Prologue The Five-Speed Electric Fan

In July, Qingzhou was unbearably hot, with not a trace of coolness even at night. In his dorm room at Qingzhou University, Andy was stripped down to nothing but a pair of shorts. The electric fan was turned up to its highest setting, but all it managed to do was blow hot air around, filling the atmosphere with an added layer of irritation.

It was the summer break of his junior year. All the others in the dormitory had either gone home or rented places elsewhere. As an orphan, Andy stayed behind alone, earning a bit of tuition and living expenses during the day by working part-time, and passing his nights playing games on his roommate’s computer.

At the moment, he was watching a live broadcast of a popular streamer’s gaming session, the screen awash with an endless barrage of comments.

“66666, the world hasn’t ended, never surrender. The streamer actually turned it around! Where’s that guy who said he’d do something with the fan if this happened? Waiting for the livestream!”

“That guy called Invincible Andy, show us the fan livestream.”

“Please livestream yourself with the fan setting at max +1.”

“Please livestream yourself with the fan setting at max +2.”

“Please livestream yourself with the fan setting at max +10086.”

Andy was thoroughly exasperated. When the streamer had been at a huge disadvantage earlier, he’d mocked, “Just surrender at 20 minutes. If you turn this around, I’ll livestream myself with the fan on max.” And now, against all odds, the streamer had actually won. His words had come back to slap him in the face, and the viewers were seizing the opportunity to ridicule him mercilessly.

A flush of embarrassment and annoyance burned across Andy’s face as he angrily closed the livestream, not even noticing the strange noises coming from above his head.

“I, Invincible Andy, will make a comeback!” he muttered to himself for comfort. “Forget it, let’s start a new game to change the mood.”

“Oh, today’s got an Unlimited Firepower mode!” After updating the client, Andy eagerly logged into his League of Legends account, selected the Unlimited Firepower mode, and started matchmaking.

“Something feels off today—maybe the fan’s just too old and noisy?” He was about to look up when the match success sound chimed in his game. Faced with his usual indecision, he finally settled on Ezreal as his champion.

While waiting for the game to load, Andy quickly poured himself a glass of water; his mouth was parched from sweating so much.

In less than two minutes, the loading finished. Andy put down his glass, began controlling his character, bought his items, and set out for battle…

He was just getting into the game when suddenly there was a sharp “crack” from above, followed by a low, ominous whirring.

The old, colorless electric fan above his head, unable to bear the strain, finally broke loose from its connection, spinning as it fell with a crash—right toward Andy!

“Shit!” A chill shot through Andy’s scalp, his whole body tensing, but it was useless. In an instant, the fan smashed down, striking Andy’s head together with the laptop.

Everything went black for Andy; he knew nothing more.

Sparks erupted fiercely, and in the dry air, they quickly ignited the papers and books on the desk, then spread to the bedsheets and blankets.

Before long, the shrill sound of alarms echoed from outside the dormitory.