Summer, Hạ Biên City. The sun was high, casting down scorching rays. A young man sat in front of a computer desk in his rented room, a look of dejection on his face.
"Sigh, how long will life continue like this?"
This was Thanh Ngọc, the quintessential example of a life's failure.
Thanh Ngọc was twenty-eight years old this year, and currently, he only had a few meager coins to his name.
He had no family, only a handful of friends, most of whom had already left for other cities to make a living.
Thanh Ngọc's life continued like this, day after day, simply going to work, then returning home, without goals, without aspirations, let alone any prospects for the future.
As he delved deeper, it turned out he was an orphan, raised by his grandmother until then, until he was sixteen, when his grandmother also passed away.
He also had two aunts/uncles in the family, but later, these two, vying for the house Thanh Ngọc's grandmother had bequeathed, used every trick in the book to drive him away.
Before he left, those two aunts/uncles revealed a truth to him, one he couldn't possibly believe at the time.
It turned out his grandmother wasn't his biological grandmother, and his deceased parents weren't his biological parents either.
It was then that Thanh Ngọc realized just how lonely and lost he was in this life.
"Who am I? Where did I come from? Since I can remember, I've always been with Grandmother, haven't I?..."
Deep down, he had millions of questions that he couldn't make sense of.
Later, when he tried to meet with his two aunts/uncles to inquire about himself, Thanh Ngọc only received this reply:
"She adopted you when you were two years old. At that time, Uncle Ba and his wife had just passed away in an accident, and your grandmother was grieving the loss of a child before her own time, so we took her to the orphanage to adopt you. Now that she's gone, do whatever you want, go wherever you want. We have no connection to you anymore."
From then on, adrift and desolate, Thanh Ngọc took the meager sum of money his adoptive grandmother had left him and went out to make a living.
At sixteen, not yet having graduated high school, faced with life's myriad deceptions and temptations, Thanh Ngọc stepped out into the world.
He began by renting a small room and started studying while working to earn money.
Compared to his peers who had warm families and the privilege of being chauffeured around, Thanh Ngọc was at a significant disadvantage.
His peers at the time also knew his circumstances; some mocked him, while others secretly helped him… He remembered well how each person had treated him.
After graduating high school, Thanh Ngọc plunged into earning money and navigating complex, tangled social relationships.
He knew he had no support system, no money, and certainly no physical attractiveness, so he had to work many times harder than the average person.
Having endured many bitter lessons and experienced the vicissitudes of life, his character gradually became more stable and cautious, and he no longer possessed the naivety of a schoolboy.
He understood who he was and what he needed in this life.
He thought life had finally brought him sweet rewards when at twenty-four, he and his friends managed to open a small company, which brought in a decent profit, enough to live on, and even a little extra.
Thanh Ngọc even met Ngọc Hân, the girl he loved, and they had even introduced each other to their families, preparing for their wedding.
At that moment, Thanh Ngọc thought that finally, after so many years of hardship and struggle, he was beginning to see the hope of happiness, when the storms of life brought devastating news crashing down.
It turned out that the friend he'd gone into business with was a gangster, living outside the law.
That friend, after losing at gambling, secretly took all the company's assets to pay off his debts, then vanished without a trace. The climax of the tragedy was when Ngoc Han learned that Thanh Ngoc had lost everything, all the capital he had saved for so long was gone.
She simply sent him a gentle text message:
"You have nothing left now. I can't be with you. I'm not young anymore, I'm sorry."
That was it.
It was truly over.
Thanh Ngoc at that moment plunged back into a deep, dark void. They say there are three things that can break a man: a hungry stomach, an empty wallet, and a broken heart. And yet, at the age of twenty-four, Thanh Ngoc had experienced all three of those things at once.
From that day on, he became withdrawn, quiet, and rarely socialized, losing all hope and no longer harboring any grand dreams for the future. Living one day at a time, his faith in life and the people around him dwindled more than ever.
Returning to the present, Thanh Ngoc was twenty-eight years old. Still despondent and sad. Sometimes he would ask himself:
"Wouldn't it be great if I could die now and be reborn in another world, to start all over again?"
Evening.
Cold rain swept ceaselessly across the humble roofs of the rented rooms. The trees swayed gently in the dim darkness.
Thanh Ngoc was cooking dinner. He was very adept at household chores like these, having lived alone for so long. Washing vegetables, slicing meat, cooking soup... Subconsciously, he thought of his grandmother again. Back then, his grandmother had taught him all these things. His mind still held clear memories of his grandmother's words:
"Oh dear, you have to slice this meat thinly, it won't taste good if you slice it so thick... Move aside, let Grandma show you, you rascal, how will you ever get a wife like this, child..."
Subconsciously, as Thanh Ngoc's hand sliced the meat, the knife somehow accidentally cut his hand. Fresh blood flowed out, and he started, looking down.
"Sigh..."
He washed his hand again, then walked over to the glass cabinet to get a bandage. As he approached the glass cabinet, he saw the gift his grandmother had given him years ago after returning from the pagoda. It was just a small, yellowish-brown pagoda-shaped object; he didn't know if it was made of porcelain or clay. Back then, she had said:
"Here, I got this from the pagoda. It's strange, child. A monk suddenly asked if I had grandchildren, and if so, to bring this back as a gift. At that time, I was busy chatting with some neighbors, so I just asked the monk for it and left. The monk said this opens the mind and wards off evil. Whoever keeps it in their room will be very lucky, child. When you go home, put it near your bedside and see if it has power."
A wave of tenderness washed over him as he remembered the days when his grandmother was still by his side years ago. He unconsciously reached out and picked up the old, yellowish-brown pagoda, his heart aching in waves. After holding it for a moment, he put it back down, sighed, then opened the cabinet, took out a bandage, and dressed his cut finger.
After that, he turned back to cooking, without noticing that a little fresh blood had gotten onto the small pagoda. Strangely enough, the bloodstain on the pagoda gradually faded, as if it had been absorbed dry by the pagoda.
Night.
Thanh Ngoc lay on his bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. He rested his arm across his forehead, silently pondering life, money, and existence.
Suddenly, a strange phenomenon occurred.
Boom... Ding ding ding...
Suddenly, the yellowish-brown pagoda lit up brilliantly, emitting a shimmering, nine-colored aura that illuminated the entire room as if it were daytime.
Thanh Ngoc opened his eyes, looking at the tower in surprise. Just as he was about to reach out and grab it to see what was happening, he suddenly felt a powerful pull emanating from it, as if it wanted to draw out his very soul. Ding… Thanh Ngoc lost consciousness.
An indeterminate amount of time later.
An indeterminate void.
Thanh Ngoc opened his eyes.
All he saw was a pitch-black space.
His head still ached dully. "What happened to me? Where is this? Am I dreaming…?"
He tried to raise his hand to look at it. His hands were now vague, ethereal, as if a mere gust of wind would sweep them away. Then he was surprised, looking over his entire body. His whole body was similarly indistinct, and moreover, it was emitting a faint, hazy glow.
"Am I dead?" That thought flashed through Thanh Ngoc's mind, startling him and filling him with a touch of fear.
He composed himself, trying to rack his brain to figure out his current situation. Was he dreaming? Or had he just died suddenly, and this was his soul, adrift and waiting to depart for the underworld?
No, that's not right! If he had just died, he should still be near his body. Where was his body?
It must be a dream then. But what kind of dream allows me to think so clearly? Strange.
Thanh Ngoc scanned his surroundings. Pitch black. He saw nothing. It was as if he alone was a shining lighthouse in this dark cosmos.
"What a bizarre dream?"
Just as Thanh Ngoc was still convinced he was dreaming, a brilliant golden ray of light suddenly appeared from above. The light was like a glorious dawn, dazzling Thanh Ngoc. He hesitated for a moment, then took his ethereal, indistinct steps towards the source of the light.
He kept walking, endlessly, without any particular destination in mind. It seemed as if the source of the light held a strange allure for him. He walked without knowing fatigue, nor did he feel tired.
Suddenly, he heard an extremely pleasant female voice echo in his ears: "Ding, brainwave frequencies combining, checking synchronization and connection…"
Thanh Ngoc stopped abruptly, startled. He shouted, "Who's there?"
No one answered him.
"Who? Is anyone here?…" Still, no one answered. He yelled until his throat was hoarse. Thanh Ngoc felt he was dreaming, dreaming the strangest dream of his life.
He continued towards the light, hoping to wake up or hoping to find answers there to what was happening.
"Ding, synchronization successful, connecting and requesting energy…."