2025-10-14 08:08:24Jason stared at the glowing screen, the blue light reflecting in his wet eyes.
Victor’s mocking smile made his chest tighten. The rain outside the window tapped the glass like a slow clock, each drop reminding him that his time was running out. “What did you just say?” Jason asked quietly. Victor leaned on the doorframe, his voice dripping with fake concern. “You really didn’t know, huh? Maybe you should’ve died back then with your precious parents.” Jason’s hands clenched. “What do you know about my parents?” Victor laughed. “Oh, now you’re curious. How about you come work for me again? I’ll tell you everything — but only if you stop pretending to be a saint.” Jason’s heart thumped fast. He wanted to hit him. He wanted to scream. But the screen behind Victor glowed again. > System Notice: Emotional instability detected. Task chain paused. Displaying full system rules. Blue light filled the room. Victor stepped back, eyes wide, unable to see it. The holographic letters appeared in front of Jason, clear as day. --- > SYSTEM BINDING: ACTIVE User: Jason Cross Current Lifespan: 62 days Rules of Operation: 1. Every task completed honestly and meaningfully adds to your days. 2. Dishonest gain voids all rewards. 3. Failure to complete tasks results in memory loss or reduced lifespan. 4. The system may set hidden challenges to test the user’s heart. 5. Emotional despair fuels activation. Hope fuels growth. > Capabilities: Gain “Intuition” — the ability to sense truth in people or deals. Receive direct bank deposits upon completion of tasks. > Limitations: Tasks cannot involve cheating, lying, or hurting others for gain. Breaking a rule leads to Penalty Tests. > First Binding Rule Active: You are being watched. Your path draws both helpers and enemies. --- Jason blinked. His heart pounded. “Helpers and enemies…” he murmured. “So Victor…?” The system didn’t answer. The light faded, leaving him alone with the sound of the rain. Victor scoffed. “You’ve lost your mind, haven’t you? Staring at air. You always were pathetic.” He turned and left, slamming the door so hard the walls shook. Jason fell to his knees, gripping the silver cross. His chest ached, but this time it wasn’t from sickness — it was from anger. --- That night, Mark called. Jason stared at the screen of his old phone before answering. “Jason, you useless rat,” Mark shouted. “You left early, didn’t deliver half your orders, and people complained. You’re fired!” Jason tried to speak. “Sir, please—” “Don’t beg, orphan trash,” Mark snapped. “You should thank me for not calling the police. There’s nothing in this world for people like you.” The line went dead. Jason sat there, quiet. Rain kept falling. In his head, a voice whispered — “You’ll always be nothing.” He remembered nights in the orphanage when he slept hungry. He remembered stealing bread for a sick friend named Caleb — his only friend. He remembered promising Caleb they’d both escape one day. But now Caleb was gone. Or maybe… he wasn’t. --- The screen blinked again. > Mini Task: Remember your first promise. Reward: $2,000 +3 days Failure: Memory of “Caleb” erased. Time limit: 2 hours. Jason’s eyes widened. “It’s testing me…” He closed his eyes, fighting to remember. The smell of rain on the orphanage roof. Caleb’s laugh. The way they shared one blanket through winter. “I promised him I’d never give up. Never let life make me cold.” The moment he whispered those words, the screen glowed. > Task complete. Reward added: $2,000 +3 days. Lifespan: 65 days. But something else appeared under it — faint red letters. > Hidden Rule Unlocked: The more you grow, the more they’ll notice. Rivals drawn to your light. --- Jason opened his wallet. He had more money now than ever before — but his heart still hurt. He stood up, determined. “If this system is giving me time, I’ll use it to live right. I’ll make every day count.” He walked into the night, the rain easing into mist. His old bicycle leaned by the wall, and he climbed on, riding through the sleeping streets. As he passed the orphanage, a faint smile crossed his face. He saw a little boy through the window, shivering under thin sheets — just like he once did. Jason stopped and slipped an envelope of cash through the door gap. “Sleep warm, little guy,” he whispered. “You’ll make it.” The cross on his chest glowed softly — a warm sign that he was on the right path. --- When he got home, his phone buzzed. A message. Stephanie: > Jason, I… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. Can we talk? Jason’s eyes softened, but before he could reply, another message popped up — from Victor. Victor: > Join me, Jason. One job. Quick money. Or stay poor forever. The screen behind him flickered red again. > Warning: External influence detected. Choice impacts fate. Jason stared at the two messages. His chest tightened. Stephanie’s guilt… Victor’s threat… his system’s warning… He didn’t know which one to answer. But deep down, he felt the storm coming.
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chapter 9: legacy threat
The night outside Jason’s window was still, almost too still. The city’s pulse, the one that usually roared with sirens and laughter, felt muted—like the world itself was holding its breath for him.Malik’s words wouldn’t leave his head. Victor is your father. The phrase looped again and again until it lost all meaning and then came back sharper, more painful. He sat there in silence, gripping the cross that had started everything. It felt heavier now—as if the metal had absorbed his shame.He wanted to scream, to punch something, to destroy every wall that kept the truth hidden all these years. But the only sound in the room was the slow beeping of the holographic screen and Stephanie’s uneven breathing beside him.Her body was getting weaker. The extensions she had gained by sharing his tasks were fading. Her skin had gone pale, lips cracked, hands trembling even when she tried to smile at him.“Jason…” she whispered. “You’re shaking again.”“I’m fine.”“You haven’t eaten.”He laugh
chapter 8: rekindled alliance
The night Malik betrayed him, the city didn’t sleep. Neon bled across the puddles, and Jason walked without feeling his feet. Every light seemed to whisper a different version of his failure.He had given everything — his last days, his last strength — to a cause meant to outlive him. And now, before dawn, the fund that carried his name was about to vanish into the same dark that had taken his parents.He stopped at a bridge and stared down at the black water. The cross against his chest glowed faint red, like a heartbeat that didn’t trust itself.> INTEGRITY BREACH DETECTEDACCOUNT COLLAPSE IN 06 HOURSJason’s reflection trembled in the water. “Why do you keep giving me hope just to take it back?”The screen flickered once more:> Resolve Test Active.He laughed under his breath. “Then watch me resolve.”He turned from the bridge and headed toward the one place he swore never to go again — the glass tower of V Industries, Victor’s domain. If Malik worked for Victor, maybe the damage
chapter 7: the million gambit
The morning after the storm, the city smelled of wet dust and diesel. Jason crossed the empty street with a cheap umbrella and the weight of the holographic cross pressing against his chest. The screen had flashed its cruel reminder at dawn:> TASK: Amass and spend $500 000 in meaningful aid within five days.REWARD: +15 days of life.PENALTY: Emotional erosion — Stage 2.Five days. A number so small it felt like an insult.He rented a desk in a shared workspace that still hummed from the previous night’s power cut. The ceiling dripped. His laptop fan wheezed. He named his page The Orphan Horizon Project—one sentence of code, a blank donate button, and a mission that sounded impossible.By noon he had called everyone he’d ever met—former co-workers, small charities, classmates who barely remembered him. Most answered with sympathy, none with help.Then a stranger’s voice came from behind him, low and confident.“Maybe what you need is presentation.”Jason looked up. A man stood there
chapter 6: strategic resolve
The rain followed him home, whispering like an echo that refused to die.Jason walked with his hood up, every step heavy, every breath tight. The city still looked the same — neon lights, tired streets — but he wasn’t the same anymore.The system had changed him. Money had changed him. Pain had carved new steel into his bones.And yet, beneath all that, a quiet ember still glowed — a memory of what he once was.He reached his apartment, dripping on the floorboards, and pulled out the glowing cross.“Grandpa,” he whispered, “you said faith marks blood. Maybe this… this is my mark.”The holographic screen flickered awake.> System Notice:Stability restored: 78 %. New potential detected.Generate long-term task?Jason exhaled. “Yes. Something that matters.”> Task Generated – ‘Build Meaning From Pain’Objective: Create a self-sustaining platform that helps at least one hundred orphans within thirty days.Reward: +10 days life, Wealth multiplier unlocked.He stared at the glowing words.
chapter 5 : hidden costs
Morning came, but the sky stayed dark.Jason hadn’t slept.He sat on the rooftop of the old hostel, soaked to the bone, staring at the glowing city that never cared he existed.Victor’s words replayed in his mind over and over like poison on repeat.> “Your mother always said your eyes looked just like mine.”It didn’t make sense.How could Victor know anything about his parents when Jason had been told they died when he was just three?He tried to remember their faces, but all he saw were silhouettes behind smoke — flashes of gentle laughter, the smell of old perfume, and then nothing. Just cold emptiness.His chest ached.And deep inside that ache, the screen pulsed awake again.> System Log:Warning – Emotional stability below threshold.Processing trauma response.Task queue recalibrated.Jason wiped his wet face, muttering, “What now?”The holographic text formed slowly, almost softly, like the screen itself pitied him.> New task: “Transform loss into value. Invest meaningfully.
chapter 4: penalty pain
The city was gray that morning — a dull, merciless gray that felt like it had been painted just to match Jason’s chest.Rainwater gathered in the cracks of the street as if even the sky couldn’t stop crying for him.He sat on the bus, silent, staring out through a window smeared with fog and fingerprints. In his pocket, the holographic screen rested against his thigh like a silent bomb. It hadn’t glowed since midnight, after the task, but its presence made his pulse quicken every few seconds — the memory of its voice echoing in his mind.> “Task failed. One day deducted. Memory penalty initiated.”He didn’t understand what it meant until morning, when he woke up and tried to remember something that wasn’t there.Something small.Something human.He sat up, hand pressed to his head, trying to recall the face of a boy — his only childhood friend at the orphanage. But when he tried to picture him, all he saw was a blur. He couldn’t remember the boy’s name, his voice, or even what they us
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