The air inside the house felt heavy, as if the very walls were holding their breath. The night before had been filled with endless speculation, panic, and fear. Now, as the first rays of morning crept through the windows, Lin Feng lay wide awake, staring at the ceiling.
He hadn't truly slept. Not since the Towers first appeared. Every hour felt like another piece of a collapsing reality. But this morning felt different—worse. The silence was sharper, more tense, like the entire world was bracing itself for something none of them could predict.
He sat up slowly, his head pounding faintly, not from lack of sleep, but from the weight of everything building inside him. Without hesitation, he reached for his phone on the nightstand.
The screen lit up instantly, the flood of notifications appearing like a swarm. The world had barely stopped moving overnight.
The forums were on fire. He opened them immediately, scrolling through thousands of new posts. But this time, the tone was different. There was a new kind of fear rippling through every message.
"Oh my God! The second team went in… they're gone too!"
"No contact… no survivors. They vanished like the first team."
"We're screwed. What the hell is inside these Towers?!"
"Why aren't they telling us what happened in there?"
His stomach tightened as he read.
Multiple governments, after losing contact with the first exploration teams, had quickly sent new squads into the Towers. Every nation had sent their most elite soldiers, equipped with advanced weaponry and tech. None returned.
Some reports claimed that multiple countries had now lost three, four, even five separate strike teams. The death toll was rising exponentially. And still, no one knew what was inside. The silence inside the Towers remained impenetrable.
Lin Feng scrolled further.
"I heard they're calling it 'mass casualties' already."
"How many teams have entered now? Four? Five?"
"We're watching the end of the world live on screen, aren't we?"
Lin Feng took a deep breath, trying to calm his pulse. He had seen the Tree, the strange inner world of the Estra Roots, but even he had no real idea what lay beyond. If entire military teams couldn't survive even the first levels, what kind of nightmare waited further inside?
As his thoughts spiraled, new posts began appearing with a different tone. People were posting videos, blurry at first, shaky camera footage taken near various Towers across the world.
Floating screens.
Hundreds of hovering, semi-transparent rectangular panels, circling the Towers at different heights. They shimmered with an unnatural glow, as if suspended in mid-air by some unseen force. The screens appeared almost simultaneously across the globe, hovering around every Tower, in every country.
The footage was already spreading everywhere.
"New development: floating screens appearing around the Towers globally."
"WTF ARE THOSE?!"
"Aliens? AI? Magic?!"
Before Lin Feng could process it, another video was uploaded — this time, showing one of the screens flickering to life. Symbols appeared first, unintelligible at first glance, but then slowly morphing into letters and words as if adapting to the human language.
Then the video shifted.
The panels began to light up one by one, symbols flashing across them in strange sequences. At first, it was unintelligible—alien text perhaps—but after several seconds, the symbols began morphing into recognizable letters. English. Then Chinese. Then dozens of other languages.
And then came the voice.
Neutral. Hollow. Neither human nor robotic.
"Attention.
To all inhabitants of Earth.
You must conquer the Tower.
You have three days.
Failure will bring consequences."
The screen looped over and over again. The message was short, chilling, and left more questions than answers.
Three days.
Three days until… what?
The consequences were never explained.
Lin Feng's chest tightened. The timeline had begun.
Humanity had been given an ultimatum without context or mercy.
He returned to the forum.
People were losing their minds.
"What consequences?! What happens if we fail?!"
"Why THREE days?!"
"Is this some kind of test?!"
"Is this aliens? Gods? AI?!"
"The end of the world is ticking like a clock."
Theories spun out of control. Some compared it to ancient trials. Others said it was a punishment from some higher power. Some thought this was a planetary cleansing event. But nobody had real answers.
Lin Feng couldn't help but shudder at how precise everything was unfolding.
The Towers.
The Estra Roots.
The Tree.
And now the deadline.
His mind swirled with the memory of the Tree's voice. You are in the Estra Roots. But none of what was happening now had anything to do with what the Tree had told him. The mystery remained unsolved.
He stood up from bed, feeling his legs slightly weak, and moved toward the window. In the distance, the Tower remained exactly where it had been, rising like a giant black monolith over the skyline. But now, he could see faint glows circling it — the floating screens. Dozens of them slowly rotating in their fixed paths like they were watching the city.
Even from this far, the sight was unsettling.
Downstairs, his family moved quietly. His mom was reading news updates on her tablet; Lin Xiu scrolled nervously on her own phone. His father sat in the living room, eyes glued to the television. The newscasters spoke rapidly, struggling to keep up with the events as they unfolded minute by minute.
"Breaking developments this morning. Global leaders are still analyzing the sudden appearance of the floating panels near every Tower location. The synchronized broadcast appears to have reached every populated region on Earth simultaneously."
"In response to the growing crisis, several countries have launched additional insertion missions into their Towers overnight. Unfortunately, all efforts have ended in catastrophic losses. All contact with the deployed teams has been severed, and recovery missions have been deemed too dangerous to initiate."
"Casualties continue to rise as nations scramble to develop a viable strategy within the newly announced three-day deadline."
The footage shifted from one Tower location to another, showing military cordons surrounding the structures, while drones hovered cautiously nearby.
"In an extraordinary development, however, one surviving soldier has emerged from Tower Sector 4 this morning. Authorities report that the remainder of his unit was lost during the mission, sacrificing themselves to ensure his escape."
Lin Feng's eyes widened. A survivor.
This was new.
The news anchor continued:
"The soldier is currently undergoing debriefing and medical evaluation. A live press conference has been scheduled later today, where the survivor is expected to provide critical information about what was encountered inside."
The image cut to footage of the young soldier being escorted by military personnel. His uniform was torn, his body bruised and bloodied. His face was pale but focused. His eyes revealed trauma — like someone who had seen something unspeakable.
Lin Feng could feel his own heartbeat accelerating.
Finally, someone had seen the inside. Finally, they would hear something. The world held its breath together.
The hours dragged on.
The forums erupted again:
"What do you think he saw?!"
"Did they meet something alive inside?!"
"Were they attacked?!"
That last question struck Lin Feng deeply.
Had anyone else encountered the Tree? Was his experience unique? Or were there many inner zones inside the Towers that none could yet understand?
The answer would soon come.
By midday, every screen worldwide was tuned in to the live press conference. Government officials, military officers, scientists — all gathered behind the podium. The weight of the world hung on every word.
Finally, the survivor appeared.
The room fell completely silent.
He walked slowly to the microphone, escorted by two soldiers. His face was grave. His eyes were hollow. He held the microphone with a trembling hand, trying to steady his breathing.
Millions watched.
Billions held their breath.
He spoke.