Glorious God Throne

Chenxing Empire, inside a certain company building.

Matthews, dressed in the standard gray suit of a corporate drone, ran all the way, finally reaching the office in the last minute before being late. His thick black short hair was slightly damp, obviously not having time to dry it properly. His hastily tied necktie was a bit crooked. His face, still catching his breath, showed signs of sleep deprivation, with the dark circles under his eyes particularly noticeable.

Seeing his appearance, his colleagues started teasing him as usual. “Hey, Matthews, didn’t sleep well again last night? Looking at those dark circles under your eyes, don’t tell me you’re still obsessed with those internet rumors, trying to find those non-existent extraordinaries!”

“No, no, no, calling them extraordinaries isn’t accurate, they should be called martial artists. It’s said to be an ancient heritage of the Yao Country. When cultivated to the level of ‘seeing the world’, one could create a divine realm like a god and embody everything within it!” At this point, they couldn’t help but burst into laughter, “Even an idiot wouldn’t believe such a ridiculous lie! The stories made up by the Yao people are too absurd!”

Amidst the laughter filling the room, Matthews’ face turned red. His fingers at his side clenched tighter and tighter, until he finally couldn’t help but retort. “It’s not a lie, it’s true!”

Everyone looked at him in surprise. Not because of what he said, but because of his rare “rebellion” today.

Matthews took a deep breath nervously. “Two months ago, hundreds of people from the Five Domains disappeared simultaneously all over the world. This was a real incident reported in the news, and the truth behind it is clearly not simple. A few days ago, when most of the missing people reappeared, many people nearby heard a mysterious voice…”

He spoke all this in one breath, his face flushing even deeper, not from anger but from excitement. “It said It had returned! At least thousands of people worldwide heard it! And it was in different places across the Five Domains! At the exact same time those missing people reappeared!” Matthews’ expression was full of longing, “This must be the god at the pinnacle of martial arts cultivation that those missing people mentioned! The mysterious ‘Master of the Heavenly Capital’!”

Seeing him becoming increasingly excited, his tone becoming more enthusiastic, not only had he lost his usual silent and submissive attitude when they teased and mocked him, but he had even learned to argue loudly, seeming to have changed from a soft persimmon to a hard one, the others felt inexplicably displeased.

The person who first started teasing him snorted and interrupted:

“Hmph, it’s all hearsay! Do you have any real evidence? All the information is just rumors – and they’re all from Yao people! They say their disappearance was due to gaining martial arts opportunities, favored by the god at the pinnacle of martial arts cultivation, and even that god came from their country… The Yao people’s ability to brag is really getting more and more impressive! If there really were gods in this world, they should belong to our Chenxing Empire!”

“No, it wasn’t just Yao people who heard that voice at that time. Including our Chenxing Empire, I remember when it spread online, weren’t you all discussing it very enthusiastically?” At this point, Matthews’ voice was tinged with deep disappointment, “You even said you wanted to find a master and learn martial arts then.”

That time, seeing so many people online claiming to have heard the mysterious person’s voice, the whole office was enthusiastically discussing the topic of that mysterious voice. Then, topics about martial arts power and the Master of the Heavenly Capital appeared online, reportedly from those who had disappeared, and the discussions became even more heated – that was the first time he felt he had integrated into his colleagues’ circle, rather than being marginalized.

But why, after just one day, did public opinion in the Chenxing Empire completely change? Everything those people had sworn to before suddenly became lies, rumors, bandwagoning, and nonsense. His colleagues, who had been discussing it enthusiastically before, immediately changed their tune, even mocking him for still refusing to believe the “truth.”

His expression greatly irritated others, and someone slammed their hand on the table: “Hey! What’s with that look? You’re acting like we’re traitors. It’s all a lie! Who knows what tricks the Yao people are playing! Didn’t our Empire’s citizens later clarify online that they never heard any voice and were just spreading rumors?”

“As a citizen of our Empire, you’re not going to believe the Yao country’s nonsense, are you? We all know about the martial arts that have been passed down in the East since ancient times, but they’re far from reaching a level that could be called extraordinary.”

“…As for the hundreds of people who suddenly disappeared and then suddenly returned, it is indeed very unusual. But with the development of science, there are always some mysterious unsolved puzzles, and this is probably just another one. The Yao people are just cleverly using this incident to fabricate a believable rumor about martial arts and extraordinaries. They can’t possibly think that making up a story about an extraordinary ancestor who lived for hundreds of years will forcibly elevate Yao country, can they?”

After finishing a day’s work, Matthews dragged his tired body home, unable to help recalling his colleagues’ mocking words.

— They must truly think I’m beyond help!

…But in his eyes, it was they who had their eyes and ears covered, treating lies as truth.

“Could it be that the Empire’s high-level officials don’t want us to know about the existence of extraordinary powers? Those Empire citizens who later changed their statements, were they asked by officials to keep it secret, or…”

His two-bedroom apartment wasn’t large. In the quiet study, the light from the laptop screen dimly illuminated his face.

On this face that still appeared silent, calm, and docile, his eyes emitted a strong light that definitely didn’t belong to someone silent, calm, and docile.

— It was… like the gaze of someone walking in an icy, snowy wilderness, looking at a burning fire.

On the computer screen, several websites were open simultaneously.

One of them was a browsing site of the Chenxing Empire, showing the usual peace and quiet. The accounts that had previously sworn to have heard the mysterious voice now had apology letters admitting to spreading rumors still hanging there, with a bunch of netizens’ curses below. Occasionally, comments suggesting that extraordinary powers truly existed would appear, only to be deleted within the first second of being posted, and those accounts would even lose their right to speak online afterward.

The others were foreign websites he had accessed by circumventing the firewall.

For instance, on Yao country’s social media platforms, the atmosphere was completely different.

Popular topics were almost all related to #Master of the Heavenly Capital#, #Martial Arts#, #Extraordinaries#, #Sword Realm#, and the like. The disappeared people from Yao country openly announced on the internet that their recent disappearance was due to entering a secret realm called the Sword Realm, where they received martial arts opportunities bestowed by the Master of the Heavenly Capital — they also took the chance to greatly praise the Master of the Heavenly Capital. As for the content of the martial arts manuals and detailed information about the Sword Realm? Sorry, they had signed confidentiality agreements and couldn’t disclose anything.

“They’re really open and straightforward…” In comparison to the evasive and truth-twisting Chenxing Empire, it was clear which side was more credible.

Looking at those missing people from Yao Country freely expressing themselves online, and then thinking about the missing people from the Chenxing Empire after their return – besides the official statement confirming their safe return, they had never spoken or appeared in any public setting. These were people who had experienced such an extraordinary event – given the nature of Chenxing Empire’s media, it was impossible that they would have passed up such a news story!

The implications behind this…

Could it be that these people… were not entirely free now?

A faint shadow of doubt passed through Matthews’ mind.

[Last night, in the eastern suburbs of the Brin District, a warehouse accidentally caught fire and exploded. According to the investigation, the cause of the fire was a lit cigarette butt carelessly left behind by the warehouse manager when leaving work, which ignited flammable and explosive materials in the warehouse…]

Matthews casually closed the news pushed by the client, his expression enigmatic. “Does the imperial leadership really take us for fools? I don’t know if I should believe the empire’s news anymore…”

He looked at the maximized page on the screen. On the gray background, shadows and light were constantly shifting.

This was a transnational forum he had recently joined.

When everyone else believed the empire’s nonsense, he, unwilling to believe, spent every spare moment frantically searching online for any information related to extraordinary powers. From a young age, ostracized by his peers, he had been like an oddball, always immersed in a world of fantasy, unusually obsessed with legends and myths that seemed absurd to others, always fantasizing that it all might manifest in reality. Therefore, he wouldn’t miss any opportunity.

Just a few days after that, Matthews received an invitation from this mysterious transnational forum. After joining, he discovered that the members here seemed to be just like him, possessing an unusually persistent exploration and pursuit of extraordinary powers. It seemed that the people behind the forum had sent out invitations for precisely this reason.

This display of far-reaching power didn’t scare him; instead, it convinced him that the ‘Extraordinary Forum’ was certainly not some fake scam.

Skillfully scanning the news scrolling on the Extraordinary Forum, Matthews saw a familiar warehouse explosion picture, but the caption shockingly read. “Local gang in Brin District wiped out, King District’s Cleaner organization achieves a great victory. Another area of darkness incorporated into the Shadow’s territory…”

As he observed, the Extraordinary Forum was posting real-time news from various countries around the world. Some came from forum members’ personal experiences, while most came from mysterious forum administrators and moderators.

In addition to this, there were occasional messages related to extraordinary powers. Many members were martial arts practitioners who had gained opportunities in the Sword Realm. There were also some mysterious members who seemed to understand other extraordinary powers beyond martial arts, occasionally leaking tidbits that left others in awe.

It was because of joining this forum that Matthews was able to see the true doors of the extraordinary world opening before him.

He eagerly absorbed all the information openly shared on the forum, especially those secret reports involving extraordinaries.

“A mysterious flower shop that appears randomly around the world, only descending when one is at their most desperate, painful, and unfortunate moment, giving each guest a seed of hope…?”

“That infamous serial killer K turned out to be an extraordinary too? I wonder who obtained such intelligence and leaked it…”

“A certain extraordinary organization hidden in the shadows, seemingly going by the name of Shadow…”

Meanwhile, in different parts of the world, in front of computer screens, different people exclaimed the same thing.

“…This world really isn’t as simple as it seems!”

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