Shen Yue woke to a steel-toed boot slamming into his ribs.
"Up maggot. Elder's orders."
He tried to open his eyes, but they were crusted shut with dried mud and blood. He scraped the filth away, blinking as watery grey light stabbed his retinas.
He wasn't in the ditch anymore. He was in The Pit. A twelve-foot-deep hole carved into the earth behind the clan's compound. Two dozen bodies were crammed into the space, curled into themselves like discarded rags. The air was thick with the copper tang of blood and the sweet, sickly rot of infected wounds.
This was where the Ashveil Clan kept its "defective product."
The guard in rust-red armor who had kicked him was already moving on, dragging his spear through the dirt to wake the next body.
He sat up slowly. Every muscle screamed. The meridian he'd attempted to "patch" last night throbbed like an infected tooth.
[SYSTEM STATUS]
MERIDIAN_01 (Left Arm): Partially Functional
BODY INTEGRITY: 9%
WARNING: Unstable architecture. Do not exert.
Great, Shen Yue thought dryly. I went from 8% to 9%. At this rate, I'll be fully functional by the time I'm fifty.
"First time in the pit, huh?"
He turned.
Sitting against the earthen wall was a young man, maybe seventeen. He was lean with scars crisscrossing his bare arms like badly written code. But his most distinguishing feature was the empty, puckered socket where his left eye used to be.
"I'm Gu Tian," the one-eyed boy said pointing to Kaelen. "You're the Ashveil runt. The one who cut his wrists last week."
Shen Yue's throat tightened. He nodded.
"Welcome back to the land of the living. Or whatever this is." He gestured vaguely at the misery around them. "Short version: Don't steal food. Don't fight unless you want the guards to toss you in the 'Deep Pit' and never volunteer for dungeon duty."
"Why?" he croaked.
Gu Tian's single eye fixed on him, dark and humorless. "I've been on four runs. Started with twenty SaoYu each time. Only three of us made it back from the first. Two from the second." He tapped his empty socket. "Lost this on number four. Do the math."
Before Shen Yue could respond, a small blur darted between them.
"Tian ! Tian, they're c-calling us again!"
It was a little girl, no older than twelve. Her eyes were enormous in a gaunt face, and she clutched a broken porcelain doll to her chest.
"Easy, Chan 'er," Gu Tian said, his voice softening. "How many?"
"Th-thirty. They want thirty this t-time." Pip twisted the doll's dress, her stutter worsening. "They s-said Floor Three. The R-Rotwood."
Gu Tian's face went carefully blank. "Shit."
"What's the Rotwood?" Shen Yue asked, careful not to blow their cover.
"What's the Rotwood? Oh, fresh meat doesn't even know what's about to eat him!"
A massive figure loomed over them. He was built like a bull, wearing his Collector rags like a uniform he was proud of. He flashed a smile that showed too many teeth.
''Ling Yi...''Gu Tian whispered.
"The Rotwood Catacombs, little man," Ling Yi laughed, a wet, ugly sound. "Beginner dungeon. Easy pickings for Silver-ranks. Except it's been... glitching lately. Last group? Only one came back. Missing his legs."
Chan'er whimpered. Gu Tian put a protective hand on her shoulder.
Ling Yi leaned in close to Kaelen[1], smelling of stale sweat. "Stick close to me, runt. Maybe you will only lose a hand instead of your head."
He sauntered off, laughing.
"Stay away from him," Gu Tian muttered. "Ling Yi has gotten three people killed by 'accidentally' using them as shields."
Kaelen nodded, but Shen Yue's mind was already categorizing the data. He could get these by checking their level of Qi. He could not explain how he did it because he couldn't even see the forces and Qi radiance from individuals but the levels popped on his mind, thanks to Shen Yue.
Underneath the cold logic, the original Kaelen stirred with a pang of guilt. They're just kids. Chan'er is a baby. They're going to die.
Not if I can help it, Shen Yue thought back. But I need to evaluate the outcome first. But I can't do it now if this restless boy can't control his emotions! Kaelen's mind was still in confusion of an entity inside to his already "dead'' body. She wished she could kill his soul and claim the body fully but that would result to their deaths both. But what if she could control this dumb boy? She had to do something!
The guards herded them out of the pit an hour later. Kaelen used the chaos to slip behind a storage shed, crouching in the shadows.
He pulled the Grimoire from his tunic. It was warm, pulsing like a second heart.
"Alright," he whispered. "Shen Yue, you said I could debug this body. Show me how."
The grimoire's pages flipped open, glowing green text scrolling rapidly:
Current Status: Critical Failure
Dantian Core: OFFLINE
SOLUTION: Reroute Qi flow via secondary pathways.
A 3D wireframe of Kaelen's body hovered over the page. Twelve glowing lines represented the meridians. Most were dark and severed.
But Shen Yue saw it. A faint, secondary pathway- a "backdoor" in the code that the Ashveil Clan's ancient techniques ignored.
MERIDIAN_01 [CORRUPTED]Error: Null reference at Dantian.core
Solution: Reroute Qi flow through alternative pathway Route: Liver-3 Acupoint >> Heart-7 >> Pericardium-6
The Grimoire's text expanded, explaining the pathway in terms Shen Yue's coder brain could understand:
This is a Qi circulation bypass that redirects energy flow through three critical acupuncture points: Liver-3 (Taichong) on the foot serves as the entry gate where blocked Qi can be diverted from the corrupted main channel. Heart-7 (Shenmen) at the wrist acts as the central processing node, filtering and stabilizing the rerouted Qi. Finally, Pericardium-6 (Neiguan) on the forearm functions as the final checkpoint, regulating the Qi before reconnecting to functional pathways in the upper body[2].[3]
"How much will it hurt?" Kaelen asked, his stomach knotting.
"I don't know. I thought men were strong. Why are you acting like little princess? It is either we do it or die in less than two days. Such a pity no one would even mind if you do. "
Kaelen glanced at the courtyard. If he went into that dungeon broken, he would definitely die.
"Do it."
Shen Yue pressed [Y].
It felt like someone had plugged a live wire directly into his spine. Kaelen arched his back, clamping his teeth onto his tongue to keep from shrieking. The Qi, sluggish and corrupted, suddenly moved. It ripped through the blocked pathways like a freight train smashing through rusted gates.
Redirect flow... Liver-3... Push THROUGH the resistance...
[PROGRESS: 40%... 60%... 80%...]
With a sound like shattering glass inside his skull, the Qi connected.
Kaelen collapsed against the wall, panting. His right hand ,the one connected to the repaired meridian was glowing with a faint, sickly green light. It looked like bioluminescent algae.
Shen Yue who was still in his mind kept reading the panel as Kaelen could not see it himself.
[SUCCESS]
MERIDIAN_01: 61% Functional
ATTRIBUTE UNLOCKED: [Necrotic Touch - Lvl 1]
BODY INTEGRITY: 12%
The light flickered out just as footsteps crunched in the gravel.
"You good, kid?"
Gu Tian stood there, his single eye locked on Kaelen's trembling hand. He had seen the glow.
"Muscle spasm," Kaelen lied quickly. "From the cold."
Gu Tian stared at him for a long, uncomfortable moment. Then he crouched down.
"Listen. I don't know what you are. I don't know what that glow was. And I don't want to know," he whispered. "But Captain Dui treats us like ammunition. If you have a way to keep us alive... use it."
Kaelen met his gaze. "I don't know what you are talking about."
Gu Tian nodded and walked away. Kaelen stared at his hand.
Twelve percent. Not enough. But it was a start.
********************************************************************
The courtyard was a staging ground for slaughter.
Thirty SaoYu stood in a loose formation, clutching rusted hoes and broken spears. At the front stood Captain Dui.
She radiated power like heat from a forge. Her blackened steel armor was engraved with runes that Kaelen notified Shen Yue that she was [Diamond-Rank Qi Amplifier].
"Listen up, maggots," Dui barked. "Your mission is simple. We're clearing Floor Three of the Rotwood Catacombs. Command says it's been 'acting up'-traps resetting, monsters respawning instantly. We need to find the source."
She gestured to the portal behind her. It hung in the air like a vertical pool of mercury, rippling with oily colors.
"Saoyu[4] in front. Trigger the traps so my knights don't have to."
As the Collectors shuffled forward, Kaelen felt the original soul surge again.
I don't want to die again!
Kaelen stumbled, gripping his head. Not now, kid. Stay down.
But as they approached the portal, Shen Yue froze[5].
The name. Rotwood Catacombs.
It wasn't just a generic fantasy name. She remembered it. Back on Earth, in her old life , she had worked on a VRMMO project. She had coded a raid instance called the Rotwood Catacombs.
The layout... the trap mechanics Dui described... the "respawn bug"...
A cold chill that had nothing to do with the wind swept over him.
How is that possible? Unless...
A new, horrifying query crystallized in Shen Yue's mind.
What if this world isn't a parallel dimension?
What if it's a simulation? The Grimoire pulsed against his chest, hot and urgent.
"Move!" Dui kicked Chan'er toward the shimmering mercury.
The little girl stumbled into the portal, clutching her doll. Kaelen was shoved in right after her.
The portal smelled of wet copper and burnt hair. And from somewhere deep inside the rippling light, a mechanical voice, one that only Shen Yue could hear - whispered:
"You don't belong here in this world"
[1] Referring to Shen Yue but how other people think is. Kaelen only talks in thought in brackets.
[2] Its Shen Yue's minds processing and analyzing the situation using her former worlds knowledge
[3] Its Shen Yue's minds processing and analyzing the situation using her former worlds knowledge
[4] This is a faction given to sweepers who enter territory's first to offset traps and sometimes used as baits
[5] Shen Yue is in the mind as an observer but her thoughts can affect Kaelen's actions.