Beijing City, painting the streets in warm gold. Fang Ze walked briskly down the pavement, backpack slung casually over one shoulder, eyes scanning the familiar bustle. Cars honked, vendors shouted, and students hurried to school—but he noticed things others didn't. A subtle shift in a passerby's gait, the faint tremor in the air when someone passed by. He shrugged internally. Nothing unusual—just his own instincts, sharpened by memories of a life that shouldn't exist.
His family lived in a tidy, middle-upper-class Chaoyang district. Fang Ze's mother owned a small chain of bookstores, his father worked in city administration, and his older sister, quiet but clever, was already preparing for university exams while his younger sister is preparing for her middle school exam. To neighbors, the family was pleasant and slightly above average—well-mannered, polite, the sort who kept their private affairs private. Nothing remarkable.
Yet Fang Ze knew differently. Even in this simple life, there were currents he could feel—threads of influence, small disturbances in the air, subtle energies humans ignored. He smiled faintly. He had returned not as a child of wealth or power, but with the advantage of memory and skill that few could ever hope to possess.
By the time he reached the school gates, he had already assessed the day ahead. Ordinary? To the world, yes. But for him, each ordinary moment was a stepping stone, a hidden stage for the extraordinary that lay dormant inside him.