Life-Spending System

Rotten wooden planks, a pungent medicinal smell.

Mixed with the faint, sweetish scent of decay unique to the dead.

Lu Chen struggled to open his heavy eyelids. The first thing he saw was a mottled bluestone ceiling. Water dripped through the cracks, hitting the ground with a crisp "drip, drip" sound.

He lay on a cold stone slab, a thin layer of straw beneath him, making his back ache.

Around him were several objects covered in white cloth. Judging by their outlines, they were clearly not human.

Scattered memories surged like a tide, accompanied by a violent headache, causing Lu Chen to groan involuntarily.

He had transmigrated!

He had become a Corpse Handler in the Nanling Prefecture's Demon Suppression Division of the Great Yan Dynasty, an existence even more lowly and unlucky than a county yamen runner.

The Demon Suppression Division, as its name suggested, suppressed and slew demons and monsters throughout the land.

Corpse Handlers were responsible for processing the remains of these slain creatures, dismembering them, categorizing them, and storing them.

It sounded like logistics, but in reality, it was one of the most dangerous jobs in the Demon Suppression Division.

This was because many demons and monsters, even after death, still retained lethal Demonic Sha energy in their corpses. A slight carelessness could corrupt one's mind, turning them into a madman, or cause instant death.

His predecessor had died exactly like this.

Thinking of this, Lu Chen felt a needle-like sting in his temples.

He reached up and touched his forehead, his fingertips encountering something sticky and slippery.

It was blood.

Fresh red blood, mixed with some black pus, emitting a nauseatingly sweet and fishy smell.

This smell acted like a switch, instantly activating his predecessor's final memories.

Yesterday, a Vengeful Fox corpse had been brought in. The Division's Steward, Foreman Wang, had ordered his predecessor to handle it immediately.

His predecessor had sensed that the fox corpse's Demonic Sha energy had not dissipated and was extremely dangerous. He wanted to wait another day, but Foreman Wang had kicked him in the chest, calling him a coward who clung to life, and forced him to proceed.

Then, while dismembering the fox corpse, a black mist had suddenly shot out from its broken bones, straight towards his predecessor's forehead...

"Hah!"

Lu Chen jolted upright, gasping for air, his back soaked in cold sweat.

He looked down at his hands, long and pale, with dried blood and flesh still clinging under his fingernails.

Just then, a cold, emotionless voice sounded in his mind. Before his eyes, an ancient-looking bronze book appeared, hovering silently.

[Host: Lu Chen]
[Remaining Lifespan: Twenty-three years]
[Current Martial Arts]
Basic Anatomy Book (Mastered)
Demon Suppressing Saber Technique (Uninitiated)
[Can inject Lifespan into martial arts to gain corresponding progress]
[Cannot continue injecting when Lifespan is less than one year]

Lu Chen looked at the panel before him, his heart sinking.

Good news.

The System had arrived.

Bad news.

It was fueled by life itself.

What was the difference between this and exchanging his health for a salary in his past life?

The problem was, wasn't the purpose of learning martial arts to live a little longer?

This was a vicious cycle.

Creeeak--

The heavy stone door of the Corpse Handling room was pushed open from the outside. A beam of light shot in, making Lu Chen instinctively squint.

A slightly overweight middle-aged man wearing the Demon Suppression Division's Steward uniform walked in.

He had beady eyes, a hooked nose, and a look of impatience and disgust on his face.

It was Foreman Wang.

"Well, kid, you've got a tough life." Foreman Wang glanced at Lu Chen, who was sitting on the stone slab, his tone full of surprise and contempt. "Got hit by Sha energy, and you're still alive?"

Lu Chen remained silent, merely watching him, his mind rapidly processing his predecessor's memories.

This Foreman Wang was his predecessor's direct superior. He was usually abusive and demeaning to his subordinates, the Corpse Handlers, hoarding any resources he could skim off to bribe those above him. He was a complete scumbag.

Yesterday's Vengeful Fox was clearly something he had snatched from another team in a bid to gain favor with the Captain.

Because the handling had been rushed and the Demonic Sha energy in the corpse hadn't dissipated, he hadn't dared to do it himself, so he had pushed his predecessor, a new recruit, forward as a scapegoat.

"Since you're not dead, stop lying there like a corpse."

Foreman Wang walked to the fox corpse covered by a white cloth and kicked it impatiently. "Hurry up and deal with it cleanly. If you don't get the Demon Core and materials into storage before noon, you'll be the one lying back on this stone bed."

With that, he waved his sleeve in disgust, as if staying another second would contaminate him with the ill fortune of this place, and turned to leave.

The stone door was heavily shut again, and the room plunged back into darkness and silence.

Lu Chen slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, his eyes growing colder.

Before noon?

Even through the white cloth, he could feel a bone-chilling cold emanating from the Demonic Sha surrounding the Vengeful Fox corpse.

Let alone cleaning it up, even taking another step closer might lead him to repeat the fate of his previous incarnation.

This Foreman Wang never intended for him to survive.

"Heh heh…"

A strange, low chuckle suddenly echoed in the silent corpse handling room.

Lu Chen stiffened and whipped his head around.

The white cloth covering the Vengeful Fox corpse was slowly, subtly rising and falling.

Tendrils of black mist seeped from the gaps in the cloth, swirling and coalescing in the air, eventually forming a blurry, twisted fox face.

Within its shriveled eye sockets, two points of crimson light slowly ignited, locking onto Lu Chen.

Demonic Sha has become sentient!

The term flashed through Lu Chen's mind. This was the most feared and common way for a Corpse Handler to die.

When a demon dies, its lingering grievances merge with its malevolent energy, forming a bodiless evil spirit. It would possess the nearest living person, turning them into a new puppet, and then silently blend into the crowd.

Until discovered by a Demon Suppressing Captain, or… when it grew tired of playing.

"Jie jie jie…"

The fox's laughter grew clearer, the black mist churning like a living thing as it lunged towards Lu Chen.

A tremor originating from the depths of his soul instantly spread through his body.

Lu Chen's hands and feet turned ice-cold, his breathing becoming impossibly difficult, his mind a complete blank. In his past life and this one, he had never been so close to death.

He was going to die either way!

In this moment between life and death, a shocking madness erupted from the depths of Lu Chen's eyes.

He was not the spineless coward his previous self was, who could be slaughtered at will!

He didn't want to die! And he certainly didn't want to die so miserably!

In a flash, the System interface reappeared before his eyes.

[Remaining Lifespan: Twenty-three years]

Lu Chen's gaze was fixed on that line.

"Twenty-two years… for a sliver of a chance at survival, it's worth it!"

He practically gritted out the words, his mind roaring along with the incoming black mist!

"Infuse! Demon Suppressing Saber Technique!"

"Max it out!"

"Thank you very much!"