The blazing sun hung high in the sky, casting a surreal shade of deep blue over the city.
Skyscrapers rose like giants, and the streets below resembled a checkerboard.
Pedestrians hurried along the streets, their footsteps blending with the cacophony of sounds – car engines, honking horns, and the bustling crowd.
Chen Xiaolian stood by the roadside, taking in the scene before him.
After a brief moment of distraction, he quickly turned to look behind him.
To his surprise, the exit of the mountain cave had vanished, as if he had always been standing on this city street from the beginning.
Everything felt so familiar.
It was the city where he had grown up.
The street wasn't too far from his school and home.
The bookstore across the street, he had visited countless times. The movie theater on the corner – every Marvel superhero movie premiere, he had watched there.
And then there was the ramen shop and the dessert place...