The lights at the entrance of the subway station flickered, and Yu Yi got off the train.

    Mottled rust had crept up the low, old-fashioned houses. This was a place forgotten by the city, and it was also Yu Yi's home. Just across the street, however, was Vanity Fair that powerful and greedy people lusted after. This towering building forged by desires always filled Yu Yi with a sense of bitterness.

    Huge holographic projections hovered above the skyscrapers. The microphone feebly announced several missing-person cases. The dim city was shrouded in a pale, hazy mist.

    "There have been so many people going missing recently, haven't there?"

    "Yeah, and what's more, the few missing persons cases from a few years ago still haven't been solved."

    "Let's hurry home! It's been really strange lately."

    Although he was wearing earphones, the conversations of the passers-by still filtered into his ears sporadically.

    The blue light of the mobile phone was reflected in his pupils. His slender fingertips tapped out the three characters "missing-person cases" one by one. The dim yellow light flickered on and off, and the frequency of the flickering was getting faster and faster, synchronizing with the rhythm of his heartbeat.

    Suddenly, Yu Yi seemed to have discovered something. His pupils constricted, his face turned extremely pale, and a bone-chilling coldness quickly climbed up his back from his ankles.

    Coincidentally, at the corner of the crime scene of each missing persons case, there had been a church altar candle. Even the time when the people went missing eerily fluctuated within the time period when the church bells rang.

    But Yu Yi clearly remembered that the church had long been burned down by a fire a few years ago.

    It was as if an invisible hand had gripped Yu Yi's nerves. He felt an overwhelming sense of oppression and suffocation.

    The church bells echoed eerily in his mind, pounding on his heart one after another, as if the archangels were blowing their trumpets, constantly summoning the protagonist to arrive.

    It was as if countless mosquitoes were swarming around his ears, gnawing at his heart, making him anxious and restless.

    "It seems I can't avoid this……"

    Yu Yi clenched his fists tightly, and his nails unconsciously dug deep into his palms. "I'll go back a bit later today." He repeatedly edited and deleted the message.

    Countless terrifying thoughts took hold in his mind. He vaguely felt that something was bound to happen tonight.

    "Whether it's a tiger or a wolf, I'll find out by facing it." Yu Yi unconsciously clenched his teeth, leaving small bloodstains on his lips.

    A thick fog rose. The trees on this small path grew extremely distorted. The branches were like withered arms, stretching crookedly towards the pitch-black night sky. It was extremely eerie, as if people's greed, which was growing wildly, used faith as an excuse to demand the blessing of the Virgin Mary as a matter of course.

    The rustling sound of stepping on fallen leaves disappeared. The tall buildings, with their edges and corners blurred by the thick fog, loomed in front of Yu Yi.

    Mottled rust had climbed up the long-faded white tiles. Vines and moss grew rampantly. The former glory was gone, and it had quietly been forgotten by people.

    In the dark night, the cross on the top of the tower jutted straight into the sky. Two or three crows perched quietly on the broken circular stained glass windows. Countless Möbius rings were strung together, overlapping and interweaving, forming various strange and beautiful patterns. It seemed to be a prelude to the start of an endless cycle, and the stilled time began to flow again.

    Entering the church and looking around, Yu Yi saw rubble, debris, and discarded garbage scattered all over the place. The gloomy sky was reflected in the puddles of accumulated water on the ground, like the tears of a ruin. In the darkness, twelve incomplete stone statues loomed. Under the cross stood a statue of the Virgin Mary.

    "Were there so many statues here before?" Yu Yi was a bit surprised, but he only had a vague memory.

    The walls were mottled, torn into irregular fragments. In the tiny cracks, several centipedes wriggled. Their slender bodies gave off a nauseating faint glow. Their many legs moved in a crisscross pattern, leaving faint traces of mucus wherever they went. As his gaze lingered, a few lines of words glowed with a faint blue light in the dark. Although there were signs of being burned by a fire, Yu Yi could vaguely make out that they were in Latin.

    "Through this arduous journey, we reach the sky.

    Through adversity, we reach the stars."

    A gust of wind howled in, forcing its way through the gaps in the church windows, stirring up the dust and debris on the ground. The old-fashioned door banged and creaked strangely, echoing continuously in the empty church.

    The candles on the altar all lit up at once. The flickering flames were extremely eerie, casting shadows on the surrounding walls. It was as if there were countless pairs of eyes peeking from the darkness.

    In the dark, a faint, dim red light slowly spread at Yu Yi's feet.

    The mobile phone vibrated urgently. One message after another flashed on the lit screen. The two large white characters were reflected in his pupils.

    "Run!"

    When Yu Yi wanted to ask the unknown number what was going on, the mobile phone malfunctioned.

    "This is crazy……"

    All these strange coincidences started when he came to this church. His nostrils fluttered slightly, and his breathing became rapid and unsteady. A strong sense of unease swept over his entire body. Suddenly, a large line of countdown numbers almost filled his entire field of vision.

    "10……"

    "9……"

    "……"

    "3……"

    The red light spread to every corner of the church. The candlelight burned brighter and brighter in the wind, reflecting a blood-red light in the puddles.

    Yu Yi instinctively wanted to step back, but the church door had already closed quietly without his notice. As if some mechanism had been activated, the black cross on the top fell heavily onto the statue of the Virgin Mary. All twelve statues miraculously turned to face the statue of the Virgin Mary.

    "2……"

    "1……"

    The moment the countdown stopped, the church bells rang. The gears hidden in the darkness began to turn, and the hourglass was immediately inverted. As a result, the past was overturned, and the future was restarted.

    In just a few seconds, the body of the statue of the Virgin Mary melted like flowing water, leaving only half of its face stuck to the ground. Two conspicuous black tears were still flowing from the corners of its eyes.

    The dazzling and holy light illuminated the entire church, coexisting eerily harmoniously with the red light. White feathers filled the air. A girl crawled out from the remnants of the statue of the Virgin Mary. Her pure wings slowly spread out, and she hovered in the middle of the church. A dazzling golden halo surrounded her pale skin.

    "Seraph…… Seraphim?"

    Everything that was happening in front of him was so unreasonable. Yu Yi stood there stunned, his worldview completely shattered, and his face turned as white as a sheet.

    The girl's soft laughter echoed throughout the church. The corners of her mouth cracked into a terrifying arc. She clasped her hands together and softly chanted something. Suddenly, twelve single-winged angels crawled out of the stone statues one after another.

    The faint howling sound seemed to be a cold omen of the impending disaster.

    "This is insane……"

    The girl opened her arms, revealing densely packed golden eyeballs that were rolling. They covered every inch of her skin. With a wave of her hand, the falling feathers suddenly turned into white doves, flying around wildly in the dimly lit church.

    These white doves seemed to have a sense of self-awareness. They all swarmed towards the girl densely, stabbing her body with their sharp claws. Yu Yi looked at the strange scene in front of him in surprise.

    "Hehe……" The girl's laughter became more and more eerie. Blood-red gashes on her skin grew thorns. The thorns surrounded the white doves like a cage, forming a fixed trajectory. Obviously, the consequence of crossing the boundary was only death.

    But these white doves seemed not to know the price. One after another, they rushed towards the thorns.

    The thorns mercilessly pierced the wings of the white doves. Dark red blood seeped out, and the blood flowed down the thorns and onto the ground, forming a terrifying trail. Yu Yi tried hard to hold back the overwhelming nausea in his stomach.

    "My children……" The girl's voice trembled with a sob. Her golden pupils turned mechanically, without a trace of emotion.

    "Don't be afraid of me……"

    "Obey me."

    The girl's cold electronic voice seemed to descend into Yu Yi's mind like a divine being. In an instant, fear welled up like a tide. He knew very well that this was something he couldn't contend with.

    "The game begins."

    The holy light spread, and a damp and musty smell filled the air. Yu Yi knew that this was the smell of death.

    "Children, this is the last gift I give you."

    As his eyes roamed, he saw a scene that he would never forget for the rest of his life. Countless brilliant fireworks streaked across the sky like falling meteors, hurtling towards the earth at an astonishing speed.

    The gushing and blooming light devoured the entire night, greedily spreading across the whole earth. Between the dazzling light screens, huge flames shot towards the ground densely. The fire raged on, burning more and more fiercely, consuming everything in its path.

    People looked up at the sky. They had never imagined that beautiful fireworks could one day become so terrifying. They were stunned by the dazzling sight, their eyes closely following the expanding ripples of light, unaware of what fate this would bring to the earth.

    The brilliant fireworks burned brightly, and the entire universe sparkled. The cities were littered with corpses. Blood, wailing, crying, and screaming filled the air. In just a few minutes, the world became as terrifying as hell.

    The mobile phone vibrated in the dark. A few mechanical, square-shaped characters flashed on the broken screen.

    "The latest version of the system has been updated."

    The mechanical electronic noise penetrated his entire brain.

    — "The Creator Transformation Plan is officially launched."