Fortune 026: Robbery

Despite being a modern, upscale city, the area beneath the overpass was filthy.

Perhaps it was because sunlight had been absent for so long; a foul stench lingered under the overpass, even though there wasn’t much visible garbage.

“This damned rain, falling at the drop of a hat—doesn’t heaven have any justice left?” the man grumbled, cursing under his breath.

He glanced at Nan Shi, who was also drenched, and felt a sense of kinship—two souls fallen on hard times. Deciding to let bygones be bygones, he refrained from taking issue with Nan Shi any further.

He sat down wherever he pleased and began stuffing his intestines and such back into his abdomen. Offhandedly, he asked, “Just got down here, huh? Still getting used to things, aren’t you?”

Though he phrased it as a question, his tone was one of certainty: “Don’t stress. The main system should’ve sent you a newbie guide. Just follow along.”

Nan Shi shrank into the shadows, stunned by the visual shock. Reason told him he should keep calm and composed, but his brain was only screaming, “Aaaaah! There’s a ghost!” He wanted to look at the man but didn’t dare, so he answered with forced casualness, “Yeah… I just arrived. First thing that happened was the rain—I don’t even know where to take cover.”

“Totally normal,” the man said, pulling a plastic wrap from his pocket and wrapping it around his abdomen, tying it tight. Nan Shi peered closer and realized it was just a plastic bag. The man continued, “You’re doing pretty well. Just got here and already assigned to this district. This is a middle-class neighborhood, you know.”

“Your assigned residence should be nearby. Just follow the navigation system.”

“…Thank you,” Nan Shi replied hesitantly. He couldn’t exactly tell the man that he had never received any so-called newbie guide.

“Alright, don’t mention it. You’ll get used to it soon enough.” The man caught some rainwater and washed his face; at last, he looked a bit more human. He wiped his hands on his clothes, then extended one towards Nan Shi. “Name’s Zhuo Wen. Everyone around here calls me Old Zhuo. I make a living in this area. If you live nearby and anything breaks at home, give me a shout.”

“Fridge, TV, washing machine, game console, even your drain—I can fix them all.”

“Thanks a lot, brother!” Nan Shi took his hand and shook it. Old Zhuo gripped his hand just firmly enough, then let go.

With his face washed clean of blood and grime, this ghost actually looked rather handsome and well-featured. How had he ended up in such a state? Zhuo Wen must have poor eyesight; he squinted slightly when he looked at Nan Shi. “Why don’t you check where your house is? I’ll walk you to the entrance.”

Nan Shi glanced at the gloomy sky outside and shook his head. “Never mind, who knows when this rain will end. I’ll go myself later.”

“Alright then.” Zhuo Wen wiped his wrist, and suddenly a translucent, pale blue screen popped up above his arm, displaying something like a QR code. “Let’s add each other as contacts. If you need me, you know how to reach me.”

Nan Shi broke out in a cold sweat.

What the hell was this?! Huh? The underworld was this high-tech—wouldn’t he be exposed as an undocumented spirit the moment he set foot on the street, and then get dragged off to the local bureau?

Anyone know how many years you get for illegal immigration in the underworld?

Bracing himself, Nan Shi swiped at his own wrist several times, looking bewildered. He apologized, “Sorry, I’m not sure how to use this… It’s not responding?”

Zhuo Wen replied, “You’re doing it wrong—use your right hand.”

Nan Shi had to switch arms and swipe a few more times, then looked at him, exasperated. “Still nothing… Bro, can you fix this?”

“Of course not,” Zhuo Wen said, instinctively reaching up to touch the bridge of his nose but stopping just before making contact. “Forget it. When the rain stops, I’ll take you to the information center and have them take a look. If the chip’s broken, you won’t even be able to get into your place.”

He explained, lest Nan Shi didn’t understand, “It’s pretty much the hi-tech version of a smartphone—your ID, SIM card, bank card, even your access card are in there. If anything goes wrong, you need to fix it right away, or you’ll be in some serious trouble.”

“…There’s no need, really. I’ll handle it myself,” Nan Shi said.

Zhuo Wen waved him off, all easy confidence. “Relax, I’m not up to anything bad. The underworld is blanketed in surveillance and AI patrols. If I tried something, I’d get it worse than you. Give me two more years and I’ll be upgraded to ordinary citizen status—I’m not going to mess that up. Helping you lets me earn some merit points and speeds up my upgrade.”

“Oh, that’s how it works?” Nan Shi feigned a sheepish look, as if Zhuo Wen had seen through his suspicions, and quickly changed the subject: “So… when do you think this rain will stop?”

“At least another two hours.” Zhuo Wen tapped his wrist, withdrew the screen, and began unpacking the things he’d brought. He looked at Nan Shi first. “You don’t mind, do you?”

“Do as you like.” Only now did Nan Shi notice that Zhuo Wen had two burlap sacks, which he proceeded to dump out. Inside were assorted items resembling small home appliances, along with some bits of metal.

Somehow, Zhuo Wen produced a hammer and wrench, and, after much banging and clattering, broke the appliances into various pieces. He put the obvious metal bits into one bag and tossed the rest into another.

Clearly, Zhuo Wen’s livelihood depended on scavenging. Judging by his own words, most spirits were assigned homes upon arrival—yet some actually made a living collecting trash?

At one point, a sharp piece of metal cut Zhuo Wen’s hand. He simply popped it into his mouth, unfazed, and kept working.

Nan Shi watched for a while, but quickly grew bored. With no phone to distract him, he fished six copper coins from his bag and started telling fortunes, just to rack up some experience.

For example: what exactly did “master fate and you shall live” mean? Unfortunately, the divination was too difficult. Nan Shi tried the question over a dozen times, changing the wording each time, but the answer was always disastrous. He could only comfort himself that one shouldn’t divine for oneself, and soon turned to other questions.

Would he get sent to the bureau in a while?

Auspicious—the answer was yes.

And what would happen there?

Supremely auspicious—nothing to worry about, the outcome would be good.

Was Zhuo Wen a good man?

Most auspicious—he was a benefactor.

Nan Shi couldn’t help blurting a curse. Shoving his coins back into his bag, he sidled over to soak up some luck. “Bro, is there anything I can help with?”

“You know how to do this?” Zhuo Wen eyed him with suspicion.

Nan Shi flexed his barely visible biceps. “I did all my own renovations at home—taking things apart, no problem.”

“Alright.” Zhuo Wen didn’t stand on ceremony, simply gesturing to the sack. “Just help me sort the stuff inside.”

“No problem, bro!” Nan Shi bent his head to the task; one of them dismantled, the other sorted and packed. They worked together in unexpected harmony.

Halfway through, an old man in red stormed beneath the overpass, cursing, “What the hell kind of damned weather is this!”

The old man looked even worse off than them—his red outfit pasted wetly to his body. The garb was odd: an eye-blinding shade of crimson with no patterns, knee-length yet with very short sleeves, revealing an arm band that flashed with red light on the old man’s exposed arm.

Nan Shi meant to greet him, but Zhuo Wen quickly pulled him aside. “That’s a fierce ghost.”

“Beep—Unit A2123 has deviated from its assigned route. Warning, warning, please return to the designated route,” suddenly intoned a cold female voice.

The old man rolled his eyes. “What the hell?! I want to file a complaint! System discriminates against ghost rights! I have the right to take shelter from the rain!”

“It’s not even urgent, just a damn delivery! What’s with all the warnings? I’m not even late yet!”

His armband’s red lights flashed furiously for a moment, then a voice responded: “Report received. We apologize for the system oversight. As compensation, your mission time will be extended three hours past the end of the rain.”

“Yeah, that’s more like it! Useless system, making me rush around and not even giving me subway fare…” Only then did the old man, apparently satisfied, find a spot as far from Nan Shi and Zhuo Wen as possible to sit, clearly uninterested in conversation.

Before long, Zhuo Wen had finished sorting his two sacks of junk. He thought for a moment, then tossed something to Nan Shi. “Here, your wages.”

Nan Shi looked down to see a silver shard, one-tenth of an ingot. He remembered Qing Lan saying an ingot was worth three hundred yuan, so this shard was worth about thirty.

Nan Shi accepted it without protest. “Thanks, brother!”

Sure enough, the rain stopped after about two hours. Nan Shi poked his head out, ready to ask Zhuo Wen to accompany him to the bureau and see just how “auspicious” the outcome would be. Suddenly, the old man in red was standing right in front of them. “Hey, you two! Have you seen my thing? A big red pearl.”

Zhuo Wen and Nan Shi both shook their heads honestly. “No.”

A sly glint flickered in the old man’s eyes. “You’re lying! You definitely saw it!”

He jabbed a finger at Nan Shi. “It had to be you—look, I won’t hold it against you if you just hand over whatever’s in your bag as compensation.”

Nan Shi protested, “What? Sir, are you trying to extort me? I haven’t even gone near you!”

“I’d think carefully before you answer.” The old man smiled, his kindly face somehow sending a chill down Nan Shi’s spine.

Nan Shi was about to retort, but Zhuo Wen pulled him aside and spoke respectfully, “Please understand, sir—he’s just arrived, a new soul and can’t even find his own home yet… He doesn’t know the rules. Let me explain things to him.”

“At least there’s someone who understands the rules,” the old man said.

Zhuo Wen whispered, “Don’t fight back. I’ll explain later. Just hand over anything valuable. Keeping your life is what matters.”

Nan Shi, frustrated, just wanted to avoid trouble. He rummaged in his backpack for the two silver ingots his senior brothers had given him, threw in the shard he’d just earned, and handed them over. “This is all my family gave me…”

The old man inspected them closely, then tossed them aside, unimpressed. “No, something else! Dump out your whole bag!”

Nan Shi wanted to curse but stopped at a look from Zhuo Wen. He upended his bag, and a tortoiseshell fell to the ground with a smack.

The old man’s eyes instantly fixed on it. “That one! Give it to me!”

Nan Shi stooped to pick up the tortoiseshell and stood up.

As he straightened, greed gleamed ever brighter in the old man’s eyes, shining as if lit from within.

Nan Shi extended his hand—and in the next instant, swung the shell like a brick and smashed it down on the old man’s head. Somehow, whatever power the shell held, the old man dropped without a sound, unconscious.

He stared at Zhuo Wen’s gaping expression and yelled, “What are you looking at?! Run!”

And, not forgetting his two silver ingots, snatched them up again before fleeing.

That was food money! He couldn’t forget! If he was careful, six hundred yuan could last a whole month!

Assuming food in the underworld wasn’t six hundred a bowl!

Fearing Zhuo Wen couldn’t run fast, Nan Shi even helped carry a burlap sack. The two of them, panting, made it up to the overpass. Zhuo Wen immediately looked up at a camera and shouted, “A fierce ghost just tried to rob us! We knocked him out, under the XX Overpass, help!”

The camera responded at once. Zhuo Wen’s wrist chip seemed finally to be functioning: a beam of light shot out, encircling both Nan Shi and Zhuo Wen.

A voice came from the chip: “Your alarm has been received. The system has locked onto offender A2123. Police will arrive at the scene in three minutes. Please remain where you are.”

“Thank you for your contribution to public security. Your reward will be transferred shortly—please check your system manual.”

For someone who preferred lying down to sitting, and sitting to standing, this mad dash had left Nan Shi exhausted. Panting, he said, “Brother Zhuo, why didn’t you use that thing sooner?!”

Zhuo Wen, equally out of breath, replied, “You think I didn’t want to? That fierce ghost is an A-class. He could have killed us both before the light curtain went up, then where would I be? By the way, that tortoise shell of yours—what is it? How’d you knock him out with one hit?”

“No idea,” Nan Shi replied. He’d already stuffed the shell back in his bag, and when he pulled it out again, it looked like an ordinary tortoiseshell, much like the ones his senior brothers had given him. “My family left it to me… The police here really are efficient, huh? A minute and they’ll be here?”

“Yeah. Keep your things hidden—just say you used that to fight!” Zhuo Wen pressed a wrench into Nan Shi’s hand.

“OK, OK.” With that, three minutes had passed. A classic black-and-white police car swooped out of the sky and landed before them. Several men in black suits emerged—one remained with them while the others headed for the overpass.

The one in black addressed them impassively: “I am Black Impermanence, AI1201. Thank you for your cooperation. Please board the car and assist us in compiling evidence.”

Zhuo Wen nodded, hauling Nan Shi into the car.

From the outside, the vehicle looked plain, but within, it was surprisingly luxurious—an extended model with face-to-face seating. Black Impermanence draped blankets over them, gave them hot water, and then returned to his seat, his face blank.

“Thank you,” Nan Shi said quietly.

Black Impermanence replied without a flicker, “It is our duty to serve citizens.”

Nan Shi was about to say more, but Zhuo Wen interrupted, “No point—he’s AI, just running programmed routines.”

“What? AI?” Nan Shi eyed Black Impermanence with disbelief. “This is AI? Can they even handle fierce ghosts?”

“Bionic robots. One of him could take out three A-class fierce ghosts like that one.” Zhuo Wen sipped his hot water, finally in the mood to explain. “That fierce ghost was on parole with lots of ability, so sometimes they get sent on important assignments to make up for past crimes.”

“Not all fierce ghosts are evil, but if you make A-class, it means you committed very serious violations. Their sentences are usually indefinite, so they don’t care if they kill a few more. You get it?” Zhuo Wen added. “But normally they don’t cause much extra trouble.”

Nan Shi dutifully raised his hand. “So if these A-class fierce ghosts are put to work, what if they kill people? Isn’t it too late by the time anyone comes to the rescue?”

Black Impermanence, previously silent, suddenly spoke: “Monitoring along the XX Overpass tunnel is currently down. Officials will repair it during the next inspection cycle. In the meantime, citizens should avoid unmonitored areas to prevent similar incidents.”

“Wow… Really smart.” Nan Shi murmured in awe.

Zhuo Wen smiled faintly but did not comment.

Nan Shi never expected to ride to the bureau in a police car. Once there, the process was unexpectedly fast—apart from a handful of busy pedestrians, nearly everything was handled by robots.

Only the magistrate was human.

They were led to a room where a young man in a long coat sat behind a plaque reading Judge. He frowned slightly. “Regarding the LQ-J0149 incident, you have three minutes to explain.”

Nan Shi was about to speak, but Zhuo Wen took the lead. “Nan Shi and I were taking shelter under the XX Overpass when we encountered fierce ghost A2123. A2123 attempted to rob us. We defended ourselves with tools at hand, knocked A2123 unconscious, then fled and called the police for help.”

The judge nodded. “Present your evidence.”

Nan Shi quickly laid the two silver ingots from his bag on the table. After a swipe of laser scanning them, the judge added, “A2123’s fingerprints confirmed. Evidence validated. Black Impermanence AI1201, please verify.”

“Verification complete,” the robotic voice replied.

The judge typed a few quick notes into his computer. “That’s all, you may go. Next!”

Nan Shi was amazed. He whispered to Zhuo Wen, “That’s it?”

“The judge is busy—if it hadn’t been an A-class, we’d only have seen an AI,” Zhuo Wen replied. “There’s a free checkup next, and then you’re done—just in time to fix your chip.”

“…Blast! I forgot about that!”

Stepping onto a conveyor belt, Nan Shi stared down endless corridors, thinking that escape was now an utter impossibility.

At the medical center, the two of them were shuffled into different entrances. Fully expecting doom, Nan Shi walked in to find a human-looking doctor explaining, “Now, don’t be too rigid—when you encounter this situation, first check the person’s ID and see why their chip’s missing, how they got into the city, and pull their records… And look, there are merit points too; it’s all in the dossier. In this case, just issue a replacement.”

“Honestly, why does the warehouse keep sending idiots like you my way? You actually need me to spell this out? I’m going to file a grievance, I mean it!”

Before Nan Shi could hear more, a painful prick on his right wrist sent him through the scanning chamber—similar to an MRI. Soon, the doctor’s attitude was gentle as ever as he handed over the report, “A bit sub-healthy, young man. Don’t think you can slack off just because you’re dead! You can still get fat after death… Let’s see—newly deceased, accumulated quite a lot of virtue! My condolences, welcome to the underworld. With your virtue plus this incident’s merit points, you qualify for a high-end apartment.”

“Congratulations, you’re set for an easy ride.”

Dazed, Nan Shi accepted his report. The doctor gave him a manual on using the chip, then sent him out to meet up with Zhuo Wen. “All set?”

“Yeah, thanks, brother!” Nan Shi replied.

Zhuo Wen clapped him on the shoulder. “Come on, I’ll walk you to your new neighborhood.”

---

“What has the young master done today?” Chi You asked indifferently.

“Reporting to the sect master…” Qing Lan hesitated, fresh from visiting Nan Shi. Noticing Chi You’s displeasure, she pressed on, “Young master… Young master used the tortoiseshell you gave him to knock out a fierce ghost who tried to rob him. He had his identification chip issued, and, after defeating the fierce ghost and contributing to public order, earned so many merit points that he was assigned to the luxury apartment district next to ours.”

In truth, Nan Shi did have an official identity. Before bringing him to the underworld, Chi You had made every arrangement, including a fake ID that he’d loaded into the River of Oblivion system.

The false identity also bore the name “Nan Shi”, with a life history almost identical to his own, except it wasn’t actually Nan Shi—three years from now, if Nan Shi failed to meet expectations, that would become his only real identity.

Chi You: “…”

He had given Nan Shi the tortoiseshell—had he really meant for him to use it to hit people with?!

What?!