At two o'clock in the morning in the late autumn of 2123, the city central library seemed to have pressed the silence button.
Lin Zhiqiu huddled in front of the monitoring desk in the ancient books area on the third floor. The rice balls in the plastic lunch box had already become cold, and the rice grains were so hard that they gritted teeth.
He stared at the screen of his mobile phone. The classic battle of "Naruto" was being played to the scene of Pain Tendou suspended above Konoha, with chakra rods piercing the clouds.
"It would be great if I could enter that world..." He mumbled unconsciously, his Adam's apple twitching.
The blue light of his mobile phone reflects the faint blue and black under his eyes - this is the third year after failing the postgraduate entrance examination. Life is like an old tape stuck in a loop. Every day, he repeatedly turns on the lights, sorts out ancient books, stares at the monitor screen and yawns.
The holographic billboard outside the window is on, and the image of the virtual idol Sakurayuki Mai is singing a new song. Her sweet voice seeps in through the soundproof glass, making this floor seem even quieter.
"Ding——"
The monitoring screen suddenly beeped.
Lin Zhiqiu's hand shook and he almost dropped his phone into the cold miso soup.
When he looked up, seventeen surveillance screens were strangely overlapping - the screen that was supposed to show the bookshelf was actually superimposed with a cloudy sky.
He rubbed his eyes and saw clearly the figure suspended under the sky: with pale skin and six chakra rods piercing his back, it was Pain Tiandao.
"Hacker?" He stood up suddenly, the chair making a screeching sound on the ground.
