The Descent

Lin Wei plunged into the abyss, his body weightless against the pull of an unseen force. Time lost meaning. There was no up or down, only a swirling expanse of energy, shifting between darkness and blinding light.

His thoughts fragmented—memories bleeding into each other. The System's commands, his past battles, Renji's warnings—it all twisted and collided in a chaotic storm inside his mind.

Then, just as suddenly as it began, it stopped.

Lin Wei slammed onto solid ground, the impact knocking the breath from his lungs. His vision swam as he struggled to push himself up. The air smelled different here—thick, metallic, charged with something unnatural.

A notification flickered across his vision.

[System Synchronization Complete]

He exhaled sharply. Whatever had been happening inside him was done now. But what had changed?

A voice cut through the eerie silence.

"You shouldn't be here."

Lin Wei turned sharply.

A figure stood a few meters away. Not Renji. Not anyone he recognized.

The stranger's presence was wrong. Their form seemed to flicker, as if they weren't entirely real. They wore a cloak of shifting patterns, blending into the air around them. A hood concealed most of their face, but Lin Wei could feel their gaze piercing through him.

"Who are you?" Lin Wei demanded, his fists clenching.

The figure didn't move. "The better question is: Who are you now?"

Lin Wei's body tensed. The synchronization—the System—had done something to him. He could feel it. Power thrummed beneath his skin, something deeper than any ability he had ever used before.

"I don't have time for riddles," he snapped. "Where am I?"

The figure tilted their head slightly. "The place you were never meant to see."

Lin Wei took a step forward. The ground beneath him pulsed, as if alive. It was smooth like stone but had a faint, shifting glow, much like the symbols in the chamber above.

"This is part of the System, isn't it?" Lin Wei said.

The stranger finally moved, stepping closer. "The original System. Before it was rewritten. Before it was broken."

Lin Wei's breath caught. Broken? The System wasn't absolute?

He clenched his jaw. "You're saying the System was changed?"

The stranger nodded. "Corrupted. Repurposed." They lifted a hand, and for the first time, Lin Wei could see their fingers—metallic, shimmering between human and machine. "It was never meant to control. Only to guide."

Lin Wei's pulse raced. "Who did this?"

The stranger's form flickered again. "The ones who fear what you have become."

A cold weight settled in Lin Wei's chest. "And what have I become?"

The stranger hesitated. Then, as if making a decision, they lifted their hand and pressed their palm to Lin Wei's forehead.

A flood of memories surged through him.

Flashes of a world before the System. A city untouched by rigid rules and classifications. People free, but vulnerable. A war—a desperate battle between those who wished to govern through guidance and those who sought absolute control.

The System was created to protect, not enslave. But something—someone—had twisted it into something else.

The Enforcers. The Overseers. The true rulers of this world.

Lin Wei staggered back, gasping as the vision faded. His heart pounded in his chest. The weight of the revelation threatened to crush him.

The System was a lie.

Everything he had been fighting against… everything he had been trying to survive… it was never supposed to be like this.

The stranger's voice was softer now. "You are at the center of this."

Lin Wei forced himself to breathe. "Why?"

The stranger's form began to fade. "Because you are the only one who can undo what has been done."

Lin Wei's hands clenched into fists. "How?"

The air around him trembled. The ground pulsed beneath his feet. Something was happening.

The stranger's voice echoed as they vanished.

"Find the first anomaly. Only then will you understand."

Then—

Everything shattered.

The world broke apart, light fracturing into a thousand pieces. Lin Wei felt himself being pulled upward, yanked through the void as time and space bent around him.

Then—

A gasp.

His body jolted as he awoke, sprawled on the floor of the chamber where it all began. The symbols on the walls were dark now. The energy was gone.

A voice—Renji's voice—cut through the silence.

"Lin Wei!"

Lin Wei sat up, his head still spinning. Renji was kneeling beside him, eyes sharp with concern.

"You disappeared," Renji said, scanning him. "One second you were there, the next—gone."

Lin Wei swallowed hard. "I was somewhere else."

Renji frowned. "What?"

Lin Wei pushed himself up. His body felt different—stronger, lighter, like something inside him had awakened. He met Renji's gaze.

"The System," Lin Wei said, voice steady. "It's broken."

Renji stiffened. "What are you talking about?"

Lin Wei took a deep breath. "Everything we know? It's a lie."

Renji's expression darkened. "Then we need to move. Now. If what you're saying is true, then we're running out of time."

Lin Wei nodded. He didn't have all the answers yet. But he had enough.

Enough to know that everything was about to change.

And he would be the one to set it right.