The bizarre descended, and cities became forbidden zones for humanity. Red mist devoured civilization, while rules twisted reality: run and a bookshelf shadow fiend would devour you, reflections in mirrors could kill, and disordered shadows could leave you lost in space.
Lin Chen hid in a library for seven days, recording the bizarre rules in a notebook. On the eighth day of the red mist, he awakened the rarest sequence of all: the Guide. He could see paths of life and death, analyze bizarre rules, and even... exploit a bug by walking backward!
While others fled in despair through the red mist, Lin Chen and his oddball team charged in the opposite direction:
In a corridor where running was forbidden, he sprinted backward faster than anyone else.
Against a mirror ghost that killed anyone who met its gaze, he closed his eyes and walked backward to a perfect clear.
An enemy sequence-holder laughed. “Where do you think you can run?” Lin Chen pointed behind them. “I’m not running. I’m just... attacking from a different direction.”
Until one day, a whisper came from deep within the red mist: “All sequences are fodder. Only the Guide... is a key.”
Lin Chen looked at the hundreds of survivors following behind him, then down at the notebook in his hand, filled with records of extraordinary sequences and the last words of those who had died.
