Rain slicked Jiang City's neon-drenched alleys. Above the traffic drones, silhouettes blurred across rooftops – Enforcement Division agents chasing a gravity-defying thief. Lin Mo didn't glance up. Shoulders hunched against the downpour, he pushed a rattling bicycle past holographic billboards screaming "Dragonblood Serum III: Forge Your Legend!"
"Look! The cripple shuffles home!" sneered a youth in shimmering qi-reinforced athleisure. His crew laughed, shoving Lin into a puddle. Muddy water soaked through threadbare jeans. Three years. Three years of this since Chen Tianhao's betrayal in the Mistveil Canyon left his dantian – his core – in ruins.
First General Hospital's ICU hummed with bioscanners. Lin Mo's knuckles whitened on the doorframe. His sister Lin Yu lay cocooned in wires, skin translucent as rice paper. Dr. Liu's voice was surgical steel: "'Vitality Elixir' stops in 72 hours without 300,000 credits. Your… circumstances are noted."
The bicycle chain snapped halfway to Jiang First Martial Academy. Laughter echoed from the Brilliance Arena where he'd once dominated. He ducked behind the old bell tower – too late.
"Mopping floors, 'Starfall'?" Chen Tianhao's voice dripped honeyed poison. Flanked by sycophants and the icy-eyed beauty Su Qingxue, he looked every inch the heir: custom silk combat gear, hair artfully tousled, a predator's smile. "Heard little Yu's fading. Tragic. If only you hadn't been so… reckless in the canyon."
Lin's fist flew. Chen caught it effortlessly. "Still swinging? Pathetic." A knee slammed into Lin's gut. He crumpled.
Leather soles ground his cheek into gravel. Chen leaned down, mic-drones capturing every syllable: "Beg. Kneel. Call me 'Master'. I'll buy Yu's medicine. Or watch her choke."
Searing pain exploded as Chen's heel lifted for the final stomp. Lin's blood soaked the cracked ring on his finger–
CRACK.
Not bone. The ring. Darker than void, it drank the light. A voice like grinding tectonic plates echoed in his skull:
[HOST VERIFIED: LIN MO]
[SOURCE: EXTREME MALICE/PAIN/DESPAIR]
[PRIME DIRECTIVE: FEED]
Chen's crushing ki-force… became smoke in Lin Mo's veins. Sweet. Addictive. Power surged through dead meridians.
Lin Mo's hand shot up. Not to block. To consume.