The elevator to the Middle Ring didn't rattle. It hummed.
Kai stood in the center of the freight lift, his hands deep in the pockets of his new Conductive Trench Coat. The heavy, gold-threaded fabric hummed against his skin, a comforting weight that whispered of protection. Beside him, Nova checked the charge on her EMP rifle for the third time, her helmet sealed, the glowing slit narrowed to a razor-thin line.
They were rising. Leaving the Sump behind.
"Heart rate?" Nova asked, her voice digitized.
"Steady," Kai lied. His heart was a drum in his chest.
< LIE DETECTED. > Cipher chuckled in his mind. < YOUR CORTISOL LEVELS ARE SPIKING. YOU ARE NERVOUS. GOOD. NERVOUS KEEPS YOU ALIVE. >
The elevator slowed. The air pressure changed, popping Kai's ears. The smell of ozone and rot faded, replaced by something sterile—filtered air, scented with synthetic jasmine and ozone.
The doors slid open with a soft chime.
Kai stepped out, and the light hit him.
It wasn't the harsh, industrial glare of the factories, nor the dim bioluminescence of the Sump. It was a riot of color.
The Middle Ring was a canyon of glass and light. Towering arcologies stretched up into the haze, connected by transparent sky-bridges. Holographic advertisements, ten stories tall, danced in the air, selling everything from genetic modifications to vacation simulations.
[ LOCATION: SECTOR 44 (MIDDLE RING) ][ AIR QUALITY: 92% ][ AMBIENT QI: MODERATE (FILTERED) ][ SURVEILLANCE LEVEL: EXTREME ]
Kai blinked, his upgraded eyes adjusting instantly to the sensory overload. The Entropy Sutra didn't just see the lights; it saw the code behind them.
The air was thick with data. Wireless streams, ID tags, transaction logs—it was a blizzard of information.
< MASK YOUR SIGNATURE. > Cipher warned. < YOU ARE A VIRUS IN A STERILE ROOM. IF THE SYSTEM SEES YOUR IP, THE INQUISITORS WILL DROP ON US IN SECONDS. >
"Nova," Kai whispered. "The cloak."
Nova tapped her wrist. A shimmer of distortion rippled over them. To the naked eye, they looked like two generic maintenance workers in gray jumpsuits. To the cameras, they were static.
"We have twenty minutes before the cloak degrades," Nova said, moving into the crowd. "Stay close."
Kai followed. The people here were different. They were taller, cleaner. Their skin glowed with health—or expensive cosmetic mods. They walked with purpose, their eyes glazed over as they interacted with internal HUDs, buying, selling, consuming.
To Kai, they looked like cattle.
[ NPC: CORPORATE DRONE (CLASS C) ][ THREAT: NEGLIGIBLE ][ KARMA SCORE: 450 ]
Every person had a score floating above their head. Karma. The currency of the soul, tracked by the Void Financial Group. It determined where you lived, what you ate, and how long you lived.
In the Sump, Kai's score was effectively zero. Here, he was surrounded by wealth.
"Don't look at them," Nova hissed. "Look at the objective."
Kai looked up.
Dominating the skyline of Sector 44 was a monolith of black glass and gold steel. It rose like a needle, piercing the smog layer above.
[ TARGET: NODE 7 - KARMA PROCESSING CENTER ][ HEIGHT: 120 STORIES ][ DEFENSES: KINETIC BARRIERS / LASER GRID / SERVER ASCENDANT GUARDIAN ]
"That's it," Kai said. "The Bank."
"The Foundation," Nova corrected. "The old hull. We need to find the service entrance. It should be in the sub-structure."
They moved through the neon-lit streets. Kai felt exposed, despite the cloak. He kept his hand on the hilt of the Void-Edge hidden under his coat.
They reached the base of the tower. It was a fortress. Automated turrets scanned the plaza. Guards in sleek, white armor stood at the main gates—Sanctifiers, the private security of Void Financial.
[ TARGET: SANCTIFIER ][ CULTIVATION: LOGIC GATE (MID-STAGE) ][ EQUIPMENT: PLASMA RIFLE / RIOT SHIELD ]
"We can't fight them," Kai noted. "Not here."
"We go under," Nova said.
She led him to an alleyway behind a noodle bar. There was a heavy grate in the ground, marked with bio-hazard symbols.
"The cooling exhaust," Nova said. "It leads directly to the heat exchangers beneath the server room."
Kai looked at the grate. "It's welded."
"Decompile it."
Kai knelt. He placed his hand on the metal.
[ OBJECT: GRATE ][ COMPOSITION: TITANIUM ALLOY ][ INTEGRITY: 100% ]
"Quietly," Nova warned.
Kai focused. He didn't use force. He used finesse. He targeted the molecular bonds of the weld points.
Unbind.
The metal turned to gray dust. The grate came loose without a sound.
Kai lifted it aside. A blast of hot air rushed up.
"After you," Kai said.
The maintenance tunnels beneath the Bank were a stark contrast to the luxury above. They were cramped, dark, and humming with the sound of massive fans.
They crawled for ten minutes until they reached a vertical shaft. Cables thick as pythons ran up the walls.
"This is the main trunk," Nova whispered. "The data lines. They go straight up to the processing core on Level 50."
"We're climbing?" Kai asked.
"We're hacking," Nova said. She pointed to a junction box on the wall. "That's a hardline access point. If we plug the Mystery Core in there, we can override the internal sensors. But we need to get past the physical security first."
She pointed up.
Thirty meters above them, a laser grid blocked the shaft. Red beams crisscrossed in a deadly net.
[ OBSTACLE: LASER GRID (CLASS 4) ][ DAMAGE: INSTANT MOLECULAR SEPARATION ]
"I can't decompile light," Kai muttered.
< NO. BUT YOU CAN BEND IT. > Cipher suggested. < THE STATIC FIELD. IF YOU MODULATE THE DENSITY OF THE AIR, YOU CAN REFRACT THE BEAMS. CREATE A HOLE. >
Kai looked at the grid. It was tight. He would need precision.
"I'll go first," Kai said.
He activated his Qi. The red lines on his skin glowed in the dark.
He climbed.
When he reached the grid, he stopped. The heat from the lasers was palpable.
He raised his hand.
[ SKILL: STATIC FIELD ][ MODE: REFRACTION LENS ]
He pushed a bubble of dense, distorted air in front of him.
The red lasers hit the bubble and bent. They curved around the space Kai occupied, creating a small, safe tunnel through the net.
"Hurry," Kai grunted. The Qi drain was immense. -10 Qi/Second.
Nova climbed past him, slipping through the hole in the light. She reached the junction box above the grid.
She pulled a cable from her suit and jacked in.
"Looping the sensors," she muttered. "3... 2... 1... Grid down."
The lasers vanished.
Kai exhaled, dropping the field. His reserves were at 400/500.
"Good work," Nova said. She looked at the Mystery Core—the cube—which Kai had handed to her. She plugged it into the junction box.
The cube lit up. Blue lines of code raced across its surface.
[ SYSTEM: NODE 7 SECURITY ][ STATUS: COMPROMISED ][ ADMIN OVERRIDE: ACTIVE ]
"We have the keys," Nova grinned beneath her helmet. "Let's go to the vault."
Level 50. The Karma Processing Center.
The elevator doors opened onto a scene that looked more like a cathedral than a bank. The ceiling was vaulted, supported by pillars of black marble. The air was freezing cold to protect the servers.
In the center of the room stood a massive, glowing column of blue light.
The Ledger.
It was a holographic representation of every transaction in the sector. Numbers spiraled around it like a digital tornado.
And guarding it were two Arbiters.
They weren't human. They were towering, floating constructs of gold metal and hard light. They had no legs, hovering on anti-gravity fields. Their arms were cannons.
[ TARGET: SECT ARBITER (CONSTRUCT) ][ THREAT: EXTREME ][ WEAKNESS: LOGIC CORE (CHEST) ]
"Two of them," Nova whispered. "I can jam one. Briefly. The other is yours."
"I'll take the left," Kai said. He drew the Void-Edge.
The plasma blade ignited, but it wasn't blue anymore. It was a dark, unstable purple—the result of the upgrades.
[ WEAPON: VOID-EDGE ][ OUTPUT: 100% ]
"Now!"
Nova raised her EMP rifle and fired. A pulse of blue ion energy struck the right Arbiter. The machine shuddered, its golden shields flickering.
Kai sprinted.
He moved faster than he ever had before. Agility 2.8. He was a blur.
The left Arbiter swiveled toward him. Its cannon glowed red.
ZOOOM.
A beam of thermal energy slashed the floor where Kai had been.
Kai slid, passing under the beam. He felt the heat singe his hair.
He leaped.
He didn't attack the armor. He attacked the code.
"Decompile!"
He slapped his left hand onto the Arbiter's chassis.
[ TARGET: GYRO-STABILIZER ][ ACTION: DELETE ]
The Arbiter listed violently to the side, its anti-grav engine failing.
Kai swung the Void-Edge.
SHIIING.
The purple blade sliced through the gold plating of the machine's chest like it was paper. It severed the logic core.
The Arbiter went dark and crashed to the floor.
[ TARGET NEUTRALIZED ][ QI: +20 ]
Kai landed, spinning around.
Nova was struggling. The second Arbiter had rebooted its shields. It was advancing on her, charging its cannon.
Kai threw his hand out.
[ SCRIPT: GRAVITY WELL ]
He couldn't crush the machine, but he could slow it. He increased the gravity around the Arbiter by 200%.
The machine dipped, its engines whining.
Nova seized the chance. She fired a magnetic grenade. It clamped onto the Arbiter's faceplate.
BOOM.
The machine's head exploded. It slumped.
Silence returned to the cathedral.
"Clear," Kai said, breathing hard.
They walked to the Ledger. The blue column of light hummed with the wealth of a million souls.
"This is it," Nova said. She plugged the Mystery Core into the Ledger's interface.
"What are we doing?" Kai asked. "Stealing it?"
"No," Nova said. "We're redistributing it."
She typed a command.
[ EXECUTING: ROBIN_HOOD.EXE ]
The blue light turned green.
[ TRANSACTION: TRANSFER ALL ASSETS ][ TARGET: SECTOR 99 (LOWER RING) ][ AMOUNT: 50,000,000 KARMA ]
"We just erased the debt of everyone in the slums," Nova said, her voice trembling with excitement. "And we credited every active account with enough Karma to buy a year's worth of food."
Kai watched the numbers tumble. He saw the wealth of the Void Financial Group draining away, flowing down into the Sump.
"They'll notice," Kai said.
"They already have," Nova replied.
The room turned red.
[ ALERT: SECURITY BREACH ][ LOCKDOWN INITIATED ][ DEPLOYING: THE AUDITOR ]
A section of the wall slid open.
A figure stepped out.
He was human, or he looked it. He wore a pristine gray suit. He held a briefcase. He had no face—just a smooth, blank screen where his features should be.
The Auditor.
[ TARGET: THE AUDITOR (ELITE USER) ][ CULTIVATION: SERVER ASCENDANT (EARLY STAGE) ][ SPECIALIZATION: DELETION ]
"Transaction denied," the Auditor said. His voice didn't come from a mouth; it came from everywhere at once.
He opened the briefcase.
It wasn't empty. It contained a black hole.
A vortex of darkness swirled inside the case, pulling at the light, pulling at the code.
[ WARNING: SINGULARITY DETECTED ][ ESCAPE: IMPOSSIBLE ]
"He's going to wipe the sector," Nova screamed. "He's going to rollback the transaction!"
Kai stepped in front of the console. He raised the Void-Edge.
"Cipher," Kai said. "Can we crash him?"
< HE IS A WALKING FIREWALL. BUT EVERY SYSTEM HAS A BACKDOOR. >
< KAI. USE THE SUTRA. DON'T FIGHT HIM. CORRUPT HIM. >
Kai looked at the Auditor. He looked at the black hole in the briefcase.
He didn't attack. He sheathed his sword.
He walked toward the Auditor.
"You want to audit me?" Kai asked.
He raised his hand. The gray vortex in his Dantian spun, matching the rotation of the black hole.
[ SKILL: LOGIC BOMB (MAX OUTPUT) ]
"Let's see who crashes first."
Kai grabbed the briefcase.