Absolute Gate

Chapter 1 A Thought Opens the Heavenly Gate
"Wu Zhong! Wu Zhong! We're going to die!"

No one knows when it started, but Wu Zhong was trapped on a giant tree, a tree that was very tall and towered into the clouds.

He clung tightly to the tree branch and saw many other people hanging from it, who seemed to be his friends.

Everyone was clinging to the tree branches with all their might. They had been trapped for many days. When they were hungry, they ate apples, and when they were thirsty, they could only wait for the rain to come and drink some rainwater.

But this can't go on. Now some people are exhausted and have fallen down, smashing into pieces.

"Ahhh, someone fell! If this continues, we'll all die!"

"Hurry up and think of a solution, if only we had a ladder."

"Xiao Wu, I remember you have a big ladder at home, hurry home and get it."

Everyone was extremely nervous, staring intently at Wu Zhong.

Wu Zhong paused for a moment: "Yes, the ladder at my house is very tall, but my house is quite far away. It would take at least three days and three nights to get there and back. Can you guys handle it?"

The people in the tree said with difficulty, "You have to hold on, even if you can't, Xiao Wu, we're counting on you!"

"Yes, hurry up and make sure you bring the ladder back!"

"Our lives are in your hands!"

Wu finally felt the weight of his mission, nodded firmly, and hurriedly trekked through mountains and rivers to get home.

After going through countless hardships, he finally arrived home and searched everywhere.

But where in the house was there an extra-long ladder? He was in a panic, searching everywhere—the bathroom, kitchen, living room, bedroom—he even rummaged through the sofa and wardrobe.

No! There's no ladder! Where is the ladder?
Wu searched and searched, for a very long time, until dawn broke.

He plopped down on the ground and wailed, "It's all over! It's all over!"

Suddenly, a voice shouted from the neighbor's house across the hall: "I have a ladder! I have a ladder!"

Wu Zhong suddenly had a flash of inspiration and remembered to borrow from his neighbor.

So he frantically banged on his neighbor's door: "Dude, do you really have a ladder? I really need a ladder, or I'll fall to my death, and all my brothers will fall to their deaths too."

"Dong dong dong! Dong dong dong!"

The knocking was so rhythmic, it sounded as if it wanted to shatter the world.

Everything around him blurred, and Wu Zhong vaguely saw other scenes beyond the corridor in front of him... like sunlight filtering through the hazy curtains...

Suddenly, everything became solid and stable again.

The neighbor's door opened, and a minotaur emerged.

The minotaur, carrying a ladder, asked in a voice like a baby, "Wu, why are you in such a hurry?"

"?" Wu Zhong stared at the minotaur for a moment, stunned.

Although they are called minotaurs, their appearance is more like that of a dragon, except that they have bull horns, and their bodies are as strong as bulls, with hooves as their limbs.

So strictly speaking, it is a humanoid monster with a dragon's face and bull's horns.

Wu Zhong said blankly, "Brother Niu, we...we're trapped in this giant tree...quickly give me the ladder."

After saying that, he took the ladder and hurriedly tried to get back to the treetop.

The minotaur called out to him, "Jianmu is far from here. If you run back like this, it will take too long. Can everyone hold on?"

Wu Zhong sobbed, "Yes, it's too late, it's too far, we're all going to fall to our deaths."

The minotaur patted his chest and said, "Don't panic. Divine Planner foresaw this calamity for you and specially prepared the Anywhere Door."

"Divine plan? Anywhere door?" Wu Zhong exclaimed in astonishment.

The minotaur beckoned: "Come with me."

Following the minotaur's guidance, Wu carried the ladder through twists and turns until he finally arrived at a magnificent and vast mountaintop platform.

Many monsters gather here, some with human heads and snake bodies, some with three heads and six arms, and some with animal faces and bird bodies...

Giant beasts dwell in the fractured mountains, and serpents stir up the mighty rivers, while divine birds pierce through the clouds, their light flowing.

This land seems to be situated in the starry sky, with countless stars shining brightly.

Wu Zhong could still see the horizon in the distance, where the outlines of giant stars stood in the sky, overlooking the earth. They were all bizarre and magnificent, with divine power like mountains.

All the gods and demons in the heavens stared intently at Wu Zhong, expectant and silent.

Wu Zhong was the center of attention. What merit or ability did he possess to receive such respectful and expectant attention from all the gods and demons?
A strong sense of incongruity surged up, and the whole world was thrown into turmoil.

"Didn't they say there's a magic door? Where is it? I'm stuck in this giant tree and about to fall to my death. I need to get the ladder back right away," Wu Zhong asked.

The gods and demons present felt the world turmoil and dared not speak, turning their gazes to a dragon-headed, human-bodied figure.

The man stood in the center of the square, surrounded by a raging storm with thunder and lightning.

"Are you Ji Meng?" Wu Zhongfu asked instinctively.

"I am the God of Guangshan, the King of Yushi Kingdom, the God Ji Meng!" The dragon-headed man, holding a divine wooden staff, walked towards Wu Zhong.

Wu Zhong was taken aback, ignored him, and turned to ask the minotaur, "Where's the door? Don't waste my time, I'm in a hurry to go back and set up the ladder!"

Seeing the world in turmoil, the Minotaur said urgently, "What Ji Meng holds is the core of the divine wood of the Jianmu tree that reaches to the heavens... Wu, you should use it to open the gates of heaven."

"Once the Heavenly Gate opens, you can go wherever you want!"

Wu Zhong ignored the Jianmu tree and the Heavenly Gate, and anxiously asked, "So it's a portal, right? How do I open it?"

Ji Meng handed him the divine wooden staff: "This thing can connect to all the heavens. If you command it to grow back home, it will tear a hole in the sky. You can imagine it as a heavenly gate!"

"Huh?" Wu Zhong took the divine wooden staff, seemingly understanding but not quite.

"Why does the moss want to grow in my house? I want to go back to the giant tree!"

As the world intensifies its turmoil, Ji Meng dares not waste any more time and anxiously says, "Anywhere is fine, as long as you have actually been there and have a deep memory of it!"

Wu Zhong tilted his head: "Then... the Five Elders Peaks of Mount Lu?"

Ji Meng and the minotaur urged, "Alright, alright, wherever you say! Anywhere is fine!"

Wu Zhong, still dazed, gripped the divine wooden staff and asked, "The Heavenly Gate...opens?"

With a thunderous roar, the divine wooden staff suddenly expanded, not growing in place, but extending into spacetime, as if directly breaking through the dimensional barrier.

Suddenly, a void burst open in the space-time before my eyes.

Then some uncontrollable force appeared, instantly destroying the branches of the divine tree that had extended outwards, and the wood chips flew away and vanished into nothingness.

The sacred tree, though vanished like a bubble, has been shattered.

But the hole remained; the dimensional barrier that had been breached could not be repaired, like a portal to another dimension, towering in mid-air, indestructible.

This portal was very small, only about one meter in diameter.

However, from that direction, boundless light shone forth, and countless streams of air surged forth, tearing the sky apart and annihilating and blasting away countless people in the square.

The mountains shattered, the earth cracked open into abysses, the gale swept up ashes and rubble, and the dark clouds rolled like a raging sea.

A gaping chasm hung high in the sky, from which orange-gold divine light poured down, illuminating the clouds as if they were flowing with molten gold. The sunlight was intense, the storm terrifying, ravaging everything in its path, destroying all things around it, threatening to collapse the world.

However, the many gods and demons that had been annihilated suddenly reappeared in the distance, their figures reformed, as if they were immortal.

"It's real matter, it's real matter!"

Their bodies, reassembled after their annihilation, absorbed the light and energy from the other side of the door, becoming even more solid and detailed.

Although they were quickly extinguished by the strong wind, they were immortal and continued to reorganize and absorb these substances to grow stronger.

"It's stable! It's really stable! The gate to the mortal realm has been opened!" All the gods and demons rejoiced.

"Huh? What's going on, Mos? I need to get back to the giant tree and climb the ladder!" Wu Zhong shouted, his only thought being to get the ladder back up the tree, otherwise he would fall to his death.

Thinking this, the divine wooden staff in his hand suddenly grew again. This time, it did not break the space-time hole, but instead grew all the way, like a long wooden bridge, dragging Wu Zhong and flying rapidly into the distance.

The long journey seemed to pass in a blur, as if only a short while had gone by. He felt as if he were carrying a ladder, holding wildly growing branches, and the surrounding scenery was rushing by.

When he came to his senses, he was already on the original towering tree.

The magic wooden staff really did bring him back in an instant.

He was overjoyed: "Brothers, I brought the ladder back! We're saved!"

Nine people were hanging in the tree, all wearing bronze god masks.

They exclaimed in horror, "Xiao Wu, what have you done?!"

"Dreams are connected to the material world; someone is going to defy reality."

The nine people hanging in the tree all spoke urgently, as if a great disaster was about to happen.

At this moment, Wu Zhong had already set up the ladder and was carefully climbing down the tree.

Hearing this, he was stunned.

Then a huge sense of incongruity washed over me. Dream? Reality?

"Yeah, I knew something was off. I don't remember why I was here, or why I was stuck in the tree and had to go home to get a ladder to get down. It's all so strange and illogical. I must have been dreaming."

Wu suddenly realized that he was dreaming.

This kind of perception also makes the whole world blurry.

In a daze, he saw a bizarre and fantastical world of mountains, seas, and giant trees on one side, and the curtains of his home on the other, with sunlight shining into his eyes.

In the blur, the group wearing bronze god masks were still hanging from the tree, roaring: "Xiao Wu! You have to close the door, you must close it... Don't go, don't go!"

"Thump, thump, thump!" A strong, rhythmic pounding sound came from the door.

Someone knocked on the door and called him to get up.

Then a feeling of weightlessness came over him, and Wu lost his grip on the ladder. He and the ladder tilted and fell, plummeting from the giant tree!
Weightlessness! Weightlessness!
"Ouch!" A sharp sense of clarity swept over him, and he felt his body.

Wu was startled awake and fell off the bed, hitting his face on the floor.

He scrambled to his feet, clutching his head, feeling dazed and confused, as if he'd just had a dream, but couldn't remember it.

I only have one thought in my mind: So sleepy! I feel like dying when I get up!

"Knock knock knock!" He heard another knock on the door: "Get up, Xiao Wu, are you awake?"

Wu Zhong hurriedly ran to open the door, where Xiao Zhang, the waking-up worker, was standing.

I booked a "real-person wake-up service" for 7:00 AM, and they came to wake me up early.

"Why are you sleeping so soundly today? I called you for more than a minute, so there will be an extra charge. Transfer twenty to me." Xiao Zhang said anxiously.

Wu Zhong had a splitting headache. He leaned against the door and yawned, saying, "Sorry, sorry, I worked too late yesterday and only slept for three hours. I really want to die."

"Let's forget about the twenty yuan. We're in the same industry, and we know each other well. Forget it."

Xiao Zhang said with a straight face, "Forget it? Do you think it's easy for me to earn money?"

“We wake-up call workers earn our money through hard work. We get up early and work late every day to provide wake-up services, but customers still want to stay in bed... If they are grumpy in the morning, I get scolded.”

"Since you've done this job before, you know what I mean. Honestly, if you're not willing to spend the money, don't subscribe to the live wake-up service. I can just call you every day and you won't have to come all the way here yourself."

"Hurry up, if you dawdle any longer it will be two minutes, and it will cost forty yuan."

Wu Zhong scratched his disheveled hair: "Sigh... I have something urgent to do today, I'm afraid I won't wake up if I get a phone call..."

He pursed his lips, but dared not delay, and quickly transferred twenty yuan to him.

Xiao Zhang turned and left, rushing into the stairwell, clearly still needing to wake up other residents.

However, he left a message saying, "By the way, today is your birthday. Happy birthday."

Upon hearing this reminder, Wu Zhong's eyes widened in surprise as he realized that today was August 17th, indeed his birthday.

"Ah...thank you..."

Wu finally saw that Xiao Zhang had disappeared, scratched his head, and closed the door.

"Birthday? Tsk, I've been living in a daze all day and completely forgot about it."

He went to the bathroom to wash his face and clear his head. Looking at his disheveled and unkempt self in the mirror, he unusually shaved and combed his hair.

He usually just brushes his teeth quickly, splashes water on his face, and leaves.

His main job is as a car mechanic, often working overtime to repair cars, and he also works part-time as a wake-up call worker, so his work and rest schedule is irregular.

He was busy until late last night and has to get up early today because his grandfather, who is hospitalized, needs to have a check-up, and a family member needs to be with him. If he doesn't want to take leave, he can only finish the check-up as soon as possible and then rush to work.

As we all know, once a person falls asleep, they cannot wake up on their own without external stimulation, so they must be woken up.

The profession of wake-up call worker has existed since ancient times, but nowadays, with the invention of mobile phones, most of the time it is no longer necessary for a wake-up call worker to make a trip in person.

In the past, Wu Zhong would subscribe to a one-cent phone wake-up service, but the phone would only ring for half a minute, which was very ineffective, and he would always stay in bed longer.

In order to arrive before the doctor's shift at eight o'clock today, he spent ten yuan to book a live wake-up call, having a wake-up caller come to his home and wake him up.

All I can say is that this kind of service that absolutely has to wake people up is truly a pain.

Moreover, the longer the wake-up time, the more money he would have to pay. Just thinking about how the bill would increase exponentially with the longer the delay, he lost all his sleepiness and dared not stay in bed.

"Damn, the hospital is so far away, I have to get out of here quickly."

Wu finished washing up, changing clothes, and using the toilet in a lightning-fast five minutes, and finally left with a trash bag... Such days are all the same.

So what if it's a birthday? He graduated from junior college at the age of 21 and started working in the city. He hasn't cared about such things for three years now.

At most, I'll treat myself to a hot pot meal tonight.

……

　P.S.: Sorry. My new book is out, but my entry for the competition is stuck in the review process again, lol. Please add it to your favorites and recommend it.

(End of this chapter)