The ancient return was exposed by his sister's live stream.

Chen Hao glanced at the numbers on the screen.

"Not bad. At the beginning stage, 5% is already considered top-tier."

"What about my junior sister?" Yang Wanqing was referring to as Qin Xiaoyu.

"When Xiaoyu first started, her absorption rate was 9%. But she used the Eight-Nine Arcane Technique, so her absorption rate would probably be over ten percent. There's no comparison."

Yang Wanqing exclaimed "Wow!" and continued browsing the posts.

Chen Siyao stared at the number "5.03%" for a while, then opened the class group chat.

Hundreds of messages have already flooded the group chat, all about the talent test. Someone even posted a photo of the queue; the line at the school gate snaked around three corners and stretched all the way across the street.

Some people shared their test results—1.3%, failing, accompanied by a crying emoji. Others passed—2.1%, accompanied by a string of fireworks.

But many more people didn't even have the chance to queue. The test required advance booking, and the booking system crashed within fifteen seconds of opening.

Chen Siyao turned off her phone and leaned back on the sofa.

The world has changed.

That ordinary, routine world has officially come to an end, starting tonight.

Her brother sat next to her, drinking tea and crossing his legs, looking no different from usual.

But she knew.

All of this was decided long ago in that windowless room, during that one-hour conversation.

Yang Wanqing suddenly leaned closer and lowered her voice.

"Yaoyao, do you think... your brother will be the most powerful person in the country in the future?"

Chen Siyao thought for a moment.

"My brother doesn't want power."

"What does he want?"

Chen Siyao turned her head and glanced at Chen Hao, who was drinking tea.

His teacup was empty. He poured himself another. The movements were slow and casual.

"Observe it for yourself."

Yang Wanqing was taken aback for a moment. Then she nodded and didn't say anything more.

Her phone screen was still lit. The homepage displayed constantly updated talent test data from various regions. Numbers popped up one after another, each number representing a turning point in someone's life.

And all of this is just the beginning.

The TV in the living room was still on, with a news channel displaying scrolling text: "The site selection for the first batch of advanced martial arts schools has been fully launched, and nationwide coverage is expected to be completed within three months."

Chen Hao put down his teacup, picked up the remote, and turned off the TV.

"Time to sleep."

"Master, how can you still sleep? There's been an explosion outside!"

"What does the explosion outside have to do with my sleeping?"

He stood up and walked towards the bedroom. He stopped at the door.

"Oh, right."

The two of them looked up at the same time.

"The ground fissure in the northwest might indicate something bad is about to happen."

"What is it?" Chen Siyao pressed.

Chen Hao did not turn around.

"You'll know in a while."

The bedroom door was closed.

Yang Wanqing and Chen Siyao looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Every time your brother says 'we'll find out in a while,' something really bad always happens afterward."

Chen Siyao didn't say anything.

Her gaze fell on the coffee table—next to her brother's teacup, lay the briefing left behind by Han Songyue.

On the page the briefing was turned to, there was a line of text circled in pencil:

"Northwest Earth Fissure Zone - Deep Energy Source Monitoring Report. Vibration Frequency: 72 times per minute."

Seventy-two times.

That's the frequency of a heartbeat.

Something has awakened underground.

She glanced at the app, and the smile on her face gradually faded.

"What's wrong?" Yang Wanqing leaned closer.

Chen Siyao didn't respond and continued scrolling down.

The briefing's title is concise: "Report on Anomalous Energy Fluctuations in the Northwest Bahrain Desert." The attachments include three satellite images and a thermal imaging video.

The photo shows a fissure stretching for several kilometers in the heart of the desert, its edges blackened by the intense heat. Deep within the fissure lies a massive black vortex—its bottom and boundaries indistinct.

In the thermal imaging video, the energy reading of the black vortex was fluctuating wildly, with the peak value exceeding the instrument's upper limit.

The last paragraph of the briefing is highlighted in bold red:

"Preliminary analysis suggests that the composition of the material flowing out of the vortex does not match any of the elements known in the periodic table. A transdimensional material leak is suspected. It is recommended that this be reported immediately and a Level III emergency response be initiated."

Chen Siyao walked up to Chen Hao with her phone in hand.

"Brother, take a look at this."

Chen Hao took the phone.

He looked through it very quickly, flipping through the three photos, scrolling through the video to the keyframe for two seconds, and only pausing briefly on the last paragraph of red text in the briefing.

Then hand the phone back.

"That's quite interesting."

Chen Siyao waited for a long time, and then she heard these four words.

"Brother, that's it?"

"This is the entrance to a secret realm." Chen Hao put down his teacup and drew a circle on the table with his index finger.

"You can think of a secret realm as... a closed, independent space. There were many in the ancient times of the Nine Provinces Continent. Some were set aside by sect cultivators for cultivation and storage, while others were private territories of various races, used to store their clan's most precious treasures."

Chen Siyao and Yang Wanqing both perked up their ears.

"But those secret realms aren't very large. The largest one I know of from ancient times is at most ten kilometers in diameter."

"What about this one?"

Chen Hao glanced out the window, speaking at a measured pace.

"Judging from the scale of energy leaking from that vortex, the size of this secret realm far exceeds all the records I've ever seen. Moreover—" he paused, "it doesn't belong to any known sect or race from ancient times."

Yang Wanqing's mind worked quickly: "It doesn't belong to you? Then who built it?"

"I don't know. That's why it's interesting."

Chen Siyao's breathing quickened involuntarily.

A secret realm. A complete space independent of Earth. To put it simply, it's another world.

She stared at her brother with an extremely intense gaze, without saying a word.

But her face clearly showed that she wanted to go.

Chen Hao glanced at his sister and smiled. He reached out and ruffled her hair.

"Does Yao Yao want to go take a look?"

Chen Siyao's head bobbed up and down like a chick pecking at rice.

"I want to! I want to so badly! I dream about it!"

"Okay." Chen Hao withdrew his hand. "May Day is coming soon, your holiday should be quite long. I'll take you to see it then."

The moment those words landed—

Chen Siyao and Yang Wanqing exchanged a glance, then simultaneously jumped up from the sofa, hugging each other and screaming as they bounced three times. Xiaoyue, startled, jumped off the carpet and curled up in a ball at Chen Hao's feet.

"Another world! I'm going to another world!"

"Long live the master!"

Chen Hao leaned back on the sofa, watching the two lively girls, and picked up his teacup to take another sip.

Then he regretted it.