Chapter 1

"Grandma."

"Uncle San."

"Ai Jing, you're finally back. You didn't come back last year for the New Year."

"Your parents didn't come back with you?"

"Ai Jing, you're wearing glasses, you look even more refined. You really have the air of a college student."

Su Jing dragged his suitcase, greeting the villagers one by one as he entered the village. Su Village was a very small community, and everyone knew each other well. Although Su Jing rarely came back after middle school, as one of the only two college students from Su Village, he had always been a source of pride for the villagers. However, the villagers didn't realize that in this era, college students were as common as dogs.

Su Jing had been out of college for more than a year and had changed jobs several times. He finally found a satisfactory job, but was fired because he offended his superior. Su Jing was in a terrible mood and had no interest in looking for a new job. This time, he came back mainly to rest and adjust his mood.

"Ai Jing, you finally remembered to come back." A young man with short pants, dark skin, and a muscular build was carrying two baskets of fish.

"Ai Liang, I heard you became a dad." Su Jing smiled. This young man, Su Liang, was his age. They used to do all sorts of mischief together when they were kids. However, Su Liang got married two years ago and had a daughter last year.

"Haha, that's right. You, as an uncle, are really not doing your job. You haven't even held her or given her a gift. By the way, why didn't you bring a girl back?" Su Liang put down the heavy baskets of fish and laughed.

"No, I'm a single loser." Su Jing made a bitter face.

"Hehe, why don't you go catch up with Shi Qing? I heard she's still single and might still be waiting for you." Su Liang winked.

"Don't be ridiculous, what are you talking about?" Su Jing rolled his eyes, but thinking of her sweet and familiar face, his heart warmed. Over the years, he had seen many beautiful women, but her face was the one he couldn't forget.

Shi Qing was from the neighboring village and was Su Jing's classmate from elementary, middle, and high school. She was a beauty at the school level, and both of them were top students. They became good friends because they often discussed homework together, but they also had many rumors spread about them because they were close.

Shi Qing's college entrance exam scores were a few points higher than Su Jing's, and she could have attended many prestigious universities. However, she didn't go to college because her father was injured in an accident, and the family's savings were depleted. There was no money left for her to go to school.

After the college entrance exam and before starting university, Su Jing often went to her house to help, but he could do little. After starting university, they still chatted on QQ occasionally, but they gradually became more distant.

He heard that her family had finally paid off their debts in the past two years, and her father could work again. Although they were still poor, their life was gradually improving.

"Don't drag your feet. If you wait until she's taken, you'll regret it. I won't talk to you much more. I still need to dry these fish. Come to my house tonight; I have a lot of good things." Su Liang said.

"I'm a bit tired from the trip. I plan to go to bed early tonight. Let's talk tomorrow." Su Jing waved his hand. Su Village was near the sea, and most of the villagers were fishermen. He knew that the "good things" Su Liang mentioned were probably various seafood.

After saying goodbye to Su Liang, Su Jing walked quickly to his own door. Looking at the old house that was almost falling apart, Su Jing couldn't help but laugh bitterly: "How did my old house become like this?"

Su Jing's parents were teachers. When he was in middle school, they moved to the city. At first, they would still repair the house every year and come back for the New Year, but later they became lazy and just stayed at his uncle's house during the New Year. So the old house was completely abandoned.

Su Jing originally thought that even if it was abandoned, it should be livable after some cleaning, but he didn't expect it to be in such a state.

Su Jing was a bit frustrated. He took out the key to open the courtyard gate, but the rusty lock wouldn't even let the key in. He shook it hard, and the lock head broke off. He threw the lock and key away in frustration.

He entered the courtyard and opened the old house's main door. A cloud of dust made Su Jing cough uncontrollably. Seeing the condition inside, Su Jing felt even more helpless. There was a hole in the roof, and sunlight shone directly in, but the room was filled with water, probably from the rain the day before. On the left eaves, there was a large nest of swallows, and a few baby swallows were chirping with their heads poking out. On the cabinet, a calico cat was protecting three kittens, its fur standing up and hissing at Su Jing. The whole room smelled strange and foul.

"Did I come back to rest or to suffer?"

Su Jing sighed helplessly and walked through the front hall to the backyard. The old house was near the sea, and from the backyard, he could see the sea directly. It was a true sea-view house. When he was in a bad mood, he used to lie on the grass in the backyard and look at the sea.

However, this time, he didn't see the sea. The backyard was overgrown with weeds, like a primitive forest. A lychee tree and an orange tree had fruit, but it wasn't ripe yet. There was also a loquat tree and a plum tree, but they had already passed the fruiting season.

"I need to clean up, or I won't be able to live here."

Su Jing found that most of the rooms were leaking, but fortunately, his room was not. He cleaned his room thoroughly and then tidied up the other rooms and the living room briefly.

By the time he finished, it was already midnight. Su Jing was exhausted. He took a quick shower, ate some snacks, and went to bed.

At around three or four in the morning, Su Jing was woken up by a thunderstorm and couldn't fall back asleep. The rain was loud on the tiled roof, and tiles occasionally fell from the eaves and shattered, making a loud noise.

"Rumble, rumble"

A loud noise startled Su Jing.

At first, he thought it was thunder, but when he felt the noise was right next to his ear and continuous, he realized something was wrong. He poked his head out the window and immediately widened his eyes in shock.

In the courtyard, a huge spherical vortex appeared, like a wormhole from a sci-fi movie.

From the center of the vortex, a large amount of miscellaneous items poured down, landing in the backyard. A lychee tree and a loquat tree were crushed.

Su Jing thought he heard some voices in the sky, but he wasn't sure if it was just his imagination.

"Ha ha, it worked!"

"After all the hardships, we finally found a stable wormhole to another dimension."

"Let's do a few more tests. If it works, we can send all the garbage from different dimensions through this wormhole in the future..."

As the vortex in the sky disappeared, the faint voices also gradually faded away.

The rain gradually stopped, and the world became silent.

Su Jing pinched his thigh hard. The intense pain made him realize that this wasn't a dream. The pile of garbage in the courtyard also told him that this wasn't an illusion.