Gear Whispers

Xinglin is seventeen years old, a mixed-race busboy in a border tavern. No one cares whether he lives or dies. Until the black gear grew out of his arm. It gave him strength and a countdown - thirty days. What happens when it reaches zero? No one told him. It just tells him where to go. Step after step, one after another... Like an invisible thread, pulling him in an unknown direction. He didn't know where the line led. He didn't know what to buy in exchange for this road. All he knew was that if he stopped, someone would die in his place. Go forward. Don't look back. The gears whisper. And he had to listen.