A Cheater System

Chapter One

The world does not announce its turning points, nor does fate seek permission before etching its mark. It simply watches, waits, and then chooses a single life to carry the burden of consequence , whether that life is prepared to be broken by it or not. Yet destiny has a curious habit of selecting the most unlikely vessels.

Lucas stirred awake to another morning that already felt determined to disappoint him. Most of his days began this way , with a heavy sigh and the familiar weight of resignation pressing down on his chest.

He lay stretched out on the hard floor of his tiny one-room apartment, the only barrier between his body and the cold concrete being a thin, worn-out sheet that had long since lost any trace of comfort. As he pushed himself up, the cramped space greeted him like a constant, unwanted reminder of everything he lacked.

A cheap plastic table fan hummed and rattled beside him in its usual irritating rhythm. Every few seconds, the blades scraped against the casing with a grating noise that drilled into his skull. Turning it off wasn’t an option; without it, the room quickly turned into an unbearable oven.

The air wasn’t pleasant either. In one corner sat a growing pile of unwashed clothes, slumped like a defeated beast. Lucas wasn’t inherently messy , the problem was the apartment complex’s absurd communal laundry schedule. Tenants were allowed to use the shared washing machine only once every two weeks, forcing him to let the pile accumulate. Even when tightly sealed in a laundry bag, the sour odor still seeped out and clung stubbornly to the room.

Lucas rubbed the sleep from his striking blue eyes. Before he could fully gather his thoughts, his chest tightened sharply. A violent coughing fit seized him, leaving him doubled over and gasping for air. When the spell finally subsided, a burning ache lingered deep in his lungs like a cruel reminder.

“Just a little longer,” he whispered hoarsely, though the words lacked conviction.

As if answering his quiet resolve, the building emitted a low, unsettling creak. A soft tremor rolled beneath him, shaking the floorboards and rattling the few belongings he owned. Lucas closed his eyes and waited in silence until the shaking stopped. The earthquakes had been growing more frequent lately , another sign of how unstable the world had become.

Once the vibrations faded, the lights remained dead. Power outages had become random and unpredictable for days now, and with the fan off, the thick heat quickly trapped itself inside the room.

Lucas turned toward the small, fogged-up window. The weather had been erratic for nearly two weeks, swinging wildly between extremes. Not long ago, the sun had scorched the city with brutal intensity, triggering forest fires in the surrounding areas.

But the moment the tremor struck, the oppressive heat vanished. In its place, dark storm clouds rolled in rapidly, and jagged flashes of lightning tore through the sky. A fierce gust of icy wind slammed against the window, making the frame rattle violently.

The brief warmth of moments earlier had completely disappeared, replaced by a biting cold that seemed to seep straight through the walls.

“Looks like the world really is ending,” Lucas murmured. He didn’t sound afraid , only strangely resigned. With his health steadily declining and no real hope of recovery, he had already made peace with the idea of dying. Whether the world followed him or not made little difference.

Lucas’s life had never offered him much to hold onto. Orphaned at birth, he had grown up under the strict routines of a state orphanage until the age of fourteen, when the system abruptly pushed him out into the world to fend for himself.

He had drifted from one low-paying job to another, barely earning enough for basic meals. At night, he slept wherever he could find shelter , under bridges, near bus stations, or anywhere the rain couldn’t reach him. His fragile body made steady work difficult; he was always tired, always sick, always struggling. Moving from town to town had become his normal routine.

Things improved slightly when he turned sixteen and met a kind stranger who taught him basic computer skills and offered him a small freelance editing job. The pay was modest but consistent. With that income, Lucas had managed to rent this cramped studio apartment in the outskirts of Eldridge City. It wasn’t much, but it was far better than sleeping on the streets.

Now even that fragile stability was crumbling. His rent was due next month, and he already knew he wouldn’t be able to pay it. Eviction was inevitable. Soon he would be homeless again, just as the climate grew more dangerous and unpredictable by the day. On top of everything, he desperately needed money for the medicine that helped dull the constant pain and allowed him to endure the wild swings in temperature.

Rather than dwell on his mounting problems, Lucas did what he always did , he pushed through his daily routine.

He stared out the window for a few more minutes, letting the stormy scene outside mirror the chaos in his mind, then slowly rose to his feet. After changing into his damp, musty clothes, he grabbed his old umbrella and stepped out into the downpour.

For some reason, his rundown neighborhood in the southern district of Eldridge City had so far been spared the worst of the recent strange phenomena. The disruptions hadn’t completely upended his daily life , at least not yet.

He walked for twenty-five minutes through the freezing rain, each step soaking him more thoroughly than the last. By the time he reached his workplace, he was shivering and exhausted. When he lifted his gaze to the office entrance, his expression darkened at once.

The day had barely begun, and already trouble was waiting for him.