CHAPTER 1 — THE FIRST THREAD
Darkness had weight.
Not the poetic kind that people described in melancholy books, but a real, suffocating pressure. It wrapped around him like tar, thick and clinging, pulling at thought and breath.
He couldn't feel his heartbeat.
He couldn't feel… anything.
There was no body, no sound, only a drifting consciousness and a single intrusive memory:
Sitting alone in a dimly lit apartment, staring at a chessboard he had set up against himself. A move made, a counter prepared. Strategy. Always thinking five steps ahead.
His name… what was it?
"…Lin Yuan," a voice said.
He did not speak.
The voice sounded like his own, but clearer—devoid of hesitation, emotion, or flesh.
No. That wasn't his voice at all.
[Initializing… Karma System v1.0]
A ripple passed through the void, like ink scattering in water.
[Identifying Host Consciousness]
[Host Status: Terminated | Cause of Death: Collapse of internal organs due to stress-induced cardiac failure]
He remembered now.
The long nights, the silent meals, the faint ache in his chest he had ignored with analytical calm. Always delaying, always trading health for efficiency. Strategy without mercy—for others or himself.
Not a glorious death. Not even a meaningful one.
Just… overuse. A machine shutting down.
He tried to laugh. Nothing came out.
The voice continued.
[Last Conscious Thought Detected:]
"If only fate could be rewritten…"
Something cold and sharp coiled around him. Not physical, but akin to fingers dragging across the surface of his thoughts.
[Karmic Desire Confirmed.]
[Seal of Exchange Initiated.]
A thread of red light pierced the darkness.
It burned like sin.
He Fell.
Not through space, but through possibility.
Light burst into his perception, blinding. Cold air slammed into his lungs like lightning as he gasped—actually gasped—feeling the painful, primal return of breath.
The world came into focus like a painting bleeding into existence.
A dirty alleyway. Rotting crates. Mud and filth. The stench of a world both familiar and alien. His hands—thin, malnourished. His body—weak, trembling.
"…Ha." He exhaled, voice rough, unused.
[Host Soul Successfully Bound to Mortal Vessel]
[Physical Status: Severely Malnourished | Cultivation Status: None | Realm: Mortal Vein, Unawakened]
So it was true.
He had transmigrated.
A cliché in fiction, yet when experienced firsthand, it did not feel like adventure—it felt like a noose tightening around destiny.
A translucent screen flickered in front of him, its presence invasive, like a brand on reality.
✦ K A R M A S Y S T E M v1.0 ✦
Core Law: Every rewritten fate demands an equal sacrifice.
Karma Points: 0
Life Threads: 0
Fate Shards: 0
Available Action: None
Restriction: Cannot alter fate without equivalent death.
Lin Yuan stared silently.
Equivalent death.
A rational mind assessed faster than emotion could respond.
"So… I can change destiny. But someone must die."
The screen did not respond. It did not need to. Truth stood clear, etched into the rule like iron.
Footsteps.
He turned his head slightly.
At the end of the alley, a ragged boy rummaged through trash, dirt-covered hands trembling with hunger. Just a child—no older than ten. Skin clinging to bone.
Lin Yuan's gaze sharpened.
[Potential Fate Variation Detected]
[Target Identified: Unnamed Orphan | Current Fate: Dies of cold and starvation within 3 days | World Impact: None]
[Available Options:]
• Do Nothing — Fate Proceeds Naturally
• Alter Fate — Requires one equivalent life
Options faded. The system did not guide further.
Only truth.
He understood immediately.
To give that boy food, a chance to live—it would alter fate. To do that, he must take a life.
The system did not judge morality.
Only balance.
The boy, shivering, hadn't noticed him yet. He clung to a rotten crust of bread as if it were salvation.
Lin Yuan's fingers twitched.
He could feel it now—a faint pull in the air, threads of light dancing around the orphan's thin body. Fragile strands of destiny, frayed, nearly broken.
If I save him, someone else must die.
Was that cruel? Noble? Insane?
…Irrelevant.
What mattered was choice—the essence of fate.
He looked at his own hands. In this world, he was a stranger, powerless. If he wanted to climb, to control destiny, he would need leverage. Even a small act could be an experiment.
He inhaled, calm.
"It seems," he murmured, "that the world is a ledger. To write something new, something must be erased."
A soft chime responded, as if approving his logic.
[System Note: Host comprehension — acceptable.]
He smiled faintly.
Not warm. Not cold.
Simply prepared.
In a distant part of the alley, he noticed another figure—drunk, filthy, slumped against the wall in obscurity. Breathing shallowly. Reeking of cheap alcohol and despair. A meaningless death waiting to happen.
A disposable life.
The system pulsed faintly.
[Possible Equivalent Identified]
Target: Drunken Vagrant | Fate: Dies in 7 days of liver collapse. Forgotten.]
World Impact: None]
Karmic Exchange Ratio: Acceptable]
Two lives, both marked for death.
One could be saved.
One could be spent.
Lin Yuan stood.
For the first time since awakening, he felt something—not guilt. Not horror.
Opportunity.
His eyes were calm.
As he approached, the orphan finally noticed him. Fear flashed across the boy's face. He backed away, clutching the rotten bread.
Lin Yuan did not stop.
His steps, steady. Methodical.
Each one resonated with a silent truth that wrapped around his soul like a crimson thread:
To command fate… I must first accept blood.
The system flickered.
[Awaiting Command.]
Lin Yuan lifted his gaze to the sky—gray, uncaring.
"Fate," he whispered softly, "is just a transaction."
A single red thread glowed between the orphan and the drunkard.
And all he had to do…
…was choose.