My Neighborhood Is Connected to Another World

On the day he takes possession of his new home, Li Wei walks into his residence at Taoyuan.

The sky turns red, the world beyond the surrounding wall becomes a gray void, and an iron gate glowing red appears in the vacant lot. The System announces: “A sealed zone will randomly descend into another world. Survive for 24 hours to return.”

He binds himself to the “Zone Modification System,” spends points to upgrade the building's entrance into a defensive stronghold, and leads 13 neighbors through their first night. Water drips outside the door, something crawls inside the walls, and blood seeps through the ceiling. He presses his palm against the wall and absorbs the otherworldly material bit by bit, leaving a red mark on his left arm that will never fade.

After 24 hours, they make it back alive. But “zone returns” are only the beginning.

New blue dots appear on the System map: there are other descent points across the city. Following the clues, he discovers that someone set up a testing system 12 years ago. Its 47 nodes form a pattern around a single point, and directly beneath that point lies a layer of solid-poured concrete.

The System's notification box turns dark red: “Large-scale deposits of otherworldly active matter detected below. Scale: city-level.”

Every clue points in the same direction. Zhao Yuan died 17 days ago, but he left behind a path. Li Wei is following it.

He wasn't the first, and he won't be the last.