Chapter 1 Awakening

When Henry Sutton opened his eyes, he saw a daisy.

White petals bloomed in the morning light, adorned with sparkling dewdrops, refracting a faint, multicolored rainbow.

It was very close to where Henry Sutton was lying—only five centimeters from his nose. He could even smell a faint fragrance.

In the distance, the solemn, muffled sound of the morning bell rang out.

Henry Sutton silently counted the numbers, from one to eight.

That direction was the train station on the south side of the city. The most prominent landmark was a huge clock tower.

Memory and reality matched perfectly.

He smiled and got up from the ground, glanced at the road where traffic and pedestrians were already dense, turned around, took a deep breath, lifted his foot, and walked into the "Parkson" shopping plaza next to him, whose glass doors were already open. After making sure no one had noticed him, he slowly walked toward the public restroom, swung his fist hard to smash the red cabinet marked conspicuously with "119," and took out the heavy fire axe inside.

……

No one but himself knew that Henry Sutton came from fifty-six years in the future.

That is, from the future.

It was a world full of rot and death, with the clearest parts of his memory completely occupied by blood, bones, and torn flesh. The sky was dark, and even the sun rarely appeared.

Henry Sutton built a time machine. However, the dimensional pressure caused by superluminal jumps would inflict extremely intense mental shock on living beings. As a last resort, he had to use a backup plan—using various materials he had collected, he created the strongest body possible, one that combined all the best human traits, and through consciousness infusion and energy catalysis, allowed his reborn self to successfully return to the year 2020.

……

The Henry Sutton in the mirror was no longer the aged figure from his memory.

He was now very tall, with broad shoulders. The leather jacket he wore was old, but it showed off the perfect golden ratio between his waist, legs, and upper body. The buttons on his chest were open, revealing well-developed chest muscles beneath a thin, sweat-soaked shirt. His high nose bridge and slightly sunken black eyes gave him an aura of strength and charisma.

He turned his head and glanced at the quartz clock hanging on the wall—the hands had just passed 8:15 a.m.

The time was about right.

Henry Sutton squinted his eyes, showing a slightly melancholic smile. He stood silent for a few seconds, picked up the axe, walked through the corridor, went down the stairs into the basement of the mall, and, following the directional arrows, arrived at a metal gate with a red circle and white background sign, next to which was written "Warehouse Area, No Unauthorized Entry."

A security guard in a gray uniform walked out of the duty room. He looked a bit dazed, clearly not understanding why Henry Sutton would be in such a place. His gaze quickly fell on the fire axe in Henry Sutton's hand, and his expression turned fearful and tense.

Instinctively, he reached for his baton, gripped it tightly, and shouted warily, "Stop—who are you? What do you want?"

Henry Sutton smiled faintly, then suddenly burst forward with the speed of a hundred-meter dash. Before the guard could react, he had already rushed into the warehouse, closed the gate behind him, and firmly locked the heavy iron bolt.

The energy collected in the future was only enough to run the time machine to this point.

He couldn't make more preparations and could only wait quietly in as safe a situation as possible.

Outside the gate came angry shouts and yelling. Then came hurried footsteps and phone calls to the police. More and more people gathered outside, making a lot of noise. Keys were jammed into the lock and twisted forcefully, and there were the sounds of leather shoes and heavy objects slamming against the door, accompanied by curses and reprimands. The sounds were muffled, but he could barely make out words like "police," "maybe trying to rob," and "could he be a fugitive."

The bolt was deadlocked from the inside. To break in from the outside, they would have to use explosives, oxyacetylene cutting, or destroy the wall.

Henry Sutton turned around and scrutinized the warehouse with a critical eye.

Hundreds of cardboard boxes were neatly stacked on the shelves. Judging by the external labels, the stored goods were probably shoes and various bags. He patiently searched through the mountain of goods, pulling out a sturdy, multi-functional hiking backpack and a pair of air-cushioned sneakers in his size.

Time travel was full of unknown dangers, and he couldn't bring back much from the future. Except for some weapons and medicines that had been sent to predetermined coordinates in advance... the vast majority of equipment and daily necessities could only be obtained from the real world.

Time ticked by, minute by minute.