Year 1250 of the Heaven Rift Era. The night rain was as dark as ink, soaking the glass curtain walls of the White Corporation Joint Office Building until they glistened coldly. Rain slanted through the air, refracting under the lights into a frigid halo, much like the tense nerves of the city itself.
Inside the secretary office of the H.H. Guild, the air was so stagnant it felt like it could be wrung out.
The hunters who had just returned from the B-rank transference gate mission at Mount Fanlu had not yet shed their exhaustion and the lingering scent of blood. A B-rank hunter in black combat uniform held a thick stack of documents, his knuckles whitening as he tightly gripped them, and gently knocked on the wooden door.
“Come in.”
A cold female voice came from inside, carrying a barely perceptible hoarseness.
The hunter pushed the door open. Behind the desk sat a woman with a tall, upright posture. Her ink-black hair was loosely tied up, strands of silver scattered within it. A medical bandage was pasted on her temple, still faintly stained with blood that had not yet fully dried —— injuries sustained from being affected by an overflow of anomalous energy during mission command.
She was Li Xuan, A-rank Guide of the H.H. Guild, and also the guild leader’s exclusive chief secretary.
“Secretary Li, this is the post-battle report.” The hunter handed over the documents, his voice low and heavy.
“In this mission, ten participants: seven lightly injured, four severely injured, and one C-rank hunter… confirmed dead. The injured have all been sent to the healing facility.”
Li Xuan’s fingers paused slightly as she took the report. Her brows furrowed, a trace of heaviness flashing across her eyes.
“At such a critical moment…” she murmured, her finger sliding across the casualty list. “The fallen C-rank hunter… what was his name?”
“Lin Xianyi.” The hunter lowered his head. “He had only been in the guild for six months. If the guild leader and core hunters hadn’t been deployed to the S-rank mission, we wouldn’t have been so understaffed… we wouldn’t have been so overwhelmed…”
“Enough.”
Li Xuan’s voice suddenly turned cold. When she raised her eyes, the usual warmth in them had already been covered by frost.
“Never say such things in front of anyone again. The appearance of an S-rank mutated gate is itself unpredictable. Are you suggesting we should conserve manpower and allow the gate to expand, letting an entire city be buried?”
The hunter trembled and quickly bowed. “I’m sorry, Secretary. I spoke carelessly.”
“Go comfort the injured sentinels and hunters,” Li Xuan said, her tone softening as her fingers tapped lightly on the desk.
“Prepare compensation and all follow-up procedures at the highest standard. Contact Lin Xianyi’s family immediately. When the guild leader and vice leader return from the S-rank mission, we will personally visit to offer condolences.”
She stood up, picked up the black hunter coat hanging on the chair, and patted the hunter’s shoulder. The fabric still carried a faint smell of gunpowder —— the scent of the battlefield.
“Hunter Wei, you’ve worked hard today too. Go treat your wounds and rest well.”
The hunter’s eyes reddened as he looked at her. “Secretary, you are the one who’s worked the hardest. Today’s incident was too sudden. If not for your calm command, the consequences would have been unimaginable… You are also injured, please recover quickly. I’ll go check on everyone now.”
Watching him leave, Li Xuan draped the coat over herself and walked out of the office. The elevator doors slowly closed, reflecting her exhausted yet still upright figure.
“I can’t rest yet,” she muttered, pressing the “Top Floor” button.
**[Across history, transdimensional rifts have appeared around the world. These rifts act as gateways to parallel universes, releasing countless strange, bloodthirsty unknown creatures known as “Beasts.” They consume humans wherever they go, leaving devastation in their wake.
At the same time, some humans awaken abilities due to exposure to the rift’s anomalous energy. These individuals are called ESPERs, or Hunters. Their abilities are ranked from F to A, with S-rank Hunters standing at the pinnacle—only about fifty exist worldwide.
However, every use of power accumulates “berserk energy.” Once it exceeds the threshold, the Hunter loses control, becoming a mindless monster driven only by destruction.
Thus, another group exists —— Guides. Guides can soothe and purify berserk energy, stabilizing Hunters. They are even rarer than Hunters; S-rank Guides number fewer than ten globally.
And Li Xuan is one of them.
She is not only an A-rank healing Hunter hidden within the guild, but also secretly an S-rank Guide. This dual identity is a secret that could shake the entire world. Only a few trusted individuals know the truth; publicly, she is merely an A-rank Guide for protection.**
The hum of the elevator filled her thoughts.
“Ding.”
Fortieth floor.
She stepped out into the open corridor. Night rain continued to fall, cold droplets striking her face, briefly clearing her fogged mind. Too many strange events had occurred today.
First, the A-rank gate at the coastal park suddenly mutated into an unfathomable S-rank gate. Then multiple C- to B-rank gates erupted around it. Governments and guilds were overwhelmed; panic spread like the end of the world.
“Where are the guild leader and the others?”
Li Xuan leaned against the cold railing, staring toward the western sky. There, faint crimson light flickered—signs of violent energy collisions.
She pulled a pack of mint cigarettes from her coat and flicked open a lighter. A blue flame lit up in the rain.
She inhaled deeply. Mint and nicotine cut through her exhaustion.
“I already conducted an energy guidance session for the guild leader yesterday… but an S-rank gate consumes too much energy. I need to get there as soon as possible.”
The movement-type hunters had already gone with the guild leader. Driving would take at least forty minutes. Too slow.
Her gaze sharpened. “I’ll jump directly from here and use a sentinel-level physical burst to reach it.”
Just as she calculated her descent route, she failed to notice the emergency exit door behind her slowly opening a crack.
A tall shadow emerged from the darkness.
A blade glinted with eerie dark-purple light —— clearly coated with a substance designed to suppress abilities.
Three meters.
The shadow suddenly accelerated. The dagger struck forward like a viper aimed at her core.
“Puchi——”
The sound of flesh being pierced was drowned out by rain.
Li Xuan’s pupils contracted sharply. Strength drained from her body instantly. She looked down —— her black coat was already soaked in blood.
She tried to turn, tried to activate her ability, but the purple blade suppressed all energy circulation.
The shadow stepped closer, grabbed her waist, and forcefully shoved her outward——
Her body fell from the 150-meter-high rooftop like a broken kite.
Wind roared. Rain struck her face.
At the moment of death, there was no life-flashing memory—only a gray sky.
Time seemed to slow.
She felt herself sinking into an endless abyss, darkness and cold swallowing everything.
“BOOM——!”
A deafening impact shook the world. The plaza pool exploded into water and debris. Panic erupted below.
Hunters rushed in.
“It’s Secretary Li!” someone shouted, voice trembling in disbelief.
“Quick! Get a healer!”
Li Xuan lay in the freezing water and shattered stone, blood spreading beneath her. The cold of the purple blade still lingered within her body, along with the suffocating shadow behind her consciousness.
In the end… she still fell into the abyss.