1046 BC, Zhaoge.
The Ziwei Star flickered in the night sky. Beneath the sky screen, unchanged for three thousand years, the sounds of battle from the Southern Heavenly Gate could be faintly heard. The pagoda of Li Jing, the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King, had been knocked from the clouds for the third time. It crashed into the remaining cliffs of Mount Buzhou, sending shards of rock through the clouds to fall like sparks over Zhaoge's city walls.
An old soldier at the city gate spat and tapped his bronze spear against the ground. "Did they change the Heavenly Emperor again? That's the third time this month."
The young soldier beside him hunched his shoulders. "Uncle, I heard the Dragon King of the West Sea took the throne this time. He's moving all the East Sea's coral to the Hall of Miraculous Mist."
"Who cares who's sitting on the dragon throne?" The old soldier stuffed a piece of hardtack into his mouth. "We're better off guarding this gate and keeping the monsters outside from sneaking in."
They didn't notice the man in oil-stained blue work pants, clutching his head and groaning in the shadows by the city wall. His name was Su Jun. Three hours ago, he'd been wiring things on an assembly line at an electronics factory in Dongguan. The moment his wire strippers touched a live wire, a flash of white light exploded before his eyes. When he opened them again, he'd fallen from a workshop in 2024 into this savage land, thick with the stench of blood.
In the pocket of his work pants was half an uneaten egg-yolk pastry. The production date on the wrapper, "2024/05/12," glinted coldly in the sunset, like a mocking joke.
