineee," he replied with a dragged, mocking tone, then walked away, disappearing into the deeper darkness of the alley.
The woman remained still. She looked up, staring at a patch of gray sky above the alley. She adjusted her radio, searching for a certain frequency, then directed her palm downward. In an instant, a transparent sonic wave burst from her hand, slamming into the asphalt and creating an immense thrust. Her body shot upward, landing lightly atop a tall building as if gravity were nothing more than a suggestion. She turned off her radio, spreading her arms wide, savoring the strong wind that lashed against her face. A cold smile formed. This city, she thought, would soon become very quiet after the storm she would unleash swept through it.
Back inside the train carriage, the agonizing panic within Yan Shuo gradually subsided, leaving behind overwhelming exhaustion. He still stared at his phone screen, seeing the time now read 09:19. According to the estimated schedule, the train would soon enter the outer territory of Laskas City before reaching its final stop.
He murmured softly, trying to make sense of the strangeness he had just experienced. "Why does my body suddenly feel so strange?" He assumed he might simply be hungry or dehydrated.
But something far more concrete and pressing soon took over his thoughts: debt. Yan Shuo clutched his throbbing head. He remembered his boss, a rough man who would not hesitate to kick him out if he made another mistake. The debt was supposed to be paid next month on payday, but in a moment of madness, he had spent most of his money on high-quality meat to make his mother happy.
He leaned back in his seat, staring blankly at the carriage ceiling. "Where else could I work… am I really always this careless?" The question was directed at himself, a bitter self-criticism. He imagined his boss's face flushed red with rage if he showed up empty-handed. "Should I ask for another delay? But it seems like he'd fire me the moment I arrived."
Regret now felt far more real than the earlier panic. He recalled his conversation with his parents that morning, about his ambition to enter Noxward, about his grand dream of becoming someone powerful. And now here he was—a young man who couldn't even manage his allowance and was on the verge of losing his menial job.
"Should I cancel it?" he muttered uncertainly. "Cancel everything and go back to doing manual labor?"
He drifted into thought, watching the shadows of buildings flash by outside the window. On one side was the safety of failure—a mundane, boring, but secure life. On the other was a dangerous path toward Noxward, full of uncertainty yet promising extraordinary power.
He took a deep breath, trying to clear his mind. He decided to try one last thing: asking for another extension on the debt, even if the chances were slim. Yan Shuo's expression hardened; his previously weary eyes now stared straight ahead. He no longer looked at his phone.
Ready.
Yan Shuo fixed his gaze on an imaginary point in the air, carefully crafting negotiation sentences that might soften his boss's heart. But in the midst of that tense seriousness, an unfamiliar presence shattered his bubble of privacy. The scent of expensive tobacco and elegant woody perfume suddenly drifted over, followed by a man who sat directly across from him with a movement far too relaxed for public transportation.
The man was the same mysterious figure from the station earlier. His sunglasses still sat arrogantly on his face, reflecting Yan Shuo's tense expression. Rather than being surprised, Yan Shuo merely let out a tired sigh.
"Please move," he said flatly without looking away. "I'd really appreciate it if you stayed away from me right now."
The man did not budge. Instead, he adjusted his sitting position to become more comfortable, as if the plastic train seat were a velvet sofa in a private lounge.
"What are you pondering so seriously, young man? Is it the complexities of romance?" he asked in a deep, probing voice.
Yan Shuo did not answer. He tried to focus back on his phone, but he could feel the gaze behind those dark lenses fixed on him. The intensity of it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Annoyed, Yan Shuo glanced at him sharply.
"Sir, please stay away from me. I'm still normal."
The man burst into laughter, the sound echoing through the quiet carriage and causing a few distant passengers to frown and look over.
"I'm still under twenty-five, not some old man!" he protested once his laughter subsided. "And I'm still normal too, just so you know."
At that moment, a beautiful woman in fashionable clothes walked through the corridor. Due to a small jolt as the train passed over a rail joint, she lost her balance and nearly fell. With astonishing agility, the man darted forward and caught her by the waist in a movement that looked theatrical and romantic.
"Careful when you walk, beautiful," he whispered with a forced charming smile.
Instead of being flattered, the woman gave him an extremely disgusted look. She shoved his chest hard to break free, then hurried away while muttering sharply, "Disgusting."
Instantly, the man's dominant aura deflated. He returned to his seat with slumped shoulders, collapsing right next to Yan Shuo. Yan Shuo merely watched the scene with an indifferent expression.
"So, what do you actually want from me?"
The man fell silent for a moment, gazing out the window where the silhouettes of skyscrapers surrounded by modern energy domes were beginning to appear.
"I just want someone to talk to. I'm also heading to Laskas City to carry out a mission."
"What kind of mission?" Yan Shuo asked skeptically.
"A very secret and important mission," the man replied, his tone turning serious again.
Yan Shuo snorted. "Probably just flirting with women."
The man immediately draped an arm around Yan Shuo's shoulders in a familiar manner. "Only a shallow-minded kid would think that. I'm a very loyal man, you know."
"Get away from me," Yan Shuo brushed the arm aside. "And I'm eighteen years old, so don't call me a kid, Uncle."
"Hey, since you're calling me uncle, then I'll keep calling you kid. That's a fair deal, right?" the man chuckled.
Yan Shuo could only turn away, irritated by the mysterious man's overly familiar behavior. He checked the time on his phone: 09:25. In the distance, watchtowers along the city border emitting bluish neon light came into view, signaling that they had arrived at Laskas City.