The morning mist had barely lifted from a remote forest clearing when Chen Xi arrived. His expression was calm, but those who knew him could see the faint gleam of anticipation in his eyes. Today was not an ordinary day.

The readings were impossible. Chen Xi stared at the screen, his breath catching. If the data was correct, everything they thought they knew about the alien signal was wrong.

His aura exploded outward as he stepped into the next realm. The implications were staggering. He had to tell someone — but who could he trust?

A sound from the corridor made him freeze. Someone was coming. Chen Xi quickly closed the terminal and slipped into the shadows. The door slid open, and a figure stepped inside.

It was Qin Chen. They locked eyes, and in that moment, Chen Xi knew that the game had changed. Whatever happened next, there was no going back to the way things were before.

Far away, on a mountain peak/spaceship/deck that no one had noticed until now, an old man/a woman/an AI watched the events unfold through a scrying orb/hologram/screen. "So it begins," it murmured. "The real test is yet to come."