Jin woke up groggily and tired, as always.
He stood up, the floating bed shifting slightly without his weight. He looked around his cramped, trashy apartment: a metallic desk scarred with years of scratches and damage, the floating bed behind him, and a small window beside it.
Jin looked down at his plain white oversized shirt and black baggy sweatpants. He smelled himself... he smelled like shit, his clothes ragged.
"Ugh..." he groaned with disdain.
But then someone banged on his metallic front door.
"JIN! Get your lazy ass up! And pay your RENT!"
Jin groaned. "Yeah, yeah... I'll get it to you by today.. just fuck off.."
Landlord: "Yeah right! I need my payment NOW! Or else I'm kicking you out immediately, Jin!!"
Jin: "Fuck... whatever. I'm leaving anyway.."
Landlord: "What?! No, you're not! You still haven't paid your rent, you damn BRAT!"
Then Jin opened the small window and jumped from the fourth floor.
He landed on the ground unscathed.
"Ugh.. now I have nowhere to live.. great.."
Jin put his hands inside his pockets lazily.
Then, out of the shadows of a small alleyway, a woman emerged. Her face was painted like a grotesque mask, her cheap dress straining against her bloated belly. She lurched towards Jin, her movements uncoordinated and jerky, like a marionette controlled by a drunk puppeteer.
Woman: "Hey handsome, you lookin' for a good time?" she slurred, her words dripping with a phony, affected lilt. "I can make all your dreams come true, baby. Just name your price."
Jin glared at her, annoyed. "Do I look like someone who has money?.. And I'm a minor. Fuck off.."
The woman recoiled as if slapped, her painted face twisting in anger. She took a step back, eyeing Jin with a mix of disbelief and disgust.
Woman: "A minor? I should've known by the way you're dressed like a bum. You're nothin' but a goddamn parasite, a leech suckin' off the teats of society."
She spat on the ground, narrowly missing Jin's feet. "Get outta here, you little fuckin' brat. I don't have time for your bullshit."
Jin glared at her but didn't say anything more.
...
He walked away, looking around boredly.
"Haaa.. I should just leave this shithole.. ugh."
As Jin walked without much focus, he bumped into someone. He fell back a few steps.
"Sorry.. sorry, are you alright?"
Jin looked down at a lady in a suit, holding a suitcase tightly. Her expression was nervous, and she looked way too rich to even be near a place like this.
"Hey? Who are you?"
The lady didn't even respond as she looked around, stood up, and ran away into an alleyway.
Jin quickly followed her, curious and wanting to know why such a rich-looking lady was in a dump like this.
As he followed her inside the alley, he spotted her in front of three muscular, huge men.
Man 1: "Woman.. give us the suitcase and we'll leave you alone.." He looked cold; one of his eyes was metallic.
Man 2: "What?! No! She can't be left alive.. she knows too much.." The man looked at her with anger; one of his legs was fully cybernetic.
Man 3: "Haha~ we should have some fun with her~ then kill her.. hehe~" He licked his lips disgustingly; one of his arms was fully cybernetic.
Jin whispered to himself from behind a dumpster where he was hiding. "Shit.. those guys are cybos.. I should.."
Then Jin immediately tried to sneak away, but the man with the cybernetic eye spotted him and dashed toward Jin with lightning-quick speed, grabbing Jin's chest and slamming him to the ground.
"Who are you, kid.."
Jin gasped as the impact smashed the air out of him. "Agh!.. Shi-shit.. I'm Jin! I don't know anything! Please let me live!"
The cybo-eye glared at Jin with a cold stare, then looked at the other two. "What do we do with him?"
Man with Cybo Leg: "We kill him!"
Man with Cybo Arm:"We keep him for ourselves~"
Cybo Eye: "I agr-"
Jin's leg smashed into the man's face, making him fall back. Jin jumped up onto his hands, standing in a fighting stance.
"Fuck.. you asshole! That hurt.. tch."
The Cybo Eye lunged at Jin. "Kid.. you're not leaving here alive.."
Jin jumped up three meters, then leaped from the building behind him to the other building and dashed at the Cybo Eye.
The Cybo Eye still looked cold, but the others looked surprised.
Cybo Leg: "What!? How can he do that?! He has to be at least a stage 1 cultivator! But how can a mere hooligan achieve that!?"
Cybo Arm: "Hehe~ so we got a challenge, is that it~ hehe."
As Jin flew down from the wall, he raised his leg up and smashed it at the Cybo Eye, who blocked it with his fists. Immediately after, the Cybo Eye's fist flew into Jin's stomach.
Jin flew across the trash and smashed into the building's wall, leaving cracks as he dropped down into a pile of trash.
The Cybo Eye walked up to Jin, grabbing him by his black messy hair and forcing him to look up. Jin's nose was bleeding as he spat out more blood.
"Kid... You got talent.. but it's your unlucky day. You're dying today.."
The Cybo Eye looked at Jin coldly as he raised his fist and started to pummel Jin's face non-stop. When he stopped, Jin's entire face was bloody and broken.
Cybo Eye: "Haaa... Sorry, kid. You shouldn't have snooped around.."
As the Cybo Eye released Jin's hair, his head fell to the ground.
Cybo Leg: "Kill him already.."
Cybo Eye: "There's no point. He's never going to recover from this anyway.."
Cybo Leg: "We can't take the chance that he lives.." He pulled out a gun, pointing it at Jin. "I'll finish him off for you.."
The Cybo Eye's expression didn't change at all, still cold and uncaring.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
He shot Jin without a second thought.
Cybo Leg: "Haaa... That's how you do it! Now grab the girl already and let's go.."
Cybo Arm: "Hehe~ alright." He grabbed her by the hair and threw her over his shoulder.
All of them jumped high into the air and disappeared.
Jin lay there in the trash, unmoving, still bleeding out. A slow chill ran down his body, making him shiver yet feel a strange sense of peace at the same time.
-Haaa.. is this death? It feels.. weird.. haha-
As he opened his eyes a little, trying to see, he spotted a female figure with sleek white hair running down her back. She wore an elegant dark reddish dress with hints of white and held an unusual-looking umbrella, which she slowly spun in her hand. She stood there silently, just looking.
Jin tried to look up more to see her face, but the more he tried, the more tiredness took over, and he passed out.
... ...
Jin blinked confusingly, looking around. He was in a white room. He looked down at his body. He wasn't wearing anything at all, and there were three stitched-up spots on his stomach and chest.
"What?.. I'm still alive?"
He examined his body all over.
A doctor slowly opened the metallic door and stepped in.
Doctor: "Oh? You're awake.. That's good.." He smiled warmly, yet seemed to have already expected it. "Now that you're awake, have some food.."
Then a nurse came in with a plate of hot and delicious-looking food. As she put it down in his lap, he immediately started eating without any suspicion.
...
After Jin finished his plate, he sighed. "Haaa.. I needed that.. thanks.. But where am I? And who are you?" Jin asked, now starting to grow suspicious.
Doctor: "Well, it should be obvious. You're at a hospital, of course.." The doctor smiled warmly.
Jin looked confused and even more suspicious. "What? But hospitals are usually trashed and barely working.. but this is.."
The doctor looked at him kindly. "Of course you'd think that.. but this isn't one of the hospitals in the 'outer layer.' This is a hospital in the inner layer.."
Jin's jaw dropped as he processed what he just heard. "What!? But I can't pay for this! I'm nowhere near able to afford being here!"
The doctor's smile didn't falter. "Oh, don't worry.. that's already been taken care of. You have nothing to worry about.." He smiled a little too kindly at someone like Jin.
Jin still didn't believe him. "Haha~ uhm... And why don't I have to worry?"
Doctor: "Well, every payment for you has been paid by a VIP customer of ours.. but they wanted to stay anonymous, so that's all I can tell you.. sorry." The doctor bowed a little.
Jin just looked in awe. "Wha- so I don't have to pay for any of this?!"
Doctor: "Yes.. everything will be paid by them.."
Jin grinned, already knowing what he wanted. "Well then.. bring me food! Especially meaty ones.. like fish or chicken.. hehe~"
The doctor immediately snapped his fingers, and nurses came in with plates full of all sorts of food. Jin grinned at the food excitedly. The nurses put the food beside him and stepped back, waiting for any other orders. Jin, unable to resist, grabbed all sorts of food and munched away.
... ...
After a while, every single piece of food was gone. He smiled happily. "Ahhh.. that was perfect.."
Doctor: "Is there anything else you'd like?"
Jin: "Hmmm.. yeah. I want to know, am I going to stay inside the inner layer? Or will I have to go back after I heal fully?"
Doctor: "That is for our VIP to say. She only asked us to take care of you and any of your needs.."
Jin listened, understanding. "Oh, alright, alright.." He then asked, "I have another question.."
Doctor: "Alright, I'm listening."
Jin: "What is the inner layer?"
Doctor: "Well, to put it simply, it's a better version of the outer layer.. everything here is better and, of course, more peaceful.."
Jin looked intrigued, yet he had already expected an answer like that. "Yeah, of course it is.. the outer layer is just a shitty dump.." Jin sighed, looking out the window. "I want to go out and explore this place.. could I get some new, clean clothes?"
Doctor: "Of course.. any preference?"
Jin thought to himself, then answered. "I guess they need to be comfy, so don't give me tight clothes.."
Doctor: "Of course.."
...
After a while of waiting, a nurse came in with a grayish-black baggy hoodie, some black baggy jeans, and a dark grayish cap with a whitish-gray star on the right side. Jin took the clothes and put them on.
Doctor: "Are they to your taste?"
Jin: "Yeah.. I like them.. thanks."
Jin walked up to the window and looked down. "On which floor are we?"
Doctor: "We're on the sixth floor, why?"
Jin grinned, his spiky teeth showing. "Haha~ Nothing.."
He then opened the window and jumped out.
The doctor's eyes went wide as he rushed to the window. "Hey! Don't!-"
As Jin fell, his face was smiling more than ever. "Haha!"
He landed on the ground with a soft thud. He jumped up and down, relaxing his body.
The doctor looked down in surprise. "What?! Is he a cultivator? But how could an outer-layer nobody..-" The doctor then grinned a little, finally showing his true emotions. "Oh.. so that's why she chose him.. haha."
... ...
Jin had gone into town, looking around the bustling city.
"Damn! This place is huge!"
He grinned happily, excitedly.
"Haaa.. the smell of fresh air.. this place is amazing!"
... (Cut back to the hospital)
About an hour or so after Jin left, the doctor was at his desk doing paperwork when his office door slammed open. A huge, muscular, tanned man with long gray hair barged in.
Man: "Hey! Where's the kid!"
Doctor: "Oh?.. Soulin, come in."
Soulin: "I need the kid. I was asked to take him into the Qi Academy.."
Doctor: "Were you? Well, he went out to explore the city, so he'll be back later.. Do you care for some tea while you wait?"
Soulin: "Yeah, sure.. But what's so special about some outer-layer bumpkin.. tch."
Doctor: "Well, I think he's already reached stage one in the cultivation world, and soon he'll reach stage two.. but that's just speculation.."
Soulin: "What!? Yeah, right. An outer-layer nobody couldn't even get close to stage one, and you expect me to believe he'll reach stage two soon? Yeah right!" Soulin scoffed at the idea being possible.
Doctor: "Well, he jumped out of the 6th floor today and was fine.."
Soulin: "The hell! There's no way! But even if he did, that doesn't mean he's even close to stage two."
Doctor: "Well, maybe, but he's reached stage one, that's for sure. So you have to give the kid some credit, at least."
Soulin: "Well, yeah, that's impressive that someone like him could reach stage one, that's for sure. But that isn't much against an actual cultivator.."
Doctor: "That may be true, but as you said, a kid from the outer layer—a nobody like him—reached stage one by himself.."
Soulin: "Haaa.. yeah, I guess doing that is almost impossible, but it's not like we haven't seen that already.."
Doctor: "Yeah, of course, there have been some like him. But there's something about him that's different.. You could say he's a diamond in the rough.."