[No rebirth + no transmigration + no System + not a power fantasy + no zombies]
[Slow burn + battles of wits and strength + unknown world]
After the world collapses, lifespan becomes the only currency. Cheng Ye and his sick younger sister, Ruoqing, struggle on the brink of “zero.”
There is no haggling in the ruin markets, only countdowns. The crowd is like a river constricted by time: water, medicine, food, everything comes with a price in time. Every moment, Cheng Ye calculates how to buy more time for himself and his sister. He learns to steal a breath between greed and despair, and to clutch tiny hopes in his hands with lies and quick wits.
His sister's prescription is a death warrant. The drugs are listed at cold prices measured in thousands of hours. To live, he must take a gamble. To gamble, he must enter the maze known as the “game zone” time and again and win time.
He is not alone. His sister, who shares his life and fate, is by his side. The skilled and handsome Xiaoxuan joins them, and his childhood friend An Zhi returns with secrets stolen from the Time Hunters. The four lives intertwine through one countdown after another.
But the true enemy is neither the traps in the game zone nor the thugs who prey on others. It is the unseen System that quantifies time and turns life into a product. Cheng Ye understands that to survive in this chaotic world, he must first learn to exploit the loopholes in time, and then make time his ally. Jokes are a luxury here; time is hard currency. And he's ready to turn the tables on this exchange.
(Please read past chapter 30 before leaving a review. At university, I watched a creative film about time being traded, but it fell apart just a few minutes in. Years later, I started wondering what it would be like if I wrote the story myself
