Xiyue sat in the courtyard and waited to die.
Not really—she still had like fifty-something hours, according to the countdown—but that's what it felt like.
The morning sun was warm on her face.
The weeds were green.
A bird sang somewhere, stupid and optimistic.
And she held a dead woman's handkerchief and wondered if any of this mattered.
What's the point? she thought. I fight. I survive. I find out someone wants me dead. I keep fighting. For what? Fifty more hours? Fifty more days?
The system was silent. It was always silent when she wanted answers.
"System," she said aloud. "You there?"
Nothing.
"System. Come on. Talk to me."
The blue screen flickered.
Then faded.
Fine. Be that way.
She leaned back against the wall—the same wall she'd climbed yesterday, the same wall that held the secret of Consort Yao's handkerchief—and closed her eyes.
The sun painted patterns on her eyelids. Red and gold and the dark shapes of passing clouds.
I used to have a life, she thought. A real life. Patients who needed me. Friends who texted me stupid memes. An apartment with a leaky faucet that I complained about constantly.
The faucet seemed like such a stupid thing to miss now.
She missed it anyway.
The system activated without warning.
[Bond Creation System]
[Primary objective: Ensure host survival.]
[Secondary objective: Establish meaningful connections.]
[Note: Meaningful connections increase vital stability.]
Xiyue's eyes snapped open.
The blue screen hung in front of her, crisp and clear in the morning light.
"You heard me," she said. "You actually heard me."
[System always hears host.]
[System does not always respond.]
"Rude."
[Noted.]
She almost laughed. Almost.
"Okay. Fine. Explain this to me." She held up the handkerchief. "Consort Yao. She's listed as a bond. But she wants me dead. How does that work?"
The screen flickered. Changed.
[Bonds: Consort Yao]
[Type: Adversarial Bond]
[Status: Potential enmity - 15%]
[Note: Negative bonds are still bonds. They create connection. Connection creates energy. Energy feeds system.]
Xiyue stared at the words.
"You're telling me—you feed on drama? On conflict?"
[System feeds on emotional energy. Positive or negative. Both work.]
"That's messed up."
[System is not here to be moral. System is here to keep host alive.]
She opened her mouth to argue, then closed it.
Does it matter why it helps? she asked herself. Does the motive matter when the result is survival?
She didn't have an answer.
Another thought occurred to her.
"System. The original owner. Lin Xiyue. Did she have a system?"
Silence.
Then:
[No.]
"Then why me? Why give me a system and not her?"
[Host was dying. Original host was dying. System detected opportunity.]
"That's not an answer."
[System detects compatible consciousness. System bonds. System activates. Original host was not compatible.]
Compatible.
She did give up, Xiyue realized. In those last memories—she stopped fighting. Stopped hoping. Just lay there and waited for her heart to stop.
And Xiyue? Xiyue had crawled out of a collapsing building with a kid in her arms. Had fought rats with a frying pan. Had climbed a wall with a failing heart to grab a piece of silk.
Maybe compatibility meant not giving up.
She sat with that thought for a while.
The sun moved.
The bird kept singing.
"System. Show me my bonds."
The screen changed.
[Current Bonds:]
[Territory - Cold Palace: 2% - This place hates you. But it's starting to tolerate your presence.]
[Old Liu: 8% - Shared history, shared danger, shared food. She doesn't trust you yet. But she doesn't want you dead either.]
[Consort Yao: 15% (potential enmity) - She doesn't know you exist. When she finds out, this number will change.]
[Ye Rong (Emperor): 0.01% - He doesn't know you exist either. But his energy is the only thing that can save your life.]
Xiyue studied the list.
Territory. An old woman. An enemy who didn't know she existed. A man she'd never met whose energy was her only hope.
These are my connections, she thought. This is my whole social network in this world.
It was pathetic.
It was also more than she'd had three days ago.
"The territory," she said. "The Cold Palace. It's at 2%. What does that mean?"
[Territory bonds measure environmental acceptance. Higher percentage means safer conditions. Fewer rats. Better weather. Hidden resources becoming accessible.]
"Better weather? The system controls weather?"
[System does not control weather. System helps host find better shelter. Predict storms. Avoid floods. Small things that increase survival odds.]
Small things.
Sure.
Xiyue stood up.
Her legs complained. Her chest did that flutter-thing, but quieter now—almost manageable.
"Okay. So I need to increase my bonds. Positive ones, preferably. Old Liu's at 8%. How do I raise that?"
[Shared experiences. Shared resources. Acts of care.]
"Acts of care." She thought about the radish she'd taken. The food she'd almost stolen. "I owe her. I took her food. I should give something back."
[Correct.]
"What do I have that she needs?"
[Boon meat. You have excess. She has none.]
The boar. She'd smoked most of it, stored it in the coolest part of the kitchen. There was enough to share.
"Okay. I can do that." She started walking toward the kitchen, then stopped. "System. One more thing."
[Yes.]
"The emperor. Ye Rong. He's at 0.01%. How do I raise that without getting killed?"
A pause.
[Recommendation: Wait for crisis.]
"Crisis?"
[Target experiences regular episodes of physical destabilization. During these episodes, guards are dismissed. He is left alone. He is vulnerable.]
"He's vulnerable, but he also kills people who get too close."
[Correct.]
"That's not reassuring."
[System does not provide reassurance. System provides data.]
Xiyue laughed. Actually laughed—a real one, surprised out of her.
"You're an asshole, you know that?"
[Noted.]
She reached the kitchen and started packing meat.
Strips of smoked boar, wrapped in clean-ish leaves, tied with vine. Enough for a week. Enough to show Old Liu she wasn't a threat—that she was willing to share.
While she worked, she talked.
"System. The emperor's episodes. What causes them?"
[Toxins. Accumulated since childhood. His body rejects them periodically. The process is painful. Dangerous. Potentially fatal.]
"Toxins? Like poison?"
[Yes. Multiple sources. Multiple compounds. His system fights constantly.]
Xiyue's medical brain kicked in.
Chronic poisoning. The body trying to purge itself. Pain, inflammation, organ stress. If she could get close enough during an episode—if she could use her medical training—
[Host is thinking of intervening.]
"I'm thinking of surviving. If his energy is what I need, I have to get close. If getting close means helping him through a crisis, then that's what I'll do."
[Risk assessment: High. Mortality probability if intervention fails: 99.8%.]
"Great. What's the probability if I do nothing?"
[100% within 62 hours.]
She finished packing the meat.
Stood up.
Looked toward the east, where the golden roofs of the Imperial Palace caught the afternoon light.
"So I have no choice."
[Host always has choices. Some choices just lead to death.]
"That's dark."
[System is not here to be cheerful. System is here to keep host alive.]
Xiyue smiled. Tired but genuine.
"Yeah. I know."
She found Old Liu at the cave-shelter, sleeping.
The old woman looked smaller in sleep—more fragile, more human. Xiyue left the meat just inside the entrance, where it would be seen.
Then she walked back to her kitchen, sat down, and watched the sun set.
[Time remaining: 61 hours, 42 minutes.]
She thought about the emperor. About his toxins, his pain, his vulnerability.
She thought about Consort Yao. About the 15% enmity that would spike the moment she was discovered.
She thought about Old Liu, and the territory, and the rats that still watched from the shadows.
And she thought about the system.
I don't know if you're real, she thought. I don't know if any of this is real. But thank you. For not letting me be alone.
The screen flickered. Just once.
Then it went dark.
And Xiyue sat in the growing night, listening to the wind, and felt—for the first time since waking up in this nightmare—almost okay.