Echoes of the System
Lin Wei's breath came in ragged bursts as he pressed himself against the cold steel wall of the abandoned sector. His fingers trembled from exhaustion, his body still reeling from the residual shock of his last time manipulation attempt. The world around him flickered in and out of focus, the neon lights above casting fractured reflections across the rain-slicked pavement.
[System Alert: Time Manipulation Overuse Detected] [Warning: Neural Strain Reaching Critical Levels]
He swallowed hard, trying to shake off the dizziness. The System's alerts had grown more frequent, almost as if it were actively monitoring his every move. The enforcers had called him "unstable." He didn't know what that truly meant, but one thing was clear—whatever power was awakening inside him, it wasn't normal. And it was dangerous.
A flicker of movement caught his eye. A shadow slipping through the ruins of a derelict skyscraper, its glass façade shattered and overtaken by vines. Lin Wei tensed, heart hammering. He wasn't alone.
His instincts screamed at him to run, but his body had other plans. He could barely keep himself upright. If it came to a fight, he wasn't sure he could win. The enforcers had been relentless, and his only real weapon—the System—was turning against him.
The shadow drew closer, revealing the outline of a hooded figure. A woman, tall and poised, her face obscured beneath the tattered fabric. But the way she moved—it was precise, calculated. Not a scavenger. Not a civilian.
"Lin Wei," she said, her voice low and steady.
His pulse spiked. How did she know his name?
"Who are you?" he demanded, shifting into a defensive stance, though his body barely obeyed.
The woman reached into her cloak, and Lin Wei tensed, preparing for an attack. Instead, she pulled out a small holographic device and activated it. A blue-tinted projection flickered to life, displaying a series of encrypted data streams. He recognized the symbols immediately—System logs.
"Your abilities," she said, "they're not an accident. They're a glitch."
Lin Wei's breath hitched. A glitch?
She continued, voice unwavering. "The System is designed to be absolute. Controlled. The fact that you can manipulate time without a command override means you are an anomaly."
His head spun. He had assumed the System had granted him these powers as part of some grand design. But now—now it sounded like he wasn't meant to have them at all.
"If that's true," he said, forcing his voice to stay level, "then why haven't they erased me yet?"
The woman's expression darkened. "Because they can't. Not yet. Whatever makes you different, it's buried deep within the System's core framework. You're more than an anomaly, Lin Wei. You're an error they can't purge. And that terrifies them."
A chill ran down his spine. If the enforcers and whoever controlled the System couldn't erase him, then what was their plan?
Before he could ask, the woman stepped closer. "But that also means they'll come harder, faster. They'll send something worse than enforcers."
His stomach twisted. Worse than enforcers?
The woman deactivated the hologram and pulled back her hood, revealing sharp features and piercing gray eyes. "I'm called Kael. And if you want to survive, you need to come with me."
Lin Wei hesitated. Trust was a rare currency in the underbelly of District 7. But Kael's knowledge of the System—her warning—felt too precise to be a lie.
The distant hum of approaching hovercrafts made the decision for him.
[Quest Alert: Escape with Kael – Time Remaining: 2:00]
Lin Wei exhaled sharply. "Lead the way."
Kael turned, moving with swift confidence, and he followed, forcing his battered body to keep up. As they weaved through the ruined alleys, a single thought clawed at the edges of his mind.
He wasn't just fighting for survival anymore.
He was fighting to uncover the truth.