The Lifespan Wealth System

Chapter 5. White Hair

Axel stared at his reflection in the grimy mirror above the hospital sink. His trembling hand combed through bangs that were usually jet black, but now a thick lock of hair at his temples had turned completely white. The color looked stiff, like lifeless silver wire.

He rubbed the skin beneath his eyes. Fine lines had settled there. Axel was no longer a fresh man in his early thirties. He looked like someone who had just crawled out of ten years of suffering in the span of a few hours.

The ICU door opened. Arlo stepped out, his face exhausted, but his eyes were shining. “Axel! This is insane! The doctor says Elara is stable now. Her heart stopped for a moment, but now the rhythm is strong. It’s a miracle, Xel!”

Instinctively, Axel pulled the hood of his jacket low over his head. He turned his back on Arlo. “That’s good. Take care of her.”

“Where are you going? You don’t want to see Elara?” Arlo stepped forward, reaching for Axel’s shoulder. “You’re acting strange. Why does your voice sound so heavy?”

“Don’t touch me!” Axel slapped Arlo’s hand away roughly.

Arlo froze, his hand hanging in the air. “Xel? What’s wrong with you? Are you sick?”

Axel was forced to turn slightly. In that instant, Arlo’s breath caught in his throat. His eyes went wide, his face turning deathly pale, as if he were staring at a corpse that could speak. “Dear God, Axel? Your face… why is it so wrinkled? And your hair…?” Arlo took a step back, his trembling finger pointing at Axel’s head. “Xel, what kind of curse did you get? You… you look like an old man!”

“I’m just sleep-deprived, Arlo! Just take care of Elara!” Axel snapped, his voice hoarse and deep. He turned and half ran down the corridor, ignoring Arlo’s terrified shouts calling his name.

An hour later, Axel sat in a private clinic on the outskirts of the city. He paid five times the normal consultation f*e to ensure the doctor kept his mouth shut and examined him immediately. Dr. Darren, a middle-aged man sitting across from him, stared at Axel’s X-ray results with a sharply furrowed brow.

“Mr. Axel, you said you are thirty-one years old?” Dr. Darren asked, his glasses slipping down his nose.

“Yes, Doctor. Is something wrong?”

The doctor let out a long breath and turned the monitor toward Axel. “Your bone density results match those of a sixty-year-old man. That’s not all. Your kidney function and lung capacity are also severely reduced. This makes no medical sense. You are experiencing extremely aggressive cellular aging. Your body is very fragile, Axel. Think of it like a machine. Your components are worn out long before their time.”

“What’s the solution?”

“Stop working. Avoid stress. Complete rest." Darren said gravely. “If you push yourself, your organs could fail at any moment.”

Axel left the examination room with unsteady steps. In the empty corridor, he stopped and closed his eyes.

“System! Answer me!” he roared inside his head.

[Request detected. What would you like to know?]

“You said Elara’s cost was only two years! Then why does my body feel like it lost twenty?!”

[System cost is an absolute value. However, the biological response to lifespan extraction is subjective. You were in a state of malnutrition and chronic stress before system activation. The damage you feel is the ‘interest’ on your already poor health.]

“Bastard!” Axel cursed. “Then how do I get back to normal? You said money earned through real work can add lifespan.”

[Balance Principle: $10,000 earned through legitimate labor equals +1 month of lifespan.]

Axel laughed bitterly in the empty parking lot. Ten thousand dollars earned through sweat and labor for just one extra month of life. Meanwhile, the system could rip five years from him in a blink for instant money. Fairness truly did not exist in this entity’s vocabulary.

“You damn loan shark.”

[Balance must be maintained. Destruction is easier than construction. Taking lifespan is an instant transaction. Building lifespan is a process of growth.]

He pressed a hand to his tight chest. His choices were now only two. Live in luxury as a dying rich man, or start working like a slave just to extend his life month by month.

But his thoughts were cut short by his phone vibrating. A message from an unknown number appeared:

“Axel, we know you have the money now. Gerry failed to bring you back to the Boss. Now it’s not just your fingers we want, but your mother’s life back in the village if you don’t hand over your entire balance tonight. Come to the old warehouse at the harbor at midnight.”

Rage burned through the last of Axel’s vitality. Pain stabbed his heart, yet his eyes sharpened. He was no longer the weak Axel who could only beg a landlord for mercy. He looked toward the system panel still floating at the edge of his vision.

“System." Axel said coldly. “I’m not working a normal job today. I need a solution for this trash.”

[Tactical Option Available: Hire Professional Intervention. Permanently eliminate the threat and cleanse all criminal traces.]

[Cost: $50,000 and one year of remaining lifespan.]

[Balance deducted]

[Remaining balance: $20,000]

Axel coughed violently. Fresh blood dripped from his nose, splattering onto the motorcycle’s fuel tank. He could feel death drawing closer. If he took that option, he might look like a seventy-year-old man by tomorrow morning.

[Additional Option: ‘Temporary Health’. Restore peak physical condition for 24 hours by draining the last reserve of vitality.]

[Cost: 6 months of remaining lifespan.]

Axel stared at the blood on his hand. He knew this was a devil’s trap. The more he fought, the more years he paid. But letting his mother die was not an option.

His hand trembled over the virtual panel. On the edge of death, he finally realized that not knowing how much life remained was far more terrifying than knowing the exact moment of death. Every second now felt like a trigger ready to be pulled.

“Do it.” Axel hissed. “Give me that health. I’ll make sure they regret messing with a man who has no time left to die.”

Instantly, heat surged up his spine. The tightness in his chest vanished, his withered muscles snapping back into strength. Axel stood tall, even though he knew that beneath his skin, time was racing toward zero at a horrifying speed.

He started his motorcycle engine, not to run away, but to end this blood contract on his own terms.