In a sky-rise office building, li mu is working late hours again to fulfill a quota.
He often does this every day, taking up tasks his colleagues were meant to do, just to make a good first impression. Although he now knows that was a bad idea, as he was being taken advantage of. He sits with eye bags under his eyes, dreaming of going home to finish the last pack of noodles he left in his cupboard before going to work. As he sits thinking of this, the janitor walks in and sees li mu, surprised that someone is still in here at such a late hour.
Li Mu notices him and glances up from the papers." Don't mind me, I'm just about finishing," you know, in an economy like this, "we've got to put in the extra effort".
The janitor looks at this, then sighs, "Young people these days know no restraint". Then keeps on doing what he's doing, ignoring li mu in the process.
Li Mu doesn't mind this as he wasn't expecting them to have a lengthy conversation anyway, and goes back to doing what his doing. Suddenly, as his looking at the computer screen, his vision begins to blur, and he hits his head on the table, his vision gradually fading to black. The janitor notices this and rushes over, calling for an ambulance, but it is already too late. Li Mu was long gone.
Li Mu gradually opens his eyes, his vision still blurry, his body aching all over, with his mouth feeling funny, with the taste of dust lingering on the edges of it. He groggily stands, although with much effort. At this point, his vision clears up, and he gradually takes in his surroundings. The first thing he notices is that he is standing in a pile and piles of trash and rust that spreads out as far as the eye can see. Looking up, he notices a grey sky with little to no light with a massive floating structure in the distance, as his eyes faintly catch glimpses of glowing billboards and sky-rise buildings, shocked at how something like that could be possible.
Li Mu instantly pinches and slaps himself hard on the face, wondering if he was sleeping or whether this was the wondrous state of lucid dreaming that those internet netizens talked about online. But the response came very fast, as he instantly felt a huge amount of pain explode in his head and his face as memories from the body rushed into his mind.
The world he was currently in was known as Neo-verdia, a world where humans are no longer the dominant species on the planet, as approximately 2000 years ago, a black mist spread throughout the surface of the planet, bringing with it various types of beings known as demons, each with varying strengths surpassing anything humanity had ever seen.
Back then, bullets worked against the smaller monsters, but once the stronger ones came, even nuclear bombs, the strongest weapon of humanity back then, could do nothing against them.
The leaders of the world back then sort for any glimmer of hope with humanity being on the brink of extinction until finally a being known as the pioneer appeared driving back the demons and moving the last remnants of humanity underground setting up a temporary barrier to block the monsters, giving humanity time to grow stronger with the pioneer leaving behind various techniques and secret manuals for this before leaving, with no one knowing where he went or why he appeared in the first place.
Now, after such a long time, the war between the two races has reached a balance, with the leaders of both races signing a temporary peace contract, facilitating trade exchanges between both sides. Entering what is now known as the golden age of the human race, technology has reached unbelievable levels, with the average lifespan reaching as long as 200 years old, and incurable diseases like cancer being seen as mere discomforts that can be treated at birth.
Although this is all good, humanity will never change, with every society having both good and bad sides, with li mu being born on the dark side of life. Being an orphan in the rust district, he doesn't even have the right to the basics of survival, living off scraps for the rest of his life.
The past li mu suffered from this problem because even in the slums, a hierarchy remained, with the past li mu getting beaten up by other scavengers for spare food and parts getting ganged up against and eventually losing his life to his injuries.
After li mu went through all the memories, his face darkened instantly, turning serious. Although he had the past li mu memories, he knew surviving in this place was not an easy task, with the contrast between modern-day Earth and this place being the difference between Heaven and Earth in terms of survivability.
He was in a tight spot right now as he thinks about what to do, blaring thoughts appear in his mind as if instinctual. "shit, I've got to leave right now."
"It's almost nighttime where the barrier is at its weakest." At this time, the lower-ranking demons can bypass loopholes in the barrier, rushing in for a meal with at least 10 people dying each night." I've got to hurry up."
"From the memories, the past li mu had a hideout close to here, about 10 mins away".On deciding the next course of action, li mu bolted in that direction, going as fast as his frail legs could carry him, hoping to reach there before it was almost dark.
The terrain was horrible with pieces of metal protruding out of the ground, stained with the blood of its previous victims, acting as a warning for li mu to pay attention to the road in front of him. Slowly, the sky begins to darken with a cold, chilling wind blowing through the scraps of clothing on his body, rubbing against his ribs, sending chills down his spine.
As he almost reaches the hideout, the sounds of grotesque demons begin to become more apparent by the second. Scaring the hell out of li mu in the process, and " Finally, I see it".
In the distance, the entrance to li mu's hideout becomes visible, quickening his pace, the air in his lungs almost gone, he makes a last-ditch effort just a few metres away from the door.
Jumping forward, li mu pushes against the door, rolling up against the cold floor, and upon shutting the door behind him, passes out straight after.