Lend Your Life for Three Seconds

After the Black Tide, time became the most expensive currency in the world. In Ash City, everyone is implanted with a longevity bell when they are born. Food, housing, and medical treatment all have to be paid for during one's life. Even while alive, one must pay taxes to the city every day. Lu Ran was just a little guy at Pier 7 who repaired birthday bells for others. Until just before midnight, a man who was supposed to die three hours later walked into his shop and left a black pocket watch. By turning the crown, he can borrow three seconds from his future self. Within three seconds, raindrops hung in the air, bullets solidified, and he was the only one in the world who could act. The price is, borrow three seconds and pay back three days. When the entire city's residents were deprived of five years of life overnight, Lu Ran discovered that what they paid was never taxes, but fuel for someone's eternal life. What's even more frightening is that the future self who lent him time has died seven times. This is the eighth time. It's also the last time.