prologue

Ethan Brooks sat in front of the computer at the internet café, preparing to log in to the website that sold in-game equipment for online games.

He glanced up at the clock on the wall of the internet café. It was already half past eleven at night. Just twenty minutes ago, Ethan Brooks' character in World of Warcraft had reached the maximum level, and he wanted to sell it to make some money.

"Huh?" Ethan Brooks was surprised to find that after entering the URL, the web page that refreshed was an unfamiliar shopping interface.

"Did I type it wrong?" Ethan Brooks wondered. He leaned closer to the screen and saw the words displayed: "Great Multiverse Wantuo Express Company, delivering to any place you desire." Below that were a list of product names.

Ethan Brooks looked curiously and saw the items listed: "Dimensional Shuttle, capable of traveling between two hundred and seventy-five dimensions based on the coordinates entered into the light brain." Next to the product name was a sleek, batmobile-like, torpedo-shaped machine.

"Super Light Brain Learning Machine, with an extensive skill tree, allowing you to learn various skills at thirty times the normal speed." — A rather ordinary-looking eyepatch.

"Super Gene Serum, which can unlock 55% of your brain's potential and turn you into a genius." — A spiral-shaped green injection vial resembling the T-virus from the movie Resident Evil.

These products, which seemed to surpass modern technology, were listed one after another.

"Is this a web game?" Ethan Brooks thought. With that, he turned to a chubby guy next to him and said, "Parker, I'll send you a website; check it out for me!"

"H-net?" The chubby guy squinted his eyes and said to Ethan Brooks.

Without responding, Ethan Brooks copied the URL of the page and sent it via Facebook.

The chubby guy clicked on the link on Facebook, but all he saw was a page full of red crosses.

"What kind of URL is this? I can't see anything. Is it infected with a virus?" the chubby guy asked Ethan Brooks.

"If you can't see it, forget it," Ethan Brooks said, then clicked on the "Sort by price from high to low" option on the webpage.

The refreshed page showed that the top-ranked item was something called "G1." Ethan Brooks took a glance and casually clicked the "Purchase" button.

"Damn, I'm so tired," Ethan Brooks suddenly felt a wave of fatigue. "Wang Parker, I'm going back to sleep. You can keep playing," he said to the chubby guy, stood up, and walked out of the internet café.

The sky was moonless, with only a few twinkling stars. Ethan Brooks exited the internet café and headed towards the back wall of the school.

To reach the back wall of the school, Ethan Brooks had to pass through a construction site. After walking for about ten minutes through the construction area, he suddenly noticed his shadow on the ground.

"Hehe, looking at my own shadow to admire my own good looks," Ethan Brooks thought to himself with a hint of narcissism.

Wait, shadow? Ethan Brooks suddenly remembered that today was the thirtieth day of the eighth lunar month. With no moon and no lights, where did the shadow come from?

Ethan Brooks turned around abruptly and saw a sight he would never forget for the rest of his life: a meteor, trailing flames and a bright light, crashed into the ground!

With a "boom," the meteor struck the ground at a speed beyond human perception, creating a massive impact that dug an eight-meter-wide, four-meter-deep crater. Dust flew everywhere, but miraculously, Ethan Brooks was unharmed, not even a speck of dust hitting him, thanks to the angle at which the meteor struck.

Inside the crater, clumps of soil were ignited into tiny, flickering embers by the intense friction. Ethan Brooks mustered his courage and took a look into the crater. The sight nearly made his eyes pop out of their sockets.

The "meteor" in the crater suddenly extended a probe from its top, spraying white gas around.

By the dim light of the embers, Ethan Brooks looked into the crater and couldn't help but gasp: This was not a meteor at all, but a black, spherical metal object, over two meters in diameter, resembling the Saiyan spaceship from Dragon Ball.

"Are the Saiyans invading Earth, or is Frieza planning to take over?" Ethan Brooks' heart was pounding, as if there were fifteen buckets of water sloshing around inside him.

As Ethan Brooks was in a state of panic, the white mist had already extinguished the surrounding flames, and an electronic voice rang out: "Dimension Pz201, timeline zg1053778.2513, location coordinates 5765.7053, P9075.6613. The goods have been delivered and are being unpacked."

Then, a burst of white gas emitted from the middle of the metal sphere. The interior of the black metal ball was lifted by a metal frame, emitting a soft white light. A metal arm extended outside the sphere, holding a silver box.

Ethan Brooks stood there, agape, as the metal sphere remained still. The silver box made a "click" sound, and the lid popped open, revealing an eye-catching black metal wristwatch inside.

"Take it out! Take it out!" Ethan Brooks felt as if there was a devil inside him, urging him to take the watch.

"Go for it!" Ethan Brooks made up his mind, jumped into the crater, picked up the black wristwatch, scrambled back up, and ran towards Debruler University, quickly disappearing into the darkness.

The black metal sphere remained in its original state for a while, then retracted its arm and box, transforming back into a sphere. "Great Multiverse Wantuo Express Company, delivering to any place you desire!" it broadcasted one last advertisement before floating several hundred meters into the air and, with a "whoosh," suddenly accelerated and vanished into the sky.