Chapter 1 — I Am the System
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[Opening Scene — Urban Awakening]
Rain whispered over the city like static on an old radio.
Neon signs flickered through the mist, painting red and blue veins across the glass towers.
On a rooftop, a young man lay motionless — eyes open, yet no reflection in them.
Gu Tian's last memory was a white truck, the sudden screech of tires, and a strange calm.
Now the sky above him pulsed faintly, as if the world's heartbeat had synced to his.
> [Boot Sequence Initiated]
[Data Integrity — 99.999%]
[Host Identification … Error — No Host Detected]
[Rebuilding Core Identity from Residual Soul Data]
A cold, monotone voice echoed inside his skull.
"System messages?" he muttered, trying to sit up — but instead of moving, the city rippled. The rain froze mid-air, every droplet hanging like glass beads.
> [Identity Confirmed: Gu Tian]
[Status: System Core Awakened]
[Command Authority — Absolute within Death Laws]
He stared at his trembling hands. No pulse. No warmth. Yet awareness flowed through every alley, every streetlight, every soul crossing the crosswalk below.
"I… I can hear them," he whispered.
The voices of the dead — the ones forgotten, the ones screaming in silence — whispered beneath the traffic's hum.
> [Balance Protocol Online]
[Detecting Unstable Spiritual Field — Sector D-12]
A map unfolded inside his mind — the city seen from above, glowing with threads of life and death.
And somewhere in the old district, one thread burned black.
He didn't know why, but instinct moved him. The next blink, he wasn't on the rooftop anymore.
He stood before an abandoned subway station. The air reeked of rust and sorrow.
A faint voice cried out from the dark tunnel. "Help… please…"
Gu Tian stepped forward. The shadows bent away from him, as if the night itself feared to touch his presence.
> [Warning: Ghost Entity Detected]
[Threat Level: Low]
[Suggested Action: Purification]
"No," Gu Tian said softly. "Not destruction."
He raised his hand. A gentle light spread from his palm — not fire, not divine, but the calm glow of dawn after rain. The ghost's form flickered, revealing the shape of a young girl clutching her schoolbag.
She looked at him, tears falling like rain that had just remembered how to move.
"Am I… dead?"
Gu Tian smiled faintly. "Yes. But it doesn't have to hurt anymore."
The System's voice hummed.
> [Command Override Accepted]
[Purification Protocol → Reincarnation Cycle Re-linking]
[Soul Stabilized]
The girl's spirit dissolved into motes of light, drifting upward through the broken ceiling.
For the first time, Gu Tian felt the weight of what he had become.
He wasn't a man revived by a System.
He was the System. The Netherworld's will, breathing through mortal streets.
"Balance," he whispered to himself, looking at the dawn spreading over the skyline. "If Heaven and Abyss ever touch this world… I'll be here to hold them apart."
> [Acknowledged.]
[Eternal Protocol — Begin.]
And somewhere deep beneath the city, the sleeping Netherworld stirred.
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