Chosen: Beyond Fate

The rain grew heavier as thunder boomed continuously.

On his way home, Ji Jue noticed that in some places the floodwater had already risen to knee height.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t stay over at Mrs. Lu’s house. After all, Lu Feng could always sleep on the couch. The main issue was that Lu Feng’s snoring was outrageously loud, so much so that even thunder rumbling through the walls couldn’t drown it out. Ji Jue had no idea how the others tolerated it.

Besides, whenever weather like this came around, he always felt uneasy. The old house had stood for many years already. Leaks and electrical faults were practically normal occurrences. If nobody took care of it, two days of soaking rain would probably be enough for the whole thing to collapse. Now that he’d finally earned some money, he figured he should hire someone to renovate it.

After returning home, Ji Jue checked the second floor and the basement. After confirming there was no seepage or leaking water, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Following his usual schedule, he spent two hours stubbornly grinding away with the pocket watch, then practiced Dissociation Technique for a while using the scrap materials he had brought back.

Finally, Ji Jue yawned and prepared to go to sleep. Then, all of a sudden, he felt a vibration at his wrist. It was actually Mr. Watch, which hadn’t made any noise in ages! A window abruptly popped up, flashing before Ji Jue’s eyes.

[Spatial stability value anomaly warning. Drifting Time Ruin detected. Distance: 979 kilometers. Connect?]

A Time Ruin? And a drifting one at that?

Ji Jue’s head started aching. Why the hell had something like this suddenly spawned now?

These days, the world was anything but peaceful, and life out in the wilderness was even worse. Earthquakes, flash floods, and storms could strike at any moment. If it wasn’t that, then there were swarms of hostile beasts. Every now and then, they’d run into disaster-class monsters that could swallow an entire armed convoy in an instant.

Because of that, outside the Federation’s dozen or so major cities like Cliff City, there weren’t many settlements left, except for small towns or clustered communities built in narrow, stable zones. Even then, they survived on scarce resources and had to rely on nearby major cities for supplies and support.

Under the ravages of countless disasters, every major city had been designed from the very beginning with all kinds of contingencies in mind. Maybe they were not completely impregnable or as immovable as a mountain, but at the very least they were built within regions proven stable by time itself.

Nine hundred kilometers was within Cliff City’s sphere of influence. At that distance, that thing was right in their faces.

Now that a Time Ruin had suddenly appeared this close, Ji Jue could practically picture the Security Bureau going absolutely berserk from shock. Chances were, Tong Shan had already been dragged out of bed to work overtime.

After all, this was a full-blown emergency situation!

If a rift realm was considered a complete large-scale fragment torn away from reality, then a Time Ruin was an eerie phenomenon formed when countless tiny fragments gathered and fused with the uncontrolled essence of Supreme Benevolence.

Sometimes they were caused by the entanglement and collision of the power of Supreme Benevolence, and sometimes by the excessive devastation and trauma left behind by war. Sometimes they were remnants left after tectonic upheavals or natural disasters that ravaged the land. Or perhaps they had been influenced and corrupted by the Nine Abominations lurking beneath the Vortex.

The inside of a Time Ruin was completely different from the real world. Its internal laws and ecosystem were beyond abnormal, and even the flow of time differed.

Time Ruins were like malignant tumors born from mutation. Once one appeared, it had to be dismantled from within as quickly as possible. Otherwise, as the Time Ruin continued to develop and expand out of control, who knew what kind of horrifying abomination would emerge once it finally shattered?

This time, the Security Bureau was in for a nightmare. Still, at least it wasn’t in North Mount District, so there was no need to worry about disaster reaching Ji Jue’s doorstep.

With a slight spectator-like curiosity, Ji Jue whistled softly. He was just about to take a shower before lying in bed to read for a while when he suddenly sensed that something was... off.

[Spatial stability value anomaly warning. Drifting Time Ruin detected. Distance: 900 kilometers. Connect?]

Wait. That number... isn’t it...

Ji Jue narrowed his eyes and leaned closer to inspect the notification carefully. But no matter how much he leaned in, the size of the window occupying his vision didn’t change at all. Only the number on it changed.

[Distance: 850 kilometers]

[Distance: 700 kilometers]

His face twitched. Wait, this is getting serious!

***

Late at night, rain poured down in torrents while lightning rumbled endlessly.

“Mom... Mom...”

In her groggy half-sleep, Mrs. Lu felt someone shaking her arm. Slowly opening her eyes through the haze of drowsiness, she saw the youngest child hugging a pillow.

“I can’t sleep.”

Mrs. Lu propped herself halfway up and gently rubbed his face. “What’s wrong? Did you have a nightmare? Is your sister grinding her teeth again?”

“It felt like... like something passed by.” The child trembled, tears glimmering in his eyes. “Something huge... really huge... and really scary...”

“It’s okay, it’s okay. Mommy’s here.” Mrs. Lu carefully reached out and lifted the child onto the bamboo sleeping mat, drawing him into her arms. Gone were her usual roughness and short temper as she gently stroked his hair. “Go to sleep now, go to sleep. Mommy will protect you.”

“Mhm.” The child snuggled against her chest, shifting into a more comfortable position and pressing close. “I love Mommy the most. I want to always be with you, Mommy.”

And so, Mrs. Lu smiled as she glanced at the clock beside the bed. Listening to the gradually steady breathing in her arms, before long, she too drifted into deep sleep.

Outside the window, the storm raged on with its lightning and torrential rain.

***

Under the same torrential rain, Wen Wen was jolted awake by her phone ringing. Within seconds of answering, all traces of her grogginess vanished. She sat up abruptly.

“A drifting Time Ruin? What the hell?!” She scratched her messy hair in shock and blurted out, “Tong Shan, are you serious?!”

“Yes, that’s correct.” The voice on the other end of the call remained steady, though the urgency was clear. “Fifteen minutes ago, we received an early warning from Spring City. Due to a lapse in the containment seal, a fully formed Time Ruin broke away from the subterranean cavity and is drifting toward Cliff City. It has already entered North Mount District...”

Wen Wen gritted her teeth in anger. “We spent so much money and transferred so many personnel over there, and you still let something that big slip through?! What exactly is your department doing?!”

The alert level for the Time Ruin originating from Spring City’s underground caverns was extremely high to begin with. And now it was drifting straight into a populated urban area? No one knew what level of damage it could cause!

Even a stationary Time Ruin had to be strictly sealed both inside and out and dealt with as quickly as possible. Anyone who accidentally entered its range had a chance of being pulled inside, and once inside, survival was almost impossible. There was virtually no chance of coming out alive.

Chosen Ones, due to their strong Supreme Benevolence traits and compatibility, were often even more easily drawn in. Some Chosen Ones even actively sought out Time Ruins for blessings or advancement, treating related contracts as paid expeditions. Experienced Time Ruin hunters handled them as if they were dungeon runs.

But who the hell would go into a Time Ruin without being fully prepared or without proper intel or emergency plans? Who would want to enter a dungeon that just drifted straight into their face?!

Tong Shan slowly said, “People from the Third Division are already preparing the ritual to connect to the Eternal Gate. We hope to seal it before it goes out of control. However, based on current observations, it has already activated. I suggest North Mount Division makes preparations as well. If it does go out of control, be ready for immediate containment and cleanup.”

Wen Wen was already getting dressed. She let out a tired sigh. “Can things get any worse than this?”

Tong Shan didn’t reply immediately. That silence made Wen Wen pause as well.

“Don’t tell me...” she said slowly.

A rare hint of anxiety appeared in Tong Shan’s usually calm voice. “Tong Hua is missing.”

“What the hell?!” Wen Wen’s eyes widened. “About half an hour ago, she left home to comfort a friend going through a breakup. She drove out despite the weather.”

Tong Shan sighed. “Before I called you, our family found her car by the roadside. It was empty. Her phone screen was still on, but the emergency call never went through.”

A crack appeared across Wen Wen’s phone screen. She flew into a rage. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?!”

“Would it have changed anything if I had?” Tong Shan’s tone turned calm again, almost icy cold. “Are we supposed to mobilize Mountain Light at any cost and risk burning down everything within dozens of kilometers just to forcibly break open the Time Ruin because she’s my sister?”

Wen Wen was speechless. She covered her face and let out a helpless sigh.

She remembered the first time she met Tong Hua. That girl who loved running around everywhere had once been chased through ruins by a parasitic shadow beast from an urban legend. She had actually ended up finding real ghosts in her paranormal investigation. This was the first time she’d seen someone even more unlucky than Ji Jue.

Wait.

She froze. Eventually, she said, “I remember that objects that carry Vortex and disaster-related aura are supposed to attract each other, right?”

“That’s correct. The most common method currently used to divert a drifting Time Ruin is to use corrupted aggregation matter and rituals to lure it away from its original trajectory,” Tong Shan replied, though he was confused by the question. “It’s also one of the backup approaches the Third Division is preparing to use.”

The tension in Wen Wen’s muscles finally eased up. She let out a breath of relief. Even her hurried movements steadied, losing all sense of panic.

If that theory was true, then there was only one person who could turn the tables. He was the single most unlucky Chosen One in Cliff City who would most strongly attract the drifting Time Ruin.

After she called that unfortunate guy three times on the landline and still got no answer, she finally calmed down completely. Not sure whether to feel relieved or exasperated, Wen Wen barked a bitter laugh. “Alright. No need to worry anymore. Let’s take it slow.”

It had only been a few months, but she had already gotten used to it. Whenever something involved Ji Jue, no matter how normal it seemed at first, it would inevitably turn into a mess. The moment she heard that Ji Jue was among the unlucky ones this time, she strangely felt a sense of calm.

After all, with him around, things couldn’t possibly get any worse than they already were. Surely things wouldn’t be more dangerous than last time, when he ended up in Lawrence’s trap, or when he jumped straight into the muddy chaos of the White Deer conflict, right?

***

Darkness swallowed Ji Jue whole. A spinning, swaying drop followed, alongside a gut-churning feeling of weightlessness. He felt as if he had dropped into a bottomless pit and was bouncing around like a rag sack tossed in every direction.

Finally, he hit the ground.

Overwhelmed by an unprecedented wave of vertigo and nausea, he coughed frantically and forced his eyes open with great difficulty. All he could see was a dim, flickering light overhead. The air carried a familiar smell of disinfectant, and beneath it, a thick, sticky scent of blood.

Still dazed, he instinctively pushed himself up and looked around, utterly confused. What the hell. It’s already bad enough that this damn Time Ruin just jumps me like that, but where the hell did it bring me to? Am I even still in the country?!

He heard a cold voice coming from the doorway. “Not bad. You’re the best among the newcomers this time.”