Chapter 12 — Heartbeat of the Void
Night fell without stars.
The city skyline shimmered beneath a haze of purple smog, neon lights flickering like distant spirits. Azure City had always thrived on chaos—crowded streets, restless ambition, and the hum of technology—but tonight the hum had changed. It felt… alive.
Gu Tian walked along the riverside promenade, his reflection blurring across the black water. His eyes—once calm—now held a depth that mirrored eternity itself. The Netherworld System pulsed faintly within him, not with words but with an instinctive awareness.
Something beneath the surface was breathing.
He felt it again: Thump… Thump…
A heartbeat, slow and vast, resonating through the world's fabric. It wasn't physical. It was cosmic.
> [Warning: Abyssal Pulse Detected]
Source: Unknown Plane Overlapping the Mortal Realm
Stability of Azure City: 96% → 92%
The notification dissolved into a pale shimmer. No voice, no emotion—only the quiet rhythm of existence acknowledging change.
A gust of cold air swept across the water, and Gu Tian turned his gaze toward the far side of the river. The lights of the district beyond were dimming one by one. Not like a blackout. More like something was swallowing them, erasing their glow without consuming the buildings. A blankness that spread silently.
---
The next morning, the city pretended nothing had happened.
Commuters rushed to work, children laughed in the parks, but every reflection on glass windows shimmered a fraction too long. A woman on the metro swore she saw her reflection smile back a moment after she'd looked away. A stray cat hissed at its shadow. And somewhere in the underground tunnels, workers reported hearing whispers in the walls.
Gu Tian walked among them unseen, wearing a plain black hoodie.
He could feel the tension in the ley lines beneath the city—Abyssal contamination: minor level.
Each pulse of the Netherworld within him cleansed a small radius, returning the world to stability, but the corruption kept spreading faster than he could erase it.
He stopped at a street corner. A faint, translucent figure was standing there—something between a ghost and a mirage, faceless yet aware.
It tilted its head, studying him. For an instant, the entire street froze in time. People paused mid-step, cars halted mid-motion. Only Gu Tian and the entity moved.
"Not possible…" he murmured. "You shouldn't exist here."
The thing didn't answer. Instead, a ripple of darkness spread from its form, carrying a voice directly into his mind.
> "You hear it too… the heartbeat of the sleeping Abyss."
The System reacted instantly—
> [Emergency Mode: Spatial Lockdown]
[Activating Dimensional Boundary: Nether Zone – 0.1%]
Reality flickered.
The street dissolved into a monochrome void, where gray winds howled and the scent of sulfur lingered. The figure transformed—its outline sharpening into a humanoid shape cloaked in runes of void energy.
Gu Tian's eyes glowed faintly. "So it begins."
He raised his hand, and the Netherworld's authority unfolded like wings behind him—spectral chains stretching into infinity, binding the space around them. The creature screamed without sound as its essence burned under the System's touch. In less than a second, it disintegrated into black dust.
But the victory brought no peace.
The heartbeat thundered again, louder this time.
> [Abyssal Layer Penetration: 0.4% → 2.1%]
[Warning: Dimensional Pressure Increasing]
Gu Tian clenched his fist. "If the Abyss wants to awaken… then I'll meet it halfway."
---
That night, he stood atop the tallest building in Azure City.
Below him stretched a sleeping world, unaware of its doom.
Above him, the moon was red—a reflection of something bleeding in the sky.
The Netherworld within him expanded, touching every shadow across the city. He could feel every restless soul, every flicker of death, every silent cry. And through them all—the same heartbeat, echoing, calling.
Gu Tian closed his eyes.
Within his consciousness, countless worlds shimmered.
He whispered softly, "System… prepare for synchronization."
> [Confirmed]
[Beginning System-Natherworld Synchronization]
[Balance Protocol: Active]
A silver halo bloomed around him.
Reality trembled.
For the first time since his transmigration, the Netherworld itself—his true body—stirred beneath the veil of creation.
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