In the year 2888, in a remote city in China, a quiet, refined bar was just opening for the evening.
As night fell and the streetlights flickered to life, only a handful of patrons sat scattered across the dimly lit space. In one secluded corner, a disheveled, haggard-looking young man was hunched over the bar, drinking the strongest liquor available.
He was a familiar sight—an unwavering regular who arrived at the same hour, claimed the same seat, and drank the same drink. Neither wind nor rain could keep him away.
No one in the bar knew his name. They only knew him as a strange, solitary figure who always drank himself into a stupor, often weeping quietly while clutching a necklace close to his chest.
To the casual observer, he was simply a workaholic. His clothes were perpetually stained with oil, his bloodshot eyes betrayed endless nights without rest—clear signs of a man burning himself out.
Speculations about his identity abounded. Some thought he was a mechanic worn down by failure. Others guessed he was a paint sprayer, broken by heartbreak. But most dismissed him as a lunatic, especially when he rambled about things no one could understand—antimatter, time travel, and other bizarre, incomprehensible notions.
In truth, all their guesses were wrong.
This man had once been a shining legend, a name known across the globe. He was none other than the "Genius Professor" Bai Yufei.
Barely thirty years old, Bai Yufei was a prodigy among prodigies—a man who had achieved the unimaginable. He had unlocked the secrets of antimatter and glimpsed the possibility of traversing black holes.
His breakthroughs revolutionized technology, propelling humanity into a new scientific era. The mastery of antimatter transformed global power systems, while the theoretical passage through black holes opened the door to time-space travel—finally granting humanity the means to escape the Milky Way and peer into the vast expanse of the universe.
In 2883, Bai Yufei received the "Global Scientist Grand Prize," the highest scientific honor on Earth. His fame reached its zenith… but that very year, he vanished. Without a trace, the brilliant mind disappeared from the world stage.
"Waiter, bring me another brandy!" Bai Yufei suddenly barked, raising his empty glass.
"Sir, I'm afraid you've had enough. You're already quite drunk," the server replied gently.
"Drunk? I'm not drunk!" Bai Yufei protested, lurching to his feet—only to stumble and nearly collapse.
Indeed, he was drunk. But not from alcohol. The weight shackled within his heart was far more intoxicating than any spirit.
"Check, please… and I'm telling you, I'm not drunk," he murmured with a bitter smile as he fished out some money.
His tolerance had grown frighteningly high—five glasses, and still he hadn't blacked out.
"Must be watered down…" he muttered on his way out.
Staggering through the dark streets, Bai Yufei's thoughts were a turbulent storm. Equations, theories, and cosmic possibilities spiraled endlessly through his weary mind.
"Five years… I don't have much time left. This month's experiment must succeed."Muttering to himself, Bai Yufei walked while silently calculating one complex formula after another. Unconsciously, he had already returned to his residence.
His home was modest—just an unremarkable little building. Yet, what puzzled many was that he had purchased all the land within a five-mile radius, and left it completely barren, without a single structure erected.
Entering the house, Bai Yufei didn't head upstairs. Instead, he went straight to a cluttered utility room on the first floor. The room was filled with dust-covered debris—an apparent mess, except for one table in the center, which remained oddly spotless.
He walked to the table and, with a swift motion, pressed several hidden buttons underneath. Suddenly, with a mechanical clack-clack, the table shifted several meters to the left, revealing a pitch-black opening where it once stood.
Without hesitation, Bai Yufei stepped into the darkness. Instantly, lights flickered on, illuminating the space to reveal a concealed chamber—and at the far end of it, a sealed metallic door.
He walked toward it and stood still. A thin beam of light shot out from the door, enveloping him entirely.
...