Chapter 1

Chapter 1 : The Evolving Sandbox Table

Translated by Trevor

Edited by Travistann

“Really，you won’t even consider it? If you are not satisfied with the salary, we can still discuss it…”

“I have decided.”

“…Well, the door of the company is always open to you.”

Ten minutes later, Lin Tuo, carrying a backpack, stepped out of the office building gate. He stood by the road, turning his head and taking a long look at the building behind him, slightly sentimental.

At X University, Lin Tuo studied advertising design. With talent, diligence, and luck, he made a name early and successfully joined this well-known company in the industry.

In the past two years, he took on a few big projects and was treated dramatically by his co-workers. With some private work, he saved up hundreds of thousands. If he continued to develop his career, he had a 99% chance of succeeding in life.

However, today he finally resigned.

…

He had already left his rented apartment with luggage bags in hand. Lin Tuo took a taxi and left Yangcheng City.

After more than an hour, he stood at the foot of the mountain from his hometown.

Mt. Lishan is a not-so-famous mountain. It is part of the Taihe Mountain Range. It stands on the outskirts of Yangcheng City. Because there are no scenic spots and lack of development, it still maintains a rare simplicity.

In summer, the mountain peaks are lush and lush, and fog rises every rainy day. Lin Tuo grew up here, primary school and junior high school. He even studied in the town at the foot of the mountain. He has not lived here for a long time.

Walking along the mountain road, he soon set foot on the mountain and saw a detached house on the mountainside.

Two key features stood out. The basic style of the house and the large outdoor area. Only when Lin Tuo approached, he found that it was a little run-down.

This is Lin Tuo’s hometown. He grew up in this house. Because his parents died prematurely, he was raised by his grandfather. His grandfather ran a martial arts gym and recruited his disciples to practice martial arts. 

When Lin Tuo was a child, there were still people who learned martial arts as a teacher. However, as the times changed, the old-style martial arts hall gradually disappeared, and his grandfather was sad and depressed.

Before he died, the biggest regret was that the family martial arts hall had to shut down, and Grandpa had no face to meet his ancestors.

Therefore, Lin Tuo made a secret decision early on. After earning some start-up funds, he would return to reopen the martial arts hall and fulfill his grandfather’s last wish. This is also the reason why he resigned.

…

Squeak

Unscrewing the lock, pushing the door open, and walking through the quiet and deserted martial arts field, Lin Tuo sighed as he looked at the dense weeds between the rocks, “It looks like I need to clean it up. I will also have to renovate later.”

Thinking about his future plans, Lin Tuo immediately found the broom and tried his best to clean the house.

“Ahem.” When he pushed open a big house in the backyard, he was choked with dust and coughed. He fanned it and waited for ventilation before he walked into this old house. He was shocked to find that the roof was all worn due to age.

“No…” With a helpless sigh, Lin Tuo retracted his gaze. He was surprised to find that the room was empty, with only a huge table, empty and covered with dust. He didn’t know what it was for.

“Why don’t I remember that there was such a big table at home.” Muttering, Lin Tuo stretched out his hand to touch the corner of the table with some curiosity.

Immediately it felt like the finger was pierced by something sharp. As his blood merged with this huge table, suddenly, the dark old house was illuminated.

[Blood medium is detected, the evolving sand table is restarting…]

Before Lin Tuo could react, he heard a mysterious message in his mind. What made him even more surprised was that in his field of vision, the big old table covered in dust actually propped up an almost unrecognizable one!

There was no dust to be found, and it looked brand new.

Not only that, on the initially empty desktop, countless lights and shadows intertwined, changed, and danced. In an instant, they formed a miniature modern city!

Yes, there appeared a city on the entire table that had shrunk several times!

“This is… Yangcheng?” Lin Tuo was stunned at first and then discovered that the city looked familiar.

Observing carefully, he found that it was precisely the same as Yangcheng, where he had worked and lived for several years!

High-rise buildings, streets, urban areas, as well as the cars speeding by in the criss-cross streets and alleys, pedestrians… it was like a bustling and prosperous scene.

Lin Tuo even found the building where his company was located at a glance. There were still people coming in and out at the door, but it was too hard to see clearly.

[The evolving sand table is restarted, the location is located, and the “observation mode” is automatically turned on. The observation range: 15,000 square kilometers.]

[Current position Ether concentration: Low.]

…

In his mind, mysterious information continued to emerge, and then Lin Tuo was stunned to see a semi-transparent virtual panel appeared in his vision.

The panel is straightforward, with the words “Observation Mode” written in the most eye-catching position.

“Ether Concentration” is displayed at the bottom, followed by the word “Low.”

Other than that, there seems to be nothing.

“What is this? Black technology? Observation mode? Could it be that… Am I observing Yangcheng in reality? The observation range is 15,000…This is roughly equivalent to the area of ​​Yangcheng.”

Because of learning martial arts since childhood, Lin Tuo quickly calmed down from shock and promptly analyzed.

“But… how is this possible? A real city is shrunk and placed on a table? Sandbox…is this the meaning of ‘sandbox’?”

“Unbelievable.” Lin Tuo couldn’t calm down. He felt unsure how to think about this all. He hesitated; he tried to get close to this ‘sandbox’ and observe carefully.

The entire sandbox does encompass the urban area and the surrounding area, but it was cut flat at the edge. Lin Tuo noticed that a transport vehicle driving on the national road went straight along the national highway, left the sand table observation range, and disappeared out of thin air.

A dark cloud was still floating above the entire sand table, which obscured the vision to a certain extent. Lin Tuo thought it is indeed cloudy today.

At this time, suddenly, an Air China passenger plane appeared out of thin air from the edge of the sand table, flying straight above the clouds, like a game model, flying over the city.

“Is it true?” Lin Tuo breathed tightly. He felt that the dark clouds were a little obtrusive, so he subconsciously bent over and approached the city from above, trying to see the details clearly.

…

In Yangcheng, not far from the mountain, it was noon at this moment. Office workers squeezed the elevator downstairs to prepare to go out for dinner. On the street, couriers riding bicycles to deliver food also flocked to them.

Under Lin Tuo’s original company building, the manager who approved his resignation request had just walked out of the first floor, only to feel that the light in the city changed suddenly. The initially gloomy sky became brighter.

Soon, the manager heard an exclamation.

“F**k, what is that?!”

“I’m not mistaken, am I? What is the sky…how…a face appeared?!”

“Snap! Where’s my phone?”

On the street, countless people raised their heads, following the changing light, looking up at the sky above the city.

The manager was stunned and raised his head, his eyes suddenly widened, and even his mouth opened subconsciously.

He saw that over the city, the dark clouds suddenly rolled over, as if disturbed by some mysterious force, and then, in the clouds, a fuzzy human face was appearing!

That face was made of clouds, though it was lifelike as if it were real. The position of the eyeholes showed two cavities, and it was majestically overlooking the entire land.

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