The Disappearance of All Humanity

Xu Fan awoke from the darkness, his eyes opening to a world ravaged and scarred, the city reduced to ruins. The streets were dilapidated and ugly, the underground sewage system had long since collapsed, and not far away, an ancient public restroom emitted a stench so foul it was suffocating.

The air was thick with a pungent scent of decay, causing Xu Fan to gag uncontrollably.

“Am I dreaming?” he murmured.

He remembered surfing a website late at night, when suddenly an unknown link popped up. He had meant to close it but accidentally clicked it instead, and then everything went black.

Lifting his gaze, he studied this strange world. A gray-black haze shrouded the sky, pressing down with an almost unbearable sense of oppression. Towering buildings lined the street, but they too had fallen into utter disrepair. The entire world was wrapped in deathly silence, as if he stood in a city of the dead.

The eeriness gnawed at Xu Fan’s nerves, making him desperate to find something living, anything to prove he wasn’t the last soul left—not even a stray dog.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted his phone lying beside him. It was his phone, the screen flickering blue like a computer caught in a crash, the touchscreen unresponsive. Xu Fan tried to turn it off, but nothing happened.

“I’m dreaming. I must be dreaming.” His voice trembled.

With a sharp smack, he slapped his own cheek, the fiery sting instantly telling him this was all too real.

Just as Xu Fan floundered in helplessness, a metallic scraping pierced the s