The Iron-Blood Sect didn't see us as humans. To them, we were just 'Resource Consumables.'
"Move it, you maggot-ridden trash! If the Stalker doesn't smell your fear, it won't come out to play!"
The crack of a leather whip echoed through the damp tunnel, followed by a sharp yelp of pain. I didn't look back. I knew that voice. It was Wei Yan, a Junior Disciple who wore silk robes and carried a jade-encrusted sword he didn't know how to use. He was currently driving twelve of us—the 'Servant Class'—into the Black-Gully Caves.
My bare feet slipped on the slime-covered stones. The air here was thick with the scent of rotting lichen and something sharper, like old copper.
"Hey, Han," a trembling voice whispered beside me. It was Pock-mark Li. He was clutching a torch like it was a holy relic. "I heard... I heard the last group didn't come out. Not even the bodies."
"Keep your head down, Li," I muttered, my voice raspy from the lack of water. "And keep your torch steady. If you trip, you're the first thing it eats."
I wasn't being mean; I was being a realist. In my past life, I was a debt collector for a predatory lending firm. I knew exactly how the world worked: the people at the top leveraged the lives of the people at the bottom to minimize their own risk. Here, the 'risk' was a Grade 1 Spirit Beast, and we were the collateral.
"Halt!" Wei Yan shouted from the safe distance of the tunnel entrance. "The Stalker's nest is just ahead. Spread out. If it attacks, scream as loud as you can so we can pinpoint its location. Anyone who tries to run back past me gets a head shorter. Am I clear?"
The silence that followed was our only answer.
We waded into the central chamber. It was vast, the ceiling lost in a shroud of hanging stalactites. Then, the smell hit us. It was the stench of a butcher's shop left out in the sun.
Skritch. Skritch.
"Did you hear that?" Li whimpered.
The sound came from above. I looked up just in time to see a grey blur drop from the ceiling.
It hit Li first.
The 'Meat-Shield' strategy worked exactly as intended. Li's scream was piercing, a jagged sound that tore through the silence of the cave. The Cave Stalker—a six-legged monstrosity with a torso like a bloated tick and limbs like scythes—tore into him.
The other servants bolted. They ran deeper into the dark, tripping over rocks, their torches flickering out one by one. I stayed frozen. I knew that running only triggered a predator's chase instinct.
I gripped my only weapon: a rusted mining pickaxe I'd "borrowed" from the sheds.
Li is dead, I thought, watching the monster unspool the boy's life onto the cold stone. And I'm next. Twenty-eight years in a cubicle, three months in a coal mine, and it ends in a hole in the ground.
The monster turned. Its milky pearl eyes focused on me. It didn't have a nose, but its mandibles clattered in a way that suggested it could taste my adrenaline.
"Come on then," I whispered. My knees were shaking, but my grip on the pickaxe was white-knuckled. "I've dealt with loan sharks who had more teeth than you."
The Stalker lunged.
I swung. The rusted metal bit into the creature's shoulder, but it was like hitting a tree trunk with a butter knife. The monster didn't even flinch. It swiped a clawed limb, and I felt a hot, searing line of fire across my chest.
I was thrown backward, hitting the cavern wall with a thud that rattled my brain in its skull.
I fell to the floor, gasping. Every breath brought the metallic taste of blood to my tongue. I looked down at my chest. Three deep furrows had been carved from my shoulder to my ribs. Through the gaps in my skin, I could see the pale white of my own bone.
Dying. I'm actually dying.
The Cave Stalker hissed, beginning its slow, arrogant crawl toward me. It knew I wasn't going anywhere.
As the darkness started to creep into the edges of my vision, a sound rang out. It wasn't a roar or a scream. It was the crisp, digital ping of a notification.
[WARNING: Life-Force at 4%.]
[Entity 'Han Jing' has reached a state of 'Total Insolvency'.]
"A... hallucination?" I coughed, a glob of bloody phlegm hitting the dirt.
A golden screen, transparent and terrifyingly sharp, manifested in the air.
[The Empyrean Ledger is seeking a New Client. High-Risk Profile Detected.]
[Status: Trash-Root Servant (Level 0).]
[Potential: Marginal.]
"Get lost," I wheezed. "I don't have... any money."
[The Ledger does not require Capital. The Ledger requires Ambition.]
[Would you like to apply for an Emergency 'Resurrection-Tier' Loan? Failure to act will result in immediate Account Liquidation (Death).]
The monster opened its mouth, its inner mandibles dripping with Li's blood. It was inches away.
"I accept," I snarled. "Whatever the cost. Give me the strength to kill this thing."
[LOAN APPLICATION PROCESSED.]
[Product: Nine-Sun Qi Foundation (Temporary Overdraft).]
[Principal: 1,000 Essence Units.]
[Term: 24 Hours.]
[Interest Rate: 1% Vitality per hour (Compounding).]
[Collateral: The User's Soul.]
[Funds Disbursed.]
A golden explosion went off inside my chest.
It wasn't a "feeling" of power; it was an invasion. It felt like someone had poured liquid sun into my marrow. My shattered ribs snapped back into place with a sound like a bunch of dry twigs breaking. The gashes on my chest fused shut, leaving only thin, white scars.
I felt my muscles expand, my senses sharpening until I could hear the heartbeat of the monster—and the terrified breathing of the disciples hiding in the tunnel.
The Cave Stalker's claw struck.
I didn't dodge. I reached out and caught the chitinous limb with my bare hand. The impact cracked the stone beneath my feet, but I didn't move an inch. The monster shrieked, its pearl eyes widening.
"My turn," I said.
I pulled. With a sickening crunch, I tore the monster's front leg clean off its body. Green ichor sprayed my face, stinging my eyes, but I didn't care. I felt the 'Principal' burning in my veins, demanding to be used.
I leapt. I wasn't a servant anymore; I was a golden blur. I hammered my fist into the Stalker's head, each blow sounding like a sledgehammer hitting an anvil.
One for Li.
One for the coal mines.
And one for the road.
On the fourth strike, the monster's head collapsed like a rotten melon.
I stood in the center of the cave, chest heaving, covered in green blood and golden light. The power was intoxicating. For the first time in two lives, I felt like I owned the world.
Then, the gold light flickered.
[Transaction Successful.]
[New Balance: -1,010 Essence Units.]
[Current Credit Score: 300 (Subprime).]
[Repayment Deadline: 23 hours, 58 minutes.]
The heat in my veins turned into an icy chill. The strength evaporated, leaving me trembling and weak. My heart gave a painful, skipping thud.
[NOTICE: First hour's interest has been deducted.]
[Payment: 1% Vitality. Result: Minor Heart Arrhythmia.]
I fell to one knee, clutching my chest. "You've got to be kidding me. It's already starting?"
"Who's there?!" A voice shouted. Wei Yan and two other disciples ran into the chamber, swords drawn. They stopped dead when they saw the corpse of the Stalker—and me standing over it.
"Han Jing?" Wei Yan gaped. "How... how are you alive? And where is the Beast Core?"
I looked at the monster's chest. A faint, glowing stone sat within the gore. That was 'Essence.' That was my currency.
I looked at the disciples, then at the golden timer ticking down in my vision.
[00:23:57:12]
"The core is mine," I said, my voice steady despite the pain in my chest. "And if you want it, you're going to have to file a claim."
Wei Yan bared his teeth. "You've lost your mind, slave. Hand it over, or I'll finish what the Stalker started."
I gripped my pickaxe. I was in debt to the Heavens, and the only way to pay it back was to be more ruthless than the people who put me here.
"Try it," I said. "I'm already dying. What have I got to lose?"