2026-01-20 06:21:17The sound was the worst part. Crunch.
It was a wet, grinding pop. It vibrated through his chest cavity. It echoed in his ears.
Evans’s back arched off the ground. His mouth opened wide, stretching his jaw until it popped too. He screamed, but no sound came out. His lungs were empty. The pain had stolen his air.
He collapsed back into the dirt. He lay there, gasping like a fish on a dock. Gray spots danced in his eyes.
[RIB REALIGNED.]
[EFFICIENCY: 68%. ACCEPTABLE.]
"Acceptable..." Evans wheezed. He felt like laughing, but that would hurt too much. The System called that torture "acceptable."
The sharp, stabbing pain was gone. Now, it was just a deep, throbbing ache. Every time his heart beat, his side throbbed. Thump-throb. Thump-throb.
[STEP 1 COMPLETE.]
[STEP 2: CAUTERIZATION.]
Evans looked at the text. He knew that word. Cauterize. It meant to burn. It meant sealing a wound with heat.
"No," Evans whispered. "No fire. I don't have fire."
He looked around. He was in a small clearing. The trees were tall and dark. About ten feet away, there was a pile of wood. It was the remains of a campfire. It was mostly gray ash, but there was a faint orange glow in the center.
It was the fire he had made before... before the attack. Before he fell.
[LOCATE HEAT SOURCE.]
A green arrow appeared in his vision. It pointed to the dying fire.
[CRAWL.]
"I can't move," Evans said. His legs felt like lead.
[YOU ARE BLEEDING. CRAWL.]
The percentage bar in the corner dropped.
[BLOOD LOSS: 22%.]
He had to move. If he didn't move, he would just bleed out right here. The rib was fixed, but the cut was still open.
Evans dug his fingers into the dirt. He pulled.
His body was heavy. He dragged himself an inch. Then another inch. His side screamed with every movement. The dirt scraped his skin. Small stones dug into his knees.
He breathed in short, shallow puffs. One, two, pull. One, two, pull.
It took him five minutes to move ten feet. By the time he reached the fire, he was covered in sweat. He was shaking so hard his teeth clicked together.
The fire was small. Just a bed of hot coals.
[FIND STONE.]
The green arrow moved. It pointed to a smooth, flat rock sitting near the edge of the ash. It was about the size of a bar of soap.
Evans reached out and grabbed the stone. It was cold.
[HEAT THE STONE.]
He understood. He had to put the stone in the fire. He had to make it hot. And then...
He didn't want to think about "and then."
He pushed the stone into the center of the orange coals. He used a stick to pile the hot ash on top of it.
Now, he had to wait.
The waiting was terrible. The pain in his side was a constant reminder. Drip. Drip. He could feel the blood leaking out.
[BREATH REGULATION REQUIRED.]
[HEART RATE TOO HIGH.]
[FOLLOW THE LIGHT.]
A blue bar appeared. It went up and down, slowly.
[INHALE.]
The bar went up. Evans tried to match it. He sucked in air for four seconds.
[HOLD.]
He held it. His lungs burned.
[EXHALE.]
He let the air out slowly.
[REPEAT.]
The System forced him to breathe. It forced his heart to slow down. If his heart beat slower, he lost less blood. It was cold logic. It was smart. It was cruel.
He stared at the fire. The stone was starting to change color. It was turning dull red.
"Is it ready?" he asked the empty air.
[WAIT.]
He waited. Seconds felt like hours. The wind blew through the trees. It made a lonely, whistling sound. Evans felt very small.
[STONE READY.]
[TEMPERATURE: 450 DEGREES.]
Evans stared at the red stone. It looked like a piece of hell.
[PICK IT UP.]
"I'll burn my hand," Evans said.
[USE CLOTH.]
Evans looked at his torn shirt. He ripped a strip of fabric from the sleeve. He wrapped it around his hand. It was a thick wad of cloth.
He reached into the fire. The heat was intense. He grabbed the hot stone. The cloth started to smoke immediately.
[APPLY TO WOUND. 3 SECONDS.]
Three seconds. Just three seconds.
He looked at the open cut on his side. It was messy and red.
He held the glowing stone above his skin. The heat coming off it was already painful.
"I can't do this," Evans said. tears rolled down his dirty face. "I can't."
[DO IT.]
The red warning light blinked faster.
[DO IT NOW.]
Evans closed his eyes tight. He thought about his home. He thought about his soft bed. He thought about a cold glass of water.
He screamed inside his head.
And he pressed the stone down.
PSSSHHHHH.
The sound was like a steak hitting a hot pan.
Smoke rose up. It smelled terrible. It smelled like burning hair and cooked meat.
The pain was not human. It was white. It was everything. It consumed him. It wiped out every thought in his brain. There was no Evans anymore. There was only the fire.
He opened his mouth to scream. His jaw unhinged. His neck muscles stood out like cords.
But no sound came. His throat locked up. The scream died inside him.
One second.
The world turned white.
Two seconds.
His body convulsed. He kicked the dirt.
Three seconds.
[REMOVE.]
Evans jerked his hand away. The stone flew out of his grip and rolled into the dirt.
He fell back. He was gasping, choking, shaking.
The smell filled his nose. He gagged. He turned his head and dry-heaved into the leaves. Nothing came up but bile.
His side felt like it was still on fire. But the wet dripping feeling stopped.
He lay there, trembling. He looked at the sky. The clouds were moving fast.
He was alive.
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Chapter 10
The sound was the worst part. Crunch.It was a wet, grinding pop. It vibrated through his chest cavity. It echoed in his ears.Evans’s back arched off the ground. His mouth opened wide, stretching his jaw until it popped too. He screamed, but no sound came out. His lungs were empty. The pain had stolen his air.He collapsed back into the dirt. He lay there, gasping like a fish on a dock. Gray spots danced in his eyes.[RIB REALIGNED.][EFFICIENCY: 68%. ACCEPTABLE.]"Acceptable..." Evans wheezed. He felt like laughing, but that would hurt too much. The System called that torture "acceptable."The sharp, stabbing pain was gone. Now, it was just a deep, throbbing ache. Every time his heart beat, his side throbbed. Thump-throb. Thump-throb.[STEP 1 COMPLETE.][STEP 2: CAUTERIZATION.]Evans looked at the text. He knew that word. Cauterize. It meant to burn. It meant sealing a wound with heat."No," Evans whispered. "No fire. I don't have fire."He looked around. He was in a small clearing.
CHAPTER 9
Evans floated in a dark ocean. The water was warm. It was soft. There was no noise here. There was no pain. He felt heavy, sinking deeper and deeper into the black water. It felt good to sink. It felt like sleeping after a very long day.He wanted to stay here forever. The darkness was kind. It did not ask for anything. “Just let go,” he thought. “Just sleep.” But the darkness cracked.It was not a sound. It was a feeling. A sharp, electric buzz went through his mind. It was like biting on a piece of tin foil, but a thousand times worse.[WARNING: HOST VITALITY CRITICAL.]The words were not spoken. They appeared inside his head. They were bright red letters burning against the back of his eyelids.Evans tried to push them away. He wanted the warm water back. He tried to keep his eyes closed.[SYSTEM ALERT: UNCONSCIOUSNESS UNAUTHORIZED.]Go away, Evans thought. Let me sleep.[INITIATING PAIN PROTOCOL.]The warm water turned to ice. Then, it turned to fire.A spike of pure agony shot
Chapter 8
Snap. The cold wind vanished. The hard rocks vanished. The gray sky vanished.Evans was standing. He looked down. He was not wearing his torn, bloody robes. He was naked, but he felt no shame. His body looked clean. There were no bruises. No blood.He looked around. Everything was white. It was an endless, bright space. There were no walls, no ceiling, and no floor. Just infinite whiteness. It was sterile. It smelled like rubbing alcohol and ozone.It was quiet. Not the lonely silence of the cliff, but the heavy silence of an operating room before the surgery begins."Am I dead?" Evans asked.His voice was strong. It echoed, though there were no walls to echo off of."Is this the afterlife?"No angel appeared. No demon appeared.Instead, the air in front of him shimmered.Text appeared.It didn't fade in. It snapped into existence. The letters were black, sharp, and blocky. They floated in the air, motionless.[MEDICAL HEALING SYSTEM ACTIVATED]Evans blinked. He reached out to touch t
Chapter 7
Thump. Thump. The sound was slow. It was too slow.Evans lay on his back. The ground beneath him was hard and uneven. Sharp rocks dug into his skin, but he could barely feel them. The pain was distant now. It felt like a heavy blanket covering his body.He tried to take a deep breath. He failed. His chest felt like it was filled with water. A wet, gurgling sound came from his throat.My lung, Evans thought. His mind was surprisingly clear. It was the clarity of a doctor looking at a patient. Punctured left lung. Internal hemorrhage. Rib fractures—at least three. Probable rupture of the spleen.He analyzed his own death. He knew the timeline. He had minutes, maybe less.Above him, the sky was a dull, angry gray. Clouds moved slowly, indifferent to the man dying below. The edges of his vision began to blur. Darkness crept in from the sides, making the world look like a tunnel.He tried to move his hand. His fingers twitched. That was all. He could not lift his arm. He could not wipe the
Chapter 6
"Weak," another voice whispered. It sounded like Baret, the enforcer. "Look at him crawl. Like a worm.""No," Evans whimpered. He covered his ears. "Go away.""You are nothing without your power," a third voice said. It was his own voice. "You are just meat."Evans squeezed his eyes shut. "Shut up! Shut up!"He scrambled forward, crawling blindly. His hand slipped over the edge of a drop.He tumbled.He fell into a shallow ravine—a dried-up riverbed cut into the rock. He landed in the soft, silty dirt at the bottom. The walls of the ravine blocked the wind. It was slightly warmer here.But Evans didn't care. He was done.He curled into a ball. He pulled his knees to his chest. He shivered so hard his muscles cramped.The voices were gone, replaced by a high-pitched ringing in his ears.He stared at the dirt in front of his face. He saw a tiny pebble. It was white, perfectly round. It looked like a pearl.He focused on the pebble. It was the only thing in the world that made sense."I'
Chapter 5
Silence. The silence of the Red Wastes was heavier than the noise of the city. There were no birds. No crickets. Only the wind, whispering over the sharp rocks.Evans lay against the boulder. He counted his breaths. In. Out. In. Out. He had to stay calm. Panic was a killer. He knew this. He had studied medicine. He had studied survival. He was smart."Assess," he whispered to himself. "Assess the damage."He tried to sit up. A sharp pain stabbed his left side. Broken rib? Maybe just bruised. He pressed his hand against his side. He flinched. Bruised, definitely. Maybe a hairline fracture.He looked at his legs. His pants were torn. Blood oozed from a long cut on his shin. The blood looked bright red against the dusty ground."Stop the bleeding," he thought.He reached for his inner power. He reached for his Qi.For years, it had been as natural as breathing. He would focus his mind, and a warm current would flow from his belly to his hands. He could use that energy to seal wounds, to
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