It was 3:45 PM, the time of day when souls came to die at Bright Technology International Trading Co.
It wasn't a dramatic death accompanied by screams, but a slow, quiet death under the pale white fluorescent lights that buzzed faintly, as if they too were on their last breath.
Yuan Lin was an expert in this particular kind of death.
"Lin! Hey, Lin! The printer's not working again!"
The voice was sharp and familiar, coming from the Human Resources department. It was the voice of Auntie Li, a woman whose mission in life was to ensure that everything ran according to regulations, and that the printer always worked when she needed to print those very same regulations.
Yuan Lin sighed. It wasn't just an exhale of air; it was an artistic expression of the despair of an entire generation of office workers.
It was a sigh that carried the weight of pointless meetings, emails that began with "Dear Colleague," and cheap cups of coffee that had left brown stains on his desk.
He slowly lifted his head from his screen, which was displaying a collection of cat memes—the only sanctuary he had found in this beige hell.
"Coming, Auntie Li," he said in a hollow voice, then rose from his chair, which let out a sad creak, as if it were weeping for his lost youth.
His desk was a small cell, one and a half meters by one and a half meters. Its partition walls were low enough for his manager to watch him, but high enough to make him feel completely isolated.
On his desk, next to the slightly sticky monitor, was a small cactus plant he had gifted himself for his last birthday.
The plant was dying a slow death, in silent solidarity with its owner.
As he walked toward the HR department, his eyes scanned the office.
The faces of his colleagues were pale, their eyes vacant, their fingers tapping on keyboards with a monotonous rhythm like water dripping in a forgotten cave.
This was his world.
Not the world of heroes and monsters he read about in web novels, nor the world of thrilling adventures he watched in movies.
His world was one of depleted printer toner, network failures, and forgotten passwords.
Last night, Yuan Lin had a strange dream.
He didn't dream of flying or having superpowers.
He dreamt he was an A4 sheet of paper, stuck deep inside a laser printer, the hot gears slowly pulling him toward an unknown fate while a small red light flashed an error message: "Paper Jam."
He woke up drenched in sweat.
He reached Auntie Li's desk. She was standing with her arms crossed, staring at the giant multifunction printer as if it were a mortal enemy.
"I've tried everything," she said in an accusatory tone. "I turned it off and on again. Three times."
Yuan Lin nodded with feigned seriousness, like a doctor listening to the symptoms of a hopeless patient. "Understood. Let me take a look."
There was no real need to look. He knew the problem before he even opened the printer's cover. It was always the same problem.
A small piece of paper, torn at a sharp angle, hiding where it couldn't easily be seen.
He had a theory that this printer wasn't just a machine, but a semi-sentient being that fed on the despair of employees.
He bent down, opened several plastic covers, and stuck his hand into the warm, toner-dusted guts of the machine.
After a minute of blind fumbling, his fingers grasped the rogue paper.
He pulled it out slowly and victoriously, holding it up in the air like a hunter displaying his prey.
"Here it is," he said.
Auntie Li looked at the paper with disdain, then gave him a satisfied smile. "Oh, you're a magician, Lin! What would we do without you?"
*Probably use paper for handwriting*, Lin thought to himself sarcastically, but he just smiled a faint smile and said, "No problem, it's my job."
He returned to his office-cell, feeling that emptiness that follows the completion of a trivial task.
There was still an hour and ten minutes until the end of the workday.
An hour and ten minutes of absolute void.
He sat in his chair and pulled out his phone, his safe haven.
He opened his usual forum, browsed some news he didn't care about, and watched a couple of videos of dogs in funny costumes.
His thumb moved automatically, his mind switched off. This was his escape routine, a small dose of digital anesthetic to keep him sane.
Just as he was about to open a mobile game to kill the rest of the time, something strange happened.
A pop-up ad appeared on his screen.
It wasn't a normal ad for a new car or a food delivery app. This one... was different.
It was pitch black, so black it seemed to absorb the light around it.
In the middle of this blackness, a crimson line pulsed slowly, like a blood vessel.
The line gradually formed into words, written in an old Gothic font that looked theatrically evil.
"Are you bored with your mortal life? Do you yearn for true power?"
Yuan Lin let out a small laugh. What a cliché. It looked like an ad for some cheesy role-playing game.
He moved his finger to close it, but the words changed.
"The Supreme Demonic Lineage seeks its lost members. The throne awaits its master."
Below the words, two buttons appeared.
[Join Now for Eternal Glory]and [Remain in the Dust of Oblivion]
His finger paused in mid-air.
"Supreme Demonic Lineage?" he whispered to himself. The name was so over-the-top it was hilarious.
It was clearly a chat group for some nerdy teenagers who read too many dark fantasy novels. They were probably roleplaying as demon lords while sending each other their chemistry homework.
Curiosity, that little monster that lurks in the corners of empty minds, began to rear its head.
What's the worst that could happen? he thought. Maybe my phone gets a virus, and I'll have to do a factory reset. At least that would be something interesting happening today.
With a sarcastic smile, he pressed the pulsing red button: [Join Now for Eternal Glory]
What he expected didn't happen.
He wasn't redirected to an app store or a webpage.
Instead, the black ad turned into a small vortex on his screen.
A vortex of pure darkness that began to spin faster and faster, then, in an instant, it imploded and vanished, leaving behind a new app icon on his home screen.
The icon had no name. It was just a black skull with glowing red eyes.
Lin felt a slight prickle of anxiety. This was more sophisticated than a regular ad.
He opened the app.
There was no loading screen, no terms of service. He was thrown directly into a chat interface.
The background was an animated image of a massive throne made of bones, surrounded by a slowly moving purple mist. The member list on the side was decorated with strange symbols and chains.
The usernames were... spectacular.
`Demon Monarch Wu Tian`
`Dark Fairy Queen Xue`
`Blood Saber Ancestor`
`Grand Treasurer Mo of the Nine Hells`
Yuan Lin burst out laughing, but quickly stifled it with his hand, looking around to make sure no one was watching. This was better than he had imagined. These people were fully committed to their roles.
"Grand Treasurer Mo of the Nine Hells?" My god, that guy must work in accounting.
He started reading the chat log. The messages were written in an archaic, ornate language.
[Demon Monarch Wu Tian]:Ten thousand years have passed. The spiritual energy of the world weakens, and the "righteous" races multiply like locusts. Has the Lord truly forsaken us?
[Dark Fairy Queen Xue]:Have patience, Wu Tian. The prophecy is clear. When the Demonic Star trembles thrice, the Lord of Chaos will return from his deep slumber to unite us once more.
[Demon Monarch Wu Tian]: The star has already trembled! I felt it in my bones! But the gate remains silent!
Yuan Lin read, shaking his head with a smile. This was too entertaining. It was like watching a poorly directed play, but the actors were taking it deadly seriously.
He was about to type something sarcastic like, "Hey guys, got any snacks?" when a system notification appeared at the bottom of the screen.
It was different from the rest of the messages, surrounded by a flashing golden halo.
`[System Notice: Compatible bloodline detected... Verifying... Verification complete. Return Protocol activated.]`
Another notification followed, this time in the middle of the chat window, visible to all members.
`[Member: Lord of Eternal Chaos] has joined the group.`
Yuan Lin's fingers froze over the virtual keyboard.
"Lord of Eternal Chaos?" he read the name aloud in a barely audible whisper. He hadn't chosen that name. It had been assigned to him.
Before he could process what had happened, the chat exploded.
[Demon Monarch Wu Tian]:Impossible... The Great Lord has finally appeared?! Is this real?! My eyes do not deceive me!
[Dark Fairy Queen Xue]: My heart is about to stop... Welcome home, My Lord... We have waited so long.
[Blood Saber Ancestor]: My knee touches the ground of its own accord! Your orders, Lord!
A dead silence fell over the chat for a few seconds. Yuan Lin stared at the screen, his mouth slightly open.
Are these guys... serious? No, impossible. They must be welcoming him into their game. He should play along.
He saw that "Lord of Eternal Chaos" was now his own username. He felt a wave of panic mixed with a wicked sense of fun. They thought he was their great, legendary boss. The situation was so absurd he couldn't stop himself from laughing.
He typed a quick reply, still smirking.
[Lord_of_Eternal_Chaos]:hhhhhh, u guys serious?
He hit send.
But what appeared in the chat was not what he had written.
Next to his name, his message appeared, but it was different. It was as if the "system" had translated it into their fancy "demonic" language.
[Lord of Eternal Chaos]:Hahahaha... You have not changed... As absurd as I remember.
Yuan Lin felt the blood freeze in his veins. The smile vanished from his face.
Hahahaha? Who laughs like that?
A deeper, more terrifying silence descended on the chat for three whole seconds.
Then, the reply came from Wu Tian. It wasn't normal text. The message was trembling and emitting a blood-red aura.
[Demon Monarch Wu Tian]: That laugh... It's the same laugh I heard before the Great Lord burned down the world of the "Nine Heavens"! A laugh that carries absolute contempt for all life! He has returned! He has truly returned! I, Wu Tian, pledge my eternal loyalty to you!
Queen Xue followed with a message that seemed to drip both poison and honey.
[Dark Fairy Queen Xue]: My Lord, even your sarcasm is like music to my soul. We are absurd without your leadership. Please, enlighten us with your path. My throne, my world, and my heart... all await your command.
Yuan Lin looked at his phone, then at his grey desk, then back at his phone.
The buzzing of the fluorescent light suddenly sounded ominous.
The smell of printer toner that had been stuck in his nose now seemed like the scent of sulfur.
He had made a mistake. A very, very big mistake.
These aren't teenagers.
And this isn't just a game.
He felt a drop of cold sweat trickle slowly down his spine.
In the chat group, silence had returned, but it was a different kind of silence.
It was the silence of anticipation.
They were all waiting.
Waiting for the next command from the Lord of Eternal Chaos.
Waiting for his next word.
Yuan Lin looked at the clock on the office wall. It was 4:15 PM. He still had forty-five minutes of hell left.
But he suddenly realized, the real hell... had only just begun.