Pain.

That was the last thing Kai remembered. A hot, searing pain as a bullet ripped through his side. The world spun in a haze of red. Blood. His blood. Pouring from the wound. His body felt heavy, numb, and then… silence.

The last thing he expected was to wake up.

When his eyes opened, they found nothing but blurry shapes, soft light, and an overwhelming sense of disorientation. It wasn’t the same as the disorientation of waking up in a new place. This felt like waking up in another life—a life that wasn’t his.

A soft cry echoed in the room. The sound was sharp, shrill, unmistakably… his?

Kai froze.

He blinked, confusion swarming his thoughts. His head swam, and his vision flickered. He tried to look around, but the world was spinning. His limbs felt alien, his body weak and unresponsive. His chest constricted, panic setting in. What was happening?

This isn’t right.

He tried to push himself up, but his arms—too small—didn’t obey. His fingers curled uselessly in the soft fabric beneath him. What was going on? Why couldn’t he move? His heart pounded. He felt trapped, like he was imprisoned in a body that wasn’t his. The feeling of his limbs, so foreign, so fragile, made his chest tighten.

No, no, no... this can’t be happening.

The room was dim, but there was enough light for him to make out vague shapes. The crib. The soft blankets. The faint sound of a distant hum, like the soft purr of machines. It was too quiet. Where am I?

In the next moment, something inside his mind shifted—like an intrusive thought, an unfamiliar sensation.

SYSTEM INITIATED.

Welcome, Kai. Reborn.

The voice wasn’t audible, but it rang through his mind like an echo, not a sound, but a presence. An intrusive, mechanical whisper that felt alien. What the hell is this? His mind screamed. He wasn’t supposed to be here. He wasn’t supposed to be alive.

His heartbeat quickened. His head spun. This wasn’t real. He was dead. He remembered it. The pain. The bullet. The cold, dark feeling of life draining from him.

And now… this?

His body felt wrong. Too small. Too weak. His hands trembled as he tried to grasp the edge of his crib, but his fingers didn’t cooperate. They were too soft, too clumsy.

Was this some kind of nightmare?

And then the system showed itself, like an unforgiving display of reality, offering him no room for escape.

Name: Kai

Age: 0 (Newborn)

Body: 2/10

Reflexes: 1/10

Intelligence: 5/10

Technical Ability: 1/10

Cool: 3/10

Titles Unlocked:

Reborn

Kai’s breath hitched in his chest. The numbers. They flashed in his mind like a cruel joke. 2/10 for Body. Weak. Helpless. His own body had become a prison. His body had once been the instrument of his survival, a weapon of precision. And now? Now he was nothing but an infant. Unable to move. Unable to even control his own hands.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Reflexes: 1/10—it felt like a punch to the gut. He could barely move, let alone react to anything. Intelligence: 5/10 was the only thing that kept him grounded. His mind was intact. But what good was intelligence when you were trapped in this shell?

And Technical Ability: 1/10? His skills with technology, once second to none in Night City, meant nothing in this form. He couldn’t even hold a tool, let alone hack into anything.

Cool: 3/10—what did that even mean? His mental fortitude was still there, he supposed, but it felt distant. The weight of his situation, the realization of what had happened, was almost too much to bear.

He tried to breathe. Tried to calm himself. This couldn’t be real. This wasn’t happening. His pulse thudded in his ears. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t focus.

His mind raced. Was this some kind of simulation? Was he in a coma? Had someone uploaded his consciousness into a new body? No. No, this felt too real. He felt the weight of his tiny hands, the unfamiliar weight of his own head. The tiny pulse of his heart. This wasn’t just some program. This wasn’t a game.

He was reborn.

The thought hit him with a cold shock of reality. Reborn. How? Why? He didn’t know. The idea of being sent back into a new body, like some twisted form of reincarnation, was… impossible. But the numbers on the screen, the strange system in his head, they were undeniable. This was real. It had to be.

He wanted to scream, to shout, to demand answers. But he could barely make a sound. The wail that escaped his mouth was a sharp, pitiful cry—a sound he hated. His chest tightened. His eyes burned with frustration, hot and bitter.

A new message appeared in his mind.

Perks Available:

Basic Reflexes – Reflexes slightly enhanced beyond the average newborn.

Baby’s First Steps – Unlocks the ability to crawl and eventually walk.

Potential Growth – Your body and mind have the capacity for accelerated development under the right conditions.

Perks. What the hell? Reflexes. Crawling. Growth. They seemed meaningless. What good are these perks if I can’t even control my own body?

But something inside him, a small spark of survival, latched onto Potential Growth. The system said his body had the capacity to grow faster than normal. Maybe, just maybe, there was a way out of this hell.

Another thought flashed through his mind, pulling his focus away from the system. Night City. He remembered Night City. The streets, the neon lights, the hustle, the danger. He remembered the pain of betrayal, the enemies he’d made, the blood spilled. He remembered his life. The hacker. The mercenary. The survivor.

But that was all gone now.

Now, he was nothing. Just a baby, crying in a crib. The stark, crushing weight of that truth almost broke him. His mind raced, panic threatening to overtake him. He couldn’t be weak. He couldn’t stay like this. But what could he do? He didn’t even have control over his own body.

The world around him seemed impossibly large, as if everything—his crib, the room, the air itself—was closing in on him. The fear was suffocating. How long could he survive like this? How long before he was forgotten, discarded, just another dead man reborn into a helpless shell?

Suddenly, the interface in his mind shifted again.

Would you like to learn more about your Perks or Titles?

He didn’t want to. He didn’t care. Not yet. He needed to think. To breathe. His chest rose and fell with uneven breaths as he tried to regain some sense of control.

But the nagging presence of the system wouldn’t let go.

“What is this?” Kai thought bitterly, his mind consumed by frustration. “What do you want from me?”

There was a pause, an unsettling stillness. Then, the system answered, not with words, but with a cold prompt in his mind.

Title: Reborn

Description: Your life has been reset, reborn into a new form. This marks the beginning of your journey. You are not yet a child of destiny, but your potential is limitless.

Effect: None. This title is purely symbolic.

Kai clenched his tiny fists. A Title. Reborn. It meant nothing. It gave him no advantage, no power. Just a reminder of how far he had fallen. His former life, his former strength, meant nothing now.

But there was something else beneath the frustration. Something darker. A burning need. A hunger to survive. A deep, unshakable desire to rise from this weakness, to reclaim the power he had lost. The system was just a tool. His journey wasn’t over yet. This was just another challenge.

He would rise again. He had to.

This was just the beginning.