CHAPTER 33 — INTEREST
The man who smiled closed the file slowly.
Not because he needed time to think.
Because he enjoyed precision.
He sat in a room without windows.
Not underground.
Just irrelevant to geography.
Screens lined the walls.
Markets.
Satellites.
Social sentiment graphs.
All orbiting a single anomaly.
"Absolute deterrence," he repeated softly.
"A myth pretending to be a metric."
Around him, analysts waited.
They did not interrupt.
They knew better.
"Power like this doesn't end systems," he continued.
"It forces them to reveal their assumptions."
He gestured at the data.
"And assumptions can be exploited."
Someone spoke carefully.
"He hasn't shown hostility."
The man nodded.
"That's why he's interesting."
He rewound footage.
Not the fights.
The pauses.
Moments where Li Chen chose restraint.
"He believes accountability must be visible," the man said.
"So let's test visibility."
Thousands of miles away, Li Chen felt nothing.
No threat.
No warning.
Just a sense that the air had grown observant again.
The System stirred.
[SYSTEM PHASE III — ANOMALY DETECTED]
[External actor modeling user behavior]
[Intent classification: UNCERTAIN]
Li Chen frowned slightly.
"Who?" he asked.
The System paused.
[SYSTEM RESPONSE]
[Unknown]
That answer was rare.
The man issued instructions.
Not orders.
Designs.
A supply chain audit here.
A humanitarian crisis amplified there.
Leaks timed to provoke moral response.
"Don't oppose him," the man said.
"Invite him."
Within days, reports surfaced.
A refugee corridor blocked by bureaucracy.
Aid ships delayed by paperwork.
Nothing illegal.
Everything deniable.
Li Chen saw the pattern.
Too clean.
Too balanced.
The System flagged contradictions.
[SYSTEM ALERT]
[Ethical signal manipulation suspected]
Li Chen clenched his jaw.
"Someone's staging suffering," he said.
Grant confirmed it hours later.
"They're baiting you," he warned.
"Not with violence. With need."
Li Chen stood still for a long time.
Helping would validate the manipulation.
Ignoring it would cost lives.
The System asked quietly.
[SYSTEM QUERY]
[Which outcome violates your constraints more?]
Li Chen opened his eyes.
"So that's the game," he murmured.
Far away, the man watched new data stream in.
Heart rate patterns.
Decision latency.
He smiled wider.
"He's thinking," he said.
Li Chen finally moved.
Not toward the crisis.
Toward the source.
The System spiked.
[SYSTEM WARNING]
[Direct engagement with unknown actor]
[Outcome uncertainty HIGH]
Li Chen didn't slow.
"Good," he said.
The man looked up as his screen changed.
A single notification.
Visitor en route.
For the first time, his smile faltered.
Interest sharpened into something else.
The game had escalated.