Your name is Jin Han. In your past life, you lived like a weed trampled by everyone.
Now you open your eyes in this life and find yourself transported into the future. You stand before a massive floor-to-ceiling window. You look up at the dazzling orbital spaceport in the sky. Below it stretches the space elevator connecting heaven and earth.
None of it belongs to you.
Jin Han is just a failed gene mutation resident. Nicely put, you are a protected minority of the Federation. Bluntly put, you are a bird in a cage. That smart bracelet clamped tight on your wrist is your electronic shackle.
Splash.
A goldfish suddenly leaps out of the fish tank in front of you. It flails desperately on the carpet. Right then, that electronic voice rings out. The one that always makes your heart race.
"Master, your goldfish has jumped out of the tank. Under Federation Animal Protection Law, unnatural pet death will result in revocation of your adoption rights."
You clench your back teeth, fury rushing straight to your head. Damn that protection law.
You lunge forward to grab the fish. Instead, you trip and crash hard onto the carpet. Your fingers land right on the goldfish's lifeless remains.
Seething inside, you are about to get up and argue with the mechanical AI. Suddenly, a cold message bursts open in your mind.
Swimming skill plus one.
You freeze. The complaint on the tip of your tongue is swallowed whole. What just happened? The goldfish is dead, and you gain swimming skill.
"Master, the goldfish accident footage has been uploaded to court." The AI keeps droning on. "Please use eco-bag number sixteen for cleanup and schedule a therapist immediately, or you will be forcibly transferred to a recovery facility."
"Shut up," you growl.
You stare at your own hands, your heart pounding wildly in your chest. A thrilling shudder sweeps through your entire body. Forget the therapist. Forget the gene failure. This is not a dead end. This is your ultimate comeback. Just touch a creature that has lost its life and you score skills for free.
You want to survive. Not just survive, but crush this rotten world beneath your feet. But first, you need money. Where can you find more lifeless creatures?
The next day, you push the door open without hesitation. Maglev cars roar past four meters above your head. Figures on anti-gravity skateboards flash by beside you. Their wrists are bare. They are citizens, the lofty gene warriors.
You look up, staring hard at the giant hologram billboard on the building. An S-shaped golden handleless blade slices through the air at blistering speed. That is the Sky Ring, a personal weapon. Minimum requirement, C-rank citizen.
You glance at the cold F-rank mark on your wrist and sneer. Sooner or later, all of this will be mine.
Twelve hours later, you sit in a private restaurant that blocks all signals. Across from you sits a gray-haired middle-aged man in a plaid shirt. Director Yu, owner of Anji Services.
Director Yu cuts a piece of steak without looking up. "Mr. Jin, to be honest, not many people are willing to do this kind of grunt work anymore. You've read the contract, I assume."
You lean in, eyes sharp. "High-end cleaning service, scrubbing mansions for politicians and the rich. My condition is this. I surrender my bracelet during work. Fully cut off from the smart network."
"You're a smart one." Director Yu sets down his knife and fork, staring into your eyes. "Some big shots have too many secrets that can't see the light. Smart robots leak. But residents like you, without network access, you're the perfect blind, deaf witness. In this line of work, a loose mouth gets you trouble."
"Of course, you understand."
Rich men, politicians, mansions with no surveillance. Such places must be full of strange, even powerfully mutated, precious pets. And what if one of them just happened to lose its life?
A blatant, hungry grin curls at the corner of your mouth. "Director Yu, when can I start taking jobs?" you ask bluntly, your tone burning with restrained excitement.
Director Yu pauses, clearly not expecting this much fire from a bottom-tier F-rank, but he smiles, pleased. "Welcome to Anji, Jin Han."
You shake his hand, your palm slightly sweating. Right now, you have only one goal.
"I want to buy a place." You stare at Director Yu across from you, biting down hard on every word. No nonsense. You want a piece of land that is truly yours, a sanctuary free of surveillance and mechanical AI.
Director Yu smiles. "The company has dorms. Want to consider it?"
You flatly refuse. "Living under someone else's roof. How's that any different from now?"
The meal ends. No loose ends.
The next morning, you swallow your morning grumpiness, ignoring that annoying AI butler nagging that you should exercise more. You head straight for Anji Services. The company is not large, but its rules are strict.
Your guide is a veteran named Woo.
"Jin Han, is it? Remember the rules of this trade." Woo hands you a work uniform. "Eyes sharp. Every place we go belongs to someone important. Don't look at what you shouldn't. Don't ask what you shouldn't."
You take the uniform. A moment later, an anti-gravity car with windows blacked out, fully gray, pulls up. A sealed mystery box of a cabin. All to protect the rich's privacy.
The first thing you do getting in, remove the smart bracelet that marks your identity. Click. The moment it leaves your wrist, you take a deep breath. Freedom at long last. No surveillance. No heart rate checks. No more annoying suggestions.
Then you arrive at an absurdly enormous estate. The butler, in his fifties, with a cold face, snaps, "Clean the garden. Don't wander off." Then he turns and disappears.
Pulling weeds, digging soil. The work is mind-numbingly dull, but you throw yourself into it anyway.
Then sudden chaos. A dark shape bursts out of the vines. It lunges straight for your face. You don't even think. Muscle memory takes over instantly, and the shovel in your hand sweeps in a wide arc.
Thwack.
A huge bat slams hard onto the ground. Golden fluid seeps into the dirt. It's gone, lifeless.
At the same instant, your mind buzzes. A cold line of text slams down.
Echolocation skill plus one.
Your pupils contract sharply. This is real. Yesterday's dead goldfish wasn't a fluke. Killing creatures really does drop skills.
But the next second, a wave of furious panic floods your chest. In this twisted, high-tech world, harming animals is a serious crime. This unlucky bat might land you in prison.
You spin around, throat tight. Woo rushes over, glances at the bat's remains on the ground. You assume he's calling the police. Instead, the big guy's eyes light up, and he slaps his thigh excitedly.
"Nicely done, Jin Han. The client owes us a bonus for this."
You freeze. "Isn't killing animals illegal?"
"It's illegal for the poor. For the rich, it's called pest removal." Woo deftly scoops the bat into a black bag. "These big shots find hiring a proper pest company too much hassle. They love it when we accidentally clear out pests. If anything goes wrong, they cover it. We just get paid."
I see, you sneer. So much for the equality of all living things. A rich man's lawn is worth far more than an animal's life.
This isn't cleaning. This is your personal leveling ground.
You grip the shovel tighter, your eyes shifting like a wolf eyeing its prey.
"Look over there. A plump rat pokes its head out of the dirt. Take it out," Woo growls.
Your wrist snaps forward with sudden force. The shovel flies from your hand like a thrown blade. It pins the rat to the ground with deadly precision. The rat twitches twice, then goes still for good.
The electronic voice rings in your head. Dynamic vision plus one.
An indescribable euphoria shoots up your spine to the crown of your head. You can't stop.
Second rat eliminated. Dynamic vision plus one. Third rat eliminated. Dynamic vision plus one.
You become a merciless harvester. You sweep through the entire garden. Anything alive, anything you can defeat. You spare none of it.
The afternoon's work ends and you return to the company. Director Yu wires 462 credits straight into your account. No hesitation.
The moment you walk out, the smile on Director Yu's face fades. He looks at Woo. "How is he?"
Woo recalls the flying shovel taking down the rat, still shaken. "That was pure instinct. A natural-born killer. There's violence baked into his bones."
"Good." Director Yu narrows his eyes. "Give him tougher jobs. He wants money for freedom. Then let him work for us."
They think they're using you. They have no idea. You want more than their money. You're going to wring every last upgrade out of them.