Yu Hua University stood majestically in the heart of Yuming City, an elite institution whose name soared high thanks to its legendary administration and government faculty. Its graduates often became the architects behind the nation's important policies, and several prime ministerial seats had been occupied by alumni from this prestigious university.
In one of the quiet dormitory rooms, Huang Wei lay sprawled on the upper bunk. His eyes stared blankly at the white ceiling, his thoughts wandering far beyond the confines of the room. Three hours had passed since he last moved from his position, only his fingers occasionally tapping softly against the bed frame, creating an irregular rhythm that filled the silence.
"Hey, Huang Wei," Lei Jiang's voice suddenly broke through the comfortable quiet. "Are you sure you're staying here during semester break?"
Huang Wei startled, his daydream shattered. He glanced down briefly to find Lei Jiang closing his large suitcase, sealing away the last of his belongings before departure.
"Yeah..." Huang Wei groaned, his eyes closing again, his voice flowing lazily like water in a calm river. "I'm staying here..."
Lei Jiang shook his head slowly, a thin smile playing on his lips. Even though their friendship had only formed over one semester, Lei Jiang already knew Huang Wei's character inside and out: laid-back, easy to talk to, and a bit... lazy. That combination was exactly what had made them fast friends.
"Alright, suit yourself," Lei Jiang said while lifting his suitcase. "By the way, Wu Lei and Gu Hong already went home yesterday. So you'll be alone here for a whole month. No problem with that?"
Huang Wei just rolled his eyes, still reluctant to move. "Yeah, yeah... I get it. So, can you leave now before you miss your train?"
Lei Jiang smiled wryly at his friend's response. He shrugged, signaling his helplessness, then walked toward the door. "Alright, see you next semester then. Take care of yourself."
His hand had just touched the door handle, ready to turn it, when something strange happened.
The world seemed to freeze.
Time stopped abruptly, swallowing every sound. The ticking of the clock hand on the room's wall ceased, stuck on the same number. Dust particles that had been dancing in the air now froze in place, no longer falling downward. Even Lei Jiang, standing at the threshold, froze in his position—hand suspended in mid-air, halfway to the door handle.
Huang Wei, still lying on his bed, felt waves of strangeness creeping through him. His mind still functioned clearly, his consciousness remained intact, yet his body couldn't move. As if he were trapped in a flesh framework that time had abandoned, alienated from the reality he knew.
Then, a majestic and powerful voice echoed—not in that room, but directly inside his mind, vibrating through every cell.
"O humanity," the voice resonated with undeniable power, piercing deep into his soul. "Doomsday has arrived to test your fate. When darkness shrouds the earth, only those chosen are worthy to stand firm in this world and will write a new history for mankind."
That voice echoed not only in Huang Wei and Lei Jiang's minds, but in the thoughts of every human across the globe. Earth's activities, which had been bustling with noise, now froze in absolute silence. Even atoms that usually moved constantly came to a halt, obedient to the invisible force.
After that grand voice finished its sentence, a number appeared before every human—floating right in front of their eyes, glowing in cold blue light, as if carved from darkness itself.
"1:00"
"0:59"
"0:58"
The countdown began. All of humanity on earth, frozen in confusion and fear, could only watch those numbers slowly descend toward zero.
In the quiet and eerie dorm room, Huang Wei's mind split between paralyzing confusion and overwhelming fear. In that suffocating silence, a bad premonition crept through him, awakening primitive instincts that had long been dormant—the instinct to survive.
Something very bad was about to happen. Something unimaginable.
As the countdown showed less than ten seconds, Huang Wei's panic reached its peak. Every fiber in his body screamed to move, to run, to do anything—but it was futile. Time had frozen everything, including his own body, making him a passive observer of his own fate.
"3"
"2"
"1"
"0"
When the count reached zero, a strange sensation spread from the tips of Huang Wei's feet to his head. Like a cold electric current moving slowly but surely, scanning every part of him. Then, something within him seemed to break free—not his body, but the shackles on his consciousness.
And suddenly, he could move again. With reflexive motion, he immediately sat up and crawled to the edge of the bed, shouting toward Lei Jiang.
"Lei Jiang!" Huang Wei screamed, his heart pounding as if ready to explode. "Did you hear that voice?!"
No answer. Lei Jiang remained standing with his back to him, hand still half-raised toward the door handle, like a wax statue. However, there was something different—his body began trembling slowly, an unnatural tremor.
"Lei Jiang...?" Huang Wei's voice was now quieter, mixed with worry that began gnawing at his soul.
The trembling in Lei Jiang's body grew more violent, until his head began moving unnaturally, spinning around like a broken doll controlled by unskilled hands. Then, with horrifying jerky movements, Lei Jiang's head turned backward—not with his entire body, just his head, forming an angle impossible for human anatomy.
Every hair on Huang Wei's neck stood on end, cold coursing down his spine. His instincts screamed that something very wrong was happening, far beyond his worst nightmares.
"Lei... what... what's happening to you?!" Huang Wei's voice cracked, his throat choked by fear he had never experienced before.
The face that stared back at him was no longer Lei Jiang's face that he knew. His friend's eyes were now completely milky white without pupils or irises, like empty marbles. Black veins protruded under his facial skin, moving disgustingly like worms living beneath the epidermis. Thick saliva dripped from the corner of his mouth, which now grinned widely—too widely for normal human anatomy, revealing teeth that appeared sharp.
'This can't be possible,' Huang Wei thought, his brain rejecting the horrifying reality before him. 'This must just be a hallucination or a bad joke.'
"Hey... Lei Jiang," Huang Wei's voice trembled uncontrollably, trying to calm himself, even if it meant ignoring his common sense. "Don't mess with me... this isn't funny at all..."