Tianjin, Qing Dynasty.
Xiaogang Coastline, Haihe Estuary Sector, 2:47 A.M.
Nestled just southeast of the Tianjin city core, where the shinning skyscrapers of Binhai fade into the salt-rusted mist of the Haihe River delta, there lay a forgotten stretch of shoreline, "Xiaogang Village".
Once a sleepy fishing district near the 'Dagu Fort Ruins', the area had been scheduled for urban demolition long ago, part of the government's aggressive post-2025 development plan to build luxury marina residences along the Bohai Sea.
But that was before the Great Reset.
The extinction.
Half the world's population gone, and with them, their dreams of cranes, glass towers, and endless economic zones. Resources dried up. Plans died in folders. Bulldozers rusted in the mud.
Now, the coastal settlement remained, unwanted by progress, untouched by time.
