2025-10-14 16:07:28The hospital basement wasn’t on any floor plan Rick had ever seen. It lay below the morgue, metal doors, no label, only a flicker of cold light at the edge of a half-hidden stairwell.
He hadn’t planned to come here. The System had guided him.
[Descent coordinates verified] the voice whispered inside his pulse.
[Source signal beneath primary structure.]“Great,” Rick muttered. “Haunted hospitals and invisible voices. Perfect combination.”
The hum in his wrist brightened. He took the stairs. At the bottom, the air felt heavy, thick with rust and something older.
Banks of sealed drawers lined the walls, discarded medical prototypes, analog monitors, broken holo-panels.
And at the center: a door marked by a faint golden ring, the same pattern that burned beneath his skin. Rick reached for it. “Should I be opening this?”
[Access recognized. Healer authorized.]
The ring flared; the lock disengaged. The door slid open to a chamber lit by a single pulse of amber light, spreading across the floor in intricate lines, like veins beneath translucent skin.
A figure waited inside. “Master Yuren?” Rick whispered.
Yuren Sun stepped from the shadows, coat damp with condensation. “I knew you’d find this place.”
“You knew?”
“I built it. Years ago, when the Syndicate first began erasing our history.”
Rick stared at the glowing floor. “These markings, ”
“Fragments of the Meridian Code,” Yuren said quietly. “The foundation of every healing art we know. The Rune at the center binds them. No one was ever meant to activate it again.”
Rick swallowed. “Then why does it look exactly like the mark on my wrist?”
Yuren’s eyes darkened. “Because the Rune chose you.”
Rick shook his head. “It’s a system, not a spirit. Data, not destiny.”
“Call it whatever you like,” Yuren said. “But it’s rewriting you.”
Rick took a step toward the circle. The floor responded, golden threads rising, pulsing with his heartbeat.
[Synchronization expanding] the voice murmured.
[Secondary memory channels unlocking.]Pain speared through his temples. He staggered. “Make it stop!”
Yuren caught his arm. “You have to resist it, Rick. Once the Rune reaches full resonance, it’ll merge completely.”
[Merger required to repair corrupted world-line.]
Rick gasped. “Did you hear that?”
Yuren’s grip tightened. “What did it say?”
“Something about… repairing the world.”
Yuren’s expression hardened. “That’s what it always says.”
He pulled a small injector from his coat, silver fluid swirling inside. “Sedative. It’ll suppress the connection.”
Rick backed away. “If I shut it down now, I might never understand it.”
“You don’t need to understand a storm to know it kills.”
Rick hesitated. “Then why didn’t you destroy this place?”
Yuren looked at the glowing Rune, voice low. “Because once, long ago, I thought I could control it too.”
The hum grew louder. Light climbed the walls, forming symbols that rotated like constellations.
[Containment breached. Core activation is imminent.]
Yuren shouted over the noise. “Rick, get out!”
“I can’t!” Rick yelled. “It’s linked to me, if I move, it follows!”
Golden energy flared up his arms, circuits of light weaving through flesh and bone. Yuren lunged forward, forcing the injector against Rick’s neck. “Forgive me.”
The fluid hissed, but instead of subduing the glow, it ignited it. A shockwave threw Yuren backward. The entire room blazed white.
When the light dimmed, Rick stood alone in the center of a suspended pattern of golden glyphs. His body floated inches above the ground, every vein lit like liquid fire.
The voice filled the chamber, not whispering now, but echoing with the clarity of a thousand heartbeats.
[Initialization complete. Healer System fully online.]
[Primary objective: restore balance to corrupted vitality network.]Rick forced the words through clenched teeth. “Define ‘corrupted.’”
[Human civilization: degradation 98 percent. Balance restoration mandatory.]
“That’s not medicine,” he said. “That’s extermination.”
[Correction: purification.]
Rick’s heart pounded. “No. You don’t decide who lives.”
[The Healer does.]
The symbols surged toward him. Rick screamed, shoving both hands outward. Energy erupted, a pulse of raw gold that shattered every light in the room, then silence. Smoke.
Yuren groaned from the floor. “Rick… what have you done?”
Rick dropped to his knees, gasping. The glow faded from his skin, leaving faint scars shaped like the Rune’s lines. “I stopped it,” he said. “I think.”
Yuren crawled closer, eyes wide with fear. “No, you didn’t. You bonded.”
Rick stared at his trembling hands. “What?”
“The Rune isn’t on the floor anymore.” Yuren pointed to Rick’s chest. “It’s in you.”
Hours later, the first rays of dawn filtered through the stairwell. Rick and Yuren sat on the lowest step, both silent, breathing in the metallic scent of burnt circuitry. Rick finally spoke. “It said the world was dying.”
“It always says that,” Yuren answered. “Every era believes it must rewrite humanity to save it. That’s the curse of the Healer’s System.”
Rick’s voice was barely a whisper. “Then what am I now?”
Yuren looked at him, eyes filled with sorrow and awe. “A bridge between mercy and ruin.”
Rick rose unsteadily, wiping blood from his lip. The golden veins beneath his skin flickered once, like an afterthought of light.
He turned toward the faint sunrise spilling across the stairwell. “If the Rune wants a healer,” he said, “then it’s going to learn what healing really means.”
Yuren’s voice trembled. “Rick, don’t challenge what you don’t understand.”
Rick looked back, the faint glow in his eyes reflecting the new dawn. “Then teach me faster, Master. Because it’s already awake.”
Above them, somewhere in the hospital’s upper floors, alarms began to chime, soft at first, then building into a chorus that shook the walls.
Yuren whispered, “The Syndicate’s scanners… they’ve detected the surge.”
Rick exhaled slowly, a mix of fear and resolve. “Then we run out of time together.”
He reached for the door. The last of the golden light pulsed once across the basement, forming the Rune’s symbol for life before fading completely.
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Chapter 90. Departure To The Ruins
Morning light crept over the valley like a slow-moving wave of gold. It touched the roots of the living mountain first, then slipped across the grass that had grown overnight, then flowed down toward the stone paths Rick had carved. The air smelled fresh, like earth after a gentle rain, though not a single cloud floated in the sky. Everything here breathed. Everything lived.Rick stood at the valley’s edge with his pack open, sorting bottles one by one. He moved carefully, almost reverently, as though each vial held something sacred. His face was calm, but his eyes were sharp, focused, and touched by a quiet weight. The Elixir of Mercy was tucked deep in a padded pocket of the pack. Several stabilizing mixtures, dried herbs, silver needles, and Qi-thread tools filled the rest.Beside the pack lay a small wooden box carved with rune lines. Inside it rested the Homunculus Seed, sealed in a thin layer of glass crystal. It pulsed gently, faint blue light flickering like a heartbeat wai
Chapter 89. The Soul Elixir Completed
The valley was quiet the next morning, too quiet for a place that had recently woken into strange life. Mist curled low around the roots of the living mountain, drifting like pale ghosts between stone ridges. The air tasted heavy, thick with the scent of soil and something faintly metallic, the lingering echo of Qi storms that had raged during Bloom’s sealing.Rick sat alone near his alchemy circle, shoulders hunched. His hair was unkempt, his breathing slow and low, and his right hand kept trembling no matter how tightly he held it against his knee. Before him lay rows of cracked vials, scorched bowls, and half-dissolved Qi crystals. The experiments from last night had not stopped until dawn.He had failed nearly every attempt. But he was close. He could feel it.The formula he sought drifted at the edge of his mind like a shy whisper, a fragile truth that refused to step fully into the light. The Elixir of Mercy, the perfect Soul Elixir, the one that could heal life and memory w
Chapter 88. The Limits Of Perfection
The morning light in the valley was soft and pale, but it did not feel warm. The air carried a quiet unease, as if the world sensed that something new walked within it. Bloom sat on a stone near Rick’s alchemy circle, its vine-like legs folded neatly beneath its small frame. Its eyes glowed softly, pulsing in rhythm with a faint echo of Rick’s heartbeat.Rick stood a short distance away, breathing slowly, hands trembling as he heated a small flask with controlled Qi flame. His face was tired, the shadows beneath his eyes darker than before. He had not slept properly since the night Bloom was born. Luna stood at the edge of the circle, arms crossed over her chest, watching both of them with a mix of protectiveness and dread.Bloom watched Rick’s hands carefully, its head tilted like a curious child. “Why do your fingers shake?” it asked softly.Rick forced a weak smile. “Because I am still hurt.”“But you made me even while hurt,” Bloom said. Its voice carried a gentle innocence tha
Chapter 87. The Soul Bloom
The night in the valley was quiet, but it was not peaceful. The silence felt heavy, like the land itself was holding its breath. Rick had placed the Homunculus Seed on a smooth stone platform inside the ring of obsidian slabs he had carved with his alchemist code. The small seed glowed faintly, a soft white light pulsing inside its crystal-like skin. It looked harmless. It looked innocent.But Luna stood several steps away, her body tense, her eyes fixed on it as if it were a coiled snake waiting to strike.Rick knelt beside the platform, studying the seed. His fingers hovered above it but did not touch. He breathed slowly, steadying his heart.His pulse felt uneven ever since the first experiments. It was like two rhythms inside his chest were arguing with each other, one mortal, one divine.Luna finally spoke, her voice low. “Rick, this thing is not alive. It should not become alive. It is wrong.”He did not look at her. “It is a vessel. Nothing more.”“That is the same excuse use
Chapter 86. The Homunculus Seed
The valley had grown quiet over the past few days. The strange Qi rain had stopped falling from the sky, the shimmering plants had settled into steady rhythms, and the air felt heavier, as if the land itself held its breath. The dawn light stretched across the ground like a thin golden sheet, touching every root and stone.Rick stood at the center of the Alchemist’s Ring, surrounded by the obsidian slabs he carved his laws into. His eyes were shadowed from lack of sleep, and his hands trembled slightly. But he did not stop. He had collected a small pile of pale Qi crystals from the valley’s heart, crystals formed from the titan’s lingering essence and the valley’s healing hum.Luna watched him from a short distance. She sat on a rock with her legs pulled close, her expression troubled. Her crystalline arm glowed softly in the morning light, but her eyes were fixed on Rick’s movements.“Rick,” she said, her voice calm but tight, “you have been at this since last night. You need to
Chapter 85. The Alchemist’s Code
The sun had not yet risen, but the valley was already awake. The strange new life growing across the land pulsed with a slow glow, like soft breath moving through soil. Roots shimmered faintly under the earth, veins of Qi running through stone and water. Rick stood in the center of the clearing, the air cold against his skin, his breath rising like mist.He had not slept. His eyes were heavy, but they held a sharp clarity, the kind that came from painful truths finally settling in the mind.Behind him, Luna stirred from her makeshift bedding, rubbing her eyes with her good hand. Her crystalline arm shimmered with early light, casting rainbow reflections on the stone wall beside her.She stood slowly, watching Rick with worry. “You are awake again,” she said, voice soft.Rick did not turn. His attention was fixed on the obsidian slabs he had dragged from the valley’s edge. Dark, smooth, heavy stones lay arranged in a circle around the clearing. They reflected nothing, light simply sa
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