Lu Chen was once a corporate drone laid off in an AI-driven downsizing.
While cooped up at home playing Minecraft, a blinding white light suddenly burst from his screen.
When he came to, he had fallen into the pixelated world of Minecraft.
No one knew that he had spent a full thousand years alone in that world of nothing but blocks.
When he opened his eyes again, he was lying on the floor of his rented apartment, with the familiar game screen still glowing on his computer.
No one noticed how he had changed, and no one knew he had brought Minecraft’s rules back to Blue Star.
It took just ten months.
Those block-based laws that defied the laws of physics completely rewrote the course of human civilization.
Just as everyone was celebrating the new era,
no one noticed that the struggle had already begun in the shadows.
The turmoil on the surface was only the tip of the iceberg.
Even Lu Chen, who had lived for a thousand years, failed to notice the more sinister, mysterious shadow lurking at the heart of it all.
Deep in the city’s most remote old alley, an aging clinic with a faded sign stood dark.
A doctor wearing a black beaked mask sat in the shadows, tapping his fingers against the peeling tabletop.
The tune he hummed was ancient and eerie, drifting through a drafty window and into the alley.
“Ring-a-ring, o’ roses…”
🤭😏