Pulling gold

Mahito stood rooted to the spot, the white figure in the sky reflected in his mismatched eyes.

Run. I have to run now!

His usual composure gone, Mahito fled in terror.

Without hesitation, he split his body apart-over a thousand chunks of flesh burst outward at once, scattering in every direction. Tiny arms and legs sprouted from each piece as they desperately flew away.

This method of escape was incredibly fast and covered an enormous area. As long as a single piece escaped, he could pull himself back together.

Satoru Gojo showed no sign of panic.

He teleported to the spot where Mahito had just split apart, raised his hand, and formed a small blue orb at his fingertips.

"Cursed Technique Lapse-Blue."

The little blue orb abruptly unleashed an unimaginably powerful suction.

With the orb at its center, everything nearby was dragged in the same direction.

Broken bricks rose from the ground, steel reinforcement along the crater's edge bent toward it, and even the dust floating in the air was drawn into thin streams. The scattered chunks of flesh struggled desperately, each growing limbs and clinging to the ground. Their fingertips dug into the gaps between bricks, scraping with an ear-piercing screech against the pull.

But nothing could resist that force.

The limbs on the chunks of flesh were torn off one by one. The bricks they clung to shattered whole, and the flesh was stripped from the ground and sent flying toward the little blue orb.

A terrified expression appeared on every piece-mouths gaping, eyes wide, fear frozen on those twisted features.

Over a thousand pieces of flesh, over a thousand terrified faces, were all sucked into the little blue orb in the same instant.

Mahito was completely subdued.

Gu Yanzhi's head lay in a corner. Mahito had utterly destroyed his body, and only half his head remained-his right eye was blind, his left eye's vision was blurred, and his eardrums were still barely picking up the sounds around him.

It was already a miracle that he was still alive to witness this.

When will I become someone like that?

When will I stop waiting to die in a corner, stop being kneaded like a toy by my enemies? When will I be able to stand in the middle of the battlefield and send my enemies fleeing in terror?

But this ruined shell, reduced to half a head, reminded him that he could not do it yet.

For now, he could only wait for death in a corner where no one noticed him.

His field of view suddenly rose.

Someone had picked him up.

Itadori cradled his head in both hands, handling it as carefully as a piece of porcelain that might shatter at any moment.

"Hang in there! Don't fall asleep, Mr. Transfigured Human!" Itadori said urgently.

"Mr. Gojo's here. He'll know what to do. There has to be a way-we'll turn you back!"

Looking at Itadori's face, which seemed on the verge of tears, Gu Yanzhi suddenly wanted to laugh.

This guy was making that face for someone he had known for less than half an hour, a transfigured human who had been his enemy just moments ago.

He tugged the remaining half of his mouth into a smile, his voice hoarse and weak.

"You... becoming a transfigured human was already a sore spot for me, and now you're rubbing salt in the wound, calling me Mr. Transfigured Human." He paused, looking into Itadori's eyes with his left eye. "I have a name. Gu Yanzhi."

Itadori immediately panicked at his words, nearly letting Gu Yanzhi's head slip out of his hands.

He fumbled to steady it again, his voice rising a little. "Sorry! I'm sorry, Mr. Gu!" He looked down at the ruined head in his hands, then at the eyes that were losing focus. "Mr. Gu, judging by your name, you're not from around here-"

As Itadori started making halting conversation, Gu Yanzhi felt that this guy really did get familiar with people awfully quickly.

His consciousness grew hazier, the darkness at the edges of his vision spreading toward the center. He knew he had little time left.

He dropped his teasing tone, lowered his voice, and adopted a serious expression. "Itadori, we no longer count as human."

"All the other transfigured humans have already lost their consciousness. They're nothing but Mahito's puppets. Death is the best release for us." He stopped, using the last of his strength to stare into Itadori's eyes.

"A cursed spirit like Mahito will return a hundred years from now. I hope you... won't be so indecisive anymore."

Itadori fell silent. His fingers trembled slightly as he held Gu Yanzhi's head.

Gu Yanzhi could feel himself slowly fading away.

With the last flicker of his consciousness, he looked into Itadori's eyes, his voice as soft as a falling leaf. "I look forward to seeing you grow, Yuji."

His ruined remains dissolved completely.

Only Itadori remained standing there, his back to everyone else.

When his consciousness returned, Gu Yanzhi found himself standing in that familiar deep-blue void. He looked down at himself-a whole body, intact hands and feet, no longer a transfigured human kneaded into a deformed shape.

He stretched, a smug smile curling his lips.

Those last words were pretty damn cool.

He was certain he had nailed the tone of his final line-not overly sentimental, not affectedly cold, just a hint of the expectations an older mentor might have.

For a hot-blooded kid like Itadori, lines like that were the surest way to bring on the tears. He would have to savor it properly once he got back.

He lowered his arms and looked around. "Finally, the part I've been looking forward to most: claiming my rewards."

But the system did not immediately display the reward screen. Instead, lines of text appeared on the light screen.

[Because the host's actions significantly altered the original plot, causality points have been earned in this settlement.]

Gu Yanzhi froze. Causality points-so that's a thing too.

The system had mentioned them once before, but he had barely changed any of the plot during his first two reincarnations. His causality points had remained at zero, and over time, he had completely forgotten this mechanic existed.

No wonder it's called the Causality System.

[Rewards will now be determined based on causality points.]

[Option one: receive double the rewards from this settlement.]

[Option two: in your next life, transmigrate into a key character closely connected to the plot. The specific identity will be drawn at random.]

Gu Yanzhi's eyes lit up. Both options were pretty good.

His physical improvement in this life was arguably the greatest he had achieved since transmigrating. If he chose double rewards, the accumulated gains would let him leap a long way forward.

But he also had a vague sense that Mahito's modifications to his body had reached their limit. Mahito had used almost every method available to refine this body, and diminishing returns had already set in. Getting another major boost from Mahito's modifications would only become harder. He would have to keep following the same old path.

Using this double reward to maximize his substantial physical gains was a safe and efficient choice.

But option two was equally tempting.

How powerful would transmigrating into a powerful character make me? Would the system screw me over? If I went straight into Toji Fushiguro's body, wouldn't my project to create my own Heavenly Restriction Tyrant be finished on the spot?

Besides, a key character would have more opportunities to engage with the main plot and more room to change it, earning him more causality points. Returns compounding on returns-in the long run, the benefits might far exceed a double reward.

He hesitated for a while before finally making up his mind.

"I choose option two."

Let's gamble, then.

[Selection confirmed. Beginning settlement.]

The light screen displayed the inheritance options for this life-a transfigured human's physique, a transfigured human's cursed energy reserves, and no cursed technique.

Without the slightest hesitation, Gu Yanzhi chose physique, then eagerly selected transmigration.

[Drawing a random identity... target: key plot character. Locking timeline... locking location...]

Golden light washed over him.

His consciousness began to blur, the void began to spin, and gold swallowed the deep-blue background inch by inch.

When he woke again, everything around him was pitch-black.

Gu Yanzhi felt as though he was somewhere incredibly cramped. Hard walls surrounded him on all sides, and his body was curled up, unable to move.

He tried raising a hand, but its back struck the wall above him. The air was stale and stiflingly hot, every breath carrying an indescribable rank smell.

His mind was a jumble.

The original owner's memories did not flow into him in a clear, orderly stream as they had before. This time, they were badly fragmented, as though something had churned them to pieces, making them impossible to properly decipher.

He saw flashes of images-streets, crowds, some kind of intense light.

But every frame was too blurry to make out any details, and none of them connected into anything coherent.

His body began to grow restless.

His throat burned with thirst, while a hunger unlike anything he had ever experienced churned in his stomach.

His fingers involuntarily dug into the wall. His mouth opened, and his tongue touched something-cold, hard, with the distinctive astringent taste of metal.

An uncontrollable, trembling voice escaped his body.

"I... I like... I like the taste of iron."