Kenzo's footsteps splashed into black puddles that reflected the pale neon glow of a flickering ZenPay billboard in the distance. On his back, Meixing's body felt incredibly light—too light for a girl her age. His sister's breath came in ragged gasps, leaving behind thin wisps of vapor that were instantly swallowed by Sector 9's toxic air.
"Just a little longer, Mei," Kenzo whispered. His voice was nearly drowned out by the roar of a patrol drone's jet engines sweeping the residential blocks above them.
Kenzo didn't dare take the main roads. In the Iron City, every inch of pavement was a sensor. Every streetlight was an eye. For normal citizens with a Heart Chip, their identities were constantly broadcasted via low-frequency radio signals, creating a neat digital trail on Neo-Heaven's central servers. But Kenzo was an anomaly. He was a 'hole' in the city's matrix. Without a chip signal, his presence on a public path would trigger an "Unidentified Object" alarm within seconds.
He slipped into a narrow crevice between two leaning apartment buildings. The stench of rat urine and rusted metal stung his nose, but at least here, the fiber cables hanging like jungle roots created enough signal interference to hide him from the Sentinel radar.
"You move like a thief, boy. Pathetic."
Long Wei's voice echoed again, clearer this time, as if the dragon were whispering directly into his ear.
"I'm trying not to die, Old Dragon," Kenzo retorted in his mind, struggling to regulate his racing breath. "If they catch me now, there won't be an heir to the Lin Clan. Only a corpse tossed into an energy furnace."
"A corpse? With the ancient energy I just channeled into your veins? Those metal lice wouldn't even be able to scratch your skin if you knew how to use your Dantian properly," Long Wei snorted, and Kenzo felt a surge of heat spread through his lower abdomen. "This world has gone mad. They worship circuits as if they were bone, and bow to data as if it were soul. They call you 'Zero' as an insult, yet Zero is the absolute void—the place where all power begins."
Kenzo leaned his back against the damp concrete wall. He lowered Meixing carefully, laying her onto a pile of used synthetic carpet he found in the corner of the alley.
"What happened to me earlier, Long Wei? My hands... I felt like I could crush steel as if it were dry crackers."
"That was the early stage of the Unshackling Realm," Long Wei explained, his voice sounding like a bored teacher. "Humans in this era lock away their physical potential for the sake of Heart Chip compatibility. Their bodies are merely vessels for machines. But you? You just broke one of the thousand natural shackles of humanity. Your muscle strength is no longer limited by digital impulses, but by pure will. In the eyes of those tech-users, you are now equivalent to Tier 3: Stream Rank. But without the risk of a Core-Burst."
Kenzo stared at his palms. It was true—the abrasions from Ryu's punch had already dried and begun to peel away, revealing new skin that looked denser and healthier.
However, his relief vanished when he saw Meixing begin to shiver. She was delirious, her small fingers clutching Kenzo's jacket.
"So hot... Brother... the noise is so loud..."
Kenzo whetted his teeth. He knew what was happening. Sector 9 was currently under a "Red Signal" alert because of the incident at his apartment. The Corporation was flooding the area with high-frequency tracking waves. To a normal person with an encrypted chip, these waves were imperceptible. But to Meixing, whose nervous system was sensitive and lacked digital shielding, the waves were like thousands of invisible needles piercing her brain.
"I have to get the medicine. Now," Kenzo muttered.
He stood up, but suddenly, a blinding white light stabbed into the narrow alley.
Ziiinnnggg!
A disc-shaped Sentinel Drone with three red eyes hovered at the end of the alley. The high-pitched whine of its sensors made Kenzo's ears ache.
"Warning. Unidentified subject detected. No registered digital ID. Please lie face down with hands behind your head. Failure to comply will be met with lethal force."
"Dammit," Kenzo cursed.
"Don't run, boy. This is your first test," Long Wei's voice sounded enthusiastic. "Feel the vibration of Qi in the air. See how that drone sucks energy from the atmosphere to charge its plasma cannon. Take that energy before it can fire."
"Are you crazy? That's high-level tech!"
"Countdown initiated. Three... two..."
Kenzo closed his eyes. He tried to ignore the mechanical drone and focus on Long Wei's words. He began to feel the "flow." In his mind's eye, the rigid digital world began to crack. He saw transparent energy cables connecting the drone to a broadcast tower in the distance. He saw a vortex of blue light inside the drone's weapon muzzle.
One.
Blam!
The drone fired a bolt of blue plasma. But before the energy could reach Kenzo, he slammed his right foot into the ground.
"Void Breath!"
Instinctively, Kenzo inhaled as if he wanted to swallow the entire contents of the alley into his lungs. The energy vortex in his lower abdomen—his Dantian—spun at a frantic speed.
The result was staggering. The plasma bolt that should have incinerated Kenzo's body suddenly veered, stretching out like a thread of light, and was sucked into Kenzo's open palm.
Kenzo's body jolted. It felt like swallowing living lightning. Every hair on his body stood on end, and his eyes briefly glowed pitch black.
"Don't hold it back! Channel it into your meridians, then dump the residual data!" Long Wei shouted.
Kenzo roared. He lunged forward—a leap that carried him ten feet into the air—and landed squarely on top of the drone. With a single claw-like grip, he tore through the drone's steel chassis as if it were made of tin foil. He didn't just damage it physically; he ripped out the drone's "energy core" and crushed it.
Boom!
The drone suffered a small internal explosion, falling to the ground as a heap of worthless scrap.
Kenzo stood over the wreckage, gasping for air. He felt hungry. Ravenous. The plasma energy he had absorbed hadn't filled him; instead, it made his Dantian demand more.
"Good. You just ate their 'data.' That is why you are called the natural enemy of technology," Long Wei chuckled. "But remember, Sector 9 will soon be crawling with toys like this. You cannot stay here."
Kenzo immediately scooped Meixing back into his arms. He knew where he had to go now. There was one place where corporate law didn't fully reach—a gray zone built upon the remains of old factories and unmapped underground networks.
Rust Haven.
As he ran through the darkness, Kenzo reflected on his status as a "Zero." For years, he had felt ashamed. He felt defective because he couldn't participate in the digital world. But now, he realized that being a Zero was freedom.
In a world where everyone was a slave to their NC balance and chip specs, Kenzo was the only human who was truly free. He didn't need verification to be strong. He didn't need corporate permission to breathe.
The Gates of Rust Haven – 30 Minutes Later
Rust Haven was no paradise, despite its name. It was a sprawling shantytown built inside the carcass of a massive logistics carrier that had run aground on the outskirts of Sector 9 decades ago. Its walls were thick steel plates covered in crude weld marks.
The entrance was a narrow gap guarded by two massive men with muscle implants bulging across their arms. They held short-range vibration rifles.
"Halt, sewer rat," one guard barked. "ID or pay the toll."
Kenzo pulled down his hood, revealing a soot-streaked face and piercing eyes. "I'm looking for Uncle Feng. Tell him the 'Zero' from the scrap block brought the requested item."
The guards exchanged a glance. Uncle Feng's name carried a specific weight here. He was the most genius—and most dangerous—technician in the black market.
"Wait here. Don't move, or I'll fry your nervous system," the guard threatened before disappearing inside.
Kenzo waited in silence. Around him, he saw the life of Rust Haven's residents. These were the people "discarded" by the system. Former factory workers whose chips had fried, political fugitives, and children born without IDs. They survived by hacking neighbor signals or scavenging trace amounts of Liquid Qi.
This was the lowest caste. People considered to have no future.
"Kenzo? Is that really you?"
An old man with a mechanical magnifying lens over his left eye appeared from behind the steel door. He wore a leather apron stained with oil. This was Uncle Feng.
"Uncle," Kenzo greeted him with a weary voice. "Meixing... she needs your help."
Uncle Feng looked at the pale girl in Kenzo's arms, then his eyes shifted to Kenzo himself. He paused, his nose twitching as if he were sniffing the air.
"You... you smell like ozone and something very ancient, boy," Uncle Feng whispered suspiciously. "And the sensors at my gate just went haywire when you approached. Get in, quick! Before the aerial patrols spot you."
Inside Uncle Feng's workshop, the atmosphere changed. The room was filled with thousands of electronic components, flickering CRT monitors, and small tanks filled with neon liquids.
Uncle Feng immediately placed Meixing on an emergency operating table. He grabbed a scanner and ran it over her body.
"Dammit," Uncle Feng cursed. "High-frequency interference. The Corporation must be doing a massive sweep out there. If I don't give her an anti-code antidote within an hour, her brain will be toast."
"Do whatever it takes, Uncle. I have... I'll pay you," Kenzo said.
Uncle Feng looked at Kenzo sharply. "Pay me? You're a Zero, Kenzo. Your NC balance must be empty. And this medicine isn't cheap. I need a fresh Tier 2 Chip Core to extract the antidote code."
Kenzo went silent. He remembered Ryu. He remembered how he had destroyed the drone.
"I don't have a balance," Kenzo said, reaching into his pocket. "But I have this."
He pulled out the mangled Energy Core from the Sentinel drone he had destroyed. The object still crackled with tiny electrical sparks.
Uncle Feng's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "This... this is a core from an X-series Sentinel Drone? Did you rob a military warehouse?"
"I destroyed it. With my bare hands."
The room went deathly quiet. Uncle Feng stared at Kenzo as if the young man in front of him had just grown a second head. He took the core with trembling hands, examining it under a microscope lamp.
"Impossible... This core wasn't destroyed by impact. It was crushed by molecular pressure... and the code... the code looks like it was 'eaten'," Uncle Feng muttered. He looked back at Kenzo, this time with a new sense of respect—and fear. "Who are you really, Kenzo? The Lin I knew was just a quiet scavenger boy."
Kenzo looked at his reflection in a dead monitor screen. He saw a young man who looked the same, but inside, something had awakened. Something very hungry and very angry.
"I'm the one who's going to end their monopoly, Uncle," Kenzo replied coldly. "Now, save my sister."
Uncle Feng didn't ask any more questions. He worked with practiced speed, connecting the drone core to an extractor machine. A clear green liquid began to flow into a small vial—the medicine for Meixing.
Meanwhile, Kenzo sat in the corner of the room. He closed his eyes, allowing Long Wei to guide him through his first meditation.
"Listen to me, Successor," the Black Dragon's voice was more serious now. "You have caught their attention. The Sentinels won't stop with one drone. They will send Hunters. They will send Tier 4: Buffer Rank users. You need more than just physical strength. You need technique."
"Teach me," Kenzo demanded.
"Very well. Focus your Qi into your Middle Dantian. We will begin forming the 'Black Dragon Meridians.' But remember, the pain will make you wish you had stayed a weak Zero. Are you ready?"
Kenzo glanced at Meixing, whose breathing was becoming more regular after Uncle Feng administered the medicine. He thought of Ryu's insults, the crushing poverty of the last few years, and the arrogant faces of the elites in the Neo-Heaven Tower.
"Do it," Kenzo replied.
That night, inside the belly of an old ship in Rust Haven, a young man discarded by the world began to forge himself into the deadliest weapon ever known. In his veins, human blood and ancient dragon essence began to fuse, creating a new frequency that would one day bring down the entire digital network of the Iron City.
The lowest caste had risen. And the number zero was now counting down to the collapse of a technological empire.