Three weeks passed. I fell into a rhythm—working for Frost during the day, helping people in the city whenever someone sought me out. My debt steadily decreased.
[CURRENT BALANCE: -857,390 CREDITS]
I'd broken through 900,000. The progress felt real, sustainable. I was actually doing this.
Then the system gave me a warning I couldn't ignore.
[URGENT NOTIFICATION][SYSTEM SCAN DETECTED ANOMALY][ANOTHER HOST IS IN THIS CITY][DISTANCE: 2.3 MILES][KARMIC DEBT: -2,847,000 CREDITS]
I nearly choked. "Another Host? And they owe almost THREE MILLION?"
[CORRECT][WARNING: THIS HOST IS DANGEROUS][THEY HAVE BEEN IN THIS WORLD FOR 8 MONTHS][THEIR METHODS ARE... QUESTIONABLE]
"Questionable how?"
[THEY REDUCE DEBT THROUGH VIOLENCE AND THEFT][ESTIMATED KILLS: 47][ESTIMATED THEFTS: 200+][THEY VIEW OTHER HOSTS AS COMPETITION]
My stomach dropped. "They kill other Hosts?"
[YES][RECOMMENDATION: AVOID CONTACT][YOUR CURRENT POWER LEVEL: INSUFFICIENT FOR CONFRONTATION]
"Can they sense me like I can sense them?"
[YES][THEY LIKELY ALREADY KNOW YOU'RE HERE]
Perfect. Just perfect. I'd been making progress, helping people, reducing my debt the right way. And now there was some murder-hobo Host who might come for me.
[ADDITIONAL INFORMATION][THIS HOST HAS KILLED 3 OTHER HOSTS][EACH TIME, THEY ABSORBED THEIR ACCUMULATED CREDITS][THIS IS WHY THEIR DEBT IS SO HIGH - THE SYSTEM PENALIZES MURDER]
"So they're getting stronger but going deeper in debt?"
[CORRECT][THEY DON'T SEEM TO CARE][CURRENT THEORY: THEY'VE GIVEN UP ON REDEMPTION][THEY'RE JUST TRYING TO SURVIVE AS LONG AS POSSIBLE]
A knock on my door. I jumped, hand going to the knife I'd started carrying.
"Marcus? It's me." Frost's voice.
I relaxed, opened the door. "What's up?"
"Someone's here to see you. She says it's urgent. Says she knows what you are."
My blood ran cold. "Describe her."
"Young woman, mid-twenties. Silver hair. Eyes that seem to... glow blue sometimes. She's in the receiving room."
[CAUTION: THIS MAY BE THE OTHER HOST][APPROACH WITH EXTREME CARE]
I made my way downstairs, every nerve on edge. The woman sat in an armchair, perfectly poised. When I entered, she smiled.
"Marcus Chen. The People's Champion. I've been curious about you."
Her eyes flickered with that blue glow. Definitely a Host.
"And you are?"
"Lyssa." She stood, extended a hand. "I'm like you. Fighting debt, helping people. Well, trying to."
[SCANNING...][HOST DETECTED: LYSSA][KARMIC DEBT: -2,847,000 CREDITS][THREAT LEVEL: UNKNOWN]
I didn't take her hand. "The system says you owe almost three million credits. That you've killed forty-seven people."
Her smile faded. "The system told you that?"
"Yeah. So forgive me if I'm not eager to shake hands with a serial killer."
She laughed—but it was bitter, broken. "Serial killer. Is that what it says? Did it tell you why those people died?"
"Does it matter?"
"It does to me." She sat back down, and I saw how tired she looked. How haunted. "I was a healer in my old world. A prodigy. When I died and got the system, I thought I could help people. Save lives. Reduce my debt."
[EMPATHY (RANK F) ACTIVATING][READING: GENUINE PAIN, REGRET, EXHAUSTION]
"What happened?"
"I made a mistake. A plague hit the city I was working in. I tried to cure it, developed a treatment, but..." Her voice cracked. "It was wrong. The treatment I created killed two hundred people in one night. The system counted every death as my karmic debt."
[SYSTEM CLARIFICATION][INITIAL DEBT FROM ACCIDENT: -1,800,000 CREDITS][ADDITIONAL DEBT FROM SUBSEQUENT ACTIONS: -1,047,000 CREDITS]
"And the other deaths? The forty-seven people?"
"Bandits. Criminals. People who were going to hurt innocent civilians. I stopped them. The system counts it as murder because I used lethal force, but what was I supposed to do? Let them kill others?"
[COMPLEX SITUATION DETECTED][LYSSA'S ACTIONS: MORALLY GREY][NEITHER PURE REDEMPTION NOR PURE VIOLENCE]
"Why are you here?" I asked.
"Because I'm failing. My debt keeps growing no matter what I do. The system penalizes me for saving people violently, but people die if I don't act. I'm trapped." She looked up at me with desperate eyes. "But you... you're making progress. Real progress. How?"
I thought about it. The bandits I'd negotiated with instead of fighting. The corporation I'd exposed instead of destroying. Every problem I'd solved without violence.
"I find another way," I said. "I look for solutions that don't require killing."
"That's not always possible."
"Maybe not. But it's possible more often than you think." I sat down across from her. "The system isn't just tracking what we do. It's tracking who we become. If you solve problems with violence, you become violent. If you solve them with wisdom, you become wise."
[PHILOSOPHICAL INSIGHT DETECTED][YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE SYSTEM IS DEEPENING]
Lyssa was quiet for a long moment. "I've been doing this alone for eight months. Fighting, struggling, watching my debt grow. Maybe... maybe I need help."
[CRITICAL CHOICE][OPTION 1: REJECT LYSSA - SAFER, BUT SHE CONTINUES DOWN DARK PATH][OPTION 2: HELP LYSSA - RISKY, BUT POTENTIAL FOR MAJOR REDEMPTION]
I thought about the bandits I'd helped. About Rolf, who'd thanked me for treating him like a person. About Mom's words: "Just effort. Just growth."
"I'll help you," I said. "But we do it my way. No killing. We find better solutions."
She looked at me like I'd offered her a lifeline in a storm. "Really?"
"Really. But if you betray that trust, if you go back to killing, we're done."
[ALLIANCE FORMED: LYSSA][WARNING: THIS IS HIGH RISK][POTENTIAL REWARD: EXTREMELY HIGH][GOOD LUCK]
Lyssa wiped tears from her eyes. "Thank you. You have no idea what this means."
"I have some idea. Everyone deserves a second chance. Even people with three million credits of debt."
[ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: "EXTENDED HAND TO THE FALLEN"][REWARD: +15,000 CREDITS][NEW QUEST CHAIN: REDEMPTION OF LYSSA][HELP HER REDUCE HER DEBT BY 500,000 CREDITS][REWARD: +50,000 CREDITS + SPECIAL ABILITY]
As she left, promising to return tomorrow to start working together, Frost approached.
"Are you sure about this? She has... an aura of danger."
"I'm sure. She needs help. And if I only helped safe, easy people, what kind of redemption specialist would I be?"
He smiled. "A smart one who lived longer. But I suppose that's not the point, is it?"
"No. It's not."
That night, I couldn't sleep. I'd just allied with someone who'd killed forty-seven people. Someone drowning in debt far worse than mine.
But I'd also helped bandits, saved a community, faced my guilt about my mother.
If redemption was possible for me, it was possible for anyone.
Even someone who'd made terrible mistakes.
Even someone who'd given up hope.
[CURRENT BALANCE: -842,390 CREDITS]
[YOU'VE BROKEN THROUGH 850,000][PROGRESS: SIGNIFICANT][WARNING: THE HARDEST CHALLENGES ARE STILL AHEAD][BUT YOU'RE BECOMING THE PERSON WHO CAN FACE THEM]
I closed my eyes, and for the first time in a long time, I slept without nightmares.
Tomorrow, I'd start helping Lyssa find her way back.
Tonight, I'd rest.
The journey was long, but I was finally walking the right path.