The world was ending.

The enormous World Tree was withering, the continents crumbling, breaking apart.

Molten lava from volcanoes poured into the sea, hurricanes stirred up tsunamis, roaring as they surged over everything in their path.

The highest peak of the world was shattering, its glaciers and mountains sliding down together, as though split by some invisible force—one so powerful it turned the sky pitch black and reached all the way to the edge of the world.

The tree was withering.

The world was withering, too.

Someone was crying.

Someone was screaming.

Someone was whispering.

The sky pressed down heavily, while tides, magma, earth, and storm all fused together—under the influence of some strange power—forming a towering throne.

And on that throne, a pitch-black giant dragon slowly opened its blood-red eyes.

—

In a hospital room inside the affiliated medical center of Shuta Academy, a silver-blue-haired boy lying on the bed also suddenly opened a pair of blood-red eyes.

His name was Liu Ming, a student at the highest institution for resisting Abnormalities—Shuta Academy. He was also the young master of the Liu Family, the top family in the First Human District. Just a few days ago, he’d gotten into a conflict with a fellow student named Yun Zhou, and fell seriously ill after returning—falling into a coma that lasted until now.

“Just now… was that a dream?”

Liu Ming sat up. He turned over and climbed off the hospital bed, his steps wobbly and unsteady—he almost fell to the floor. But he didn’t care. He yanked out the IV needle from the back of his hand and rushed straight to the window of the room.

Drip, drip.

Blood was still dripping from the intravenous port, but Liu Ming couldn’t be bothered. He simply pushed open the window and stared blankly up at the night sky.

The deep blue-black sky twinkled with stars. A towering, semi-transparent giant tree grew in the very center of the First District. Its canopy flowed like soft clouds, casting down star-like light specks, wrapping around the buildings below—gentle, like a cradle.

That was the World Tree, the prison where humanity contained and detained the Abnormalities.

Everything looked completely normal. The incredibly vivid nightmare just now seemed like a fleeting illusion.

But Liu Ming knew with absolute certainty—

That wasn’t a dream.

The world of humanity… was going to be destroyed, very soon.

As for the proof—

The silver-blue-haired boy lifted his gaze with difficulty, trying not to make it too obvious where he was looking—because ever since the dream began, his vision had been covered in lines of floating green text. They appeared out of nowhere and were now burned into his retinas. No matter where he looked, they were always there—unyielding and persistent.

And the content of that text… was even more insane.

> 【That was wild, huh? Our little wolf cub Yun Zhou dreams of the end of the world in the opening scene?!】

【As expected of the protagonist, dreaming of destruction from the get-go. Truly the chosen one. But alas, this ending is unchangeable. After all, this is only the first run—he still needs a second round. How else is the second round supposed to start without the world ending first?】

【Hehehe, exactly! Without total destruction, how’s the “protagonist’s” cheat supposed to kick in?】

…

Liu Ming clenched his fists silently.

What do they mean the world “has” to be destroyed? These guys… why are they so damn irritating?!

And also… wolf cub?

So the scene just now was Yun Zhou’s dream…?

Wait a minute—was that nickname really referring to that Yun Zhou he knew?

That guy was from the cursed Seventh District, a vagabond on the high plains before he was recruited into Shuta Academy as a rookie Regulator. Sure, his spiritual form was a wolf, but what part of that feral guy matched the word “cute”?!

What the hell are these danmaku-like things flashing in front of his eyes?

Liu Ming’s mouth twitched. He honestly felt like he was going to puke.

But the danmaku ignored his feelings and just kept spewing more terrifying truths.

> 【Let’s check in on the cannon-fodder young master Liu Ming, who got into a spat with our adorable wolf cub a few days ago—why’s he still standing there zoning out?!】

【The moment this little master appeared, I pegged him for one of two fates: either whitewashed into a sidekick, or a tragic end as cannon fodder. And look—it’s happening exactly like that.】

【Totally. This young master’s been spoiled rotten by his family. No way he has a deep character arc like the main cast.】

【I can’t anymore lmao. Even though he doesn’t have our all-knowing perspective, his grandpa’s basically on death’s door and he’s still here admiring the night view. Classic little young master.】

【Speaking of, what’s going on with the Liu Family’s head? Wasn’t he fine before?】

【No clue. Probably affected by an Abnormality. With how they show up with every natural disaster, there’s just no defending against them. That sequence top-10 Abnormality that wrecked the whole Seventh District? Yeah, just like that.】

This world had a class of beings called Abnormalities—creatures that might resemble ghosts from old legends, or the root of modern urban horror stories. Some even matched myths and deities in power, wielding destructive abilities capable of ending everything.

Because of the Abnormalities’ emergence, humans had also evolved. A portion of humanity awakened spiritual powers, and were divided into two classes: Sentinels and Guides.

Shuta Academy, where Liu Ming and Yun Zhou studied, was the top institution across all nine human districts for training such gifted individuals.

The Liu Family secured its place in the First District and at Shuta due to their large number of Guide-type members. But their family head—Liu Ming’s grandfather, Liu Lin—had a fatal secret: his spiritual power had been severely injured years ago while attempting to contain the Sequence No. 35 Abnormality, “Scorching Ghost.” Since then, he’d been unfit to battle any Abnormalities.

No. Liu Ming had to find Grandpa—now!

Liu Ming took a deep breath. Years of strict family training kicked in, and he quickly regained his calm.

He thought back to the danmaku… and the countless unseen eyes watching him.

His gaze shifted to a small box sitting on the bedside table.

It was a birthday gift he had prepared for his grandfather.

Deliberately, he said aloud, “Well, since I can’t sleep anyway, might as well go give Grandpa his gift—maybe earn a few affection points while I’m at it.”

Sure enough, the danmaku watchers were still following his every move:

> 【Heh. So this cannon-fodder Liu Ming is just another guy brainwashed by power. Everyone in the Liu family’s the same—fighting over succession. Thought maybe he’d be one of those who gets whitewashed and joins the main squad later, but turns out he’s just as greedy.】

【Not gonna lie though, Liu Lin really did raise Liu Ming as the heir. Among all the Liu kids, he dotes on Liu Ming the most.】

Liu Ming’s eyes dimmed slightly.

He doted on him…?

Did he really?

If those strict rules and discipline he’d grown up with counted as being “spoiled,” then there really wasn’t a single parent in the world who didn’t spoil their kids.

But the danmaku soon hit him with something even scarier:

> 【Sigh, if that’s the case, then it makes sense why he dies so miserably later in Round One. Even though I don’t like him, I still think dying in the Seventh District’s wasteland, getting torn apart alive by a swarm of Abnormalities, is a bit too tragic for this little young master.】

Liu Ming shuddered.

These danmaku… seemed serious.

> 【Whatever, let’s go check on Yun Zhou instead. Looks like they ran into another Abnormality—tsk, no surprise there, he is the protagonist after all!】

Liu Ming finally let out a quiet sigh of relief.

The eerie sensation of being watched vanished in an instant—the invisible eyes that had been locked onto him finally looked away.

Grandpa’s current condition…

His own supposed ending…

Too many red flags.

But now wasn’t the time to get caught up in emotions.

A shadow fell over the boy’s blood-red eyes.

Still in his hospital gown, he didn’t bother changing—he just threw on a black windbreaker, grabbed his silver-rimmed glasses from the bedside, and headed straight for the hospital’s main entrance.

A sleek black car soon pulled up. The driver was one of the Liu Family’s She Wei—the Snake Guards. Tight-lipped and discreet, he wouldn’t question why the young master was wandering around in the middle of the night.

Liu Ming got in the car, his voice crisp and cold:

“Go to Can He Courtyard.”

Can He Courtyard was one of the Liu Family’s private residences, not far from the Shuta Academy Hospital. Normally, it was empty and unused—but Liu Ming knew, without a doubt, that Grandpa would be there tonight.

He looked up.

The sky was pitch-black. Between thick clouds, a full moon glowed faintly.

Tonight was the full moon.

And every full moon, without fail, the Liu Family patriarch would come to this courtyard alone—to sit under the moonlight, beside a pond full of withered lotuses, quietly reminiscing about something.

Liu Ming had never known what was buried beneath that pool of dead lotuses.

All he could see… was the sorrow and pain in Grandpa’s eyes.

And right now…

Liu Ming pushed open the door to the little courtyard.

Moonlight poured down like a waterfall—and the sight before him almost made it impossible to breathe.

It was eerie to the point of nightmare. It completely shattered everything Liu Ming thought he understood about the word “Abnormality.”

In the very center of the antique-style courtyard stood the white-haired Liu Family patriarch, Liu Lin, unmoving like a puppet. Behind him, the pond full of dead lotuses lay in eerie stillness.

His spiritual body—the King Cobra—had uncoiled its enormous form and now wrapped around the entire courtyard. Its pale spiritual energy melted into the moonlight.

When Liu Ming arrived, Liu Lin looked up and smiled kindly at him, just like always.

But Liu Ming couldn’t bring himself to bow like usual.

Because Grandpa’s body—

Was stiff.

His expression was strange.

And around each of his joints… were thin, golden threads, trailing upward into the unseen depths of the sky.

Several Snake Guards stood nearby.

They too… were wrapped in the same creepy golden threads.

“Come here, Liu Ming.”

After a brief frozen moment, Liu Lin seemed to return to normal.

He acted like he didn’t notice the threads at all, still smiling as he beckoned his favorite grandchild over.

“Yes, Grandpa.”

Liu Ming was sure his voice sounded horribly hoarse.

But as a Liu, he couldn’t disobey the patriarch.

So he stepped forward—

Right into the space enclosed by the massive King Cobra’s coils.

In that instant—

It felt like ice-cold rain poured from the sky, washing over him with a bone-deep chill.

His body froze.

He turned slightly—

And saw the same golden threads beginning to emerge from the joints of his own body.

These golden threads weren’t physical—

They were more like a type of spiritual power.

Not something caused by Grandpa’s spiritual force,

But something that could only appear because of it.

“Grandpa… what is this?”

He suddenly looked up, staring at the elder standing amidst the entranced Snake Guards.

“This,” Liu Lin replied, smiling gently, “is the Plot Thread.”

He even said it with that same warm, scholarly tone he always used at the Seventh District’s council meetings.

“Plot… thread?”

Liu Ming thought of the danmaku again.

To them, everything about this world seemed like a novel—a story made for entertainment.

“So… what is that?”

His own voice tasted bitter in his mouth.

“Who knows?” Liu Lin said with a half-smile. “Maybe it’s an Abnormality. Or maybe it’s something even more terrifying. A force stronger than all Abnormalities combined. Maybe our world is just a book? A game? A manga? Whatever it is… it doesn’t matter.”

“What matters is: we’re in it.

And…”

Liu Lin smiled again.

Liu Ming could tell—Grandpa was relaxed.

More relaxed than he’d ever seen him before.

All the usual pressure of being the First District’s decision-maker was gone.

As if, after glimpsing the truth behind the world…

Everything else had become as meaningless as raindrops against a windowpane.

None of it mattered anymore.

“We have to follow the future written out for us by this Plot Thread. If we don’t—”

Liu Lin suddenly smiled wider.

He walked over to one of the Snake Guards—this one wearing a silver cobra mask.

Without warning, he grabbed the guard’s dagger from his belt—

—and stabbed himself hard in the chest!

“Grandpa!!”

It all happened in an instant.

Liu Ming barely had time to react.

He bolted forward, trying to stop him—

But the wound…

That gaping, horrible wound…

Was healing.

No, not just healing.

It was recovering at terrifying speed, even without any help from a healing-type spiritual power.

Five seconds? Ten?

Liu Ming’s perception blurred under the weight of shock, but he knew something was wrong.

Something was very wrong.

With the rise of Abnormalities, humanity had started producing gifted individuals—espers—divided into Sentinels and Guides.

Combat-type espers, who used their powers through spiritual force, were called Sentinels.

Mental, healing, and some support-type espers who could soothe and guide others’ spiritual bodies after combat were known as Guides.

Guides were extremely rare. Their overpowered spiritual force made them scarce in number, and they lacked the physical strength of Sentinels.

But Grandpa’s recovery speed—

It was faster than a wounded Sentinel being healed by a Guide.

It was clearly not normal!

Liu Ming realized it instantly:

“It’s because of those golden threads, isn’t it?!”

Liu Lin gave him a rare, genuinely proud look.

He nodded.

“That’s right. Because of these golden threads, every one of our futures has already been locked in. We’ve even lost the right to choose death.”

“I just saw it.

I saw our future through Y231.

It’s all darkness. Total destruction. Even the World Tree will wither and die.

And before that future fully arrives…

We will die.

The Liu Family will be expelled from the council of the Seventh District.

We’ll be betrayed, abandoned—turned into the laughingstock of the world.”

Liu Lin looked at Liu Ming.

His words were slow and heavy.

“And you…

You’re going to die a very miserable death.”

Liu Ming felt a chill crawl down his spine.

Y stood for “Abnormality.” Y231—an entity ranked 231 in the Abnormality Sequence List. Liu Ming had always scored full marks when it came to memorizing the list, and now his gaze snapped toward the object in his grandfather’s hand—

At some point, a ring had appeared there.

A simple silver ring, shaped like a coiled snake.

But… wasn’t Y231 the one that had never been found by the Tower?

Ever since the Abnormalities descended, the Tower—humanity’s combat agency overseeing the seven major Safe Zones—had paid a heavy price to compile the Abnormality Sequence List, which was now pretty much required knowledge for every citizen. All known Abnormalities had their names, traits, and weaknesses listed there.

And Y231… was one of the most mysterious entries in the entire list.

It wasn’t one of the top 50 most dangerous entities.

But humans couldn’t perceive it at all.

Even the most sensitive spiritual-type Guides couldn’t detect Y231’s presence.

That was why it was known as the “Abnormality That Doesn’t Exist.”

Yet now, that very Abnormality had taken the form of a quiet silver serpent ring, lying calmly in Grandpa’s palm.

Add to that the terrifying ending Grandpa had just mentioned…

And the danmaku’s comments about Liu Ming dying horribly in Round One…

Liu Ming took a deep breath.

He couldn’t accept a future like that.

And he definitely couldn’t accept the fall of the Liu Family.

He looked at Liu Lin and said, “Grandpa, you must have a plan. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have waited here for me.”

Liu Lin let out a long sigh.

“This may sound a little melodramatic at this point,” he said, “but as your elder, I still have to ask: the road ahead is extremely difficult… Are you ready to walk it?”

Liu Ming didn’t say a word.

He simply reached out his hand—

Ready to take the ring from Liu Lin at any moment.

“I understand, Grandpa,” he said quietly.

“It’s because I know how many conspiracies are hidden behind the Liu Family’s heir position… that I chose to fight my siblings for it.”

Liu Ming smiled.

He’d grown up following Liu Lin’s every step, and had learned far more than any of his older brothers or sisters. That was exactly why he understood so clearly—

The position of the Liu Family heir, as the rulers of the First District, wasn’t a throne.

It was a bottomless abyss.

And he had to make it his.

“…Y231 actually has a real name,” Liu Lin said softly.

“It’s called the Ring of Nibelungen.”

He picked up the ring and gently slid it onto Liu Ming’s finger himself.

“Y231 can help its host completely block out the influence of the Plot Threads. But it only works for one person. I’ve already been marked by ‘It’—because I discovered the existence of the threads.”

Liu Lin placed a firm hand on Liu Ming’s shoulder, eyes full of unspoken weight.

“The rest of the Liu Family… is yours now.”

He led the stunned Liu Ming to the courtyard’s entrance.

Then, his expression turned grave, and he spoke with a tone that left no room for doubt.

“After tonight—

Even I will be your enemy.”

Without warning, he shoved Liu Ming out through the door.

And in the very next second—

A strange, electronic voice rang out.

> 【Hello, Host. Welcome to the World Regulation Bureau Service System. This is Misunderstanding Value System T231, at your service!】

> 【Abnormality Y003 “Wheel of Fate” (also known as Plot Threads) has been detected. One of the most dangerous Abnormalities in this world. If you wish to eliminate it—then now that you’ve seen the truth behind the world, please begin running.】

Suddenly, the voice claiming to be T231 shifted.

It was no longer cold and robotic—it now carried a hint of playfulness, as if something else were speaking through it.

【Liu Family heir.】