When the heavy rain in 2023 soaked the laboratory window sill, the copper compass needle on Lin Ye's fingertips was rotating crazily against the magnetic field.
The spiral pattern hidden in the base suddenly lit up with red light, like an ancient spell being awakened. Before he could clearly see the scorched black tracks carved by the copper needles on the table, he was dragged into the crack by a strong wind that smelled of rust. God knows when the tempered glass broke. He only remembered that countless metal shards flickered in the heavy rain, like crushed stars.
When I opened my eyes again, the earth was dark red.
Half of the giant steel tower in the distance is stuck in the clouds. The purple-black vines wrapped around the tower are slowly squirming, and the edges of the petals are glowing with a cold light like quenching. Lin Ye touched his pocket. The antique compass had melted into a dark red lump, but the spiral pattern on the base was astonishingly hot, like a red-hot iron.
The watch on my wrist is still running, showing 14:37 on July 15, 2023.
But the roar coming from behind the dunes told him that this was no longer the world he was familiar with. Those hyena-like creatures were gnawing at the mechanical remains. When their blue fangs bit into the steel, the sound they made was exactly the same as the metal fatigue test in his laboratory.
"Don't go west of the Rust Belt."
Lin Ye stared at the carvings on the metal plate at his feet, and suddenly found that the wound on his palm cut by the petals was turning green and black. He looked up at the huge spiral tower. The stairs spiraled up in the darkness, like a giant python leading to the unknown.
Fragments of fluorescent light floated in the wind, and when it fell on the back of his hand, a strange shadow was reflected - the shadow was wearing a silver-white protective suit and was holding a knife, aiming it at his heart.
