In a remote research facility in China-

Inside a test lab-

Tch*

"Ow. That was unpleasant, man." A restrained patient on an operating table, covered in electrodes and an IV stuck to his arm, complained to a Chinese lab assistant who injected something into the back of his neck with an injection gun.

Ignoring him, the oriental lab assistant left the room, leaving Asher alone with his thoughts.

"Dammit, how did I end up in this mess?! I just went on a fucking vacation and accidentally saw your shady business, so you detain me and experiment on me before disposing of me? I thought we had something..." The man grumbled, feeling sad and betrayed.

He was Asher Wolf, a 29-year-old freelance programmer who went on a vacation in China, wanting to pick up some horny oriental chicks and trying out weird cuisine. Being a somewhat well-off guy with an athletic build and a good face, he quickly hooked up with some local hot chick named Cao Cai, who happened to know English and was a researcher in an international pharmaceutical company. She was slightly above his league but wanted to find a stable westerner and leave China, so he got lucky. It also helped that she was 28 and still single, which the Chinese frowned upon and considered her unwanted goods, which Asher found ridiculous.

Originally, everything went fine. They even dated for two months. He found her charming, witty, and funny, and the sex was fantastic. Asher truly considered trying to have a stable relationship with her, and she said she wanted to move to work in a branch near his hometown and live with him. If everything went right, within half a year, they might even be newlyweds, starting a family.

And then it happened.

"I just walked around the city and accidentally ran into you on the street. I saw you entering an alley with a shady-looking guy, so I followed you out of worry... who would have thought that you were making some deal with the triads? I don't even know WHAT deal you made. I couldn't understand over 90% of what they were saying. But they still found me, and before I could react, someone tasered the fuck out of me. They then tied me up and brought me here." Asher shook his head.

Cacha*

Clack* Clack* Clack* Clack*

Just then, he heard the door open, followed by high heels. Looking over, he saw a familiar face.

She was a long-haired Chinese woman in her late twenties, her ripe figure draped in a white lab coat. She looked at him with a hint of pity, but a scientist's cold and analytical eyes covered it.

"Hello, Asher." Cao Cai said with an apathetic voice.

"Hello, Cai'er," Asher replied, more disappointed than angry.

Cao Cai shook slightly, her cold demeanor dropping slightly, but she soon recovered.

"I am here to inform you of your fate," Cao Cai said.

"To be a human lab rat?" Asher pursed his lips.

"Hah... yes, that is correct." Cao Cai sighed and admitted.

"I thought you belonged to a major pharmaceutical company! Saturn Pharmaceuticals! How can you do this to me?! To anyone?! This is inhuman!" Asher grimaced and protested.

"You saw something you shouldn't have." Cao Cai coldly said.

"For you! And I couldn't even understand WHAT was going on! Heck, you know my Mandarin is terrible! I could barely understand a few words!" Asher growled.

"Asher, you don't understand. This is bigger than you. Bigger than both of us." Cao Cai shook her head.

"Oh yeah? Like what?" Asher frowned and asked.

Cao Cai didn't reply. Instead, she raised a finger.

Woosh*

Asher widened his eyes as he saw a blue flame dancing on Cao Cai's fingertip.

"This..." Asher didn't know what to say.

"The world is about to usher in the age of Espers, Asher. Pharmaceutical companies and governments are investing trillions in it. All humans will have a chance to awaken superpowers." Cao Cai calmly explained.

"And let me guess. I am the noble sacrifice who pioneers that path?" Asher ridiculed.

"One of many. This is one of the fruits of their sacrifice. It is a Delta-Level ability obtained from the Delta Serum, which is mediocre, but suitable for regular civilians." Cao Cai bluntly said.

"So you smuggled human test subjects or something? Is that why you did this to me?" Asher frowned and asked.

"As I said, you saw something you shouldn't have." Cao Cai shook her head.

"So what happens to me now?" Asher asked.

"We wait for the results. You will be given an experimental serum that could theoretically awaken Alpha-Plus Class Esper Powers. If it succeeds, it would be a groundbreaking breakthrough." Cao Cai said.

"And if it fails, I am another statistic?" Asher asked.

"Yes." Cao Cai grimly nodded.

"What is the current survival rate?" Asher asked.

"For the Alpha Plus project, 0%." Cao Cai pursed her lips.

Despite guessing it, Asher still went pale from the revelation.

"Will it be painful?" Asher sighed, not caring anymore.

"Very. It requires direct stimulation of the brain, meaning you cannot have anesthesia during the transformation. Otherwise, your chances would be 0%. Believe me, we are researchers, not sadists, and we would prefer you to be docile." Cao Cai also had a helpless look.

"Good to know I will go through literal hell before death... And what happens if it succeeds?" Asher asked.

"If you succeed in your transformation, you can become a valued company employee with a fat paycheck. And if you want me, we can continue dating as if nothing happened." She showed a hint of softness.

"Right... Well, get it over with. Let me peacefully wallow in despair for my last few minutes away from hell." Asher said, feeling disgusted.

"... If it means any consolation to you, I truly wanted to start a family with you and have a normal life. I never wanted to expose you to any of this." Cao Cai sighed and said.

"... Just leave." Asher turned his head away, unwilling to talk to her anymore.

"... Good Luck, Asher." Cao Cai left these parting words and left the room, her face hardening.

Asher blankly looked at the ceiling, waiting for the inevitable.

"Project Alpha Plus, Test #11,873, Commenced." Cao Cai's voice sounded from a speaker.

And then, black liquid dripped through the IV, right into his veins.

Within moments, he felt a burning liquid entering his veins.

"Ah... AHHHH!!!" Asher screamed, veins bulging and black, the only thing keeping him in place being his restraints.

Behind a glass wall, Cao Cai and several researchers were taking notes on the readings.

"Brain signals are spiking. Heart rate is accelerating. He won't make it."

"Esper Levels are rising! They are going off the charts! He already surpassed the Alpha class!"

"Prepare to sanitize the room if he mutates." Another researcher added.

"2 minutes..." Cao Cai, her hands clenched and unknowingly sweaty.

The transformation usually lasts 5 minutes. If he passed the five-minute mark, it might mean he survives!

"Ah! Ah! Ah!!!"

"Ah...!"

"Ah..."

Asher's screams grew weaker and weaker before he calmly breathed in and out.

However, the scientists grew excited.

"He's making it... He is making it!"

"Vital signs and his Esper signals are stabilizing!"

"No mutation detected! It's a miracle!"

"He did it... He did it!" Cao Cai was the happiest among them. "Quick! Take him to the isolation room for recovery! And don't forget to take some samples!"

The researchers quickly entered the room, taking a few blood samples through the needle stuck in Asher's arm. But just as they were about to transport him-

Asher, who was in a weird state, muttered.

"I want to leave... anywhere away from here..."

And then, as if through magic-

Woosh*

He vanished.

There was no bright light or special noise effects. He just vanished with a light sound, like air filling a void.

"W-What? Where did he go?!" The researchers started to panic.

Cao Cai's eyes widened before smashing a red emergency button.

Woo* Woo* Woo* Woo*

All the lights turned red as Cao Cai spoke through a microphone.

"Code Blue! Code Blue! An unstable Alpha Plus is on the loose in the facility! Initiate lockdown! All personnel, search and contain! I repeat! Search and contain! The target is a young caucasian! Use the tracking chip to locate him, and use paralytic ammunition! Don't damage the company's assets!"

The entire facility went on lockdown, searching for the escaped company asset.

Once done, Cao Cai held her forehead and muttered.

"Goddammit, Asher. Please don't do anything stupid..."

However, everyone in the facility didn't know that the man they were looking for was no longer inside. Or in the city. Or China. Or on their planet.

No- He was in another world right now.

.

.

.

"Uuu..." Asher groaned, slowly opening his eyes.

What greeted him was a modern-looking but dusty ceiling, as if no one had cleaned inside for a decade.

"I... what? Where am I? In hell? Or did I survive? Am I in a prison cell?" Asher muttered, feeling dizzy.

After recovering for a few minutes, Asher slowly got up and looked around.

He found himself in a dusty one-room apartment, as if not cleaned in ages. But otherwise, it was intact. And it also looked strangely futuristic. Some of the gadgets inside were beyond Asher's understanding.

"Where the FUCK is this? It certainly doesn't look like a containment cell or some shit. Heck, I am not even restrained." Asher frowned and looked down.

He was still wearing the damn patient robe, with the IV still stuck to his arm.

"Great... just what I need. An IV inside my arm. And I am no doctor, so I don't want to touch it if possible... I don't wanna bleed to death." Asher muttered and slowly got up from the dusty floor.

The air felt stale, as if not ventilated for years, so Asher carefully went to the window to get some fresh air, danger be damned.

"Shit... even these windows are covered in dust. I can barely see anything." Asher muttered and wiped the window with his hand. "And how do I even open it? This is so weird... What?"

Slowly, Asher's expression changed to one of disbelief.

That was because there was an overgrown, modern-looking ghost city. And he was apparently inside an apartment on the 5th or 6th floor.

"I... I must be hallucinating. I need some water..." Asher muttered in a daze.

He then walked to the kitchen sink and opened the tap.

However-

"Figures... the sink doesn't work." Asher's lips twitched in annoyance. "Now that I think about it, the power is also out. Without sunlight, I would be blind as a bat."

Thinking about it, Asher searched through the kitchen to find something. Anything.

Finally, he found an unopened small bottle of mineral water in the fridge. But don't even ask about the state of everything else inside. Blugh.

Opening the bottle, Asher drank all of it before sighing in contentment.

"Hah... that hit the spot," Asher sighed, placing the now-empty bottle on the counter.

He then went to a nearby dusty sofa without caring about the dust sticking to his bare ass.

"Luckily, I am not allergic to dust, or I would be fucked right now," Asher muttered in a daze.

And then, he started thinking about how he got there.

"Okay... those people didn't bring me here. 99.9% sure. No point in all this nonsense. Then am I in hell? But this doesn't exactly feel like hell. More like... I am in another world? Or the future?"

When he thought about this, Asher scratched his head, not knowing what to think. He was a freelance programmer with a bachelor's degree from the Free University, not a theoretical physicist or mathematician from MIT. He could only use the common sense of a Gen Y about books, movies, and games.

Thinking about it, Asher picked up the bottle and looked at the label. It was clearly in Mandarin. Luckily, some English fine print was in the back, so it wasn't hopeless.

"Made in China... of course. Made in... 2125!? I am 100 years in the future?! No, probably over a hundred?!" Asher exclaimed in shock and horror.

However, he quickly calmed down and analyzed things.

"Wait, it is too early to conclude things. I need more information..." Asher muttered. And then he looked at his medical-apron-wearing body. "But first, some clothes."