I Came Here to Gamble

"Kid, are you crazy? Awakening is suicide!"

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Four in the morning.

Outskirts of City 61, Lower District.

Beneath the arch of a broken bridge, more than a dozen shacks made of cardboard and plastic sheeting were crammed together.

Filthy water of unknown origin flowed across the ground, and the air was thick with a rancid stench that had accumulated over the years.

The smell of sweat, piss, and sour rotten vegetables mingled together, making the scalp tingle.

This was the "free hotel" for unregistered residents of the Lower District.

Those who could stay here were proof that they still had a breath left in them.

Those who could not either found another hole or no longer needed one.

Beside a nearly extinguished campfire, Gan Ming sat cross-legged.

A palm-sized notebook lay open on his knees.

The notebook was old, its pages densely packed with writing.

Some of it was information he had heard from others,

while some was the result of his own long observations and deductions.

The rest

concerned the prices, districts, class divisions, and Awakened ranking system of this world.

Over the past two and a half years,

he had gone from a transmigrator who knew nothing to a vagabond who still knew nothing, but was at least alive.

This notebook was his entire fortune.

Then he threw it into the fire.

Whoosh!

The dry paper caught fire at once.

The flames suddenly surged higher, their orange-red glow clearly illuminating his face.

His cheekbones protruded and his cheeks were hollow. Though only twenty-four, he looked more than ten years older than his actual age.

Beside him, an old man wrapped in a tattered cotton quilt suddenly sat up.

"Listen to me! You can't believe the official bullshit! That seventy percent awakening success rate is a lie!"

The old man was called Old Zhou. He had lived beneath this bridge for seven or eight years and was considered an "old hand" in these parts.

"In truth, one out of every two dies! Do you hear me? One out of two!"

Gan Ming stared at the fire, its glow reflected in his eyes.

The notebook had already burned through. A gust of wind scattered the ashes across the ground, where they mixed with the trash.

Seeing that he remained unmoved, Old Zhou grew so anxious that his lips trembled.

"Kid, you're still young. You've got plenty of time. Maybe if you wait another two or three years, the world will recov—"

"Old Zhou."

Gan Ming turned to look at the old man.

"Tonight, I won't be coming back."

"I won't be coming back ever again."

He stood, bent down to crawl out from beneath the bridge, and stepped into the darkness of four in the morning.

Nine in the morning.

City 61, Administrative District, Awakened Affairs Management Center.

It was under the jurisdiction of the City Public Security Bureau and open to all members of society.

Gan Ming had spent over four hours walking from the Lower District through the entire Central District, arriving before the morning rush hour.

A bronze plaque hung above the entrance to the center, engraved with a line of words:

"Awakened Registration, Review, and Affairs Management"

There were not many people in the center.

After all, not everyone came here to gamble with their life every day.

Suddenly, the announcement system on the ceiling came to life.

"Applicant Number 14, please proceed to Awakening Qualification Review Room 3."

Gan Ming stood and followed the signs down the corridor.

Outside Review Room 3.

He took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

The review room was small, barely ten square meters, with no windows.

The fluorescent light overhead was a little harsh, and the air smelled like an operating room.

There was only one table and two chairs in the room.

A stack of documents sat on the table, beside a palm-sized round stone.

A man sat behind the table.

He was in his early thirties, dressed in a dark suit and sitting with perfect posture.

A badge was pinned to his chest, bearing the words "Awakening Qualification Review Specialist."

"Sit," the review specialist said.

Gan Ming sat down and handed over the waiver and number tag.

The review specialist took them, looked at the handprint on the front of the waiver, then flipped directly to the back.

He picked up a pen and nodded toward the gray stone on the table.

"Put your hand on it."

Gan Ming placed his right hand on the stone.

The surface was cool and smooth, somewhat like a polished river pebble.

But if he focused carefully, he could detect extremely faint vibrations beneath the surface.

"The review is simple."

Without looking up, the review specialist aimed his pen at the blank beside the first question.

"I ask, you answer."

Gan Ming nodded.

"Name?"

"Gan Ming."

The stone on the table gave a crisp beep.

The review specialist marked a check in the first box.

"Age?"

"Twenty-four."

Beep.

A second check.

"Have you read the waiver, do you clearly understand that there is a thirty-five percent probability of mutation during the awakening ritual, and do you understand how mutated individuals are handled?"

"I understand."

Beep.

A third check.

"If you become a monster during awakening, I will execute you personally. Do you understand what that means?"

"I understand."

Beep!

The review specialist looked up at Gan Ming.

"Last question. Tell me why you want to become an Awakened."

Gan Ming met the review specialist's eyes directly.

"I'm an unregistered resident of the Lower District. I have no identity."

"Minimum living assistance has nothing to do with me. Public healthcare has nothing to do with me. If something happens, no one will even answer when I call the police."

"I work sixteen hours a day, hauling goods, running errands, taking any dirty or exhausting job."

"But sometimes, what I earn isn't even enough to pay for one day's food."

"If I'm injured, I endure it myself. If I'm sick, I tough it out myself."

The review specialist did not interrupt.

"Granted, a thirty-five percent mutation rate is high. But in the Lower District, from the moment I open my eyes every day, I'm gambling on whether I'll live to see nightfall."

"So I came here to gamble too. If I win, I'll have an identity, an income, and a chance to keep living. If I lose, so be it. Staying there would only mean death anyway."

Beep!

The room suddenly fell silent.

The review specialist slowly picked up his pen and marked a check in the fifth box.

Five questions, five checks, not one missing.

Gan Ming stared at the five checkmarks on the paper and quietly let out a breath.

The review specialist filed away the waiver, his tone completely different from before.

"Review approved."

He stood, walked to a door on the side of the room, and pushed it open.

Beyond it was a short corridor, with another door at the end.

"Prepare yourself, then go straight in."

He looked back at Gan Ming and added one more sentence.

"Gan Ming, I hope I'm not the last person you see."

Gan Ming stood without saying much and headed straight for that door.

The awakening room was smaller than Gan Ming had imagined.

All four walls were covered in white tiles, as was the floor, and the overhead lights were blindingly bright.

The air was filled with a heavy smell of disinfectant, but it could not suppress a faint, indescribable stench of blood.

In the center of the room stood a stone pedestal half a person's height, with a white porcelain plate embedded in its surface.

A beating heart lay on the plate.

With every beat, blackish-red tainted blood squeezed out from severed blood vessels and trickled over the edge of the plate.

Gan Ming walked up to the pedestal, stopping less than half an arm's length from the heart.

Behind him came the review specialist's voice:

"Hold it."