Quote of the Day: "Cash flow is the lifeblood of any enterprise. When it stops, the enterprise dies. Your creditors don't care about your potential."
---
The faint hum of the improved formation and the lingering scent of free tea could not mask the chilling finality of the scroll Elder Bai now held with trembling hands. The parchment was of fine quality, edged in silver, and sealed with a wax imprint of a sword severing a mountain peak—the sigil of the Void-Severing Pavilion.
Lin Feng watched, his expression a mask of granite, as the old man broke the seal and read the contents. He didn't need to see the words. The sudden drain of color from Elder Bai's face and the way his spiritual aura flickered with despair were data enough.
"It is a formal notice," Elder Bai whispered, the scroll crinkling in his grip. "They have accelerated the debt repayment. The full five hundred Spirit Stones are due... in seven days."
The silence that followed was heavier than any Lin Feng had experienced in a boardroom. This wasn't a negotiation over stock options; it was an execution date.
"On what grounds?" Lin Feng's voice was dangerously calm.
"The clause... the 'Spiritual Instability' clause," Elder Bai said, his voice hollow. "They claim our teahouse's fluctuating Qi signature—which they must have sensed when you repaired the formation—constitutes a risk to the spiritual harmony of the street. It gives them the right to call the debt immediately to 'mitigate instability.'"
Lin Feng's lips curled into a cold, thin smile. So that was their play. He had improved his primary asset, and his competitor was using that very improvement as a weapon. It was a classic, predatory tactic. He'd used similar legalistic maneuvers himself, back when he was the predator.
"Seven days," Lin Feng repeated. He had eleven Spirit Stones. He needed four hundred and eighty-nine more. The free tea tasting, while a valuable intelligence gathering operation, was not a revenue model. It was a prelude. The Pavilion had just canceled the concert and was foreclosing on the hall.
[Primary Quest: The Phoenix from the Ashes - Update!]
[Time Limit Adjusted: 7 Days.]
[Warning: Failure to meet debt obligation will result in asset forfeiture and Quest Failure. Penalty: Soul Dissolution.]
The System's notification was a cold splash of reality. There would be no slow, steady build-up. This was a crisis.
"Grandfather," Lin Feng said, his mind already shifting into a hyper-analytical state, discarding panic as an unproductive variable. "The notice. Is there a specific point of contact? A junior manager we are expected to plead our case to?"
Elder Bai nodded, looking defeated. "A Steward Wang. A petty bureaucrat with a taste for bribes he can never afford on his salary. He delights in the suffering of those beneath him."
A bureaucrat. Perfect. Bureaucrats were predictable. They were creatures of procedure and personal gain. They could be managed, or failing that, manipulated.
"Good," Lin Feng said. He stood up, his weak body feeling like an ill-fitting suit. "We are not going to plead. We are going to request a meeting to discuss 'liquidation options.'"
"Liquidation? But Feng'er, our quest—"
"Is to restore profitability. It says nothing about retaining physical ownership of this specific plot of land," Lin Feng countered, his eyes scanning the room as if it were a balance sheet. "If we can secure a better location with the capital from a forced sale, that is still a path to success. The goal is the enterprise, not the edifice."
It was a lie, of course. Or at least, a massive gamble. The System's quest was specifically to restore this teahouse. But Elder Bai didn't need to know that. Lin Feng needed him compliant, not catatonic with despair. A strategic misdirection to maintain operational morale.
The plan was simple, audacious, and carried the distinct probability of getting them both killed. But it was the only play he had.
---
Steward Wang of the Void-Severing Pavilion was exactly as described. A man in his middle years, with a pinched face and robes that were just a shade too fine for his station. He sat behind a small desk in a bland administrative annex, his expression one of profound boredom that barely concealed a core of pure avarice.
"Elder Bai," Wang said, not bothering to look up from a ledger. "I assume you are here to formally surrender the deed? A wise, if belated, decision."
"Steward Wang," Lin Feng said, stepping forward before his grandfather could speak. His voice cut through the stuffy air of the office. "We are here to discuss the terms of the debt recall."
Wang's head slowly lifted. His eyes, small and piggish, narrowed as they took in Lin Feng. He dismissed him instantly—a Qi Condensation Level 1 brat from a failing family.
"The terms are non-negotiable. Five hundred stones. Seven days. Or we seize the property and everything in it." He smirked. "Including that improved formation core you've been tinkering with. It might cover a fraction of the interest."
The confirmation that they were being actively monitored sent a chill down Lin Feng's spine, but he kept his face neutral. This was a test of leverage.
"Your assessment of the core's value is... quaint," Lin Feng said, his tone dripping with condescension. It was a risk, insulting the man, but a calculated one. He needed to shatter Wang's sense of superiority. "The core is irrelevant. We are here to discuss a different form of payment. Information."
Wang leaned back, his interest faintly piqued. "Information? What information could a family of tea-strainers possibly have that the Void-Severing Pavilion would want?"
"Not what," Lin Feng corrected. "Who." He paused, letting the silence stretch. "The young woman. Chu Yue. Who is she, truly?"
Wang's smug facade cracked for a fraction of a second. A flicker of surprise, then unease. "Disciple Chu is a junior member of our external acquisitions division. Her background is of no concern to you."
"Her background is the only thing of concern," Lin Feng countered, his voice dropping, becoming conspiratorial. He was bluffing with a hand of nothing, but he had to make it look like a royal flush. "She assessed my establishment yesterday. Her focus was not on our debt, or our inventory. It was on our methods. She recognized a shift in operational paradigm. She is not a mere disciple; she is a scout. For a different faction within your Pavilion, perhaps? One that is... dissatisfied with the current, blunt-force acquisition strategies employed by your department."
He was weaving a tapestry from whole cloth, using the single data point of Chu Yue's sharp, intelligent gaze. But corporate politics were universal. There were always factions. There were always rivals.
Steward Wang's face had gone pale. Lin Feng had struck a nerve. The man's department was clearly a low-priority, brute-force collections unit. The mention of a internal rival, of a scout evaluating more sophisticated methods, threatened his entire fiefdom.
"You speak nonsense," Wang hissed, but the lack of conviction was palpable.
"Do I?" Lin Feng pressed his advantage. "Then my proposed payment is this: a stay on the debt recall for one month. In return, I will provide you with a detailed report on Disciple Chu's activities, her contacts, and her assessment of the local market's... inefficiencies. Intelligence you can use to secure your own position."
It was a devil's bargain. Lin Feng was offering to become an informant against a potential ally, all to buy time. The Amoral Flexibility trait he was born with sang in his blood. This was the game he understood.
Wang stared at him, his mind visibly working. The greed for advantage warred with his instinctive caution. A month was nothing in the grand scheme, and the potential intelligence on a internal rival... that was valuable.
[Karma Score Decreased!]
[Trait 'Master of Deceit' has been acknowledged.]
[Trait 'Sincerity (Selectivity)' has been violated.]
[Dao Heart Stability: 12/100.]
[Penalty: Minor Qi fluctuation. Host feels a coldness in the dantian.]
A sharp, icy pain lanced through his core. The System's judgment was instantaneous and physical. He had gained a potential strategic advantage, but at a spiritual cost.
Before Wang could answer, the door to the office opened.
Chu Yue stood there.
Her expression was unreadable, but her eyes swept over the scene, taking in Lin Feng's poised stance and Steward Wang's guilty panic. She had heard everything.
"The Pavilion's internal affairs are not a bargaining chip for debtors, Steward Wang," she said, her voice like chilled jade. Her gaze then shifted to Lin Feng. "And you. Attempting to leverage a narrative you do not understand. A dangerous game."
Lin Feng met her gaze, the icy pain in his dantian a constant reminder of his misstep. He had been caught. His bluff had failed.
But then, a flicker of something else in her eyes. Not anger. Not even disapproval.
It was... appraisal.
She turned back to the terrified steward. "The debt recall stands. But I will be personally overseeing this account. Report any further... proposals... directly to me. Dismissed."
Steward Wang practically fell out of his chair bowing.
Chu Yue's eyes locked with Lin Feng's one last time. "You have seven days, Lin Feng. I suggest you spend them on a solution more substantive than corporate espionage. I am... curious to see what you come up with."
She turned and left, leaving behind a stunned silence.
Lin Feng stood there, his mind re-calibrating. The gambit had failed, but it had yielded new data. Chu Yue was more powerful than he'd assumed. And she was intrigued. She hadn't shut him down; she had given him a challenge.
He had lost Karma, gained a powerful and unpredictable observer, and was still five hundred Spirit Stones in debt with only a week to pay.
But he had also, for the first time, truly begun to play the game on this world's terms.
The hostile takeover bid was official. The clock was ticking. And as he walked out of the administrative annex, the coldness in his dantian slowly fading, Lin Feng knew one thing for certain.
He needed to stop playing defense and start making a real profit.