The sky didn't change.
No matter how long Shen wandered, the Rift sky above bled that same deep crimson, like some god had spilt its veins open across the heavens. It cast the shattered ruins around him in perpetual dusk—no day, no night. Just ruin. Just death.
He moved through it slowly now.
Not because of injury—though his side still burned, and his vision still swam at the edges—but because he was beginning to understand something. Something primal. Something that moved when he fought. A hunger that wasn't just in his belly but in his bones.
The Blood Qi was alive. Or close enough to it.
It didn't listen to him, not really. But it reacted. When he fought with intent. When he bled with purpose. When he killed to survive.
He stopped beneath the half-collapsed archway of an old temple station. The metal above was melted in places—scars from some distant battle. A pile of bones lay scattered across the tiled floor. Human. Monster. Maybe both.
He took a breath.
And then—he baited it.
"Come on," he whispered, tossing a chunk of stone down the hall. "I know you're here."
A shriek answered him.
It lunged from the shadow—this one was smaller than the last, but faster. Sleek, like a hunting dog skinned alive. Its limbs were too long, and its mouth opened sideways, a ring of teeth spinning like a saw.
Shen didn't back away.
He moved forward.
The first swipe he ducked. The second, he rolled into it, letting it glance off his shoulder while jamming a sharpened bone he'd scavenged earlier under its jaw. The beast hissed, thrashing. He twisted the blade, stepped on its limb, and drove his knee into its spine until it cracked.
When it stopped moving, he watched.
Watched as that strange, unseen current flowed again—from corpse to core.
Warmth. Pain. Growth.
This time, he didn't fight it.
---
He killed three more by dusk—if there even was a dusk in this cursed place.
Each fight cost him something—scratches, blood, breath—but each one gave back more. The Blood Qi didn't just patch his wounds. It didn't heal like clean medicine. It made his body meaner. Leaner. Harder.
His arms moved faster now. Not by much—but enough.
His breath steadied quicker.
And most of all… his instincts sharpened. The voice inside wasn't whispering anymore. It demanded.
He sat on the edge of a cracked rooftop, looking out across a collapsed plaza. A map had been burned into the metal sign below—what used to be a city checkpoint. From here, he could see the remnants of a main road. Beyond that… a shadow. A flicker.
A campfire.
His eyes narrowed.
Survivors? Or bait?
Then a sound behind him—soft. Almost careful.
He was on his feet in a heartbeat, pipe raised, blood singing in his ears.
But it wasn't a monster.
It was a girl,
Beautiful, even in the grime of survival. She had long, flowing black hair, tangled and streaked with soot, and a pair of icy blue eyes that shimmered like frozen steel under the crimson sky. The glow of the Rift twisted in her gaze, giving her a dangerous, almost supernatural aura. Her torn jacket and bandaged hand said survivor—but her stillness said something colder.
Shen didn't flinch.
Didn't speak,
She just looked at him, like someone measuring danger.
Shen didn't lower his weapon.
"…You followed me?" he asked.
She raised her hand—slowly—and tossed something toward his feet.
A dried piece of meat. Cracked. Preserved. Real.
"I saw you fight," she said finally. "You're not dead. That means you're useful."
Shen blinked.
"…What?"
She crouched at the edge of the roof, gazing out toward the flickering firelight in the distance. Her voice was calm. Cold.
"There's a place nearby. Underground. Storage tunnels. Few survivors holding out. But they won't last." She glanced at him. "If you're smart, you'll come. If you're strong, they'll follow. If not…"
She stood and started walking away.
"…you'll die up here, like the rest."
He didn't stop her. Not yet.
He just stared at the meat on the ground, still suspicious.
But a whisper stirred in his gut—not the Blood Qi, but something older.
A name, maybe.
A chance.
He picked up the food and followed.
Not because he trusted her.
Because the hunger was growing again.
---
And somewhere in those tunnels, he knew, there would be more blood.
More power.
More answers.
---