5: Chapter 5 Market Codes

On the day he left the Marquis's Manor, Lin Xu only brought three things.

Su Xiaoman—not as a servant, but as an apprentice. She followed of her own volition, saying in her words: "Young Master's problems are more interesting than the kitchen's problems." Seven copies of the open source protocol, distributed to potential nodes along the way. And a certain resonance left by Gu Yuan, which appeared in his Source Text Vision as a blurred direction, pointing toward Zhongzhou and toward more annotations.

"Master," Su Xiaoman said, carrying a bundle larger than herself filled with dry rations stolen from the kitchen, "what is a market?"

"What is it?" Lin Xu looked at the buildings gradually growing denser ahead. "It is the system's exchange interface. A node for resource flow. And, the place with the most vulnerabilities."

The market was more transparent than he had imagined. Not in a moral sense, but literally. His Source Text Vision was nearly overloaded here. Above every shop, every stall, and every person haggling, streams of data floated: prices, supply and demand, reputation, and probability of fraud.

[Object: Wanbao Pavilion (Largest shop in the market)] [Type: Resource distribution node (Official background: Imperial City Guard)] [Spiritual Qi Allocation: VIP area concentration is 50 times that of the slum area] [Remarks: Contains an "Ancient Relics" section, mixed authenticity, deep scan recommended]

"Fifty times."

Lin Xu stopped walking. It wasn't out of shock, but analysis. This imbalance wasn't naturally formed; it was designed. It was a deliberately maintained gradient, keeping those at the bottom forever longing, forever lacking, and forever driven.

"Master?" Su Xiaoman stopped with him.

"It's nothing," he said. "I just saw a vulnerability. Or rather, an opportunity."

They headed toward Wanbao Pavilion. Not to the main entrance, but to the back alley. There, amidst the piles of trash, lay possibilities.

"How much for these?"

Lin Xu squatted in the junk pile of Wanbao Pavilion's back alley, his fingertips pinching a broken jade slip covered in verdigris. Around him were moldy talisman papers, broken flying swords, and biological remains he didn't dare look at directly with Source Text.

The manager covered his nose and waved him off. "Take it all for one spirit stone. Now get lost, it stinks to high heaven."

[Source Text Vision Deep Scan]

In the manager's eyes, this was a pile of trash. In Lin Xu's eyes—

[Object: Verdigris Jade Slip] [File Type: .log (System Log)] [Creation Time: Immortal Calendar Era -127] [Permission Level: ROOT (Corrupted)] [Content Summary: Ascension Channel Maintenance Record #7th Iteration Test]

[Object: Broken Flying Sword (No. 3)] [Remarks: Contains a miniature Spirit Gathering Array, can be dismantled and recycled]

[Object: Moldy Talisman Paper (Batch)] [Remarks: Fragments of talisman templates, historical syntax can be analyzed]

"Deal." Lin Xu tossed out a low-grade spirit stone and moved the entire crate of "trash" into his storage bag.

Su Xiaoman asked in a low voice, "Master, these broken stones..."

"Broken stones?" Lin Xu picked up the verdigris jade slip. "This is a weekly work report written by an ancient immortal."

"Huh?"

"Watch closely."

He sank his divine sense into the jade slip. Instantly, a massive waterfall of information washed through his sea of consciousness—

[ERROR] Ascension Channel memory leak, restart recommended

[WARN] Lower Realm node 'Tianxuan Continent' data anomaly, suspected unauthorized access

[DEBUG] Administrator 'Haotian' attempted to comment out the 'Spiritual Qi Recovery' module, rejected by system

[INFO] 129th 'Heavenly Tribulation' stress test completed, pass rate 0.03%

Lin Xu snapped his eyes open, the white hair at his forehead fluttering without any wind.

Critical intelligence.

"Master? Your face is so pale..." Su Xiaoman handed him a cup of spiritual tea.

"It's fine," Lin Xu said, rubbing his temples. "I just saw some nauseating legacy code."

He wrote quickly on a piece of paper:

《Report Regarding Serious Design Flaws in the Ascension Channel

Heavenly Tribulation is not an assessment, but a memory cleanup mechanism—failing the tribulation and having one's soul scatter is actually the system reclaiming high-permission account resources.

Ascension = Data Upload, but the server is already at full capacity—the Immortal Realm lacks storage space, so the pass rate is intentionally lowered.

Spiritual Qi Recovery is being artificially suppressed—the current administrator (Heavenly Emperor) limits the total amount of spiritual qi in the lower realm to prevent the generation of too much "pending ascension data."

Su Xiaoman looked at the paper full of scribbles. "Master, are these incantations?"

"More terrifying than incantations," Lin Xu put down the brush. "This is the truth."

He looked out at the bustling market through the window, his eyes like someone watching a system on the verge of collapse.

"The entire cultivation world is a mountain of shit running on legacy code. And the Developers," he pointed toward the sky, "are preparing to delete the database and run."

"Halt!"

At the exit of the back alley, a man with a fleshy face blocked their path. Foundation Establishment peak, a bestowed precious blade, and the insignia of an Imperial City Guard Banner Officer—Zhao Tianba.

[Object: Zhao Tianba (Imperial City Guard Banner Officer)] [Current Mission: Investigate Open Source Sect, Reward: Low-grade Spirit Stone x10] [Status: Hostile (Under pressure from superiors)] [Vulnerability: Attack judgment relies on "Target Identification," fails to verify "Target Behavior"]

"Lin Xu of the Open Source Sect?" Zhao Tianba held his blade horizontally. "Suspected of spreading demonic delusions to deceive the masses. Come with me!"

Lin Xu didn't move. He was calculating—the Editor unlocked at 10%, single object, single parameter, maximum range of influence...

"And if I don't?"

"Then don't blame me for being rough!" Zhao Tianba swung his blade, the edge carrying the unique permission suppression of the Imperial City Guard, attempting to lock down Lin Xu's spiritual qi circulation.

Now.

[Object: Zhao Tianba's Attack Command] [Parameter: Attack Target = Lin Xu] [Modify: Attack Target = Zhao Tianba (Self)] [Confirm: Y]

A flash of blade light.

"Agh—!" Zhao Tianba screamed as he slashed his own leg. Blood gushed out, and he looked at his hand in terror. "You... what did you do to me?!"

"Nothing," Lin Xu walked around him. "I just had you perform a self-check."

He leaned down and whispered into Zhao Tianba's ear, "Go back and tell your superiors that Anomaly Data #9527-001 is not harmless. But it's not a threat either."

"It is a problem. A problem that they... cannot... optimize."

He stood up and, leading Su Xiaoman, vanished into the crowd of the market.

Behind them, Zhao Tianba's screams drew a crowd. But the data streams above the onlookers' heads showed a certain change. Not fear, but curiosity. It was the first time they had seen the possibility of authority being questioned.

A temporary cave dwelling on the edge of the market.

Lin Xu organized the gains from the "trash." The verdigris jade slip was the core, but the other items had value too—the Spirit Gathering Array from the broken flying sword could be dismantled, the historical syntax of the moldy talisman papers could be analyzed, and even the biological remains were records of some failed experiment.

"Master," Su Xiaoman sprawled on the table, "where are we going next?"

"Zhongzhou," Lin Xu unfolded the admission invitation obtained from the Alchemist Guild. "But not to study. To audit. Zhongzhou Cultivation Academy is the cradle of the GMs. It is the place where permissions are manufactured."

"It is also," he looked out the window toward an invisible direction, "where she is."

In that direction, Source Text Vision captured a certain fluctuation. Silver hair, data pupils, the coldness of a Firewall, and contradiction.

Yun Qingyi. She was approaching.