Many believe Pillar 7 was simply a structural support for the overhanging Mid-Levels. However, the truth was… it was also the grimy, neon-streaked heart of the Midnight Market.
This wasn't a sanctioned exchange zone by those government enforcers. It was a chaotic, constantly shifting bazaar that materialized in the darkest cycle of Neo-Tian's simulated day-night schedule, thriving in the blind spots between jurisdictional patrols and corporate security sweeps.
Holographic stalls flickered in and out of existence within it, selling everything from bootleg combat stims and counterfeit identity chips to forbidden cultivation manuals etched onto slivers of bone and AI familiars with questionable loyalty protocols.
The air was filled with the low thrum of illicit energy, paranoia, and desperate commerce.
Figures cloaked in shadow and glitch-weave camouflage drifted between stalls, their faces obscured by masks or distorting fields. Each one is preventing their identities from being leaked. They could be anyone. Cultivators, scavengers like him, or even corporate and bureaucratic employees.
Every transaction was a negotiation wrapped in suspicion, sealed with coded hand gestures or encrypted data bursts.
Li Fang kept his head down, his worn cloak pulled tight.
His optical implant scanned the swirling chaos, filtering out the noise, searching for Dao Broker Xun's signature. A specific, fluctuating energy pattern that was deliberately hard to pin down.
The QFS overlay in his vision offered unhelpful commentary:
[Market Analysis: High Volatility. Significant Counterparty Risk Detected.] [Probability of encountering hostile entities: 42%.]
[Probability of profitable transaction: Variable, dependent on Host negotiation skill and product viability.]
[Recommendation: Maintain situational awareness. Avoid unnecessary financial exposure.]
"Thanks, Captain Obvious, this is your first time here. Feel free to indulge yourself in its atmosphere." Li Fang muttered under his breath.
He spotted it then. A ripple in the shadow of the market's energy near the base of Pillar 7.
It wasn't a stall, more like a shimmering distortion, a fold in reality tucked behind a stack of discarded server racks leaking coolant.
That was Xun's style: ostentatious obscurity.
He approached cautiously.
As he neared, the distortion resolved into the semblance of an opulent, ancient-looking apothecary stall, carved from simulated dark wood and glowing with soft, internal lantern light.
It felt impossibly larger on the inside than the cramped space allowed. Presiding over it was a figure whose flamboyance was an open challenge to the surrounding gloom.
It wasn't his first time here but it always baffled him, leaving him to wonder about the Dao Broker's identity.
Dao Broker Xun wore robes of iridescent synth-silk that shifted colour with his movements, from electric blue to deep crimson. His face was partially obscured by a high collar and ornate silver spectacles perched on his nose. Their lenses swirled with complex data streams.
Long, slender fingers adorned with glowing knuckle-duster rings tapped rhythmically on a polished countertop made of what looked suspiciously like solidified light.
One of his eyes was organic, sharp and assessing. The other was a complex cybernetic implant, a swirling vortex of sapphire light. Clearly, something more expensive than his optical implant.
"Ah, the little spark arrives!" Xun's voice was smooth and resonant, as it carried easily over the market's din without seeming loud. His cybernetic eye flared slightly as it scanned Li Fang. "Negative nine hundred karma and change... a Qi-injunction... and... ooh, what's this? A flicker of... unconventional financing? Intriguing."
Li Fang stiffened. How could Xun know that? Did he detect the QFS? Or was the broker just that perceptive, his senses attuned to the strange energies now clinging to Li Fang?
"You asked me to come," Li Fang said, keeping his voice as low as possible, betraying none of the unease Xun's assessment provoked. "I have a product."
"Product!" Xun clapped his hands together, the rings on his fingers emitting soft chimes. "Hope springs eternal, even from the deepest debt pits! Show me this marvel, this innovation born of desperation. Does it slice? Does it dice? Does it calculate your tax burden in real-time?"
Li Fang reached into his cloak and carefully placed one of the Ghost Candles on the light-looking countertop. It looked pathetic compared to the exotic wares vaguely visible deeper within Xun's stall. Glowing orbs, crackling scrolls, vials of swirling mist.
Xun picked it up with exaggerated delicacy, holding it between two fingers. His cybernetic eye zoomed in, analyzing its crude construction.
"Hoh? A leaky capacitor, a cheap scrambler... rudimentary Qi regulation etched by... hmm, is that passive environmental draw? Crude. Very crude." He sniffed it. "Smells faintly of ozone and impending failure."
Li Fang felt a flush of annoyance, but he couldn't deny that analysis. "It works."
"Does it?" Xun raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. He closed his organic eye, and the sapphire light in his cybernetic one intensified.
Li Fang felt a subtle probe of energy wash over the Ghost Candle. A moment later, Xun chuckled. "Ah, I see. A 'Ghost Candle,' you call it? Clever. Clever. It masks the signature while providing a minuscule, stable field. For the discerning cultivator who wishes to practice their illicit finger-knitting techniques without alerting the neighbourhood watchdogs, perhaps? Or the petty thief needing to muffle their spiritual footsteps?"
"There's a market," Li Fang insisted. "Low-level cultivators who are in need of a neutral space. Info-brokers who are in need of privacy for sensitive communications. Anyone operating below the official radar."
"The market for obscurity is indeed vast," Xun conceded, tapping the Ghost Candle thoughtfully. "But this... this is a disposable trick. Thirty minutes of function? High failure rate, I'd wager."
He glanced at Li Fang as though calculating his own value or whatever was clinging to him at the moment with his organic eye. "And the components cost... what? Four Credits? Generous estimate."
[QFS Analysis: Broker Xun possesses advanced scanning capabilities (Tier 4+). His market assessment is accurate regarding limitations but potentially underestimates niche demand.]
[Negotiation tactics detected: Anchoring low.]
"They're prototypes. The principle is sound. With refinement, better components..." Li Fang countered, ignoring the system's confirmation of his fears. It was a lie, of course. He still had no idea if he could improve it with better materials. What he needed the most was to get better components or more Qi-Credits to fund himself.
"Ah, potential!" Xun spread his hands wide. "The most expensive commodity in Neo-Tian, after genuine remorse, of course! Unfortunately, potential doesn't pay the rent, little spark. Results do."
He leaned slightly forward, lowering his voice as though he was about to tell him something top-secret. "What do you want from me? Distribution? I take sixty percent, standard for high-risk novelty items. Or do you want buyers? I know a few... particular clients who might appreciate such a device, for a finder's fee, naturally. Twenty percent of the sale price."
Hearing that, he couldn't help but clench his fist and grit his teeth.