Shanghai was no longer the city Lin Wei remembered.
It pulsed with life—but beneath the neon lights, something felt off. The air crackled with unease, as if the very soul of the metropolis was being drained. The Infinite Card didn't just show places—it revealed truths.
And Shanghai's karma score was bleeding red.
Three nodes glowed crimson on his app map:
Lujiazui – Corporate corruption hub.
Hongkou – Hidden trafficking network.
Pudong – Karma sinkhole tied to unknown tech anomaly.
Each node represented not just criminality—but karmic instability. The world's balance was slowly unraveling here, and if left unchecked, this city could tip the global alignment into chaos.
Mission Time Remaining: 72:00:00Objective: Purge or redirect negative karma flow at three key nodes.Optional: Prevent Crownless King interference.Bonus: Neutralize traitor-ranked cardholder operating in Hongkou.
He had three days to save a city—without becoming a monster in the process.
Day 1: Lujiazui – Tower of Greed
The gleaming towers of Lujiazui cast long shadows over the Huangpu River, but the real darkness was behind mirrored windows and falsified accounts.
Lin Wei walked into Jianhua Holdings, a shell company involved in laundering government grants through ghost projects. He wasn't alone—his card had authorized the Corporate Disruption Module, a tactical overlay that allowed him to interact with financial systems directly.
Target Karma Node Detected: CEO – Gao WenxiuKarma Score: -89Misdeeds: Embezzlement, proxy exploitation, systemic briberyCounterweight Action Required: Exposure or Rehabilitation
The app offered options:
Option A: Leak financials to global watchdogs.
Option B: Redirect assets to orphanage trust via smart contracts.
Option C: Blackmail Gao into public confession.
Wei selected A and B simultaneously.
His fingers flew across the touchscreen as an AI assistant rooted into the company's smart ledger. Within seconds, ¥920 million was reallocated to verified humanitarian projects. Gao Wenxiu's accounts were exposed across five nations, complete with time-stamped audio recordings auto-translated into English and Hindi.
He received a ping:
Karma Surge: +12Gao Wenxiu arrested. Node stabilized.Observation score increased. Rank elevated to #16.Caution: Enemy interest rising.**
He left the building as chaos erupted inside—police sirens approaching.
One node down.
Day 2: Hongkou – Shadows Beneath
Hongkou's glamour was paper-thin. Beneath it ran a labyrinth of basements, tunnels, and brothels—all powered by a single truth: trafficking.
Lin Wei didn't need guesses. His app painted a living web: names, movements, hidden bank accounts, and the pulsing karma thread that connected them.
But it also revealed something unexpected.
New Alert: Cardholder Detected – Codename: FoxgloveRank: 47Alignment: Neutral-NegativeCurrent Activity: Active DisruptionObjective Conflict: Sabotaging your node cleanup.
Foxglove.
He'd heard whispers in the Board of 108—an ex-Interpol agent turned rogue who used the card to punish people by rewriting their lives.
As he tracked the node to a karaoke bar in a back alley, the Infinite Card vibrated.
Foxglove is watching you.
A figure stepped into the hallway. Red scarf. Smirk. And cold, calculating eyes.
"You're Lin Wei. The prodigy who's all about 'balance'. Cute," she said.
"And you're the judge who never met a jury," he replied.
She clapped slowly. "You really think karma's a scale? It's a weapon. And I only point it at the worst."
"I don't destroy systems. I correct them."
She tilted her head. "Then you're already behind. I already deleted three people today. You should thank me."
They stood in silence.
Then the app gave him a choice:
A: Neutralize Foxglove via EMP trap (karma penalty possible).
B: Outspeak her with proof, convert her alignment.
C: Let her go and secure the node independently.
He chose B.
"Do you even know who owns this bar?" he asked, projecting his phone screen.
Footage played—a girl, barely 16, being trafficked. But what shook Foxglove was the watermark: it was her own previously erased case.
"You didn't delete him," Lin Wei said. "You let someone worse take his place."
Foxglove's face broke—for the first time—into uncertainty.
She turned without a word.
The app buzzed:
Foxglove alignment shifting… monitoring in progress.Node stabilized through indirect intervention.Karma +18. Observer Count +5.Title Earned: Balancer of Scales.
Two down.
Day 3: Pudong – Eye of the Storm
Pudong was silent.
Too silent.
Even the Infinite Card's map was jittery, as if static corruption was bleeding into the signal.
This was no criminal hideout. This was something bigger.
Karma Sinkhole Detected.Root Source: Temporal anomaly around abandoned AI research lab.Access locked until Direct System Override.Risk Level: Crimson.Opponent Detected: Crownless King (Proximity High).
The hairs on Lin Wei's neck stood.
He walked toward the lab.
As he reached the broken gates, time seemed to stutter. Seconds slowed. Light bent unnaturally. His card app froze—then rebooted.
"Override Access Approved.You are entering: The Fold."
Inside, memories not his own flooded him.
Flashbacks from scientists testing karmic compression. Machines trying to quantify fate. A glitch that consumed their lab—and turned it into a repeating karmic echo.
He was inside it now.
"Warning: Fold loops every 9 minutes.Crownless King presence confirmed.Escape only via karmic stabilization."
Then he heard footsteps.
The Crownless King entered the loop.
Masked. Armored in threads of black and gold. A cape that shimmered with time fragments.
"You," the man said, voice layered like echoes.
Lin Wei's voice didn't waver.
"Me."
The Crownless King raised a hand—energy rippled toward him.
The app screamed in red.
Fight Probability: 11%Suggestion: Use Fold Inversion.Karma Resource Dump Required: ¥70,000,000
Wei dumped it all.
Every yuan.
Suddenly, the lab spun. The timeline reversed. The anomaly trembled, reoriented. The karmic flood surged—but into him.
He didn't fight Crownless King.
He outplayed him.
"Anomaly Collapsed.Fold Stabilized.Crownless King Ejected.Tier 4 Achieved. Rank 9.New Title: The Gambler."
Back in his hotel, Lin Wei collapsed.
Three days.
Three nodes.
The city had shifted.
And somewhere, beyond the horizon of human understanding, the Board of 108 took notice.
Because Lin Wei had risen into their top ten.
And now…
they would test if he was ready to lead.