Ren didn't remember which turns he took.
He walked past intersections, past neon screens replaying the day's highlights—Thunder Dao. S Grade. Bai Family Prodigy. The city buzzed with celebration.
He heard none of it.
Null.
The word replayed over and over, gnawing at him.
By the time the streets thinned and the noise faded, he found himself standing before a river at the edge of the district. The water flowed slowly and dark, reflecting the silver of the rising moon. No drones. No traffic. No voices.
Just the sound of water sliding against stone.
He sank down onto the cold riverbank.
The breeze was gentle. The night was peaceful.
It felt wrong, in a city full of skyscrapers.
He wrapped his arms around his knees and stared at his reflection in the water. Mud-stained shirt. Bruised cheek. Hollow eyes.
He should go home.
Aunt Mimi would be waiting. She would have cooked for him. She would smile and ask, How did it go?
He couldn't face that smile.
The Academy test had ended hours ago. The hopeful crowd had dispersed. The city had already moved on.
But he was still stuck on that stage.
Still hearing his failure.
A quiet chuckle broke the silence.
"Hehehe…"
"Boy… what are you doing alone here? Aren't you lonely?"
Ren's spine turned to ice.
Goosebumps erupted across his skin. He shot to his feet, fists clenched.
"Who's there?!" His voice cracked slightly. "Show yourself!"
The shadows beneath the willow trees shifted.
A figure stepped forward.
Slowly.
Moonlight spilled across his face.
Thin-framed glasses.
White coat.
Neatly combed hair.
Ren's breath caught.
"You're… the examiner from the Academy."
The man smiled pleasantly.
"Yes. That is me." His tone was warm—almost playful. "Did you miss me?"
Every instinct in Ren's body screamed.
Run.
But his legs felt nailed to the ground.
This was a Dao Academy examiner. A representative of the most prestigious institution in the world. A supposed guardian of humanity.
He should feel safe.
Instead, his heartbeat roared in his ears.
The examiner tilted his head slightly, observing him like a specimen.
"Hahaha… why so tense, little boy?" His laughter echoed strangely against the water. "Don't you know me? Why fear someone from the Academy?"
Ren swallowed and forced his breathing to steady.
"I'm not afraid," he said, though his voice betrayed him. "I'm just surprised you came looking for me. What do you want?"
The man's smile deepened.
"I simply believe you have potential."
Ren's brows tightened.
"What potential?" His voice sharpened. "I was declared a Null. You said it yourself. I have nothing."
The examiner's eyes glinted behind his lenses.
"Some potentials… do not show up on standard devices."
The wind suddenly felt colder.
Ren didn't like the way he said that.
"It's difficult to explain here," the man continued smoothly. "How about you follow me somewhere more private? I can help you awaken what's hidden inside you."
Ren's heart slammed against his ribs.
Awaken.
The word hit harder than anything else that day.
"You… can awaken me?" he whispered.
The examiner nodded slowly.
"Yes. I have a method."
Images flooded Ren's mind.
Aunt Mimi in a better house.
Warm food every day.
No more humiliation.
No more mud.
No more being called trash.
If he wasn't a Null…
If he could awaken…
The temptation was suffocating.
The examiner stepped closer. Too close.
"You just need to come with me."
Ren hesitated.
For a fraction of a second—
He nearly agreed.
Then something deep inside him tightened.
A warning.
The river's surface trembled though there was no wind.
The moonlight seemed dimmer.
Ren took a step back.
"No."
The word surprised even the examiner.
"I'm not going with you. Please… leave me alone."
The smile vanished instantly.
Not faded.
Vanished.
The warmth drained from the man's face like paint washed away by rain.
His eyes turned cold.
Inhuman.
"I wanted to give you a miracle. Something that can change your fate," he said softly.
His voice no longer carried humor.
"Yet you choose pain."
The temperature around them seemed to drop.
The night grew suffocating.
Before Ren could react—
The examiner moved.
One blink he was meters away.
The next—
He was directly in front of Ren.
No footsteps. No sound. Just his presence.
Ren tried to turn—
Too late.
A hand struck the side of his neck.
The world tilted violently.
His knees buckled.
The last thing he saw—
Was the examiner's face above him.
Smiling again.
But this time—
With something monstrous flickering behind his eyes.
Darkness swallowed everything.
The river continued flowing.
Silent.
Unbothered.
As if it had seen this before.
---
Scene 2 – The Smell of Dao
Cold.
That was the first thing Ren felt.
Cold seeping through his back, through his bones, through his skull.
His eyelids fluttered open.
Dark ceiling. Rusted beams. Flickering fluorescent light.
His wrists burned.
He tried to move.
Rope. Tightly bound. Hands behind his back. Ankles tied. The floor beneath him was concrete—cracked, dusty, damp with a metallic smell.
Drip.
Drip.
Water echoed somewhere in the warehouse.
"Rise and shine, little boy…"
The voice slithered through the darkness.
"How was your sleep? Did you dream well? Hehehe…"
Ren's heart slammed violently.
He twisted his head.
Broken crates. Torn tarpaulin. Shattered windows letting in thin lines of moonlight.
An abandoned warehouse.
The examiner stepped out from behind a pillar.
Immaculate white coat.
Glasses reflecting the flickering light.
He walked slowly toward Ren.
Each step echoed far too loudly in the empty space.
Ren's breathing quickened.
The man crouched.
His face hovered inches away from Ren's.
Ren could hear him inhale.
The smell hit him. It smelled of rot.
Like a corpse.
"Are you feeling better?" the examiner asked softly.
Ren jerked back as far as the ropes allowed.
"What are you trying to do to me?!" His voice trembled but held defiance. "Why am I tied up? I'm just a poor kid! I have nothing you want!"
The examiner chuckled.
Low but amused.
"Oh… but you do."
He leaned even closer, his glasses catching a glint of light.
"There is something very precious inside you."
Ren's pulse pounded in his ears.
"You're insane," Ren snapped. "You tested me. The device said I'm a Null. I don't have anything!"
The examiner froze for a moment.
Then—
He burst into laughter.
Loud. Unhinged.
"The device?" he wheezed between laughs. "That pathetic human toy?"
He straightened and began pacing slowly in front of Ren.
"Machines can only measure what they were built to understand. Humans only measure what they are capable of imagining."
He stopped.
Turned.
His smile stretched wider than it should.
"But we…"
He tapped his own nose lightly.
"…we can smell it."
Ren's stomach tightened.
"Smell what?"
"Dao."
The word dropped like a blade.
"We can smell Dao like blood in water. Even when it sleeps. Even when your little machines fail."
He crouched again, eyes gleaming behind the lenses.
"And yours…" He inhaled deeply near Ren's face. "…is exquisite."
Ren's breathing faltered.
"Does that mean… I have a Dao?" he whispered.
"Yes."
The answer came instantly.
"It simply hasn't awakened yet."
Hope sparked in Ren's chest—
"You said you could awaken it…"
"I can."
The examiner's grin widened.
"I did not lie."
Ren's eyes trembled. "Then—"
"It just won't belong to you." The examiner mocked.
Silence.
The flickering light buzzed overhead.
Ren's mind struggled to process.
"What… do you mean?"
The examiner's expression shifted.
The warmth disappeared again.
What remained was hunger.
"You will understand shortly."
He placed his palm against his own chest.
The air changed.
A faint glow pulsed beneath his coat—unnatural, sickly white with threads of black crawling within it.
The temperature dropped further.
Then he extended that glowing palm toward Ren's chest.
The moment it touched—
Pain exploded.
Ren felt like his soul was being devoured.
It felt like something sinister had sunk its teeth into his heart.
Ren gasped—
And then—
Hunger.
A monstrous hunger.
His stomach twisted violently.
His throat burned.
Every cell in his body screamed to feed. To consume.
He hadn't felt hunger like this before.
This wasn't normal hunger.
This was primal. Like an ancient beast stirring.
It felt as if something inside him had opened its eyes for the first time.
The glow between the examiner's fingers intensified.
"You see?" the man whispered, eyes gleaming. "You are not a Null."
Ren's vision blurred.
His pulse thundered.
Something deep within his chest responded to the foreign energy—
Not rejecting it.
Reaching for it.
The ropes around his wrists began to strain.
A low sound escaped Ren's throat.
It didn't sound like a scream.
Not quite human.
The examiner's smile faltered for the first time.
"…Interesting."
The hunger grew unbearable.
And for the first time in his life—
Ren didn't feel weak.
He felt like something was about to break free.
---
Scene 3 – The Awakening
The examiner inhaled sharply.
"Mmmm…"
His pupils dilated behind the glasses.
"Damnnn… you smell so delicious." His voice dropped into something feral. "What are you, boy? Did I really hit the jackpot?"
He leaned closer, nostrils flaring like a predator savoring raw flesh.
"Nothing I've ever smelled before… It's thick. So thick…"
His glowing palm suddenly lifted.
Ren's body jerked violently.
It felt like an invisible vortex had formed inside his chest.
Something was being dragged out of him.
His spine arched.
A scream tore from his throat.
The sensation wasn't just pain—it was extraction. As if hooks had latched onto his soul and were trying to rip it free.
The examiner shuddered in pleasure.
"Ohhh… fear." He licked his lips slowly. "I love it. It's getting more exquisite."
He stepped back.
"Let's add some spice."
Without warning—
He drove his fist into Ren's stomach.
CRACK.
Air and blood burst from Ren's mouth.
He folded forward, coughing red onto the concrete.
"Nice… nice… it's getting yummier," the examiner murmured.
A knife flashed under the flickering light.
Steel gleamed.
Then—
THRCK.
The blade plunged into Ren's thigh.
"ARGHHH—!"
The scream echoed against the warehouse walls.
"Good. Good."
The knife slid out.
Blood followed.
Next—
His arm.
Another stab.
Another scream.
The laughter grew shriller.
"Ekekeke! Scream more!"
The final stab came toward his stomach.
Steel sank deep.
Ren's body convulsed.
His vision blurred.
His ears rang.
Why…
Why are you doing this to me…
Aunt Mimi…
I'm sorry.
I couldn't become an Eternal.
I couldn't protect you.
Darkness crept into his sight.
The examiner's expression was no longer human.
Ecstasy twisted his face.
"Ahhhhh Ren… you will be the best meal I've ever had. You are such a delicate gourmet."
He extended both hands now, fingers curling like talons.
"Time to harvest."
He pulled.
Ren felt something inside his chest being dragged upward.
Something enormous.
But—
The examiner's grin faltered.
"…Mmmm?"
His arms trembled.
"What is this?"
He pulled harder.
Veins bulged across his forehead.
"Why is it so heavy?!"
He roared and poured all his strength into the extraction.
The air vibrated.
Then—
From Ren's chest—
A sphere began to emerge.
A swirling orb of color—shimmering like liquid rainbow glass.
It pulsed with impossible hues.
The examiner's eyes widened.
"What the hell…? I've never seen this kind of Dao…"
The sphere throbbed violently.
But it refused to move further.
It was too heavy. Too dense.
Like dragging a mountain through flesh.
He growled and yanked with everything he had.
The rainbow glow suddenly froze mid-air.
The colors paused.
Then—
They began to bleed.
Slowly.
All of it shifted into crimson—a swirling orb of blood.
The temperature plummeted.
The warehouse trembled.
The examiner staggered back.
"…What the hell?"
His voice cracked.
"Double Dao…? Who is this boy—"
He didn't finish.
BOOM.
A shockwave detonated between them.
Concrete shattered.
Metal beams rattled.
The examiner was blasted backward like a ragdoll—
SLAM.
He crashed into the warehouse wall, spiderweb cracks exploding outward from the impact.
Dust and debris erupted into the air.
Silence followed.
The examiner coughed and forced himself up.
"What… the hell just happened…"
The dust cloud swirled at the center of the warehouse.
And within it—
A silhouette stood still.
Tall.
The examiner's heart skipped.
The figure stepped forward.
Slow.
Each footstep echoed with authority.
The dust parted.
Long hair fell past broad shoulders—
Red.
Not ordinary red.
It was the color of fresh blood under moonlight.
His upper body was bare.
Pale skin like marble.
Carved muscle lines sharp and defined.
His eyes lifted.
Ruby irises glowed in the dim warehouse like twin stars drowning in slaughter.
The ropes had disintegrated.
The wounds—
Gone.
Completely healed.
Only faint streaks of drying blood marked where blades had once pierced.
The air around him distorted faintly.
As if space itself hesitated to touch him.
The examiner's throat went dry.
"…Ren?"
To be continued.