Abandoned Geothermal Plant

The silence within the abandoned geothermal exchange node beneath Sector Sigma-5 was serene, quite a clear contrast to the chaotic energy of the Midnight Market or the desperate hum of the Lower Layer thoroughfares.

Deep below the city's active strata, the sound seemed to die, absorbed by the thick layers of concrete, aging insulation, and the hulking, dormant machinery that filled the circular chamber.

Dripping water echoed unnaturally loud from unseen pipes somewhere in the vaulted ceiling, each drop marking the slow passage of time.

Flickering emergency lights, powered by residual energy bleed-off from the defunct geothermal core, cast long, dancing shadows that made the rust-coated turbines and heat exchangers look like slumbering metal beasts.

The air was cool, damp and carried the scent of decay, ozone, and something else – a faint, almost metallic acrid scent that hinted at the deep earth energies long undisturbed.

Li Fang ran a hand along a pitted railing, feeling the grit and the chill that accumulated on it.

He had followed the QFS's topographical overlays through a maze of service tunnels even he, a seasoned scavenger, hadn't fully explored.

The route involved squeezing through collapsed ventilation shafts, navigating flooded maintenance corridors by balancing on corroded pipes, and bypassing several nests of mutated electro-vermin drawn to the node's faint residual energy signature.

Xie Ruolan, despite her refined appearance, had kept pace without complaint, her movements economical and surprisingly sure-footed. She's already used to running away without making a lot of noise.

Her eyes were constantly scanning, analyzing structural integrity, potential threats, and energy fields with an unnerving, almost instinctual precision. 

Her uncanny ability to spot hidden structural weaknesses and bypass failing systems suggested a familiarity with navigating decaying infrastructure that somehow seemed too disconnected from her former life in the pristine towers of high finance. It was another layer to her enigma.

"Hmm? Li Fang, this will do," Xie Ruolan stated finally as they stopped moving after entering another cavernous space. She ran a gloved hand over a dusty, inert control panel near the chamber's center, leaving a clean streak.

Her assessment was swift, clinical and devoid of any appreciation for the haunting grandeur of the industrial ruin.

"This primary chamber offers defensible sightlines from the upper gantries. Also, there are multiple potential egress routes through those maintenance shafts," She pointed at several sealed bulkhead doors at different levels, "Assuming we can bypass the locks, of course. Only minimal ambient Qi signature leakage is detectable from the main tunnel access. The surrounding rock density provides excellent natural shielding."

Her gaze then fell upon the bulky salvaged components Li Fang had carried laboriously through the tunnels. The heavy logic core, the multifaceted sensor array, and the surprisingly dense power unit scavenged from the disabled and dismantled Repo-Hound drone.

"And," She added with a note of technical interest entering her voice, "the residual power conduits from the geothermal core appear functional, albeit dormant. Enough accessible coupling points to potentially interface… that."

Li Fang carefully lowered the drone components onto a patch of floor relatively free of debris.

The temptation to just sell them off was strong. The QFS had estimated their salvage value at around 150 Qi-Credits. It's a fortune compared to his current paltry balance hovering near 40 Credits after buying the signal jammer.

That amount could buy him precious time against the foreclosure clock, perhaps even cover the principal payment needed to appease the CRB temporarily to halt the timer. But the QFS had been unusually insistent, overriding his initial impulse to liquidate.

[Asset Integration Priority: High]

The QFS had projected in his vision an unequivocal command.

[Repo-Hound Logic Core (Model RH-7) contains adaptable neuro-mimetic processing architecture utilizing bio-quantum entanglement principles. Highly suitable for establishing a secure, decentralized network node for Project Gilded Lily. Architecture allows for advanced encryption layering and potential integration of spiritual warding protocols. Sensor Array components can be repurposed for localized perimeter security monitoring and threat analysis. Power Unit provides the necessary auxiliary energy buffer, independent of compromised municipal grid sources.] [Salvage Value: Trivial compared to Strategic Asset Value.]

Bio-quantum entanglement? Spiritual warding protocols? The QFS's description went far beyond standard drone tech. Most of it was something he had trouble understanding.

This Repo-Hound, despite being common Tier-2 enforcement hardware, clearly possessed internal components more advanced than its outward function suggested. A common practice in Neo-Tian, where even mundane tech often incorporated repurposed or downgraded elements from higher-tier military or Sect-Corp projects. That's how scarce components were for the people at the Lower Layers.

The potential to use its 'brain' to build their secure network hub was strategically invaluable.

"Alright, System," Li Fang said as he crouched beside the dull grey casing of the logic core. It felt strangely inert, yet he sensed a faint, complex resonance within, like a sleeping mind. "Walk me through it. Interface protocols. Power requirements. How do we plug this thing into a five-hundred-year-old geothermal plant without blowing ourselves up?"

What followed was several hours of intense, focused work, a bizarre symphony of cutting-edge AI guidance, scavenged hardware, ancient infrastructure, and Li Fang's own burgeoning, unorthodox connection to Qi. 

Guided by precise holographic overlays projected only onto his vision by the Quantum Fortune System, Li Fang physically connected the RH-7 logic core to the geothermal node's primary data conduit. A thick bundle of archaic fiber-optic cables and energy transfer lines nestled within a shielded access panel.

He used salvaged multi-spectrum cables, universal adapters acquired from Old Man Ji ages ago and his sheer force of will or maybe sense of survival? Sometimes he had to physically etch new contact points onto the drone core's casing with a vibrating micro-tool when standard interfaces failed.

Simultaneously, the QFS instructed him to channel small, incredibly precise bursts of Qi, drawn primarily from his remaining Qi-Credits, supplemented by the QFS's own meager passive income stream, into specific, seemingly inert circuits within the geothermal node's control systems.

The process didn't feel like fueling a technique but instead, it's like a spiritual acupuncture on ancient machinery.

The Qi acted as a temporary catalyst, bridging gaps in the decayed circuitry, activating dormant energy pathways just long enough for the RH-7 core to establish a handshake, drawing minimal power directly from the node's residual thermal differential.

It felt like performing microsurgery with a lightning bolt, demanding intense concentration.

Sweat beaded on Li Fang's forehead, which stung his eyes as he focused. Floating in front of his vision, the QFS provided constant feedback.

[Energy flow stabilizing…]

[Interface handshake protocol 65% complete…]

[Warning: Minor power fluctuation detected in Auxiliary Conduit Gamma-3 – compensate with 0.02 second modulated Qi pulse at 7.8 KHz…] [Accepted.]

[Link established.]