September 23, 2029. Sunday. Star City. Key University.
Yang Bin returned to campus in a good mood after finishing his weekend shift. Two days of hauling boxes had netted him 300 yuan-enough for a week's living expenses if he stretched it.
Back in the dorm, he found the resident shut-ins glued to their phones, thumbs flying.
"Yang Bin, you're back! Get online, quick. Wenliang's been dragging me down so hard I can't carry anymore." Liu Bo looked at him like a drowning man spotting a lifeboat.
"Who's carrying who? Check your own scoreboard-1 kill and 8 deaths, and you have the nerve to say you're carrying me." Hu Wenliang said flatly.
"That's your fault! Every time I come to gank your lane, you won't commit. You just have to last-hit those two minions."
"They were under tower! You couldn't wait two seconds for me to grab them?"
"By the time you finish farming, the enemy's already gone."
"And when you go in alone, you just die."
"......"
Yang Bin shook his head and grinned. "Alright, quit it. You two are equally terrible. Don't blame each other-you're both deadweight."
"......"
"By the way, Chen Hao's not back yet?" Yang Bin asked.
"Nope. He's on a date. Might not come back tonight at all," Hu Wenliang said.
"Right. You know, you two just rot in this dorm every single day? Never think about going out and finding girlfriends? You're juniors already and still single. No shame?"
"What's a girlfriend got on gaming? Why waste time on that when you could squeeze in a few more rounds?" Liu Bo said.
"Exactly. And don't lecture us-you're the same. Haven't seen you find one either," Hu Wenliang said.
"No money. What I earn from part-time work barely covers my own expenses. Add another mouth to feed and I'd be living on air." Yang Bin shrugged.
"With that face of yours-practically idol-tier-you don't need to spend your own money on girls. Campus is full of rich women. Hook one and you'd be set. Way better than hauling boxes."
"My teeth work fine. I don't need to be a kept man."
"........"
He pulled out his phone and dialed Chen Hao's number. Powered off. Yang Bin frowned.
"This guy. Goes on a date and doesn't even charge his phone?"
Shaking his head, he let it go. He played a few rounds with the other two, carried them to some wins, then showered and crashed. Two days of manual labor had ground him down, and pretending otherwise would've been a lie.
Late at night. The dorm was dead silent. Everyone asleep.
"You are my little apple, little apple~"
The obnoxious ringtone shattered the quiet. Yang Bin flinched and slapped his hand over the phone, checked the screen, and answered in a whisper. "Haozi, where the hell have you been? I looked for you all day. Your phone's been off!"
Silence on the other end. A long pause before the voice came through.
"Bin-ge. Can you come drink with me?"
"Are you insane? It's the middle of the night. We have class tomorrow." Yang Bin said, exasperated. But he still asked: "Where are you?"
"Rooftop."
"Fuck!" Yang Bin was instantly wide awake. He flipped off the bed in one motion. "Don't do anything stupid. I'm coming!"
He threw on clothes and bolted out of the dorm, sprinting toward the roof.
He'd known Chen Hao since middle school. They were close enough to share underwear-that kind of brothers. Hearing this guy was alone on the rooftop in the dead of night, there was no way Yang Bin wasn't going to panic.
He ran from the 3rd floor straight to the 7th without stopping. The rooftop was normally off-limits to students, the iron door locked year-round. But that had never stopped resourceful college kids. God knew how many copies of that key were floating around by now.
Where Chen Hao had gotten one was anyone's guess, but the iron door stood open.
When Yang Bin reached the rooftop, he found Chen Hao slumped on the ground, surrounded by a small army of beer bottles.
Yang Bin let out a breath. Relief hit first, then irritation. "What the hell are you doing up here in the middle of the night? I thought you were about to jump."
Chen Hao looked at Yang Bin-face angry, eyes worried-and something flickered in his expression. He said quietly, "Sorry, Bin-ge. Didn't mean to scare you."
Yang Bin shook his head, walked over, and dropped down beside him. He grabbed a beer and took a swig.
"Talk. What happened?"
Chen Hao took a long, hard pull from his bottle. Pain twisted across his face. It was a while before he spoke.
"We broke up. Three years together... and reality won."
Yang Bin's hand paused mid-drink, but he wasn't surprised. The moment he'd seen Chen Hao looking like that, he'd already guessed.
The guy had poured everything into that woman. In love, people like that always lose the hardest.
He clapped a hand on Chen Hao's shoulder. "Look at it this way. Three-legged toads are hard to find, but there's no shortage of women. Long road ahead, brother. You're not ugly. You really think you won't find someone?"
"But I really loved her." Chen Hao's voice cracked.
"Get a grip. Can love fill your stomach?"
"It can. When I looked at her, I wasn't hungry anymore."
"......"
"And she still cheated on you."
"How do you know that?"
"With your personality? If she hadn't cheated, would you ever have broken up with her?"
"......"
"Come on. Tell me. Whose bed did she end up in?"
"......"
"Bin-ge, did you come up here to comfort me or rip my wounds open?" Chen Hao stared at him.
"Of course not. I just need to know which bastard had the balls to cuckold my brother. This can't go unanswered." Yang Bin's tone was perfectly righteous.
Something softened in Chen Hao's eyes again. He ground his teeth. "Wang Yuehao. That piece of shit. Thinks because his family's got money he can go after Shiya. And what I can't accept-what kills me-is that she actually betrayed me for him."
"Him, huh." Yang Bin nodded. "Don't worry, brother. I'll break his third leg for you."
"Don't-Bin-ge, that's illegal. Not worth it." Chen Hao said quickly.
"Mm, fair point. Then I'll just sleep with his women instead. Even the score."
"But he's already with Shiya now. Bin-ge, you're not going to make a move on Shiya too?!" Chen Hao's eyes went wide.
"Relax. That guy's got plenty of girlfriends. Liu Shiya doesn't even crack the top three."
"......."
"Why would she betray me for someone like that?" Chen Hao said, voice raw.
"Because he's rich."
"......"
"Bin-ge, are you actually here to comfort me? Because it feels like you're here to piss me off. You're not just reopening the wound-you're grinding salt into it." Chen Hao looked like he was about to lose it.
"Haha. I'm just telling you the truth-that kind of woman isn't worth it. Remember: you're a man. Pick it up, put it down. Don't lose yourself over one girl." Yang Bin slapped his shoulder. "Come on. Tonight I'll get wasted with you. Tomorrow, clean slate."
"Okay. But Bin-ge, we have class in the morning?"
"Doesn't matter. Brothers come first."
"Bin-ge, you're the best."
"Get lost. Don't get sappy on me. Lock the door behind us-last thing we need is a teacher catching us up here."
"Got it."
The campus lay silent in the deep of night. Here and there, faint murmurs leaked from dormitory windows-someone always stayed up late.
All-night gaming sessions followed by morning lectures like nothing happened. Standard university life.
Tonight the moon hung dim and feeble, but the stars blazed with unnatural brilliance. Starlight poured down, painting the ground almost as bright as dawn.
On the rooftop of Male Dormitory Building 21, two young men lay sprawled on their backs. Empty beer cans littered the concrete around them.
Through the haze of alcohol, Chen Hao raised a finger toward the sky. "Bin-ge... don't you think... tonight's Big Dipper... the nine stars are really bright?"
"Heh... you're wasted... I've only ever heard of seven stars in the Big Dipper... where'd nine come from."
"Right... guess I really am... drunk."
"Wait... actually... there are nine."
"Let me count..."
"1... 2... 3...... 8... 9."
"There really are nine..."
"Haha, guess... we're both drunk."
"Yeah... being drunk is... weird... I can even see Polaris... falling down..."
"I... see it too. Dragging a long tail... incredible... way prettier than... a meteor."
"Huh, another one... a new Polaris just appeared..."
"For real... and it's... red."
"Haha, definitely drunk. Can't hold on anymore. Gonna sleep. Tomorrow everything'll be fine." Chen Hao's head dropped and he was out.
Yang Bin was swimming in alcohol too, but his eyes stayed fixed on that crimson star hanging where Polaris should have been. Curiosity held him a moment longer.
A long moment.
Then sleep dragged him under.
After the celestial anomaly appeared, it was as though some ancient seal had cracked open. Across Blue Star, spiritual energy surged from the earth in countless streams, spreading until it blanketed the entire planet.
But this newly risen energy carried something foul within it-a trace of Decaying Aura.
The energy seeped through every crack, every pore, merging into the bodies of every living thing on Blue Star.
Some people showed no change.
Most were not so lucky. Their eyes bled red. Their flesh began to rot. Their consciousness dissolved, swallowed whole-until nothing remained but hunger. They became zombies. Walking corpses that knew only how to devour.
A rare few gained Special Abilities.
And most of those few were people the Crimson Star had shone upon directly.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCJ8noF30nC
and then Add to home screen.