Chapter 24 - The Man the System Couldn’t Read
The man in white introduced himself as Victor Vane.
Lucas’s father.
He looked forty.
Maya whispered that he was nearly seventy.
Eli immediately disliked rich cultivation skincare.
Victor raised one hand.
Every open Void tank stopped.
The room obeyed him.
“You have talent,” Victor told Eli.
“I have student debt.”
“Talent can solve that.”
Victor offered him a scholarship.
A private apartment.
Cultivation resources.
A guaranteed transfer to Riverside University.
In exchange, Eli would join the Vane Foundation.
The offer was insane.
It would fix almost everything in his life.
His system displayed:
[PATH CHOICE]
Accept patronage: Immediate resources. Reduced autonomy.
Reject patronage: Unknown risk. Increased Defiance.
Eli looked at Trevor’s shaking hands.
At the Void Seeds.
At the locked lab.
“Do benefits include dental?”
Victor smiled.
“Excellent.”
“I didn’t say yes.”
The smile vanished.
Eli continued, “You tried to frame me, drug students, and apparently grow demon marbles in bathtubs.”
Victor’s eyes became cold.
“That is a childish interpretation.”
“I’m a community college student. It’s on brand.”
[PATH CHOICE CONFIRMED: SOVEREIGN.]
[DEFIANCE +100]
[UNIQUE TRAIT UNLOCKED: UNBOUGHT]
Victor sighed.
Then qi pressure filled the room.
Eli’s knees almost buckled.
Maya went pale.
Jace could not move.
Victor walked toward Eli.
“You mistake stubbornness for freedom.”
Before he reached them, the floor cracked.
A broom handle struck Victor’s wrist.
Mr. Zhou stood between them.
Still wearing his janitor uniform.
Victor’s face changed.
“You.”
Mr. Zhou smiled.
May you like
“Me.”
