The eastern district's underground slave markets operated in a converted warehouse complex that officially didn't exist.
Kael studied the location from three blocks away, his Contract Sense painting a disturbing picture. Seventy-three individuals bound by coercive contracts—no time limits, no consent clauses, no dissolution options. Pure ownership disguised as employment agreements.
"This is different from your contracts," Yan Shou said beside him, void-dark eyes narrowing. "These bindings are... corrupt. Twisted. They consume the bound individuals rather than structuring them."
"Exploitative contract design. The contractor extracts maximum value while providing minimum benefit." Kael's tone remained clinical, but something cold had entered his voice. "The people inside have been reduced to property. That's antithetical to proper contract theory."
"You actually care about this." Yan Shou sounded surprised. "I thought you'd traded away all emotional response."
"I don't care emotionally. But I care systematically—poor contract practices damage the entire framework's reputation. These operations make people fear all contracts, which reduces my effectiveness." Kael's marked hand pulsed with dark light.
"Eliminating them serves my interests while coincidentally achieving justice."
"Coincidentally." Yan Shou smiled slightly. "You really can't help yourself, can you?
Even your altruism has to be justified through self-interest."
"Because pure altruism is inefficient. Multi-purpose actions are optimal." Kael pulled out detailed maps of the complex. "Three buildings, connected underground. Primary contractor is someone named Zhao Ming—Foundation Establishment second stage, which explains how he enforces compliance without supernatural binding."
"You want him dead."
"I want his contracts ended and his operation dissolved. Whether he dies is secondary concern." Kael traced routes on the map. "Your Ruin power can dissolve the coercive contracts, but that won't free the victims—it'll just leave them without the protection those contracts theoretically provide. We need to break the contracts, eliminate the enforcers, and establish transition support simultaneously."
"Transition support?"
"Housing, food, medical care, employment opportunities. Seventy-three people suddenly freed from slavery need immediate resources or they'll either starve or get recaptured by different slavers." Kael's voice took on lecturing tone. "Freedom without infrastructure is just a different kind of death. We need to plan for post-liberation sustainability."
Yan Shou stared at him. "You're planning social services for freed slaves. While explaining it through pure self-interest."
"The freed individuals become potential contract candidates. Desperate people seeking structure after chaos. If I provide transition support, they'll be predisposed toward fair contracts with me rather than falling back into exploitation." Kael's expression remained neutral. "Altruism and self-interest aren't mutually exclusive if you calculate properly."
"You're insane. But effective." Yan Shou studied the maps. "How do we coordinate this?"
"My network provides perimeter control and transition resources. Your Ruin power handles contract dissolution and primary contractor elimination. I go inside to identify which specific contracts need ending versus which might be legitimate employment agreements mixed in with the slavery."
"You're going into a slave market personally?"
"I need to verify targets. Contract Sense works best with direct observation." Kael stood, preparing to move. "Besides, I have this."
He pulled out Elder Greaves' jade token—still valid, still granting minor sect authority.
"You're going to walk into an illegal operation with official credentials and just... inspect it?" Yan Shou's tone mixed disbelief and admiration. "That's audacious."
"That's efficient. They'll assume I'm a corrupt elder checking his investment. By the time they realize otherwise, you'll be dissolving their contracts from outside." Kael transmitted through his network: "All positions ready. Operation begins in ten minutes.
Mei Xing, coordinate reception stations for freed individuals. Chen Wei, document everything. Feng, perimeter security—no one escapes."
Twenty-four acknowledgments rippled back.
"One question," Yan Shou said as they prepared to move. "What happens if you find contracted individuals who don't want freedom? Some slaves internalize their bondage, prefer the security of ownership to the terror of autonomy."
Kael was silent for a moment. "Then we free them anyway. And provide psychological support to help them adjust. Consent given under duress isn't valid consent—that's fundamental contract law."
"Even if they genuinely prefer slavery?"
"Preferences formed in captivity aren't reliable indicators of actual desires. They're survival mechanisms." Kael's marked hand pulsed. "We break the chains first. Then let them choose in freedom what they actually want."
"That's... surprisingly principled."
"That's logically consistent. My contract theory only works if it's universally applied.
Allowing exceptions for 'willing slaves' creates precedent that undermines the entire framework." Kael started walking toward the warehouse complex. "Now move into position. We begin shortly."
The warehouse entrance was guarded by two Foundation Establishment first stage cultivators—competent enough to intimidate mortals, not competent enough to question a sect elder's authority.
Kael approached with absolute confidence, jade token displayed prominently.
"Inspection," he said, his tone carrying the bored authority of someone accustomed to obedience. "Elder Greaves sent me to verify operational compliance with resource extraction quotas."
The guards exchanged glances. "We weren't informed of any inspection—"
"Elder Greaves doesn't require your permission to audit his investments." Kael's voice hardened. "Are you questioning sect authority?"
"No, Elder, but—"
"Then step aside." Kael moved past them before they could formulate further objections, his Contract Sense already mapping the interior.
The main floor was a processing center. Seventy-three individuals in various states of bondage—some physically chained, others wearing contract marks that glowed with sickly green light. Very different from Kael's black chains. These bindings pulsed with active compulsion, forcing obedience through pain rather than obligation.
"New inspector?" A voice called from the back. Zhao Ming—Kael identified him immediately through spiritual pressure signature. Mid-forties, well-fed, wearing expensive robes. "Elder Greaves usually sends advance notice."
"This is surprise inspection. Identifying inefficiencies in operational structure." Kael pulled out a notebook, making show of recording observations. "Your contract enforcement mechanisms are crude. Pain-based compliance reduces productivity by approximately thirty percent compared to obligation-based binding."
"I'm sorry, who are you?" Zhao Ming approached, suspicion finally overriding habitual deference.
"Kael Yuan. Contract specialist. Elder Greaves hired me to optimize his various investments." Kael met Zhao Ming's eyes directly. "These slavery operations are inefficient. I'm recommending restructuring."
Recognition flashed across Zhao Ming's face. "Kael Yuan. The one they tried to execute. The pathway bearer." His cultivation flared. "GUARDS! We have an—"
Yan Shou's power struck from outside.
Reality shuddered. The coercive contracts binding the seventy-three slaves simultaneously dissolved, their sickly green light evaporating like morning dew under harsh sunlight. The bound individuals collapsed as their compulsions vanished, suddenly free but disoriented.
"What—" Zhao Ming spun toward the sensation, confusion warring with rage.
Kael's marked hand blazed. "Contract dissolution isn't pleasant, is it? Feeling your carefully constructed exploitation network collapse in seconds?"
"You—you're destroying my property!" Zhao Ming's cultivation surged toward attack.
Kael activated his prepared defense—a network contract linking all twenty-four active members. Their collective strength flowed through him, Foundation Establishment second stage power meeting coordinated Qi Condensation resistance enhanced by supernatural binding.
The clash shattered windows and cracked walls.
"They're not property," Kael said, his voice amplified through contract network. "They're people you've been exploiting through fraudulent agreements. That ends now."
The warehouse doors exploded inward. Yan Shou entered, void-dark eyes blazing with Ruin power. Behind him, Feng's Iron Fist members and Mei Xing's operation flooded in, establishing perimeter control.
"Sequence 6 Ruin bearer," Zhao Ming's face went pale. "This is—this is Chain Order jurisdiction! You can't just—"
"I'm operating under temporary alliance with a monitored Binding bearer. Eliminating exploitative contracts that damage legitimate contract framework reputation." Yan Shou's power swirled around him like visible darkness. "You have two choices: surrender peacefully or be ended along with your operation."
The slave market's guards moved to defend their employer, but Kael's network cut them off. Coordinated attacks, enhanced by contract binding, overwhelmed the scattered defenders within minutes.
Zhao Ming tried to flee, but Chen Wei had already blocked the rear exit, documenting everything with methodical precision.
"It's over," Kael said, approaching the trapped contractor. "Your coercive bindings are dissolved. Your enforcers are captured. Your victims are free."
"You self-righteous—you're no better than me! You bind people too!" Zhao Ming's desperation was palpable. "How is your contract network different from mine?"
"Consent. Time limits. Fair exchange. Dissolution clauses." Kael's tone remained clinical. "My contracts create mutual obligation. Yours created ownership. The distinction is fundamental."
"Philosophical semantics! You're just a slaver with better marketing!"
"Perhaps. But my 'marketing' includes actually caring whether the contracted individuals benefit from the agreement." Kael gestured to the freed slaves, now being tended by Mei Xing's people. "When was the last time you asked if your property was satisfied with their terms?"
Zhao Ming lunged desperately, cultivation flaring in final suicide attack.
Yan Shou's hand touched his chest. "End."
The attack dissolved. Then Zhao Ming's cultivation began unraveling, Foundation Establishment base collapsing inward as Ruin power consumed it. The man screamed as eighty years of accumulated power evaporated in seconds.
"Not death," Yan Shou said coldly. "But you'll never cultivate again. Never enforce contracts through power. Never own another person." He released Zhao Ming, who collapsed as a powerless mortal. "That's the freedom you gave others. Now experience it yourself."
Kael watched dispassionately as Zhao Ming sobbed, his power gone, his empire dissolved. "Feng, secure him for city authorities. Chen Wei, document the contract records—evidence for prosecuting the entire slavery network. Mei Xing, begin transition processing for the freed individuals."
His network moved with coordinated efficiency, transforming a slave market into a liberation operation within minutes.
Kael moved among the freed slaves, his Contract Sense reading their states. Seventy-three individuals, traumatized, disoriented, many having been bound for years. Some looked relieved. Others looked terrified—freedom after prolonged captivity was its own kind of trauma.
"Medical evaluation for everyone," Kael transmitted. "Food, water, clean clothing. Temporary housing in the warehouse—we'll clear space. And someone who can provide psychological counseling for trauma processing."
"That's going to cost significant resources," Feng noted.
"I budgeted for it. This operation was always about more than just destroying Zhao Ming's network." Kael pulled out prepared documents. "Anyone who wants employment with fair contracts can negotiate with me. Anyone who wants independence gets three months of stipend support while they establish themselves.
Anyone who wants to return to their home cities gets travel expenses covered."
One of the freed slaves—a woman in her thirties, contract marks still fading from her skin—approached hesitantly. "You're... you're really just letting us go? No new contracts? No obligations?"
"I'm offering options. You choose which to accept, if any." Kael's voice softened slightly, approaching something like compassion. "You've been denied choice for too long. That changes now."
"But you're a contract bearer. Don't you want to bind us?"
"I want to build a network of willing participants, not traumatized captives." Kael's marked hand pulsed with three-colored light—Chain Order silver, Deception iridescence, Ruin void-darkness. "Exploitation damages my long-term reputation. Fair dealing builds it. The mathematics favor liberation."
The woman stared at him, trying to understand someone who justified kindness through self-interest. "You're a strange man."
"I'm an efficient calculator in human form." Kael gestured toward where Mei Xing was organizing reception. "Get evaluated. Make your choice when you're ready. No pressure, no coercion."
She left, confusion and cautious hope warring on her face.
Yan Shou approached from behind. "You actually meant all that. The transition support, the free choice, the lack of coercion."
"Of course. Forcing traumatized individuals into contracts would produce unstable bindings and poor performance. Much more efficient to offer genuine support and contract only with those who voluntarily choose it after recovery." Kael's tone remained analytical. "In three months, maybe twenty of the seventy-three will contract with me. That's acceptable ratio."
"You really can't separate altruism from calculation, can you?"
"Why would I? They're not opposed. Good ethics is good business is good mathematics." Kael turned to survey the liberation operation. "Besides, destroying Zhao Ming's network opens market space for my own contracts. Humanitarian and strategic objectives align perfectly."
Yan Shou laughed. "I think you might actually be the most honest person I've ever met. You admit your self-interest so completely that it becomes a kind of integrity."
"Honesty is efficient. Deception requires tracking false narratives, which is cognitively expensive." Kael started walking toward the exit. "Come. We have two more slave operations to eliminate before the day ends. The eastern district needs systematic cleansing."
"You're planning to liberate three slave markets in one day?"
"Planning is complete. Now we execute." Kael's marked hand blazed with dark light. "Efficiency requires momentum. We begin the second operation in two hours."
They left the warehouse as his network coordinated freed slaves, gathered evidence, and processed the liberation operation with mechanical precision.
Behind them, seventy-three people who'd been property began the slow, difficult journey back to personhood.
And Kael Yuan, the calculator who couldn't feel compassion but could certainly calculate its optimal application, continued his systematic war against exploitation.
Not because it was right.
But because the mathematics demanded it.
And the mathematics were always correct.