The sound of the river crashing against the bridge pillars rumbled like the muttering of a hungry giant. Axel stood frozen, his fingers still gripping the cold, rusted railing. The image of the old man was gone, swallowed by the darkness of the fast-moving undercurrent. All that remained were small ripples slowly smoothing out.“Sir! Hey, sir!” Axel shouted, his voice breaking as it was torn apart by the night wind.There was no answer. Only suffocating silence. Axel turned toward the asphalt where the man had been kneeling earlier. Lying there was a worn piece of paper, pinned down by gravel. Axel picked it up with trembling hands. It was an overdue hospital bill. Name: Alisa (7 years old), Cardiac Ward. In the corner of the paper was a number: ten thousand dollars.Axel stared at his phone. One hundred thousand dollars had just entered his account. An amount that could have saved that man and his daughter many times over. But the number had arrived too late. Exactly one second after

Axel Benjamin’s steps felt like he was dragging two blocks of lead. The distance from the lobby to the ICU waiting room was less than fifty meters, yet his lungs felt constricted, gasping for oxygen that seemed to thin in the air. Every time his heart beat, a sharp pain stabbed his left chest, a lingering trace of the “administrative fee” he had just paid to the system.In the corner of the waiting room, Arlo sat slumped over. His best friend looked shattered, hair disheveled, his face buried in his palms."Arlo!” Axel called out hoarsely.Arlo looked up. In that instant, the sorrow on his face vanished, replaced by pure horror. He jolted backward until his chair screeched loudly."Axel? Dear God … what happened to you?!” Arlo shouted. His eyes widened as they scanned Axel’s face, now marked by deep wrinkles at the corners of his eyes and across his forehead. Axel’s black hair, neatly kept that very morning, had turned completely white at both temples.“I’m fine. Where’s Elara?” Axel

[Temporary Health: Active. Duration: 23:59:59.][Remaining Lifespan: Classified.]Axel no longer cared. He pushed his motorcycle through the freezing Vancouver night, heading toward the isolated outskirts of the harbor. Behind him, two black SUVs pursued at high speed, an elite escort unit he had hired at the cost of one year of his life. They were not just men in suits, they were killing machines sent by an entity that knew no mercy.The old warehouse on the northern pier loomed ahead. Axel stopped, the engine growling low before cutting out. He dismounted, his body feeling unnaturally light, an effect of the Temporary Health deceiving his nervous system.Inside the warehouse, the stench of diesel and rust greeted him. Gerry stood in the center of the room, casually flipping a folding knife with a mocking grin. In a leather chair behind him sat the Boss, the loan shark who controlled the harbor’s black routes. But Axel’s eyes locked onto only one thing, his mother, bound to a wooden

Morning at Vancouver General Hospital felt like a broken simulation. Axel woke with nausea churning his stomach. He tried to sit up, but his joints felt stiff, as if the hinges of his bones had rusted solid. He glanced at the mirror on the wall. His white hair looked even more real under the cold neon lights, emphasizing the lines of aging now permanently etched into his face.He reached for his phone on the bedside table. The GPS coordinates to an old downtown parking structure were still blinking. The message felt like a knife pressed against his throat.“Axel? Where are you going?”Arlo’s voice broke the silence. His friend entered carrying coffee, his eyes red from lack of sleep. Arlo froze when he saw Axel forcibly pulling the IV line from his arm.“I have to go, Arlo. Something urgent came up.” Axel said shortly. His voice was heavy, far deeper than it used to be.“Urgent? Look at yourself! You just cheated death!” Arlo slammed the shopping bag onto the table. “Elara refuses to

Morning on the outskirts of Vancouver greeted Axel with a dull ache in his joints. He woke on the thin mattress of the rented apartment without looking toward the mirror. The laptop on the table was still on, lines of code glowing from the analysis he had done the night before. Axel rose quickly and pulled on a thick jacket to conceal his frail body. He left the laptop and his phone locked inside the room. Today, he would do one thing forbidden by his new logic. He would move without a digital plan.Axel’s steps carried him to a small coffee shop on the corner of a run down street. In front of the door, a middle aged man was kneeling beside an old car that had broken down. Smoke rose from the open hood. The man wiped his oil smeared face with an expression of despair. Axel stopped right beside him without making a sound.“Need help?” Axel asked shortly.The man looked up and studied Axel’s aged face with hesitation. “The engine’s completely dead. I have to deliver this catering order