Three days passed without another attack.
The world seemed calm on the surface—too calm. Lin Wei didn't trust it.
He had repelled his first real assault. The villa's defenses, courtesy of the Infinite Card, had proven formidable. But this was no victory. The Black Foundation would adapt. They always did. And the more he used the card, the more he realized: it wasn't just him they wanted.
They wanted whatever controlled the card.
And that meant every action Lin Wei took had consequences far beyond his bank balance.
The app buzzed again that morning.
Not a message.
A contract.
"Mission Opportunity: Recover Item - Codename: Hidden LedgerLocation: Xi'an, Shaanxi ProvinceEstimated Resistance: ModerateReward: Enhanced Access TierPenalty for Refusal: Opportunity Cost + Increased Observer Risk"
A contract?
Lin Wei stared at it. This was new.
Before, the card had given him things. Options. Protection. Now, it was asking something in return.
He tapped for more information. A brief description appeared.
"The Hidden Ledger is a physical object encrypted with the financial patterns of the world's most influential shadow economies.It is currently in the possession of a private collector with known ties to the Black Foundation."
Lin Wei exhaled slowly.
He had no idea how a piece of paper or metal could hold so much power.
But the card wanted it.
Which meant someone else would kill to keep it hidden.
Six hours later, he was on a high-speed train headed west.
He kept his hoodie low and wore contacts that changed his iris color. The app had provided a clean ID, even matching fingerprints and digital footprints. It was like being a ghost with unlimited credit.
The train ride to Xi'an was quiet. He watched fields blur into cities and back into mountains.
He thought about his parents, now happily retired in Hainan. About Chen Peng, still recovering. About Jiang Yue, who now texted daily, asking if he was okay.
He didn't reply. Not yet.
He couldn't let anyone else get pulled into this. Not again.
Xi'an greeted him with dust and history.
Ancient walls. Silent terracotta sentinels. Streets that had seen thousands of years of blood and rebirth.
The app guided him to an estate on the city's edge—discreetly tucked behind a hill, surrounded by traditional architecture and ultra-modern surveillance. The collector, it seemed, enjoyed contrast.
Lin Wei surveyed the compound from a nearby rooftop that night.
One central building. Two guards at the front. Cameras on every corner. Motion sensors on the grass.
The app offered him three options:
• Bribe (Cost: ¥1,800,000 – Risk: Medium)• Hack (Cost: ¥800,000 – Risk: High)• Infiltrate (Cost: ¥100,000 – Risk: Very High)
Lin Wei chose none of them.
Instead, he scrolled down to a hidden fourth option.
• Deploy: Phantom Access Agent (Cost: Classified – Success Probability: 94%)
He tapped it.
Within five minutes, his phone displayed:
"Gate code changed. Cameras looped. Guards redirected. Entry path secured."
He blinked.
Sometimes, the card didn't just bend the rules.
It rewrote them.
Inside, the estate was eerily quiet. Traditional lanterns lit the path. The hallway was filled with priceless scrolls, jade sculptures, and relics from every dynasty.
He moved with care. The app guided him to a reinforced door behind a lacquered bookshelf.
Fingerprint lock. Retina scanner.
Then—nothing.
The lock clicked open.
Inside was a steel case resting on a glass pedestal. No wires. No obvious security.
He approached slowly, heart thudding.
The Hidden Ledger looked like a simple bound journal. Handmade. Leather cover. No markings. But as soon as his fingers brushed it—
His phone buzzed violently.
"Warning: Detected Tracking Beacon.Extraction window: 4 minutes."
He snatched the book, turned, and ran.
Not toward the front.
The villa had another path—underground.
The app had already shown it.
He dropped into a maintenance hatch behind the garden wall and sprinted through a narrow tunnel lined with old heating pipes.
As he emerged from a concealed exit behind the neighboring property, a black drone zipped overhead.
Too late.
He was gone.
Back in a secure hotel—one the card reserved only when it deemed the threat "critical"—he finally opened the Hidden Ledger.
It was blank.
At first.
Then, under a special UV pen the app had activated remotely, lines began to appear.
Bank accounts. Offshore transactions. Names.
Lots of names.
Some familiar. Politicians. CEOs. Arms dealers.
Others were tagged in red.
"Black Foundation Operatives – Active"
At the bottom of the final page was a symbol: a black tree with no leaves, roots spiraling downward like claws.
Beneath it, a question appeared on Lin Wei's phone.
"Upload to network?Action will permanently expose ledger contents to select allied systems.Warning: Upload will escalate global alert level."
Lin Wei hesitated.
This wasn't a rescue. It wasn't about karma or good deeds.
This was warfare.
He thought of Chen Peng. Of Jiang Yue. Of the six men lying unconscious in his villa courtyard.
He tapped Yes.
The upload began.
Twelve minutes later, his app updated.
"Hidden Ledger uploaded.Global financial anomalies detected.Observer Count: 11Karma Alignment: Neutral-PositiveAccess Tier Unlocked: Level 3New Feature: Strategic Forecasting"
A new icon appeared—an eye with a lightning bolt.
Below it, a message:
"You now see what others only suspect.But vision comes with weight.Welcome to Chapter Eight."
Lin Wei sat in the silence of his secure room.
His hands still smelled faintly of old paper and ink.
He'd just declared war on a shadow empire.
And for the first time, he understood—
The card didn't just make you rich.
It made you dangerous.