Chapter 149: A Stranger in His Own Skin
Han Renyi watched the city pass by through eyes he no longer controlled, a strange and unsettling experience that still hadn't quite settled into reality. The streets were familiar – he'd walked them countless times before – but seeing them as a passenger in his own body made everything feel wrong.
His father walked beside them, occasionally casting worried glances their way, but mercifully staying silent for now. Renyi could feel his questions building, almost taste them in the air between them, but apparently the sight of his son casually dismantling a sect elder's private chambers had bought them at least a temporary reprieve from explanations.
“How did it come to this?” he wondered, his thoughts drifting back to the moments that had led to his current situation.
It had started with pain – searing, all-consuming pain as the mercenaries' blades found their marks. He remembered the taste of copper in his mouth, the cold stone of the alley against his cheek, the absolute certainty that he was going to die.
Then... that voice.
Offering help, offering power, offering revenge. In that moment of desperation, he'd agreed without hesitation.
What choice did he have? His father was walking into Zhou's trap, his sister's future hung by a thread, and he was bleeding out in an alley. If a mysterious entity offered to save him, to give him the power to protect his family... well, better to deal with unknown consequences than certain death.
But he hadn't expected this.
The first hint that something was very different came when he tried to move and couldn't. It was like being wrapped in thick cotton – he could feel everything, but control was beyond his reach.