A-Tuo woke up in the hospital bed, drenched in sweat, as if he had just been pulled from the water. His back still ached faintly, and the feathers felt like parasites, coiled at the base of his spine. Outside the window, the rain poured endlessly, and the air was damp and cold, making it hard to breathe.
His phone rang. He picked it up and saw a message from the teaching assistant:
"The professor's study is cleaned out. I found an old photo hidden inside one of his books. You need to come see it."
The photo was old, the image yellowed with age. It showed a group of people dressed in black robes, wearing bird-beak masks, standing in the center of a space that looked like an ancient ritual hall. On the back of the photo, hastily written were a few words:
"Feathered Kingdom - First Generation Followers"
A chill ran down A-Tuo's spine, and his fingertips trembled slightly. He immediately headed to the teaching assistant's office, only to find the door slightly ajar, the interior unusually silent.
He called softly, "Senior?"
No response.
He pushed open the door, and the photo was still on the desk, beside it a notebook that had been flipped through and torn. The pages were densely covered in the professor's handwriting, but almost all of it repeated one phrase:
"Feathering is atonement, it is rebirth."
On the next page, the ink suddenly became thick, black, and twisted:
"If the one who feathers lies too deeply, they will forever fall into the Feathered Kingdom."
Suddenly, he heard a tearing sound from behind the wall, like something was being peeled away. The wallpaper bulged slightly, and a small clump of black feathers slowly squeezed out from the crack...
Bang!
The light bulb exploded, and the entire office was plunged into darkness.
A-Tuo turned to run, but he saw a figure standing behind the door.
The figure wore a black robe, and on their face was a bird-beak mask.
"Are you a liar as well?" The voice was low and devoid of any emotion.
A-Tuo tried to scream, but no sound came out.
Under the mask, the eyes were pale and lifeless, like maggots wriggling in rotting flesh—
They were no longer human, but the first generation followers of the Feathered Kingdom.
The figure slowly raised their hand, pointing to A-Tuo's back.
"You are already at the doorstep of the Feathered Kingdom."
ns3.143.9.5da2
will be deducted 
and then Add to home screen.