Act II: The Confrontation
Chapter 3: First Attempt and "The Fleeing One"
Chen Fan felt like he was back in university finals week, his mind buzzing with frantic, overclocked energy.
"Information tagging," he muttered, staring at a crumbling advertisement wall plastered with bounty notices and public bulletins.
In his vision, the wall dissolved into a stream of floating data.
[Advertisement: Old Li's Flying Sword Repair / Threat Level: Low / Value: None / Note: Proprietor researching flying sword-to-drone conversion. High explosive risk.]
[Bounty: Lost Tier-2 Spirit Beast—Rhinoceros Beetle / Threat Level: Medium / Value: High (Owner is a confirmed Dark Cultivator).]
Chen Fan couldn't help a grin. This was like a hardcore RPG with built-in strategy guides and tooltips!
"A system? No, I'm better," he thought, rubbing his hands. "A system gives fixed answers. I get real-time analytics. I see the world's true code."
Step one was clear: secure resources.
"Heal. Get funds. Find shelter."
He focused his gaze on seemingly discarded items and corners, filtering out the visual noise.
[Alley Corner: Discarded Metal Crate / Threat Level: Negligible / Value: Low-Grade Regenerative Serum x1 / Note: Tastes foul. Will stabilize critical physical trauma.]
He hurried over and pried open the rusted container. Inside, a single transparent injector gleamed, labeled [C-Type Nutrient Solution. For External Tissue Repair.]
"Score!" Chen Fan injected the serum into the burn on his arm. A cooling wave washed over the pain, and the angry wound began to knit itself closed.
With his ability confirmed, he scanned for higher-value targets, moving down the ruined boulevard, ignoring tags marked [High Risk], [Trap], or [Empty].
A new tag caught his eye.
[Maintenance Tunnel Access / Threat Level: Medium / Value: High (Rare Botanical: Frostleaf Corestalk) / Note: Acquisition target is currently evading pursuit. Will transit this point in approximately 180 seconds.]
"Frostleaf Corestalk? That's premium currency in any cultivation setting!" Chen Fan's pulse quickened. But the "evading pursuit" tag was the real lure.
"An encounter trigger. A rare herb, a chase... textbook protagonist intro sequence."
If the protagonist was on the run with a treasure, offering aid was the classic play. Earn favor, maybe snag a discarded reward.
He slipped into the shadows beside the tunnel mouth, concealed behind a corroded ventilation pipe.
Minutes later, a figure emerged—a youth covered in grime and grit, wearing clothes more patch than fabric. His eyes held a sharp, hunted alertness.
Chen Fan's vision instantly populated with data.
[Subject: Han Li / Affiliation: Prospective Outer Disciple, Yellow Maple Valley (Unconfirmed) / Combat Assessment: Qi Refinement, 4th Layer / Assets: Low-Tier Spatial Pouch, Unidentified Catalytic Vessel (Dormant) / Psychological Profile: Pathologically cautious, survival-primary / Warning: Do not reference the vessel. Do not disclose foreknowledge.]
It's really him. Han the Fleeing One! Chen Fan's mind raced with triumph.
The warnings barely registered. Foreknowledge is my advantage. I just have to avoid the taboo topics.
He settled on a strategy of enigmatic benefactor.
He stepped from the shadows, affecting an air of detached wisdom.
"Young cultivator. Your steps are harried, your spirit in disarray. Fortune has been unkind today."
Han Li whirled, his hand darting toward his waist. His eyes took in Chen Fan's stained, slogan-printed shirt and overly confident smirk, hardening with instant suspicion.
"Who asks?" Han Li's voice was flat, devoid of warmth.
"This one is called Chen Fan," Chen Fan said, giving an awkward, unpracticed cultivator's salute. "A passerby. I observe a thread of significant destiny about you, yet it is currently tangled with a shadow of violence."
"Violence?" A micro-expression of fear flashed and was buried. "You misinterpret. I am merely foraging."
"Foraging?" Chen Fan moved closer, dropping his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "For a Frostleaf Corestalk, perhaps? The one currently in your possession? Your pursuers are nearly upon you."
Han Li froze, his face losing all color. Every instinct screamed that this stranger was either a scout for his enemies or something far worse—someone who knew.
[Han Li: Trust Metric: -50 (Active Hostility) / Status: Initiating evasion protocols.]
The negative readout didn't faze Chen Fan. He's scared. This is where I build the debt.
"Do not panic," Chen Fan whispered urgently. "I am not your enemy. I am… an opportunity. A chance to avert a greater calamity. Listen, you will soon meet an elder named Mo. He does not seek a disciple, he seeks a—"
"Over there! The signal is strongest here!"
A shout cut through the damp air. A man in the stark uniform of a martial academy, flanked by two operatives with sleek, modified energy rifles, burst into the clearing.
"The herb is on him! Secure it!"
Chen Fan glanced at the new arrivals. Tags flared.
[Primary Pursuer: Drill Instructor, Pinnacle Combat Academy / Combat Assessment: Quasi-Martial Artist (Tier 2) / Qi Refinement (3rd Layer) / Flaw: Energy systems incompatible. Capability reduced by ~40%.]
A hybrid. Poorly optimized. Good.
"Han Li! No time! For the sake of the power you will one day wield, I'll hold them! Take the herb and go!" Chen Fan shouted, spreading his arms in a dramatic, blocking stance.
In Chen Fan's script, Han Li would be overcome with grateful relief, flee, and leave behind a token of future obligation.
In Han Li's reality, Chen Fan was a deranged variable who knew too much, had possibly led the hunters here, and was now trying to maneuver him into a trap. The stranger was a greater threat than the academy enforcers.
[Han Li: Status: Maximum survival priority engaged.]
As Chen Fan braced to lunge, Han Li moved with shocking speed.
A flash of something dark left Han Li's hand. "A necessary diversion."
A dense, acrid smoke bomb erupted at Chen Fan's feet. Simultaneously, Han Li's foot hooked a puddle of stagnant water, drenching Chen Fan's legs.
In the blinding, choking cloud, Han Li's form blurred. He executed a low, flowing movement—the Gale Steps technique from the Evergreen Manual—and vanished into a side tunnel like a phantom, leaving no trace, and certainly no herb.
Chen Fan stumbled, coughing, eyes streaming.
"You treacherous—! After everything I—!"
The smoke cleared. The lead pursuer glared at Chen Fan. "The asset is on him. Apprehend him!"
Chen Fan stared, empty-handed. "I don't have it! He's gone!"
[Chen Fan: Status: Designated scapegoat. Engagement failed.]
Fury and disbelief warred within him. His entire "I-know-your-destiny" advantage had backfired spectacularly, transforming into the ultimate mark of suspicion.
His only consolation was a final, fleeting data-snapshot from his vision as Han Li disappeared: within the spatial pouch, amidst mundane supplies, was the faint outline of a simple ceramic pot holding soil and a single, dormant seed.
The Vessel... is a flowerpot now? Even the cheat items get localized?!
No time for outrage. The instructor's fist, crackling with unstable hybrid energy, was already arcing toward his head. Chen Fan turned and ran, sprinting desperately for the location tagged [Low-Security Refuge: Pre-Collapse Public Archive].
Chapter 4: The Archive and the Archetype
Chen Fan burst through the heavy doors of the archive, gasping for air.
The place was a monument to decay. A once-grand concrete structure, its upper floors sheared away, leaving only a fortified central hall. A few shielded bookshelves and flickering data-terminals glowed in the dim light.
"That paranoid turtle!" Chen Fan slumped against the door, his body throbbing. Not only had he failed to ingratiate himself with a prime protagonist, he'd become his decoy.
The lesson was brutal but clear: in this stitched-world, his foreknowledge wasn't a key; it was a liability. To the inherently wary, it screamed "manipulator."
"Alright. Reassess. You're alive. That's the baseline," he told himself, forcing calm.
He scanned the cavernous hall. His gaze landed on a lone figure seated at a terminal in a distant corner, surrounded by a nest of scattered tools, technical components, and schematics that looked like a fusion of arcane geometry and structural engineering blueprints.
For a second, Chen Fan's heart, already racing from adrenaline, stuttered.
It couldn't be.
His vision automatically tagged her.
[Subject: Lin Xi / Last Known Affiliation: Riverbend Polytechnic Institute, Civil Engineering (Senior) / Combat Assessment: Qi Refinement (1st Layer, Self-Taught) / Specialization: Applied Structural Mechanics / Assets: Low-Tier Barrier Talisman, Engineering Log (Contains 'Static-Dynamic Counterload' Framework Models) / Psychological Note: Hyper-focused. Low environmental awareness.]
Lin Xi.
His university "archetype." The perpetually studying senior he'd silently idealized. She possessed a quiet, unadorned intensity he'd mistaken for aloof grace.
His memories of her were filtered through a lens of narrative fallacy:
· The Library Incident: He was reading pulp action web-novels. She was analyzing Advanced Load-Bearing Dynamics. He'd constructed a story where her seat choice was a subtle signal.
· The Courier Depot: He collected a box of instant noodles. She signed for a crate of industrial-grade alloy brackets. He assumed it was for a DIY project, not potential reinforcement materials.
· The Lecture Hall Skip: He was heading to the gaming cafe. He saw her moving purposefully across campus. He imagined a secret romance. Now, he wondered if it was a meeting of a pre-Collapse study group for esoteric texts.
Each coincidence had been a brick in a fantasy where he was the unnoticed protagonist of her subplot.
And now, here she was. In this hybrid ruin of concrete and residual magic, she was a portrait of intense concentration.
The aches faded. His face rearranged itself into a familiar, confident smile.
"Lin Xi? It is you. Talk about a twist of fate." He approached, aiming for a tone of wry, shared resilience.
She looked up slowly. Her eyes, behind practical glasses, were ringed with fatigue but sharp. Recognition dawned, followed not by warmth, but by immediate wariness.
"Chen Fan." Her voice was even, devoid of the surprise he'd anticipated. "Explain your presence here."
"Just surviving, like everyone else. But seeing you... it feels like a sign, doesn't it? After all those times our paths crossed back at Riverbend?" He sat without invitation, missing how her hand slid protectively over her open engineering log.
"Crossed?" Her voice gained an edge. "You defined proximity as 'crossing paths.'"
"Proximity? Senior, you make it sound so cold! There was a pattern—"
"There was observation," she cut him off, her tone now glacially precise. "Your pattern was to position yourself within my study zones and engage with low-value media. Your 'path-crossing' was a passive strategy with unclear objectives. I found it inefficient and distracting."
Chen Fan blinked, the smile stuck on his face. This was not the script.
[Lin Xi: Trust Metric: -99 (Contamination Risk) / Designation: Persistent Anomaly / Emotional State: Annoyed, pressurized.]
"Look, that's all past. The world's different now. It's dangerous out there! Monsters, rogue cultivators... you shouldn't be alone—"
"Alone?" A humorless, brittle laugh escaped her. She stood up, planting her palms on the table. "You assume I am 'alone'? You assume I am 'helpless'?"
She picked up the engineering log, thrusting its pages toward him. They were a beautiful, terrifying chaos of stress diagrams, spirit-energy flow vectors, and material tensile limits.
"Do you know what this is? This is the foundational schema for a low-power, high-efficiency barrier. Based on redistributing kinetic and mystical force loads via a truncated icosahedron framework. I derived it from a mildewed manual in the special collections titled 'On Adaptive Structural Integrity in Volatile Mana Environments.'"
Her eyes blazed behind her lenses.
"You wondered why I was always in the archives? I was reverse-engineering pre-Collapse metaphysical engineering. The alloy brackets? Prototype reinforcement nodes. My 'errands'? Field tests. Your narrative of coincidence was a failure of perception. I was conducting research."
With a sharp motion, she tapped a seemingly mundane wristband. It glowed with a soft, geometric blue light, and the air around her hands shimmered faintly.
[Custom Defensive Bracer (Prototype) / Defense Rating: 10 (Standardized) / Core: Three Low-Grade Spirit Stones / Note: Design utilizes mechanical principle redistribution. Efficiency 31% above standard artifact of same rating.]
Chen Fan's confident facade crumbled, leaving only stunned vacancy.
The archetype in his mind shattered.
This was not a side character waiting for a cue.
This was another survivor. One who hadn't just seen the change in the world, but had immediately begun to decode and engineer it, using the rigorous, systematic language she already knew. While he was trying to play narrative games, she was building real, functional solutions.
His knowledge was a map of old stories.
Hers was a blueprint for new foundations.