[HOST INTEGRITY: 25%]
[LOCATION: THE LAST STOP FACTORY - COURTYARD]
[TIME: 3:30 AM (THE NEXT NIGHT)]
The twenty-four-hour truce was a lie. Ren knew it, and the Bailiffs certainly knew it.
In the Underworld, a "Stay of Execution" wasn't a pause; it was just time for the executioner to sharpen the axe.
Ren stood in the center of the courtyard, his breath misting in the cold air. He had spent the last twenty hours preparing. The factory looked different. The piles of scrap metal weren't just piles anymore; they were Barricades, arranged in a jagged maze designed to funnel intruders into kill zones.
Ren had used his new [Contract Sight] to identify the weakest points of the perimeter—the places where the spiritual "zoning laws" were thin—and reinforced them with high-density spiritual waste.
"Boss," Red Dog grunted, pacing near the gate. The Triad leader was edgy. His four arms twitched, hands hovering near his cleavers. "The fog is coming back. It smells like... graph paper."
Ren adjusted his Crow Mask, the beak gleaming in the moonlight. He checked the Auditor's Revolver in his holster.
Six golden bullets. Sixty dollars worth of ammunition. A heavy investment for a startup that was barely breaking even.
"They aren't sending the Bailiffs this time," Ren said, his voice raspy and distorted by the mask. "Bailiffs are for seizing assets. If they wanted to seize us, they would have brought a SWAT team."
"Then who is coming?" Lian asked, drifting down from the warehouse roof.
"Someone to change the map," Ren whispered.
The white fog rolled in again, thick, silent, and sterile. It rolled over the cracked asphalt, erasing the graffiti and the dirt, leaving the ground looking unnaturally clean.
But there was no marching sound this time. No clanking chains.
Instead, there was a soft whirring sound. Like a camera lens focusing.
Whirr. Click. Whirr.
A single figure emerged from the mist.
It wasn't a faceless drone. It was a tall, thin man wearing a beige field vest over a crisp dress shirt. He had a theodolite—a land-surveying camera—mounted on a tripod slung over his shoulder.
His face was remarkably human, except for his left eye.
His left eye was replaced by a glowing red laser lens that scanned everything constantly.
Ren narrowed his eyes. The [Contract Sight] skill flared to life, decoding the entity.
[ENTITY: THE SURVEYOR (CLASS C+)]
[AFFILIATION: NETHER-CORE ZONING DEPARTMENT]
[FUNCTION: REALITY MAPPING & BOUNDARY CORRECTION]
[THREAT LEVEL: ADMINISTRATIVE HAZARD]
The Surveyor didn't speak. He set up his tripod fifty feet from the gate with practiced, robotic movements.
He peered through the lens.
Click.
A red laser grid projected from the camera. It swept over the factory walls.
Wherever the laser touched, reality shifted.
The rusted gate didn't just look broken; it looked Invalid. The bricks didn't crumble; they flickered like a bad video signal.
"Plot 402," the Surveyor muttered, his voice sounding like dry leaves rasping together. "Boundary dispute detected. Unauthorized structures found. Initiating Correction Protocol."
He adjusted a knob on the camera.
The factory wall groaned. A ten-foot section of the solid brick wall simply deleted itself. It didn't explode. It just vanished, as if someone had used an eraser tool on a drawing.
"He's erasing the cover!" Lian shrieked, backing away. "He's editing the map!"
"Red Dog!" Ren barked. "Flank him! Don't let him focus that lens!"
Red Dog roared and charged. He moved fast for a giant, closing the distance in seconds, his cleavers raised to split the intruder in half.
The Surveyor didn't look up from his camera. He didn't even flinch. He just spun a dial on the side of the device.
Click.
A bright red laser line appeared on the ground in front of Red Dog.
[BARRIER: PROPERTY LINE]
Red Dog hit the line and bounced off like he'd slammed into a solid wall of diamond. The impact shook the ground.
"Restricted Access," the Surveyor mumbled, bored. "Trespassers will be... relocated."
The Surveyor turned the camera toward Red Dog.
The red lens flared.
Red Dog screamed as his legs began to fade. Not disappear—but relocate. His legs flickered out of existence and reappeared ten feet to the left, while his torso remained in place.
The spatial disorientation sent the massive spirit crashing to the ground, vomiting ectoplasm.
"He controls the space," Ren analyzed rapidly. "He defines what is 'Here' and what is 'There'. Physical speed is irrelevant if he can just rewrite the distance."
Ren stepped out from the barricade.
"Hey!" Ren shouted.
The Surveyor paused. He looked up. His laser eye locked onto Ren.
"Occupant," the Surveyor said. "You are outside the designated residential zone. Stand still for deletion."
The camera swiveled toward Ren. The red grid began to focus on Ren's chest.
Ren didn't run. He didn't summon a shield.
He drew the Auditor's Revolver.
"I'd like to file a complaint," Ren stated, leveling the heavy iron gun.
The Surveyor sneered. "Projectiles are prohibited in this—"
He twisted a dial. The air in front of him shimmered and warped, folding over itself layers deep.
[DEFENSE: ZONING SHIELD]
[EFFECT: INFINITE DISTANCE]
Any bullet fired into that distortion would travel forever and never hit him. It was the ultimate defense against ranged attacks.
"Your gun is useless," the Surveyor stated. "The distance between us is now infinite."
Ren smiled beneath his mask.
"Distance?" Ren whispered. "I'm not firing distance. I'm firing Price."
BANG.
The golden flash illuminated the fog.
CHA-CHING!
The bullet flew straight into the warped space of the Zoning Shield.
According to the laws of physics, it should have been trapped.
But the bullet was made of Spirit Coin. It carried the concept of a "Bribe."
The warped space rippled. The "Infinite Distance" looked at the gold, accepted the payment, and collapsed instantly. The path straightened. The bribe was taken.
CRACK.
The bullet punched straight through the Surveyor's camera lens.
Glass shattered.
The Surveyor screamed—a high-pitched, digital shriek of agony. He reeled back, clutching his face. The tripod fell over, sparking.
The red laser grid vanished.
The reality of the factory snapped back into place. The missing wall reappeared with a loud POP. Red Dog's legs flickered and reattached to his body, leaving him groaning in the dirt.
Ren walked forward, the gun still raised. Smoke curled from the barrel, smelling of burnt gold.
The Surveyor was on his knees, blue spiritual blood leaking from his shattered eye. The destroyed camera lay in pieces next to him.
"You... you broke the lens..." the Surveyor gasped, his voice trembling. "That is... company property... value 5,000 coins..."
Ren stopped five feet away.
"Bill me," Ren said coldly.
He aimed the gun at the Surveyor's head.
"You have two options," Ren stated, his voice echoing in the silent courtyard.
"Option A: I fire again. The next bullet costs me ten dollars, but it costs you your existence. I will wipe you off the payroll permanently."
The Surveyor trembled. He looked at the black muzzle of the gun. He knew Ren wasn't bluffing.
"Option B," Ren continued. "You declare this land 'Unsurveyable'."
Ren pointed at the swirling white fog.
"Atmospheric interference. Equipment malfunction. You couldn't get a reading."
The Surveyor hesitated. He looked at his broken equipment. He looked at Ren's ruthless green eyes.
He realized this wasn't a standard eviction. This was a hostile negotiation. And he was just a mid-level employee. Dying for Nether-Core wasn't in his contract.
"Unsurveyable..." the Surveyor wheezed. "Yes. The fog. Too thick. Equipment malfunction."
He pulled a crumpled form from his vest pocket. With shaking hands, he stamped it with his own blue blood and threw it on the ground.
[SURVEY REPORT: FAILED]
[REASON: ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARD]
"Wise choice," Ren said, lowering the gun. "Get off my lawn."
The Surveyor scrambled backward, grabbing the wreckage of his tripod. He didn't look back. He retreated into the white mist, running much faster than he had arrived.
The fog began to lift. The red warning lights in Ren's vision faded.
Red Dog limped over, rubbing his head. "He erased my legs, Boss. For a second, I didn't have legs. I was just... torso."
The Triad leader looked at Ren with a new mix of fear and respect. Ren had just out-gunned a reality warper.
"He was rewriting the local code," Ren said, holstering the gun. The barrel was still hot against his hip. "Nether-Core is testing us. First the Law. Then the Geometry."
Ren looked at the sky. Dawn was approaching in the human world, which meant the Underworld shift was ending.
"They won't send another surveyor," Ren predicted. "That failed. They can't delete the land, and they can't seize the assets."
"So we won?" Lian asked, hopeful.
Ren shook his head. He turned to look at his employees—the ghosts, the gang members, the foreman.
"No. If a company can't acquire the property, they try to acquire the talent."
[SYSTEM ALERT]
[QUEST COMPLETED: DEFEND THE PERIMETER]
[REWARD: UNLOCKED 'EMPLOYEE BENEFITS' TAB]
[HOST INTEGRITY: 25%]
Ren walked back toward the office, his mind already racing.
"Lian," he called out. "Get the paperwork ready. We're going to have a job fair."
"A job fair?" she asked, confused. "Are we hiring?"
Ren stopped at the door.
"No," he said grimly. "But Nether-Core is. And tomorrow... the Headhunters are coming."
[Author Note:]
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
Ren Wu: 1
Nether-Core: 0
But now the HR Department is waking up. And Miss Onboarding is far scarier than a Surveyor.
Contract Signed! We are officially in business! Drop a Power Stone to celebrate! 🎉