2026-01-09 18:05:32
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CHAPTER 7: PREPARING FOR WAR
The first twenty-four hours after accepting Sophia's deal, Marcus spent mostly unconscious.His body was a wreck. The system debuff hit harder than expected. Muscles cramped randomly, headaches felt like icepicks through his skull, nausea came in waves. Sophia explained it clinically: "You borrowed future capability. Now your future self is suffering the consequences. Think of it like a loan shark breaking your kneecaps."She left him on the couch with water, painkillers, and a bucket. Went about her business like Marcus wasn't there. Phone calls in languages he didn't recognize. Cleaning weapons at the kitchen table. Doing pull-ups from a bar mounted in the doorway.Marcus drifted in and out. Fever dreams mixed with system notifications. The blood system kept trying to sell him things:[RECOVERY BOOST: $10,000][DEBUFF REDUCTION: $50,000][INSTANT HEALING: $100,000]But his balance was $15,047.23. He needed every dollar for the mission. So he suffered through it.On the second day, h
CHAPTER 6: DEALS WITH DEVILS
Marcus woke up to a gun barrel against his forehead."Don't move." Woman's voice. Familiar. "I'm trying to decide if you're worth the bullet."His danger sense was quiet. Not dead. Just muted from the crash. Everything felt muted. His body was lead. His mind was fog. The system's thirty percent debuff hit like a freight train.Marcus opened his eyes. Sophia Zhao stood over him, pistol steady, rain dripping from her red dress. She looked annoyed."How long was I out?""Three hours. Impressive. Most system users crash for six after burning enhanced abilities that hard." She lowered the gun slightly. "You're also incredibly lucky I found you before the Court's cleanup team. Or the cops. Or Victor's people. Or literally anyone else looking for you."Marcus tried to sit up. His body screamed. Muscles felt shredded. Bones ached. This was the price of borrowed power."Why are you here?""Because you're an investment I'd rather not see wasted." Sophia holstered her weapon. "Get up. We need to
Chapter 5: GALA OF LIES
Marcus spent the next eighteen hours running.Not literally, that would've gotten him killed. But moving constantly. Subway tunnels. All-night diners where he sat in corners with his back to walls. Parking garages. Bus stations. Any place with crowds and exit routes.The Crimson Court kill team was still hunting. He could feel them through his danger sense. They'd gotten close twice once in Chinatown, once near the docks. Both times Marcus slipped away seconds before they arrived.His enhanced abilities made the difference. Perfect memory let him memorize street layouts after one glance. Enhanced charisma got strangers to cover for him without asking why. Silver tongue talked his way past three police checkpoints.But the clock was ticking. Four hours of enhanced power, then crash.By 6 PM, Marcus was in the bathroom of a 24-hour gym, washing blood from a split lip. The last near-miss had been too close. Crimson Court operative had gotten hands on him before Marcus broke free. His hea
CHAPTER 4: GHOST IN THE MACHINE
Marcus spent three days living like a rat.Abandoned buildings. Sewers. Places where cameras couldn't reach and cops didn't bother looking. His face was everywhere; news broadcasts, wanted posters, social media. The story had grown legs: "Disgraced Heir Murders Brother-in-Law, Starts Shootout With Police, Still At Large."Victor Kane had given interviews. Stood beside Elena, his arm around her shoulders while she cried on cue. "Marcus was always unstable," Victor told reporters. "The Chen family's criminal activities warped him. We tried to help, but some people can't be saved."Marcus watched the interview on a stolen phone in an empty warehouse. Felt nothing. Just cold observation.The blood system screen appeared:[DAILY UPDATE][CORRUPTION: 42% (STABLE)][NO NEW SACRIFICES IN 72 HOURS][UNUSUAL - MOST USERS SPIRAL FASTER][YOUR FATHER'S RESEARCH IS HELPING][OR YOU'RE JUST STUBBORN]Marcus had spent three days reading his father's journal. The research was dense, technical diagram
Chapter 3: BLOOD INHERITANCE
Marcus followed Sarah through corridors he'd walked a thousand times as a kid except now they were rotting. Wallpaper peeled like dead skin. Family portraits hung crooked, eyes seeming to track his movement. His danger sense hummed low but constant, like standing near power lines.Sarah moved like someone who'd done this before. Confident. Tactical. She had a flashlight but didn't turn it on until they reached what used to be his father's study.The beam cut through darkness, illuminating a room that looked like a bomb had hit it. Furniture overturned. Books scattered. Bloodstains on the carpet. Old, brown, permanent.Marcus's father had died here.He tried to feel something. Grief. Rage. Anything.Nothing came. Just empty recognition. Dad died there. That's where his head hit the desk. That stain is probably his brain matter.Clinical. Detached. Like reading someone else's autopsy report."You're different," Sarah said, watching him. "Colder. How high is your corruption?""Thirty-eig
CHAPTER 2: THE PRICE OF POWER
Marcus woke up screaming to silence.His throat was raw, mouth open in a shriek that produced no sound. He clawed at his face, trying to remember what his mother's voice sounded like; the lullabies she sang when he was five, the way she laughed at his dad's terrible jokes, her last words before the massacre.Nothing. Just empty space where memories should be.The blood system's red screen hovered in his vision:[SACRIFICES PROCESSED][MOTHER'S VOICE: DELETED][ABILITY TO CRY: REMOVED][CAPACITY FOR HAPPINESS: EXTRACTED][TOTAL GAINED: $850,000][CURRENT BALANCE: $850,047.23][CORRUPTION: 34%][WELCOME TO YOUR NEW EXISTENCE, ASSHOLE]The warehouse was dark. Cold. Marcus sat against a concrete pillar, watching dawn light creep through broken windows. His face throbbed where Richard had shattered his cheekbone, but the enhanced healing was working; he could feel bone knitting together, flesh repairing itself.He tried to feel relieved about surviving. Tried to feel angry about what the W
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