The black-blood staff pulsed in Ye Lin's grip, like a second heart.
He watched grimly as its dark liquid dripped, searing the crimson soil beneath it.
Warning: Incoming Entity Detected
Threat Level: Unmeasurable
The sky kept shattering like glass struck by a hammer.
From its cracks, they emerged—shadow hands, the size of hills, moving in unnatural ways, like spiders learning to use their legs.
"Who are you?" Ye Lin shouted, his voice hoarse.
One of the hands suddenly froze, then turned over, revealing a palm covered in mouths.
"We are the Forgotten," said the voice—spoken from a hundred lips in unison.
"We are those abandoned by the Creators before you."
The hand struck.
Ye Lin dodged with a roll, but his pinky finger was grazed.
And with that one touch—
He saw.
Mountains of flesh singing.
Rivers flowing upward.
Cities shaped like frozen screams.
Memory Contamination: 3%
Warning: Further Exposure Will Erase Your Original Self
"Get out of my head!" he roared, slicing off his pinky, which had turned to black crystal.
His blood-staff suddenly sang—a low, rasping hum, like the lullaby of a long-dead mother.
Basic Defense: Activated
Cost: Memory of Home
Pain.
Pain like someone digging through his brain with a hot spoon.
But it worked—the shadow hands shrieked and recoiled in fear.
The red earth beneath Ye Lin began to change.
Glass flowers sprouted where the staff's blood had fallen, each containing vague images:
A dinner table with empty plates
A child crying in a bathroom
A cracked mirror reflecting a face with no eyes
Inner World: 7% Formed
New Function Unlocked: Memory Garden
But the small victory did not last.
The sky tore open completely.
What emerged was no longer a hand—but a face.
A massive, skinless face, red muscles throbbing with a rhythm that made Ye Lin want to vomit.
"Little Creator," it rumbled, shaking the marrow in his bones.
"You build upon our graves."
Ye Lin collapsed, black blood leaking from his nose and ears.
"S-System," he gasped, "What do I do?"
One Path Remains: Integration
Consequence: You Will No Longer Be Only Human
You Will No Longer Be Only Soul
In the distance, the giant face opened its mouth—
dark, endless, and full of writhing little hands.
Ye Lin looked at his staff.
At the glass flowers.
At the black pool that had reappeared—now showing his body in the outside world, surrounded by villagers preparing his burial.
His mother cradled his corpse, as if warmth could still return.
"Do it," he whispered.
Integration Initiated
It felt like:
Being torn apart while still alive
Pierced by a thousand cold needles
Drowned in the sound of his mother calling his name
His blood-staff melted into his skin.
The red earth crawled up his body like thirsty roots.
And when the giant face finally bit down—
Everything went black.
Moments Later
When Ye Lin regained awareness, the first thing he felt was:
This world is in pain.
Pain like an open wound.
Pain like a child left behind.
He stood—if it could be called standing—at the center of a space shaped like a massive heart.
Its walls pulsed, projecting images from his life—but all of them were wrong:
His mother's face had too many teeth
His childhood home had blinking windows
His corpse in the outside world was smiling
And before him stood his own shadow—a younger version of himself, but with eyes just as old.
"Congratulations," the shadow said, smiling.
"You're officially alien now."
Ye Lin lifted his hand—a hand now partly made of soil, partly blood, and partly something else entirely.
"Don't worry," his shadow laughed.
"You're still 'you' enough to suffer."
Integration Complete
Inner World: 18% Formed
New Status: Boundary Keeper
On the heart-walls, a new scene appeared:
His body in the real world, rising from the dead.
The shadow pointed.
"See? We've got homework now."