“You came…”

In the darkness, Lin Han’s slightly muffled voice rang out.

The sorrow in his tone was as heavy as the impenetrable darkness itself.

After a moment of silence, a second voice sounded from the darkness. It was clear and crisp, the kind of voice that brought to mind the graceful trill of a bird, yet it too carried a dim sadness.

“Yes, I came.”

“You shouldn’t have.”

“But I’m already here.”

The exhaustion in Lin Han’s voice was undisguised. “This isn’t a place you should come to, little sister. Go back, while there’s still time…”

“But, Brother, the time has come…”

The tearful voice replied, “The Sword of Damocles is about to fall, whether the sinner is ready or not.”

“There’s still time.”

“Give it up, my brother.”

“This is an unfair verdict! I demand an appeal, Judge!”

“This is a fair and upright trial.”

“Then… the only one who can judge me is God.”

“Gott ist tot (God is dead).”

“But this…”

Whatever Lin Han was about to say was cut off by the pressure on his stomach.

At the same time, with a crisp “swish,” the curtains were thrown wide open. The room’s remaining darkness was pierced by the sunlight. On the bed, Lin Han squirmed for a while like a bug caught in a spider’s web, eventually giving up the resistance.

“Are you done yet?!”

In Lin Han’s hazy vision, the young girl’s face rapidly magnified.

Her breath, carrying the fresh scent of toothpaste and a hint of moisture, hit his face. Lin Han felt like he could count the girl’s eyelashes fluttering like butterfly wings, and even the fine lines on her lips.

It was a face so beautiful it seemed almost like something crafted by the gods, yet Lin Han still pushed it away in disgust with one hand. “That’s way too close…”

The girl straightened up and pouted: “Why do I have to waste my precious morning acting out little skits with you?”

As she spoke, her foot, clad in a white thigh-high sock, stepped lightly on Lin Han’s stomach. Lin Han cooperatively bared his teeth in mock pain.

“Looks to me like you’re enjoying it too…”

Lin Han’s gaze traveled upward from his stomach, passing over straight, slender calves, the absolute territory between skirt hem and stockings, a faintly visible mysterious area, a slim waist with not an ounce too much or too little, the girl’s perfectly proportioned chest wrapped in a student uniform, and finally arriving at the face carrying a mix of helplessness and irritation.

“W City morning news reports: At 5:15 AM today, a B-Class Calamity suddenly appeared in the West Business District. A mutant with the ability to manipulate electricity caused an explosive combustion of high-voltage power lines, leading to a temporary traffic suspension on surrounding roads.”

“A squad under the Special Operations Division of the Salvation Against Violent Entities Bureau rushed to the scene, swiftly subduing the mutant and eliminating the hazard. This incident resulted in no civilian casualties, and power and traffic at the scene are currently being gradually restored.”

“The Salvation Against Violent Entities Bureau officially reminds you: If citizens notice any abnormal activity, please keep your distance and evacuate via emergency channels immediately. Do not approach dangerous areas, and if…”

At the dining table in Lin Han’s home, Jiang Wanfeng held a chopstick in one hand, repeatedly poking at the boiled egg in her bowl. She then looked up, glancing at the TV host who was broadcasting the breaking news in a flat tone, and commented:

“W City’s been pretty rough lately. This is already the fifth one this month, right?… Ouch! That hurts!”

“How many times have I told you? Don’t play with your food while eating. Are you a three-year-old?”

Lin Han retracted the hand that had just knocked his little sister on the head. After scolding her, he added with a look of disdain, “Hurry up, finish eating, and get your ass to class. Stop talking nonsense.”

“Tch~ I’m only worried because my dear big brother works for SAVE. What if something happens to you? And this is how you treat my kindness…”

Jiang Wanfeng muttered, drawing out a long “Hmph” to voice her displeasure.

“What do you mean ‘something happens to me’? Watch what you say…” Lin Han rubbed the corners of his eyes, feeling that this girl would be the death of him sooner or later.

About ten years ago on Blue Star, a fraction of the population suddenly awakened extraordinary abilities—be it magic, superpowers, or even various legendary powers—but this phenomenon was accompanied by unprecedented crises.

Anti-social Ability Users, mutated natural disasters, unknown viruses, extra-dimensional creatures…

After a brief period of turmoil, the United Nations declared these threats to human life and civilization as “Calamities,” categorizing them from Class D to S based on their threat level, and established a specialized countermeasure organization.

Namely, the Salvation Against Violent Entities, abbreviated as SAVE.

However, even though Lin Han currently worked at SAVE’s W City branch, he hadn’t awakened any extraordinary powers himself.

So, fundamentally speaking, Lin Han felt he was more like the cannon fodder in tokusatsu shows1, charging at monsters with high-tech weapons that were barely useful.

But those human heroes with extraordinary powers still had to eat, sleep, shit, and live. You couldn’t expect them to finish fighting monsters and then personally handle all the cleanup and mundane aftermath too.

So in a sense, grunts like Lin Han were absolutely indispensable to the organization.

Besides, reality wasn’t a tokusatsu show. In most cases, the organization wouldn’t actually make ordinary people like Lin Han carry out suicide charges against a Calamity. Otherwise, someone really could ask those heroes, “Look at what exactly it is you’re protecting.”

But he was getting off-topic.

Breakfast time passed leisurely as usual, filled with the meaningless bickering between the siblings.

“I’m off to school! Stay safe, bro. If you kick the bucket, I’ll end up sleeping under an overpass with a little blanket!”

At the door, with her backpack slung over her shoulders, Jiang Wanfeng waved at Lin Han. Lin Han replied with a perfunctory wave of his own.

Jiang Wanfeng pulled down her lower eyelid to make a funny face, then swaggered out.

The house suddenly fell quiet.

Lin Han checked the time. It was seven-thirty, so there was still a while before he had to be at work at nine. His commute only took half an hour, which meant he currently had a whole hour of free time.

“Might as well play a game.”

With this thought, Lin Han returned to his room and turned on his computer, only to suddenly notice an unfamiliar software application on his desktop.

The software’s icon was the avatar of a beautiful girl with long white hair and red eyes, sporting a cute yet wickedly imposing smile.

“Devil… Incarnation?”

Lin Han muttered the name of the software, figuring it was probably some anime game Jiang Wanfeng had downloaded when she secretly used his computer.

“The art style looks pretty good, I might as well just play this.” He couldn’t play much in an hour anyway, and since the poster girl on the icon was quite to his liking, Lin Han simply clicked to open the software.

“Requires connection to a Simulation Capsule?”

Lin Han was somewhat surprised by the pop-up window.

Since the emergence of various extraordinary powers ten years ago, human technology had also been advancing rapidly. Playing fully immersive games using a Simulation Capsule was no longer just something out of a sci-fi movie, but this was the first time Lin Han had ever seen an anime game that required one.

After connecting the Simulation Capsule in his house to the computer, Lin Han set an alarm for 8:30, lay down inside, and clicked on the software once again.

“Hum—”

Accompanied by a faint humming sound, Lin Han’s vision went black.

Opening his eyes again, Lin Han found himself standing in a pitch-black space.

In front of him stood a screen of light rippling like water. Through its reflection, he was able to see his current appearance.

“Is this… me?”

What appeared in Lin Han’s vision was a young girl dressed in a black dress, cute enough to arouse anyone’s protective instincts. Looking exactly like the game’s icon, she was the very incarnation of the word “beauty.”

“Does this mean the character I’m playing is the game’s poster girl?”

Lin Han pondered, failing to find a button to switch characters on the light screen.

Although it felt a bit novel, it wasn’t Lin Han’s first time playing a female character in a game, so he quickly accepted the setup.

“But this feels incredibly real. It’s almost on par with those big-budget productions worth hundreds of millions.” Lin Han pinched his cheek, clicking his tongue in amazement as he felt the warm, jade-like, and delicate texture under his fingertips.

The game’s simulation of the five senses was so realistic that Lin Han even had the illusion he had truly turned into a girl.

Before Lin Han could continue to marvel, the light screen in front of him changed again—

Lin Han looked thoughtfully at the light screen, that is to say, he, or rather the character he was playing, Phildeia, was a Devil. From the looks of it, the upcoming game process would probably involve seducing humans to sign contracts with her to obtain their souls.

As the text gradually faded away, two cards appeared in front of Lin Han.

The first card was golden—

The second card was black—

Lin Han pinched his chin, carefully examining the cards in front of him.

The first thing he noticed was some of the wording on them.

X City and District 7 were both places that existed in reality. X City wasn’t even that far from W City, where he currently lived.

As for “Ability User,” it was SAVE’s official classification for superhumans, alongside similar terms like “Magical Girl” and “Orator.”2

“So this game is set in the real world…” Lin Han thought.

After thinking for a while, Lin Han decided to choose the first card.

There was no special reason for it, other than feeling he wasn’t quite compatible with that kind of shadowy assassin. After all, he was a soldier under SAVE and could be considered one of the good guys.

What’s that? You say Lin Han is just a low-level grunt, the organization probably doesn’t even remember who he is, so he shouldn’t flatter himself?

The outrage… when will we cannon fodder finally be able to stand up for ourselves!

After staging a whole little skit in his head, Lin Han himself felt like his habit of constantly snarking was beyond saving, then reached out and touched the first card.

The screen of light suddenly rippled like water.

Then, darkness swallowed Lin Han’s vision…