“Ji Ting, male, 23 years old, current residence: A City, XX District, XX Street, XX Community, Building XX, Unit X. Owns a coffee shop under his name, which operates at a loss year-round. The main source of income is…”
At this point, the examiner glanced at Ji Ting and continued reading the profile: “Psychological counseling targeted at specific groups, acrobatics and magic performances in private settings, and private detective work…”
Director Wang put down the dossier and casually remarked, “You’re quite the versatile one, aren’t you?”
Ji Ting replied modestly, “It’s mostly because I have a wide range of interests. These are the ones that can make money. I also have a bunch of hobbies that don’t make any money, like writing novels.”
Clearly, no one is a jack-of-all-trades.
Despite Ji Ting’s many talents, he was still a failure in the novel-writing business — no website had signed him, so he wrote purely for passion, making him an amateur writer.
Director Wang flipped through the documents while saying, “You’ve published quite a number of novels online.”
“Most of them are unfinished, so it just looks like there are many. I have even more outlines that I haven’t published online, but they’re all stored on my hard drive…” Ji Ting patted his pocket, “I didn’t bring it with me today. If you want, you can send someone to my place to get it — it’s in the first drawer of my computer desk.”
“No rush. There’s plenty of time later. Let’s talk about something else first…”
Director Wang closed the dossier and looked at Ji Ting.
“You don’t seem very surprised?”
“If you mean ‘the fact that the novels I write have merged with reality,’ then yes, I’m pretty surprised.”
Ji Ting and Director Wang locked eyes for two seconds.
Ji Ting shrugged, “This mystery has been troubling me for several days, even before you told me the correct answer.”
“A whole bunch of people suddenly sincerely believe the apocalypse is coming. Various doomsday survival manuals keep emerging. The entire city is showing signs of mass brainwashing…”
“Of course, the most important thing is that since a week ago, I haven’t been able to write anything. Whether typing or handwriting, anything related to novels simply vanishes into thin air.”
“When someone started tailing me later on, I thought maybe I had stirred up something I shouldn’t have. I never expected the answer to be so unexpected.”
“The novels and reality are merging… so, the novels merging with reality are apocalypse-themed?”
Director Wang smiled, “We have confidentiality rules. We can’t reveal relevant information to ‘ordinary people.’”
Ji Ting met his gaze for two seconds and understood: “So, this is a job interview?”
Director Wang pulled out a thick stack of papers from somewhere and pushed them across to Ji Ting.
“Actually, being a civil servant isn’t a bad career choice either.”
Ji Ting opened the “Special Talent Recruitment Plan” and “Special Event Emergency Response Plan,” reading the specific regulations and explanations word by word.
The work conditions and benefits for “special talents” were quite generous, including personal safety guarantees and career path planning, plus bonuses and regular travel.
Although Ji Ting wasn’t short on money, a well-rounded career path showed the other party’s stature and sincerity.
Ji Ting picked up a pen and signed his name in one go, handing the stack of documents back to Director Wang.
“What’s the next step?”
Director Wang put the papers away and handed Ji Ting another document to keep.
“The follow-up will be handled by the Action Group. They’ll explain everything to you.”
He called toward the door, “Tian Shu.”
Ji Ting turned his gaze to the entrance and saw someone raise an eyebrow.
Li Yishu, dressed in combat uniform, nodded to Director Wang and walked behind the desk.
Director Wang lifted his tea cup and, walking out, introduced the man to Ji Ting: “This is Li Yishu, captain of the Tian Shu Squad. He currently belongs to the Action Group under the Special Event Response Scheme. He’ll be responsible for you from now on.”
Ji Ting examined Li Yishu’s special-material combat uniform, silver-blue in tone, shimmering with tiny twinkles as Li Yishu moved, outlining his sleek physique, giving off a strong sci-fi vibe.
The material looked unusual — incredibly soft, almost breathing with subtle undulations.
That familiar name immediately triggered Ji Ting’s reaction: “Tian Shu, Li Yishu… 《Tian Shu: The Rise》?”
Li Yishu was the protagonist of Ji Ting’s very first novel — an excellent soldier, a superb warrior, a sharp blade honed through smoke and gunfire.
《Tian Shu: The Rise》 tells the story of the hero becoming an outstanding special forces soldier through a series of trials and tribulations.
He had no “cheat codes,” only comrades and strong self-discipline — which was why it failed miserably, gaining hardly any readers.
Ji Ting shifted his thoughts and grasped the key point: The story of 《Tian Shu》 didn’t take place during the apocalypse.
So, were the small mutated creatures and the apocalyptic theory in A City influenced by another novel?
He confirmed with Li Yishu: 《Tian Shu》 has merged with reality? What changes have occurred?
Before Li Yishu could answer, Ji Ting took out his phone and searched Baidu Encyclopedia for an answer: “Those background settings have become reality.”
Li Yishu said, “Because of 《Tian Shu》’s theme, this has actually been good news. Its fusion with reality brought tens of thousands of elite soldiers, a complete special forces hierarchy, and advanced technology, like the combat suit you see.”
Ji Ting asked, “Didn’t anyone notice anything strange when 《Tian Shu》 merged with reality?”
Li Yishu explained, “We currently divide the novel-reality fusion into three stages.
The first stage is ‘cognitive change.’
This is a silent, subtle process.
‘Cognitive change’ starts from the fusion point of the novel and reality and spreads outward, massively affecting people’s normal cognition.
The second stage is ‘appearance of novel characters in reality.’
Once the first character appears, a large number follow, accelerating the fusion of the novel and reality.
The third stage is ‘changed cognition becoming common sense.’
At this stage, it’s meaningless to distinguish between the novel and reality, because the novel has become part of reality.”
Ji Ting said, “Since those two big ones appeared, that means the second novel has entered the second stage… More ‘novel characters’ will soon appear, right?”
“That’s why we are reaching out to you further.”
Li Yishu leaned forward, eyes sharp as he stared at Ji Ting.
“Observing from a distance has lost meaning. We need you.”
He stood up and gestured for Ji Ting to follow, walking and saying, “I’ll have someone send you a synopsis of the novel that’s currently merging.”
Ji Ting’s phone beeped, showing he had received an unknown file.
The method of transmission made Ji Ting glance at Li Yishu ahead, recalling that the Tian Shu protagonist team had a very skilled IT expert.
As for why a hacker would become a special forces soldier… don’t ask.
It’s just how the plot goes.
Ji Ting quickly skimmed through the novel synopsis.
《I Have a Base in the Apocalypse》 mainly describes how the protagonist uses his base as a “cheat” to recruit followers across the post-apocalyptic wasteland, rising to the pinnacle of life.
After several novels that failed miserably in a row, Ji Ting reflected deeply, summarized the elements that make a popular novel, and started piling on various trending themes.
That’s how 《I Have a Base in the Apocalypse》 came about.
Without turning his head, Li Yishu quickened his pace: “There may be a large number of novel characters appearing in the outskirts of A City soon, including the protagonist Liu Daming. I hope by then you will have the ability to protect yourself and communicate with them up close.”
Ji Ting matched his pace.
They reached the training ground behind the building.
The ground was filled with complex obstacles and targets.
Soldiers, covered in dirt and grime, crawled and climbed.
The deafening gunfire sketched out a scene straight from the training grounds described in 《Tian Shu》.
Ji Ting glanced that way twice more before returning to their earlier conversation: “You specifically emphasized close-range communication… Is that because I have some sort of influence over ‘novel characters’?”
Li Yishu stopped at the entrance of an underground building and pressed a pillar.
The plain pillar’s surface lit up with the words “Verification Passed,” and the floor in front of the pillar slid open to reveal stairs leading downward.
Li Yishu led the way, Ji Ting following closely.
When they reached the bottom, a spacious hall opened up, filled with people.
The noisy clacking of keyboards and chatter drifted into Ji Ting’s ears.
“Data team requests access to file S.”
“The outskirts of A City require full lockdown…”
“Latest analysis results of the young dragon’s image have been sent to the team…”
“Group C has begun executing search tasks…”
“Data analysis team’s preliminary plan updated to number 452…”
“Mutated creature data has been updated and sent to all action groups, adjusting response plans…”
“The citizens of A City remain stable, no need to activate backup plans for now…”
Ji Ting and Li Yishu’s arrival was like two drops of water merging into the ocean — they caused no ripple in the busy crowd.
Li Yishu turned to the side as usual and stopped at the door of the Tian Shu Squad’s meeting room.
The members of the Tian Shu Squad had been eagerly peeking out, excited.
“Is the new guy here? When do we start training? I’m ready.”
“No wonder the boss wouldn’t let us meet him. Watching through a screen and face-to-face are completely different.”
“He looks reliable.”
“Welcome to the Action Group. Let’s start with a cross-country race to warm up, yeah?”
Amid the lively welcomes, Li Yishu answered Ji Ting’s earlier question: “Based on observations and interactions over the past few days, ‘novel characters’ easily develop trust and a sense of closeness toward you.
We plan to leverage this to gain Liu Daming’s trust, encouraging him to cooperate with us to solve other issues brought by the novel-reality fusion, like the potential mass appearance of mutated creatures.”