Chapter 1 – Bread and Bounties

Stale air and mold permeated Lin Yue’s cramped sleeping cube. The first rays of dawn filtered through cracks in the wooden walls, illuminating straw scattered across the dirt floor. A half-eaten piece of bread on Xue’s side caught her attention.

Lin Yue snatched the bread and shoved it into her mouth. The dry crust scratched her throat as she swallowed.

Xue stirred on her mat. “Hey! That’s mine—”

Lin Yue pressed her palm against Xue’s face, holding her back while licking crumbs off her fingers. “You lost your chance. Everyone knows not to leave food lying around.”

“But I had an upset stomach last night!” Xue whimpered, staring at the scattered crumbs.

“Oh, poor baby. Should I call a doctor? Maybe alert the Imperial Court about this tragedy?” Lin Yue grabbed her knife from under her thin sleeping mat and slipped it on the band under her shirt. Her mark bag followed going on the opposite side. “Remember, you’re short three taels. Sheng won’t be gentle about collecting.”

Xue hugged herself tight, shoulders trembling. “I-I’ll do better.”

Lin Yue stepped into the gang’s main den. The room stank of unwashed bodies and cheap wine. Older gang members tracked her movement with hungry stares but kept their distance. The younger ones scowled, sporting fresh bruises and cuts from past “lessons.” She positioned herself by the door, waiting for Xue.

She studied the sea of unwashed masses shuffling through Big City’s streets. The stench reminded her of the time Bobby Henderson puked in the school cafeteria—except this whole city reeked worse than a thousand Bobbys.

Stupid truck. Couldn’t wait five seconds while I mocked Jessica’s dance moves? The memory of screeching tires and homecoming decorations blurred into the sight of her mutilated left hand.

Nine years stuck in this hellhole, and the best she got was working for the Tiger Gang in a city so massive and isolated that peasants died of old age without ever seeing its borders. Only the cultivators, floating above the streets like they owned the place, ever managed to venture beyond.

At least, not without becoming a farmer, which was a fifty-fifty shot at death or a year’s paycheck. Enough took that gamble that the rest didn’t have to, but it left the city in a perpetual state of starvation.

A shuffle of footsteps drew her attention. Xue stumbled out, fumbling with her mark bag’s strings. The knots were all wrong—amateur hour.

“Here.” Lin Yue grabbed the bag, her fingers working the cords into proper knots. “Watch carefully. Next time you might not have someone to fix your mistakes.”

She raised her left hand, wiggling the stumps where her pinky and ring finger used to be. “You might lose your fingers if you screw up. Don’t lose that bag.”

Xue’s face drained of color. She clutched the properly secured bag against her chest and nodded rapidly. “Not like that.” Lin Yue rolled her eyes and lifted up the girl’s shirt and secured it around her waist properly.

“Let’s go.” Lin Yue stepped into the crowded street, shoving past the press of bodies.

The market’s cacophony assaulted Lin Yue’s senses—hundreds of voices haggling over prices, the sizzle of street food, and the endless crush of bodies. She weaved through the crowd, scanning for potential marks while keeping Xue close.

A fruit vendor’s cart sat unattended while its owner argued with a customer. Lin Yue snatched two apples in a fluid motion, concealing them in her sleeves. She pressed one into Xue’s hands once they were far enough away without breaking stride.

“Eat fast.” Lin Yue bit into her apple, savoring the tart sweetness.

Two merchants ahead drew her attention—one red-faced and shouting about silk prices while the other gestured wildly with ink-stained fingers. Perfect. Lin Yue brushed past them, her fingers finding and liberating a heavy purse in one practiced movement.

“This way.” She pulled Xue into a narrow alley between two shops. The smell of rotting vegetables and urine made her wrinkle her nose. She upended the purse into her palm. Copper coins clinked together—no silver or gold in sight.

“Damn waste of time.” Lin Yue divided the copper pieces, dropping half into Xue’s mark bag. “Tuck it under your clothes properly this time. If someone sees it, they’ll take it—and maybe your life too.”

Xue hurried to follow the orders as Lin Yue stepped out of the alley back into the morning sun. A gaudy brothel sprawled across the street, its red lanterns still lit despite the daylight. Painted women lounged in the windows, beckoning to passersby.

“See that place?” Lin Yue pointed at the brothel. “If Sheng kicks you out, that’s your future. Keep that in mind.”

Xue shuffled closer as they walked toward District #11-23’s central tax square. The chaos of the market faded behind them, replaced by an open plaza filled with better-dressed citizens. Imperial soldiers stood rigid at the pavilion walls, their polished armor gleaming.

Lin Yue strode toward the massive notice board, ignoring the sideways glances from the merchants and officials who clearly thought street rats didn’t belong.

“Why are we here?” Xue whispered, practically glued to Lin Yue’s side.

“New bounties today.” Lin Yue scanned the fresh papers pinned to the board.

“But what could we do about bounties?”

Lin Yue traced her finger along the reward amounts. “They pay in gold, and they still give half if the target’s dead. Could be our ticket out of this dump.”

Not that I’ve ever managed to catch one. Lin Yue studied the faces drawn on the wanted posters. The professional bounty hunters always got there first. But luck played a role, didn’t it? After all, she’d already died once and woken up here. Actually that might be the opposite of luck...

She committed the last bounty poster to memory and grabbed Xue’s arm. Too many suspicious glances from the well-dressed merchants. Time to move.

The food market sprawled ahead, packed with bodies pressing against each other. A shimmering portal stretched across the square like a tear in reality. Supply carts rattled through the dimensional rift, loaded with fresh produce from the Wild Lands. The scent of grass and earth wafted through—so different from the city’s perpetual stench.

Lin Yue spotted at least fifty Imperial Guards in polished armor surrounding the portal. Their hands rested on sword hilts as they watched the crowds. Too risky for pickpocketing with that much heat.

Through the portal’s shimmer, endless green fields stretched toward the horizon. The sight tugged at something in Lin Yue’s chest—a false promise of freedom. She knew better.

Cultivators had enchanted those fields for rapid growth, but demons and beasts prowled beyond the farmland. She’d seen enough mangled bodies of would-be escapees to know better. They always fled back to the city and then were chopped up and thrown back to prevent any chance of whatever got them spreading in the city.

Most of the time it worked.

Half the farmers never come back. Lin Yue watched another cart roll through, piled high with vegetables. The city’s endless hunger demanded sacrifices. Cobblestones stretched forever in every direction, a maze of poverty and desperation that trapped millions.

“This way.” Lin Yue tugged Xue down a quieter side street. The press of bodies thinned as they left the market behind.

She guided them through narrowing streets as the crowd thinned. The stench of sewage and rotting garbage intensified as they entered 11-23’s Rat Square—a dingy courtyard where desperate souls gathered for cheap meals.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Two copper pieces clinked against the vendor’s palm. He handed over a skewer of grilled meat, the flesh still sizzling. Lin Yue passed it to Xue, who tore into it with desperate bites. Better not tell her that it lives up to its name…

They settled on a broken crate. Lin Yue tilted her head back, staring at the sliver of gray sky visible between the towering tenements. Another day of this endless bullshit. The same routine, different marks, never enough coin. She exhaled slowly.

A commotion drew her attention. A man stepped into the square clutching a leather-bound book. His robes hung in tatters, but something about his stance seemed off.

“Come, children of the Endless City!” He raised the book overhead.

Lin Yue stood, ready to drag Xue away from another deranged cultist. But Xue yanked free, stumbling toward the gathering crowd. Every person in the square moved forward in unison, their eyes glazed.

“Give me your souls! Grant me your power!” The man’s words echoed unnaturally.

Ice spread through Lin Yue’s veins. A demonic cultivator? Here? She blinked hard, studying his features. Recognition hit like a punch to the gut. That face—she’d seen it less than an hour ago on the bounty board.

The square remained deserted except for the entranced crowd. No guards patrolled the depths of poverty. No bounty hunters ventured this far into the slums unless they already knew where their target was.

“Xue!” Lin Yue grabbed for her companion’s arm, but Xue shrugged her off. The young girl pressed forward, silent and blank-faced.

Lin Yue wrapped her arms around Xue’s waist and hoisted her up. The girl didn’t struggle or make a sound. What the fuck kind of magic is this?

Every instinct screamed to run. Lin Yue’s muscles tensed, ready to bolt with Xue in her arms. They needed to escape. Now.

She sprinted toward the edge of the square. An invisible wall slammed against her palm. The barrier rippled with transparent energy, absorbing each desperate punch she threw at it.

Lin Yue spun around. “Fuck!”

A line formed in front of the cultivator. Each victim stepped forward with blank expressions, accepting death like sheep to slaughter. The cultivator thrust his blade through their hearts like it was the simple action of an industrial butchering line.

Bodies crumbled to ash, scattering in the stale breeze. After each kill, the madman threw back his head and released guttural moans of pleasure.

Lin Yue’s stomach churned. She’d seen plenty of sick bastards in the gang—rapists, murderers, pedophiles who preyed on street kids. But this? This was beyond the pale.

Xue’s body tensed, trying to pull away toward the death line. Lin Yue yanked her toward a wooden support post at the square’s edge. She ripped Xue’s threadbare shirt off and bound her tight against the weathered wood. The knots wouldn’t hold forever, but they’d buy time.

No exits. No escape routes. Just a bounty target drunk on power and souls.

Lin Yue touched the knife hidden beneath her shirt. The familiar wooden handle pressed against her palm. She stepped toward the square’s center, measuring each footfall against the cultivator’s rhythmic killing.

The bastard threw back his head in ecstasy. Perfect timing.

She darted forward. The knife—a piece of iron she’d sharpened for hours against stone—slipped under his armpit and into his chest.

Blood spurted as she yanked the blade free. The cultivator started to turn. Lin Yue slashed across his neck in one fluid motion, opening his throat.

He completed his spin to face her. Blood stained his tattered robes, spreading in a dark circle from the chest wound. “You stabbed me.”

“Yes.” Lin Yue kept her distance, knife ready.

He stumbled forward, coughing a spray of red droplets. Some cultivator. He bleeds like anyone else.

“Not so fun when someone stabs you, is it?” Lin Yue backed away as he lurched toward her, arterial blood pulsing from his neck wound with each heartbeat.

The cultivator snarled a curse and took another unsteady step. Blood continued to fountain as he advanced.

Finally he staggered forward. Lin Yue darted in close, driving her blade between his ribs at an upward angle. His body went rigid. The ceremonial knife slipped from his fingers, clattering against the cobblestones.

“I finally made it... and you... you... bi—” Blood bubbled from his lips.

Lin Yue twisted the blade.

A hateful grin spread across his face before he toppled face-first onto the ground.

Black ichor spurted from his wounds instead of blood. The dark substance on Lin Yue’s hand began to spiral and twist, crawling up her arm like a living tattoo. “Shit-face bastard!”

She jumped back, frantically wiping at the markings. The black lines continued their relentless advance across her skin.

Pure euphoria slammed through her system—better than any drug she’d ever tried. “Gnugh!” The high peaked, then vanished, leaving her gasping and trembling.

“What the fuck was that?” Lin Yue stared at her arm where the black marks had been.

Around her, the hypnotized crowd collapsed like puppets with cut strings. Their bodies thudded against the ground in an unsettling rhythm.

She looked back to the corpse. Well, her options were pretty clear.

Lin Yue grabbed the dead cultivator’s ankles and started dragging him back toward where she’d tied up Xue. A trail of darkened blood marked their path across the square’s weathered stones.

Did this make her a sociopath?

The euphoria faded, leaving Lin Yue’s thoughts scattered like marbles on a tilted floor. Shit. The body.

She dropped to her knees beside the corpse and patted down the blood-soaked robes. Her fingers found a leather purse, several folded papers, and an ornate silk bag embroidered with mystical symbols. The fabric tingled against her skin as she stuffed everything inside, including both Xue’s and her mark bag.

Around her, the crowd stirred. Groans and confused mutters echoed across the square. A woman near the center sat up, rubbing her head.

“What happened?”

“Where am I?”

Lin Yue yanked her shirt up and secured the silk bag beneath her breasts, pulling the cord tight. The fabric pressed flat against her ribs. Good luck grabbing that without buying me dinner first.

More victims regained consciousness, their questions growing louder. Time to disappear before someone remembered too much.

She hoisted Xue over her shoulder like a sack of rice. The girl weighed next to nothing. “You better appreciate this, kid.”

Lin Yue grabbed the cultivator’s ankle with her free hand. The dead weight dragged against the cobblestones.

Shadows darted from nearby alleys as they advanced. The vultures descended fast, stripping the corpse piece by piece. Lin Yue kept pulling, ignoring the looters who tore away his robes and belongings that she had ignored.

Within minutes, the cultivator lay naked as she dragged him across the cobblestones.

A grubby man brandished a rusty knife toward the corpse’s face. “Them ears’ll fetch a good price.”

Lin Yue’s blade flashed. The man stumbled back, clutching his bleeding hand. “Back off. Face stays intact.”

The trek stretched Lin Yue’s muscles to burning. Sweat soaked through her shirt where an intense itch spread across her skin. Fucking cultivator. What curse did you put on me?

Steel glinted in the afternoon sun. A patrol of imperial guards blocked the path ahead, weapons drawn. Lin Yue stopped, adjusted Xue’s limp form on her shoulder, and pointed at the naked corpse.

“I’m here to claim the bounty on this piece of shit.”

District #11-23 operated on two universal truths. The first played out in the desperate hands that clawed at the cultivator’s corpse—everyone scrambled for scraps in this cesspit, fighting over every morsel like starved rats.

The second truth strutted around in polished armor, blocking Lin Yue’s path with their pristine uniforms and shiny badges. Imperial guards never worried about going hungry. They spent their days shuffling papers and kissing ass, mimicking the bureaucratic dance of their superiors in the tax office.

“On your knees!” A guard’s boot slammed into Lin Yue’s back. The cobblestones rushed up to meet her face. Cold metal snapped around her wrists as they cuffed her hands behind her back.

Next to her, Xue slumped unconscious as they bound her tiny wrists. The guards grabbed the cultivator’s corpse by the ankles and started dragging it along. Lin Yue didn’t resist as they yanked her to her feet and shoved her forward. At least they’re taking us where I wanted to go anyway.

“Move it, street rat.” Another shove propelled her toward the magistrate’s office.

A line of bedraggled criminals snaked out the magistrate’s door and around the corner. Happy hour at the criminal parade. Lin Yue smirked at the mix of thieves, drunks, and unfortunates who’d crossed the wrong guard at the wrong time.

Wooden carts creaked past, loaded with the resistant ones. Iron chains clinked as they rattled over cobblestones, binding the troublemakers to thick wooden slats. The cooperative ones shuffled forward on their own feet, shoulders slumped under the weight of their circumstances.

Lin Yue nudged the guard holding her chains and pointed at the naked corpse being dragged behind them. “Special delivery. We get priority service.”

The official at the booking desk pinched his nose shut as they approached. “Murder?” His voice squeaked through his fingers.

Lin Yue leaned over his pristine papers, letting her chains clank against his wooden desk. “Bounty thirty-six. Posted today.”

“This is criminal booking. Bounty claims are in the next room.” The official’s face twisted—not at the nude corpse leaking fluids onto his stone floor, but at the administrative inconvenience. He jabbed a finger toward a different queue.

Lin Yue rattled her chains at the guards flanking her. “Take it up with your buddies here. They’re the ones who dragged me to the wrong line.”

The official drummed his fingers on the desk. “Bring me today’s bounty book.”

A scrawny servant scurried off, returning moments later with a thick leather-bound tome. The pages crackled as the official thumbed through them, stopping to squint at an entry.

“Did you kill this man?” The official peered over his spectacles at Lin Yue.

“Stabbed him in the back through the heart, then slit his throat for good measure.” Lin Yue kept her tone casual, like discussing the weather.

“Well.” The official straightened his papers. “If you’re wrong about the bounty, at least conviction will be straightforward.”

“Wrong? He spent his afternoon sucking out people’s souls in the middle of Rat Square.” Lin Yue shifted her weight, the chains clinking against the floor.

The official pressed his fingers to his temples. “So now I need to file form #33A-838B for mortal slaying of an immortal too? This day keeps getting worse.”

“You made the rules.” Lin Yue shrugged. “Not my problem.”

“Is that so?” The official’s eyes narrowed.

Shit. Lin Yue hunched her shoulders, adopting her best pitiful street rat expression. “Please have mercy? Me and my little sister haven’t eaten in days.”

The official snorted, glancing at Xue sleeping in one of the guard’s arms, still cuffed and chained. “Whatever. You probably can’t write anyway. I’ll fill out the forms—just answer my questions.”

“Yes, boss.” Lin Yue nodded eagerly.