That day… was supposed to be like every other.
Drink.
Lie.
Hide behind money.
Sleep with someone else's wife.
Wake up hating himself.
But fate — or maybe karma — had other plans.
In the alley behind Red Lotus Bar, under the flickering neon signs, Li Wen finally met the one enemy he couldn't bribe, cheat, or outrun.
Death.
The cloaked figure's skeletal jaw parted. Fangs longer than any animal's, sharper than any blade, plunged into his neck. Cold fire ripped through his veins, blackness devouring his vision.
He struggled.
He screamed.
But no one came.
The city that ignored his life…
Ignored his death.
Within seconds, his heart stuttered. His breath faltered. His limbs went numb.
The last thing Li Wen saw was the blood pooling at his feet…
And the mocking grin of Death itself.
Then — nothing.
No pain.
No fear.
Just cold… eternal… silence.
Li Wen died that day.
But death, it seemed, wasn't done with him.
Somewhere between the grave and the living world, he woke.
Cold stone beneath him. Faint, flickering shadows above. The alley was empty now… but his body — wasn't his body.
His heartbeat?
Gone.
His veins?
Black as ink, pulsing with unnatural stillness.
His breath?
Faint mist, curling unnaturally even in summer's heat.
His reflection in a broken window?
Eyes glazed silver… skin too pale… shadows clinging to him like smoke.
Li Wen touched his chest.
Nothing.
No heartbeat.
No warmth.
No life.
But he stood. He breathed.
Somehow…
He existed.
The bite of Death hadn't just killed him…
It claimed him.
And now… he was part of something darker.
A puppet of fate.
A walking corpse.
A man with nothing… but the taste of fear… and the promise of revenge.
The worthless heir of the Li Family had died that night.
What crawled out of the alley?
Was something else entirely.
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