"Trash like you doesn't even deserve a clean death."
Senior Brother Li flicked his wide blue sleeve with lazy disdain, sending a puff of dust drifting into the morning light. The golden cloud emblem on his robe shimmered as he hovered on his sword, arms crossed. He stared down at the broken figure on the ground like it was something stuck to his boot.
Chen Yu tasted blood. His head pounded. This body felt foreign. Weak. Damaged beyond anything he remembered from the final drop on New Beijing.
Woke up in some dead loser's meat suit in a goddamn fantasy world. Universe has a sick sense of humor.
He tried to push himself up. Pain tore through his ribs and spine. His left arm refused to cooperate. Neural pathways in his skull felt fried. Whatever these people called power buzzed like bad static in his veins.
Senior Brother Li gave a short, sharp laugh. "Still crawling? How amusing." He flicked his sleeve again, the fabric snapping. "Outer disciples who steal cultivation pills deserve to be fed to the forest. Consider this mercy."
The scarred lackey beside him grinned wide, the old cut on his cheek pulling tight. "Senior Brother Li is right. Let the mutants play with him first. I want to hear the screams from here."
The other lackey kicked Chen Yu hard in the ribs. Bone cracked loud.
Chen Yu stayed silent. He locked the pain away. Cataloged it. Three hostiles. One arrogant leader, two disposable. Situation completely FUBAR.
The system voice cut through the haze, cold and precise.
[Genesis Nano-Forge System – Online.] [Host vital signs critical. Neural damage: 87%. Skeletal integrity: 34%. Recommend immediate reconstruction protocol.]
Senior Brother Li waved his hand with exaggerated flair. "Enough talk. Throw this insect into the Forbidden Forest. The beasts will finish what we started. It will remind every outer disciple what happens when they offend the inner sect."
Strong hands grabbed Chen Yu's collar. His feet left the ground. They carried him like garbage to the edge of the dark tree line. Twisted trunks glowed with faint runes. Deep howls echoed from inside the shadows.
They hurled him forward without another word.
Chen Yu flew briefly then crashed hard into thick underbrush. Branches snapped against his back. He tumbled down a short slope and slammed into the base of a massive tree. Dirt and blood filled his mouth.
The cultivators turned on their swords and flew away. Senior Brother Li's laughter faded last, carried on the wind.
"Enjoy your new home, insect. Try not to scream too loudly."
Chen Yu lay still. Every breath hurt. Blood trickled from his lip. The metallic taste coated his tongue.
Three bogeys just left the kill zone. I'm alone. Broken. In enemy territory.
The system spoke again.
[Emergency reconstruction protocol initiated.] [Nano-machines released into bloodstream.] [Scanning available materials… Bone fragments detected. Muscle tissue compromised. Beginning titanium alloy reinforcement.]
Fire spread through his body. Shattered bones shifted and hardened. Carbon nanotubes wove into damaged nerves. The pain didn't disappear. It only became something he could push aside for now.
He forced himself to sit up against the tree trunk. His vision still swam. The forest felt alive around him. Leaves rustled. Something large moved in the shadows.
A hulking wolf-thing stepped into the small clearing. Massive shoulders. Spikes down its spine. Jaws built to crush skulls. Red eyes locked onto him.
It charged without hesitation.
Chen Yu grabbed a thick fallen branch with his good arm and waited until the last second. He swung upward. The wood cracked against the beast's jaw. The wolf staggered sideways, stunned for half a second.
He drove a sharp rock straight into its left eye. Hot blood sprayed across his face. The creature thrashed wildly, claws slashing the air inches from his body.
Chen Yu rolled away, ignoring the fresh gashes on his side. His breathing came fast and shallow.
[Warning: Host blood loss increasing. Reconstruction progress: 31%.]
The blinded wolf lunged again, roaring in pain and rage.
Chen Yu jammed the branch deep into its throat and twisted with everything he had left. Cartilage crunched. The beast convulsed and dropped heavily onto its side, legs still twitching.
He shoved the corpse away and struggled to his feet. Blood covered his hands and chest. His legs shook. The reconstruction was still working, but slowly. Too slowly.
[Mutant beast neutralized.] [Biomass detected. Nano-Forge can convert organic material into basic components. Harvest?]
"Not yet," Chen Yu muttered. His voice came out rough. "Save power."
More howls answered from deeper in the trees. At least four or five. Closer now. The pack was coming.
Chen Yu's chest heaved. His left arm still hung useless. Ribs screamed with every movement. The system energy bar sat dangerously low. One wrong step and he wouldn't survive the next wave.
He scanned the ground quickly. Sharp rock. Thick branch. Tough bark strips from a nearby sapling. Crude. Ugly. But it was all he had.
He worked fast, lashing branches together into a simple tension launcher while keeping one eye on the shadows. His hands shook from blood loss.
The first new wolf burst through the bushes on his left. Bigger than the last. Smarter. It circled instead of charging straight.
Chen Yu raised the makeshift launcher, aimed, and pulled the trigger.
Thwack.
The sharpened spike slammed into the wolf's shoulder. It roared and charged anyway.
He dropped low at the last moment. Pain exploded through his cracked ribs as he drove the second spike upward into the soft underbelly. The beast stumbled past him, blood pouring from the wound, and collapsed a few meters away in a heap of twitching limbs.
Chen Yu pushed himself up, gasping. His vision blurred at the edges.
Two more wolves appeared from the right, growling low.
He grabbed the launcher once more. His arm trembled.
Phht.Phht.
Two spikes. One hit the chest. The other grazed the second wolf's flank. Not clean. Not enough.
The wounded wolves kept coming, enraged.
Chen Yu backed against the tree. His breathing was ragged. Reconstruction progress crawled forward at 64%. The pack howled again, even closer.
He gripped the crude weapon tighter. Blood dripped from his fingers onto the ground.
The system voice remained calm in his head.
[Reconstruction progress: 64%.] [Host combat capability: Severely limited.] [Multiple biological anomalies approaching. Threat level rising.]
Chen Yu wiped blood from his eyes with the back of his hand. His voice came out low and flat.
"Still breathing."
The next set of howls sounded much closer now. Leaves rustled violently just beyond the clearing.
He forced himself to stand straighter, ignoring the fire in his ribs. The launcher felt heavier than it should.
The shadows moved.