Asset Acquisition

"Xie Ruolan! By order of the Void Sect Internal Affairs Directorate, you are under arrest! Surrender peacefully, and your… cooperation… will be noted!" The lead pursuer barked, his high-tech stun rifle leveled as it seemingly emits wisps of spiritual energy, the other five fanning out to cut off any of her escape routes.

Xie Ruolan stood defiant, her back to the wall, the data-case held protectively.

Her face was noticeably pale but her eyes burned with a cold, unyielding light. She was clearly preparing to fight, or perhaps trigger a self-destruct sequence on the data-case.

Meanwhile, Li Fang held his breath until…

Now! The QFS flashed the command as it found the most optimal timing to execute its plan.

The young man didn't hesitate.

He activated the overloaded Ghost Candles, their core flaring with an angry, unstable light, and hurled them with all his strength towards the pursuit squad's exposed right flank.

Simultaneously, he authorized the QFS to channel the 5 Qi-Credits of focused energy.

An invisible lance of power shot from his QFS interface towards the junction box he'd spotted earlier on the alley wall, just as the system had predicted.

The Ghost Candles didn't just pop, they scattered and detonated just like how he was warned of their instability.

PZZZT!

A dazzling, disorienting flash of chaotic Qi, harmless visible light, and a surprisingly loud concussive crackle erupted beside the squad.

More importantly, their scrambler component, amplified by the overload, momentarily pulsed out a wave of broad-spectrum interference, causing the pursuers' helmet comms and optical targeting systems to briefly fritz with static.

BOOM!

At the exact same instant, the targeted power conduit junction box exploded with a violent shower of blue sparks, a sharp ozone smell, and a localized electromagnetic pulse.

The alleyway's primary lighting fixtures shattered, plunging the scene into flickering, unreliable emergency strobes.

The pursuers' advanced targeting systems, already struggling with the scrambler burst, momentarily lost their lock.

"Ambush!" One of the enforcers shouted, disoriented by the flash and the sudden darkness. "Energy surge! Go! Scan for additional hostiles!"

In that precious, manufactured chaos, Li Fang lunged from the shadows of the refuse containers, his worn enviro-cloak billowing noisily.

He ignored the enforcers, his focus entirely on the stunned figure of Xie Ruolan. He grabbed her arm with a grip that surprised even himself.

"Move! Now! This way!" He called out in an urgent, commanding voice.

Xie Ruolan reacted with the instantaneous reflexes of someone accustomed to betrayal and sudden violence.

There was no hesitation, no questions. Her eyes, cold and sharp even in her obvious fear, assessed him in a fraction of a second.

She saw the ragged clothes, the desperation in his eyes but also the unexpected competence. The sheer audacity of his intervention was incomprehensible, but she didn't have any other choice at the moment.

She moved with him, her earlier grace returning as she matched his pace, plunging back into the labyrinthine maze of alleys and service tunnels from which he had just emerged.

They sprinted through the disorienting passages, the sounds of the Void Sect pursuit team shouting confused orders and trying to regroup fading behind them, but undoubtedly not for long. They were professionals. They would recover quickly.

[Evasion Maneuver Partially Successful (Temporary).]

[Pursuers regrouping.]

[Estimated Reaction Time: 45 seconds]

[Recommend immediate relocation to a secure, defensible position for assessment and planning.]

As he listened to the mechanical voice in his head, Li Fang spotted it. A gaping hole in the side of a derelict warehouse, its internal structure filled with the skeletal remains of forgotten textile machinery. It was dark, probably unstable, but defensible.

"In here!"

They ducked inside to the half-opened entrance as the sudden silence of the warehouse enveloped them, thick with dust and decay, feeling heavy and oppressive after the frantic chase.

Li Fang leaned against a rusted, cold girder, his lungs burning as adrenaline thrummed through his veins.

He'd done it. He'd actually done it. He risked everything, and it had worked, so far.

Xie Ruolan didn't collapse. She moved immediately to a shadowed position near the warehouse entrance, listening intently for any sounds of pursuit, her hand still protectively on the data-case. Her breathing was controlled despite the clear exertion. She had been running for who knows how long and yet, she still couldn't relax.

Finally, when several tense minutes had passed with no immediate sign of the Void Sect enforcers, she turned to him.

Her analytical gaze pierced him, stripping away his ragged exterior.

"Who are you?" She asked in a cool, suspicious tone but with a small hint of gratitude in them, "And why in the name of the Ten Thousand Cycles did you just interfere with a Void Sect Internal Affairs operation?"

Li Fang managed a ragged gasp, wiping sweat and grime from his brow with the back of his glove.

"Oh. Name's Li Fang," He managed with a weak grin. "And let's just say I have a profound, deeply personal aversion to Void Sect collectors. And anyone else who thinks they can just… foreclose on a soul."

He gestured vaguely with his free hand towards the air where his QFS interface shimmered, invisible to her. "And my… associate… indicated you might be a particularly valuable asset."

Xie Ruolan's eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly. "Associate? Asset?" 

She took a small, almost involuntary step back, suspicion instantly hardening her features. Her grip tightened on the data-case. "What kind of game are you playing, scavenger?"

"Let's see. The survival game?" Li Fang tilted his head as he pushed himself upright, trying to project a confidence he didn't entirely feel. "Same as you, I suspect. Look,"

He met her gaze directly, "They know where you were. They won't stop hunting you. I have… unconventional resources. You have knowledge they clearly want, knowledge that I might desperately need to navigate the hellscape they call an economy."

He took a shallow breath, calming the thrumming in his chest, "Maybe we can help each other stay off the CRB's auction block, or worse, the Void Sect's dissection table."

She studied him for a long, unnerving moment with an unreadable expression.

He could practically see the gears turning in her brilliant mind, assessing risk, calculating probabilities, weighing the sheer, desperate improbability of their current situation.

Her gaze flicked down to her data-case, then back to him as a flicker of something unreadable briefly appeared in their depths.

"What kind…" She asked, her voice sharp as a newly forged blade, devoid of any tremor, "...of unconventional resources?"

Li Fang allowed a small, weary, but undeniably genuine smile to touch his lips.

He gestured again to the empty air beside him, towards the silent, omnipresent Quantum Fortune System.

"Let's call it… venture capital," He answered. "Aggressively leveraged. With an extreme prejudice against financial cowardice. Are you interested in discussing a potential… merger?"