Shards of a Broken Fate

Lin Wei's breath came ragged as he staggered forward, each step an agony-laced effort. His vision swam, blurred from exhaustion and the residual strain of using Time Manipulation. Every muscle in his body screamed in protest, yet he couldn't stop. Not now. Not when everything depended on him reaching the sanctuary ahead.

The underground tunnels beneath District 7 sprawled like a labyrinth, damp and reeking of rusted metal and stagnant water. Each echo of his footsteps bounced ominously against the walls, an eerie reminder that he was still being hunted. The System had marked him—an anomaly in its design. He had known escape wouldn't be easy, but the sheer persistence of the enforcers made it clear: they wanted him alive. And that terrified him more than anything.

[Level Objective: Survive Until Extraction]

A cruel joke. If extraction was even coming.

His fingers trembled as he pressed against a moss-covered wall, trying to steady his breath. He had barely used Time Manipulation twice, yet his body felt as though it had been through a thousand battles. The power was intoxicating but came at a cost—a searing pain that pulsed through his skull every time he forced the world into slow motion.

A sudden noise snapped him out of his haze.

Footsteps. Close. Measured.

Lin Wei's pulse spiked. He forced himself to move, slipping into a narrow crevice between two broken support beams. The shadows swallowed him just as a pair of figures emerged at the tunnel's entrance. Enforcers. Their armor gleamed under the dim emergency lights, visors scanning every inch of the passage. Lin Wei clenched his jaw, willing himself to remain still.

"His energy signature was strong here," one of them said, their voice metallic through the helmet.

"He won't get far. System anomalies always burn out. This one is just a matter of time."

A shiver ran through Lin Wei's spine. A matter of time. They still didn't fully understand what he could do—but neither did he. He watched as the enforcers moved further down the tunnel, their boots splashing against the murky water.

The moment they disappeared around a bend, he exhaled shakily and slipped out of hiding. Every second wasted was another step closer to being caught. He pushed forward, forcing his legs to move faster. The sanctuary wasn't far now. Just a little more.

As he turned a corner, a sudden jolt of pain shot through his head. He gasped, gripping his temples as a sharp electric sensation pulsed through his skull.

[Time Manipulation Lv.1 Instability Detected] [Penalty Imposed: Sensory Overload]

His vision fractured, colors bleeding into one another. Sound distorted, overlapping voices whispering incomprehensible words into his mind. He stumbled forward, the world twisting around him. The penalty—another price for forcing a power he barely understood.

Lin Wei gritted his teeth, pressing forward despite the agony. He could feel the pulse of the sanctuary ahead, a faint yet familiar hum in the distance. He just had to endure.

Then, from the shadows, a voice cut through the chaos in his mind.

"You look like hell."

Lin Wei's instincts flared. He spun around, hands raised, prepared for a fight. A figure stepped forward, hooded, movements unnervingly smooth. Their face remained obscured, but the smirk in their voice was evident.

"Relax," they said. "If I wanted you dead, I'd have let the enforcers do the job."

Lin Wei's breath was still labored. "Who are you?"

The stranger tilted their head. "Someone who knows what you are. What you're becoming."

Lin Wei stiffened. No one knew. No one was supposed to know.

As if reading his thoughts, the stranger chuckled. "You're not the first anomaly. But you might be the last."

A chill settled over Lin Wei. "What do you mean?"

The stranger stepped closer. "The System isn't hunting you because you're a threat. It's hunting you because you're incomplete."

Lin Wei's heart pounded. Incomplete?

"The penalty you just felt?" The stranger gestured lazily. "That's the System's way of reminding you that you're unstable. That your abilities aren't fully yours yet. And trust me, if you don't figure it out soon, you won't live long enough to see Level 2."

Lin Wei swallowed hard. The weight of the revelation settled over him, heavy and suffocating. He had spent the past days running, fighting, surviving. But never had he considered that his power—his very existence—was flawed.

"How do I fix it?" he asked, his voice quieter than he intended.

The stranger smiled. "That's the right question."

A sudden noise echoed through the tunnels. The enforcers were close again.

The stranger stepped back into the shadows. "Find me when you're ready to know the answer."

Lin Wei opened his mouth to demand more, but in a blink, the figure was gone, leaving nothing behind but the weight of their words.

Incomplete.

The System didn't just want to erase him.

It wanted to correct him.

And that terrified him more than anything.