In a windowless Chinese-style decorated room with a square table and three chairs in the middle.

There were three people inside the room. The first two were Felipe and Zoe, sitting on one side of the table. On the other side sat a kindly senior in his mid-60s, wearing a traditional red-colored tang suit.¹The Chinese LOVE the color red.

Placed on the table was a round feng-shui board, along with a cup of bone dice, a small tortoiseshell, and a bottle of alcohol gel.

 

"Mr. and Mrs. Espiga! Good to see you again." - The old man smiled kindly and asked in fluent English with a slight accent.

"It's good to see you too and in good health, Mr. Xun." - Zoe smiled and said politely.

Mr. Xun gave a slight nod and asked.

"How can I help you today, Mr. and Mrs. Espiga? For you to suddenly call in the early morning for emergency divination, even taking up my quality time with my precious daughters." - He asked with slightly narrowed eyes.

"I apologize for disturbing your family activities, Mr. Xun, but this matter is urgent." - Felipe apologized, holding back his disgust with the wretched pervert.

Zoe's gentle smile waned ever so slightly as she cursed in her mind, "Fucking pedophile."

The couple knew through an information broker that Mr. Xun, Xun Peng, used to have a wife and a teenage daughter who died in a car accident. Perhaps because of grief and longing, Mr. Xun began purchasing daughters through the triad human trafficking ring resembling his daughter. As for what he did with those daughters? Well, that is up for anyone to guess.

"I understand... Then, care to describe it?" - Mr. Xun inquired.

Felipe nodded and explained the details. He even took out a few printed samples for Mr. Xun to check.

Felipe was not worried that Mr. Xun would sell out what he disclosed. Although Mr. Xun was affiliated with a Triad, he was neutral and confidential, only having a transactional protection-based relationship with the Triad. Mr. Xun understood that if he started ratting people out, he would find himself dead sooner rather than later.

After Mr. Xun finished listening and went through the information, he frowned.

"Mr. Espiga, I mean no disrespect, but this amount of information is rather... little." - Mr. Xun said in displeasure.

Mr. Xun's power relies on both information and karma. The more he knows, the more accurate it is. Conversely, the less he knows, the less precise he is. Although he can rely solely on karma or information, it is relatively inaccurate.

Generally, the people who come to him have a significant amount of information to work with, but what Felipe brought him was next to nothing.

He only told him the time, company name, involved employees, the blackmail note and materials, the money he lost, and a list of customers who got a generous refund. Sure, it might sound like a lot, but it held nothing substantial over the target. They didn't even know the exact motive, let alone the personal details of the blackmailer. They might as well have brought him nothing.

"I know. Please do whatever you can. If we find him through your divination, I will give you $100,000." - Felipe said generously.

Mr. Xun's eyes lit up. Although he earns $10,000 an hour, an occasional bonus like this was always welcome.

"I will perform to the best of my abilities. No promises." - Mr. Xun replied, not daring to promise anything.

"Good enough." - Felipe nodded, satisfied.

Felipe didn't come to him expecting much. He also knew that his request was a bit excessive. He only hoped to get some clues.

Mr. Xun nodded and didn't dawdle, beginning his work.

He first desensitized his hands with the alcohol gel before taking a palm reading on Felipe.²Always sanitize your hands! Professionalism right there.

"Hm... I can't tell much from the palm reading. It doesn't seem like you have any direct karma with the one you seek. It is as if the one targeting you is doing it casually and without malice, like some child performing a prank. Likely, the one that did it does not have a vendetta against you." - Mr. Xun said in an odd tone.

He then glanced up and asked, "Are you sure you want to continue? I don't believe anything good will come out of this. I can read, however, a large amount of stress. I suggest you go on a nice long vacation with your wife and children."³And that's when you realize how legit he is

Felipe frowned and withdrew his hands, "No, we continue."

"Very well." - The old diviner said and continued his work.

Next, he cast the bone dice into the tortoiseshell and started shaking it. After twenty seconds, he stopped and began looking through the bones as if looking for something.

After some time, the old diviner finished observing and said with a smile, the wrinkles on his face deepening, "Good news, I found some clues."

"Oh? Tell me, what did you find?" - Felipe's eyes lit up.

"Hm. First, it is a Hispanic woman in her early twenties named Rosa. And she looks beautiful, unnaturally so, almost otherworldly, as if sculpted. She also has one female spouse and one male lover. The spouse is a female called Lola, and the lover is a male whose first name starts with G, and I can sense a bit of bad karma between you and him. I can't tell their age and appearance, however. The karma is too little." - Mr. Xun said, although somewhat uncertain of himself.

He originally wanted to say Owner and Secondary Owner, but he figured it was a miscalculation on his side. It sometimes happens.

"Great! That's a good start! Do you know her family name?" - Felipe smiled with clenched fists.

"Eh... No. That's the thing. I can only see her first name, no last name. It's probably because of the lack of information and karma." - Mr. Xun said with his eyes blinking, confused.

Usually, even if he didn't see the last name itself, he would at least glimpse its outline, but he didn't see anything. Mr. Xun blamed it on the lack of information.

"Well, that's good enough. At least we can narrow down the search greatly." - Zoe said positively.

"Indeed. I will now try and divine her location and home." - Mr. Xun said.

He then put away the tortoiseshell and bone dice and used his feng shui vision board.

As he operated it, Mr. Xun's expression grew more bewildered by the minute. A frown slowly manifested on his face as he faced something incomprehensible.

Felipe and Zoe saw his frown but didn't dare disturb him lest they cause him to fail. 

Ten minutes later, Mr. Xun stopped his divination, his frown everpresent on his face. Felipe and Zoe anxiously awaited the results.

"Mr. and Mrs. Espiga." - Mr. Xun sighed. - "I'm sorry, but I did not find her home. I can only roughly determine that she was last in Sacramento city."

Mr. Xun didn't add that he felt that she was currently not in this world, which is odd. Even if someone died, got cremated, and poured into the sea, and would still feel some modicum of lingering presence, and yet he didn't sense her. It was as if she wasn't in this world! He only managed to divine a location with some karma with her.

"That doesn't help much... What about her spouse or lover?" - Felipe frowned and asked, not expecting much.

"I'll check it now. Perhaps there will be some luck with them." - Mr. Xun nodded and continued his work.

After a few more minutes, Mr. Xun shook his head, "I did not manage to find the spouse named Lola. She has too little karma here."

Mr. Xun felt so little karma that he even questioned whether this individual existed in the first place. It was as if the person called Lola had never set foot in this world.

"Then what about the lover?" - Zoe asked, still holding on to a glimmer of hope.

"Hrm... Don't expect much. The karma between those two is very little, but I will try my best." - Mr. Xun nodded but didn't promise anything.

A few minutes later, Mr. Xun's eyes shined.

"Finally! A normal one!" - He rejoiced in his mind.

After the previous odd two, he suspected that he was losing his touch, but luckily, that wasn't the case.

"Haha! Mr. and Ms. Espiga, I found a clue! He lives in a neighborhood called Old North Sacramento. My poor self can't see anything beyond that." - Mr. Xun said and bowed humbly.

Felipe and Zoe looked at each other and smiled.

"We got him!" - They thought in unison.

A neighborhood has, at most, a few thousand people, including children and the elderly. Along with the clue about the first name, his gender, and his likely age group, they could already narrow it down to less than a hundred people.

Also, Mr. Xun mentioned earlier that they have a bit of bad karma with him. All they need to do now is further narrow their search to those with a motive to either harm them or help one of their customers. With their resources and men, this would be a cakewalk.

"Thank you very much, Mr. Xun!" - Felipe and Zoe thanked him.

"You get what you pay for, Mr. Espiga. That is my motto. I believe our time is up now, and I have nothing more to divine for you. Please come again, and next time, please arrange it through the proper channels." - Mr. Xun said, still feeling aggrieved over his lost quality time with his daughters.

Felipe and Zoe didn't want to waste more time, stood up, and left the room.

After they exited the room, they saw the two subordinates playing FIFA with the two girls, with the 14-year-old and 17-year-old watching them.

"GOAL! Hell yeah! Clap*" - The muscular tattooed subordinate shouted excitedly and high-fived the 13-year-old girl next to him.

"Wow, Mister! 5 goals in a row! Your so good at this!" - The 13-year-old said cheerily.

On the other hand, the 16-year-old looked at the skinny bald subordinate, disgruntled.

"You suck." - She said with a tepid expression.

"Shut it." - He replied, pissed off.

The two subordinates were so engrossed in the game that they didn't notice their boss and madam staring at them.

"...Sigh*" - Felipe felt exasperated as he rubbed his nose-bridge, wondering if he should have even bothered bringing the two childish dimwits with him.

"You do it, or I do it?" - Zoe asked while making a clenching gesture with her hand.

"I'll do it. Your power is overkill." - Felipe said and cleared his throat.

[Both of you, stand up.] - He said in anger, his voice carrying strange power within.

As if on command, the two subordinates stood up mechanically while still holding the joysticks, their eyes filled with fear.

[Leave the remotes and go to the elevator.] - He continued, his face filled with displeasure.

The two subordinates, unable to refuse, placed the joysticks down and mechanically walked to the elevator.

"Bye, misters!" - The 13-year-old girl waved farewell.

 

 

After the four guests left, Xun Rong carefully walked into her father's office and asked in Mandarine, "Father, do you need help tidying up?"

"Oh, thank you, little Rong." - Mr. Xun replied with a kind smile.

Xun Rong smiled and began dutifully helping her father.

While Mr. Xun was placing his Feng shui board inside a shelf, he felt a hot body pressing against him, a breath tickling his ear.

"Father, would you like some help here too?" - The 19-year-old asked in a seductive voice, her hand snaking to a place it shouldn't.

However, just as her hand was about to reach it, it was slapped away.

"Little Rong, how often do I have to tell you this? You're my daughter. Respect yourself." - Her father turned around and reprimanded her angrily.

"B-But father, I, I love you..." - She stammered, bottled-up desires and emotions bubbling up.

"No means no! Just because others think I am some sick pervert doesn't mean it should be reality. It is only a facade to protect you, to make them think you're expendable so that they won't use you to get to me." - Her father scolded and explained for the umpteenth time.

"Sigh* You are already old enough. I should consider arranging a marriage for you. Maybe that will get some sense in your thick head." - He sighed and said, leaving the room.

Xun Rong knelt on the ground and started crying. Her father, no, the Man who saved her from her grim fate of being sold into prostitution, the one who treated her a hundred times better than the birth parents who sold her back then to sexual slavery, the one she loves the most, treats her like his biological daughter. Her other sisters were content with this, happy to have such a loving father, but she wasn't.

No matter how she tried all these years, she couldn't make him see her as a female, as a woman. He just thought of her as a replacement for his deceased daughter.

"Why? Why do I suffer this fate? Why are the heavens toying with me like this? Why does he love me as a daughter? I don't care if he is cruel to me. I don't care if he sees me as a sexual outlet. I want him to love me as a woman!" - She thought mournfully in her love-addled mind.

As she cried,  she failed to notice the tiny pink glimmers in her eyes.

 

 

 

 

The next day, early in the morning—

"You're fired!"

A nasally high-pitched voice sounded in an office. An overweight mustached man sat on his over-encumbered chair, his voice as annoying as his personality is.

{...What?} - A young male voice replied over the phone in incomprehension.

"I said you're fired! Are you deaf?!" - The fat manager berated as he is used to.

{W-Wha?! B-But why?!} - The young man cried over the phone in indignance.

"I don't need to explain shit to you, but ill tell you anyway. I got a directive from the higher-ups to downsize. And you got the bullet." - The fat manager explained in an annoying tone.

This manager would have been fired for his behavior if not for his family owning the chain.

{But... But! How am I supposed to survive?!} - The young man cried.

"No worries, the company will compensate you with three months of salary as compensation. I'm sure you will manage somehow, Gulliver. Bye." - The fat manager closed the call.

His earlier tough facade faded as he stared at his terminal.

The original picture of his pet dog on his desktop was replaced with a black screen filled with red instructions and an open folder with evidence of his corruption in the company. It was not fabricated. It was real, and he knew it.

The fat manager did have plans to fire Gulliver in two months due to downsizing, but he didn't plan on compensating him for it. The contract stipulated that he could be fired without compensation, planning to fabricate things and pocket the supposed compensation money. However, the blackmail message told him to pay him three months' worth of salary, over 8 thousand dollars. The pig-like manager felt his heart bleeding at losing this holiday money.

"Damn you, Gulliver!" - He cursed while taking out a cigarette and lighting it up with a small fire rising from his thumb, his trashy yet convenient superpower for a smoker like him.

Of course, he didn't believe that Gulliver was behind this, since why would he work in this dump if he had such technical abilities in his hands? He could have already earned millions in one of those giant tech companies. He blamed him wrongfully for making him lose his planned vacation money!

The worst part was that he couldn't even complain about this to anyone since he would be shooting himself in the foot!

But one thing that made him wonder is, why do all of this for a measly 8 thousand dollars? Was it even worth it? It's like using a sledgehammer to break an egg.

This question, however, was fated never to be answered, for he could never imagine in his wildest dreams that this was the action of a whimsical futuristic AI.

 

 

 

 

Back in your apartment—

You just turned off the phone, your previous mournful facade fading, before bursting out into laughter.

"Hahaha! Nice! Thank you, Rosa!" - You laugh as you stare at the text you received from the bank, $8,542.50.⁴Lol! Three months of hard work is less than 1 hour from the diviner. This is just sad, yo.

Even after taxes, it's enough money to cover around 7-8 months of rent. It is a substantial amount of money for you.

[I told you it would work.] - Rosa said smugly on his lap.

After you returned from Mateo's place yesterday, you talked with Rosa and decided to quit your job. You originally wanted to work for a few more days to help. Who would have thought that Rosa would uncover your boss's plans to fire you, and what his plans are for your alleged compensation money?

You couldn't help but thank your boss in your mind for his generosity. Without him secretly preparing the extra paperwork, you wouldn't get a dime out of quitting! You couldn't stop smiling.

[So, Iver. Now that you have the whole day to yourself, what do you plan to do? Your still worried about those gangsters looking you up, right?] - Rosa suddenly asked, bursting your happy bubble.

Your smile dimmed, and a serious look flashed, "Yeah. Although the chances are not very high, I need to learn how to defend myself in a knife fight, just in case."

With your current learning routine, in a few days, you will be able to shoot running people and dogs with high precision. However, that doesn't cover your close-quarter weakness. What if those gangsters got the jump on you in the middle of the road? You need some self-defense techniques.

[Yeah, so learn military CQC as we discussed.] - Rosa said.

Last night, you already talked with Rosa about it, and she said it would be best to learn to shoot for eight hours at night and learn CQC for four hours during the day.

"Alright, so let's do it!"