I Borrowed a City While Delivering Takeout

Lin Du is a delivery rider without a martial meridian. He owes rent, and still needs half his younger sister's tuition.

On a stormy night, he takes his final order to a demolition site at the City God Temple and catches someone smashing the temple. He drops his delivery box to help Chen Bo, the temple keeper, and a character meaning "city" burns itself into his palm.

[Urban Mark awakened: Guard a landmark, borrow a city's abilities.]

Guard the old city wall, and he borrows "Inchstep." Guard the city's Second Hospital, and he borrows "Stop the Bleeding." Guard Zhenyue Martial Arts Hall, and he borrows half a move of the Zhenyue Fist. Guard the police station, and he borrows the footprints left there three minutes ago.

But borrowed power has limits, and it comes with a backlash.

Jiuding Realty isn't demolishing the old city, but what's buried beneath its landmarks. His father, missing for seven years, isn't dead. He's been erased from the records and sent beyond the city pass.

When all 108 marks across the city begin to light up one by one, Lin Du finally realizes: this city isn't his golden finger. It's his debt.

What he has to protect was never just a few old buildings.