My name is Chen Sanduo. I’m a five-star courier on a certain platform, delivering 200 orders a day with a 99.8% positive rating. The other 0.2% is because the customers’ dogs won’t open the door for me.
On March 15, 2024, I received an order that changed my fate.
The order note read: “Urgent! Deliver to No. 13 Bell Tower Lane in the old town. The passphrase is ‘The Heavenly King covers the tiger.’ Payment: 5,000 yuan in cash, plus a mysterious gift.”
I couldn’t help laughing. People still used passphrases these days? What did they think this was, a spy movie?
But 5,000 yuan was hard to turn down. I hopped on my little electric scooter, loaded up the package wrapped tightly in black cloth, and sped off.
No. 13 Bell Tower Lane was a rundown courtyard. The paint on the door was peeling faster than my hair. I knocked three times, and a hoarse voice asked, “The Heavenly King covers the tiger?”
Without thinking, I replied, “The pagoda keeps the river demon down?”
The door opened. An old man in a Taoist robe dragged me inside and shoved a cloth bundle into my hands. “This is your payment, and here’s something extra…”
He handed me an old phone. There was only one app on the screen: Doubao.
“What is this…?”
“The Spacetime Delivery System,” the old man said mysteriously. “You’ve been chosen. From today on, you won’t just deliver food to people in this world. You’ll also deliver…”
“Deliver what?”
