Gearbound: Cyberpunk 2077 - Chapter 8

Who will judge right and wrong, and who will comment on merits and demerits?

In this life, I don’t want to follow the rules, I just want to do whatever I want.

Hold the secret in your hand, watch me domineering.

————I am Zuo Xiaoduo, and I do not take the usual path.

- Description from novelbuddy

Time is an illusion, and reality is a fragile thread in Kael's fractured world.Kael's life is defined by darkness, memories that flicker in and out like glitching shadows. Struggling with haunting nightmares and terrifying hallucinations, he finds himself trapped in a reality that doesn’t make sense—a reality where time is breaking, and nothing is as it seems.When a mysterious red notebook, filled with cryptic symbols, falls into his hands, it opens a gateway to a world where the laws of time no longer apply. Every hour, every minute, every second twists and warps, and Kael begins to realize that something—or someone—is manipulating time itself, pushing him to the edge of his sanity.But he's not alone. A girl, whose existence is as twisted as the world around them, seems to be connected to his suffering. Kael's bond with her grows as they both search for the truth behind their disturbing experiences, yet the more they uncover, the deeper they fall into an abyss of despair and madness.The Pulse, an unfathomable force that distorts time and reality, pulses through their very existence. As Kael inches closer to the truth, he faces a devastating choice—one that could either save them or shatter everything they hold dear.Time is collapsing, the Pulse is awakening, and Kael must confront the horrors lurking in the fractured timeline before it consumes them all.

One day, a ghost possessed me.

The younger brother donated his kidney to his older brother and chose death over living with only one kidney.

A high school girl tried acting in front of her father.

A Korean military police officer from the Japanese colonial period belatedly tried to protect his country.

A con artist attempted to steal his partner’s heart but ended up losing his own.

I could vividly portray their lives.

Their experiences were akin to a theatrical performance, almost theatrical.

Mimizuku, a small girl with chains on her wrists and ankles and the numbers “332” branded onto her forehead, wanders into the Forest of Night seeking to be eaten by a monster. However, when the ruler of the monsters, the mysterious and beautiful “King of Night,” refuses to eat her, she tries to formulate a way to convince him otherwise.