2026-06-22 09:39:25Drip. Drip. Drip. Cold water was falling from a broken metal pipe above, hitting Leo right on the forehead.
Slowly, Leo groaned. His entire body felt heavy, as if he had been sleeping under a pile of rocks. He opened his eyes.
At first, everything was blurry. He could see the dark brick walls of the alleyway. He could see the disgusting trash bags piled up near the street. The rain had slowed down to a soft drizzle.
But there was something wrong with his vision.
There was a light. It wasn't coming from a streetlamp or a car. It was coming from inside his eyes.
Leo blinked hard, trying to clear his vision. But the light did not go away. Instead, it became sharper. It formed into crisp, glowing blue and white lines.
"What..." Leo mumbled, his voice thick with mud and confusion.
He sat up slowly. The glowing lines shifted and moved with his eyes. They formed perfectly straight, geometric boxes in the corners of his vision. It looked exactly like the Heads-Up Display—a HUD, from his video games. But he wasn't wearing a VR headset. He was sitting in a dirty alley in the real world.
Panic started to rise in his chest. I'm hallucinating, he thought. I really am dying. My brain is broken.
He lifted his hands to rub his eyes. As soon as his hands came into his line of sight, a small, glowing blue box appeared to float in the air right above his wet, dirty skin.
There was text inside the box. Clean, modern letters.
Leo stopped breathing. He stared at the floating words.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZED.]
[Project Prometheus: Online.][Subject 47 recognized.]Leo stared at his hands. He moved his left hand to the side. The floating text followed his hand perfectly, tracking his movement in real-time. This wasn't a trick of the light. This was really happening.
More text began to scroll down in his vision, appearing like a digital list.
[Current Status Report:]
[Strength: 3/10 (Critically Low)][Intelligence: 7/10 (Above Average)][Agility: 4/10 (Below Average)][Luck: 1/10 (Severe Deficit)]"Stats?" Leo whispered aloud. "It's giving me... game stats?"
He looked down at his own body. When he looked at his thin chest, a new warning box flashed in bright, angry orange letters.
[Biological Warning: Status: Severely Malnourished.]
[Bone density: Poor. Muscle mass: Deteriorating.][Probability of survival in current environment: 12%.][Immediate caloric intake required.]Twelve percent. The numbers terrified him, but they also made perfect sense to him. This was the language he spoke. He didn't understand doctors or businessmen, but he understood stats. He understood survival probabilities.
He waved his hand through the air, trying to touch the floating words. His fingers passed right through them.
The text was not actually in the air; it was being projected directly onto his optic nerves. Someone, or something, had put a computer inside his body.
“The medical trial,” Leo realized, his eyes widening. “The shot in the neck five years ago. They put something in me.”
He didn't have time to think about it anymore.
Splash. A heavy footstep landed in a puddle just a few feet away.
Leo’s head snapped up.
A man was standing at the entrance of the alleyway, blocking the only way back to the main street. He was tall, with broad shoulders and a thick, dark jacket.
A hood was pulled up over his head, hiding most of his face, but Leo could see the cruel, hungry smile on the man's lips.
"Well, well," the man said. His voice was rough, like sandpaper. "Looks like some rich kid got lost."
Leo froze. He was sitting on the ground, completely defenseless.
The man took a step closer, stepping out of the shadows. The dim street light revealed a long, rusted metal pipe in his right hand. He tapped the pipe against the brick wall. Clang. Clang. It sounded incredibly heavy.
"Take the jacket off," the man ordered. He pointed the dirty pipe at Leo. "And the shoes. Leave the bag. If you do it fast, I won't cave your skull in."
Leo tried to stand up, but his legs felt like jelly. "I... I don't have anything," Leo stammered, backing up against the dirty wall. "Please. The bag is just old clothes. I have no money."
"I said, take the shoes off!" the thug shouted, taking a quick, aggressive step forward, raising the heavy pipe above his shoulder.
Leo curled his arms over his head, waiting for the crushing pain of the metal pipe. But the strike didn't come.
Instead, a loud, digital alarm sound rang inside Leo's head. It was a sharp, high-pitched BEEP.
Leo opened his eyes. Everything in his vision had changed. The world around him seemed to lose its color, turning into shades of gray. But the thug standing in front of him was glowing.
A bright, neon-red square had perfectly locked onto the man’s chest. The HUD in Leo’s vision was reacting to the danger.
Floating right above the thug’s head, a new text box snapped into sharp focus. The words burned bright in the dark alley.
[Threat Level: High]
Then, the red box on the man’s chest split into a grid. White lines rapidly scanned up and down the thug’s body, measuring his height, his weight, and the way he held the metal pipe. It took less than half a second.
Suddenly, a bright, pulsing yellow circle appeared over the thug’s left knee. A line drew itself from the knee to the side of Leo’s vision, displaying a new message.
[Scan Complete.]
[Target possesses old surgical injury.][Kinetic Weakness Detected: Left Patella.][Recommended Action: Strike weakness to neutralize threat.]Leo stared at the yellow target on the man's knee. The thug pulled his arm back to swing the pipe directly at Leo's head.
Leo wasn't a fighter. He had never been in a real fight in his life. But for the first time, he wasn't looking at a terrifying monster in an alley.
He was looking at a game boss. And the boss had a glowing weak spot.
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Chapter 17
Leo looked at Raphael coldly. He did not answer. He tossed the pool cue onto the broken table. Maya walked over to Leo. She holstered her smoking pistols. She reached up and grabbed the edge of her dark hood. She pulled it back, revealing her face in the dim light. She was young, maybe a year or two older than Leo. She had sharp, beautiful features, pale skin, and short, dark hair. But her most striking feature was her left eye. It was not human. It was a complex mechanical eye, glowing with a faint, pulsing blue light. Silver metal lines ran down her cheek, connecting the eye to her jaw. "You learn fast," Maya said, offering Leo her hand. "The system chose well.""Who are you people?" Leo asked, ignoring her hand. He was exhausted. The serum was starting to wear off. The burning heat in his veins was turning into a cold, heavy ache. "We are the mistakes," Maya said smoothly. "We are the test subjects of Project Prometheus. Years ago, a company paid poor, desperate people to take
Chapter 16
"You can't run forever, little rat," the giant laughed deeply. His voice echoed inside his metal helmet. He pulled the sledgehammer out of the floor and rested it on his massive shoulder. Leo scanned the room. The Adrenaline Override serum was powerful, but it would not last forever. He could feel his heart beating too fast. He needed a heavy weapon, but he was not strong enough to lift anything large. His eyes fell upon a long, solid wooden pool cue lying on the ground near the broken table. Leo reached down and picked it up. It felt light in his hands. The giant mercenary saw Leo holding the thin wooden stick and laughed even louder. "You are going to fight me with a stick?" the giant mocked, taking a heavy step forward. "My armor stops bullets, kid. That stick will break on my chest.""I am not going to hit you with it," Leo said quietly. His HUD shifted. The blue lines began to draw a new diagram. It was not a trajectory line this time. It was a mechanical diagram. The syst
Chapter 15
Maya did not hesitate. She raised both of her pistols and began firing rapidly. BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! The bullets flew across the room, striking the mercenaries in the chest. But the bullets did not pierce their armor. The heavy Kevlar plates absorbed the impacts with dull thuds. The lead mercenary raised a heavy shotgun and fired back. Maya dived behind a heavy wooden table as the shotgun blast destroyed the wall behind her. "Covering fire is useless!" Maya shouted to Leo, who was crouching behind the sticky bar counter. "Their armor is too thick! We have to hit the weak points! Joints or the head!"Leo peeked over the top of the bar. His HUD locked onto the three mercenaries. The system immediately recognized the danger. These were trained killers. They were not going to slip on beer or fall for simple tricks. One of the mercenaries—a huge man with a scarred chin visible beneath his helmet—pointed a submachine gun toward the bar where Leo was hiding. Leo ducked down just a
Chapter 14
The loud BANG of the gunshot echoed in the small, dark alleyway. The sound was deafening. It rattled Leo’s teeth. It sent a shockwave of pressure against his chest. Leo kept his eyes tightly closed. He waited for the burning pain. He waited for his life to end. He waited for the glowing purple text of the HUD to tell him that his heart had stopped beating. But the pain never came. Instead, a heavy, wet thud sounded right behind him. Something large had fallen into the muddy puddle on the ground. Leo slowly opened his eyes. He looked down at his own chest. There was no blood. There was no bullet hole. He was still alive. "Move!" the cold, metallic voice commanded. The figure in the dark raincoat stepped forward. They grabbed Leo by the collar of his wet jacket. The figure possessed incredible, unnatural strength. With one single, powerful pull, they yanked Leo backward, dragging him out of the alley and back into the dark, destroyed bar. Leo stumbled over the heavy steel doorfra
Chapter 13
Leo stared at the men. His eyes were wide and cold. He pointed his finger toward the back door. "Leave," Leo commanded. His voice was hoarse, but it carried a deadly serious tone. The men did not hesitate. They dropped their weapons. They turned around and ran toward the back door of the bar, slipping and sliding on the spilled alcohol, desperate to escape the demon boy. They pushed each other out of the way, bursting through the back door and running out into the dark alley. In seconds, the large bar was completely empty, except for Leo, the unconscious thugs on the floor, and Raphael, who was groaning under the iron light. [Combat Encounter Concluded.][Threat Neutralized.][Reward: +50% Experience to Intelligence. +20% Experience to Perception.][New Skill Unlocked: Environmental Mapping.]Leo read the golden text floating in his vision, but he was too tired to care. He dropped the broken green bottle. His hands were bleeding slightly from gripping the sharp glass. His legs fi
Chapter 12
The HUD highlighted the bottle instantly. [Object: Glass Bottle. Weight: 1.2 lbs.][Status: Fragile. Excellent for creating environmental hazards.]Leo looked at the men slowly walking toward him. They were holding pool cues, empty mugs, and chains. They looked like monsters. Leo grabbed a tall, wooden bar stool with his left hand. He pulled it in front of him like a shield. With his right hand, he raised the green glass bottle high in the air and smashed it down hard against the wooden edge of the bar. SHATTER. The bottom half of the bottle broke off, leaving Leo holding a jagged, sharp glass weapon. But Leo did not point the broken bottle at the men. Instead, he turned around and began to wildly smash every single full bottle of alcohol sitting on top of the bar. Smash! Crash! Shatter! He broke whiskey bottles. He broke vodka bottles. He broke rum bottles. Gallons of sticky, strong-smelling alcohol poured over the bar and flooded onto the wooden floor beneath the men’s feet.
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