Chapter 11: An Investment in Flesh and Blood
The Valkyrie cut through the neon-lit arteries of Shanghai, a silent predator gliding past rivers of slower-moving traffic. Inside the cockpit-like cabin, the world was reduced to a low hum and the soft glow of instrumentation. Li Wei stared out at the kaleidoscope of light and life, his mind a calm, cool lake reflecting the city's chaos without being disturbed by it. Kai drove, his presence as much a part of the car's machinery as the steering wheel, his eyes constantly processing the flow of vehicles, pedestrians, and potential threats.
They were navigating a narrower, older street, a remnant of the old city squeezed between modern skyscrapers, when the flow of traffic coagulated and stopped. Up ahead, a disorderly cluster of vehicles had created a bottleneck. The source of the congestion wasn't an accident, but a spectacle. A dilapidated delivery van was double-parked, its doors flung open. In the cone of light cast by a streetlamp, a scene of brutal intimidation was unfolding.
Three men—thugs with the unmistakable aura of street enforcers, all muscle and cheap menace—had cornered a couple. A man in his late forties, with a lean, intellectual face now pale with fear and anger, stood protectively in front of a woman, his wife, who was clutching his arm, her face streaked with tears.
"Think you're smart, huh? Think you can just run?" the lead thug, a brute with a shaved head and a thick neck, snarled, poking a meaty finger into the man's chest. "You owe a debt. A big one. You don't just get to walk away from that."
The intellectual man, though terrified, held his ground. "I owe you nothing! The debt was fabricated! You work for Li Zhong! I know you do! Tell him he won't get away with this!"
The thug laughed, a harsh, grating sound. "I don't know any Li Zhong. I know a number. And your number is up."
The argument escalated. The wife pleaded, her voice a desperate whisper. The thugs' voices grew louder, more aggressive. They weren't here to talk; they were here to deliver a message written in pain.
Ding.
The sound was a shard of ice in Li Wei's mind. The System interface flashed, the text urgent and blood-red.
[URGENT MISSION: Salvage a Sunken Asset] [TARGET: Dr. Shen Hao. Former Head of R&D, Ruixing Technologies.] [CONTEXT: Target was the brilliant mind behind Ruixing's core projects. Company was deliberately bankrupted by its board (led by Li Zhong) to sell assets to a competitor. Target was made the scapegoat for the 'failure'. Current contract on his life is to silence him permanently and send a message.] [OBJECTIVE: Secure the target. Ensure his and his wife's safety. Recruit him.] [MISSION PARAMETERS: Target's expertise aligns with future Host ventures. His mind is the true value. His current predicament is an opportunity.] [REWARD UPON SUCCESS: 'Horizon Dynamics' (Newly registered tech firm. Clean corporate structure. 100 Million RMB valuation. High growth potential in biotechnology.)]
The flood of information took less than a second. Li Wei's eyes flickered from the System's text to the scene outside. He saw the lead thug's fist clench. He saw the cruel smirk. He saw Dr. Shen Hao brace for the blow, closing his eyes and turning his head to shield his wife.
The thug's arm drew back.
Li Wei didn't raise his voice. He didn't need to. He simply spoke, his tone flat and cold, a command that brooked no delay.
"Kai. The man in the glasses. Save him."
It was all the instruction needed.
In the space of a single heartbeat, Kai was gone. He didn't open the car door; he was already moving as the electrochromic window slid down silently. He moved with a terrifying, fluid economy. There was no wasted motion, no dramatic leap. He simply flowed out of the window, his body coiling and uncoiling like a spring, landing on the balls of his feet on the pavement without a sound.
The lead thug's fist was halfway to Dr. Shen's face when a hand, hard as iron, closed around his wrist. The thug grunted in surprise, his punch arrested completely. He turned to see who had dared interfere, his face a mask of fury.
He saw nothing but a pair of flat, dead eyes.
Kai didn't speak. He applied pressure, a precise, twisting motion that had nothing to do with strength and everything to do with leverage and anatomy. There was a sickening, wet pop as the thug's shoulder was violently dislocated. The man's roar of anger became a high-pitched shriek of agony before it was cut short. Kai's other hand, fingers rigid and extended like a blade, struck the thug precisely in the side of the neck, targeting the vagus nerve.
The lead thug collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut, unconscious before he hit the ground.
The other two thugs stared, stunned for a crucial second. Then, with roared curses, they charged. One pulled a heavy metal wrench from the van.
The first thug threw a wild, powerful haymaker. Kai didn't block it. He moved inside the arc of the punch, his body impossibly close. His forearm deflected the blow harmlessly past his head while his opposite elbow drove upwards into the man's exposed armpit. There was a grunt of expelled air as a nerve cluster was struck with devastating force. The thug's entire right side went numb, his arm hanging uselessly.
The second thug, wielding the wrench, swung it in a downward arc at Kai's head. Kai didn't retreat. He stepped forward, into the swing, his left hand coming up to guide the wrench harmlessly past his shoulder while his right hand, fingers curled into a devastatingly hard "phoenix eye fist," snapped forward. It struck the thug directly in the throat, just below the Adam's apple.
The man's eyes bulged. He dropped the wrench, his hands flying to his crushed larynx, making horrible, wet gagging sounds as he stumbled backward and crashed into the side of the van, sliding down to the pavement, fighting for air.
The first thug, clutching his numb arm, made the mistake of trying to kick out. Kai caught the foot, twisted it brutally, and drove a savage front kick into his standing knee. The sound of the ligament tearing was a sharp, ugly crack. The thug screamed and went down, clutching his shattered joint.
The entire violent ballet had taken less than seven seconds.
Silence descended on the street, broken only by the choked gasps of the thug with the injured throat and the soft whimpering of Dr. Shen's wife.
Kai stood amidst the carnage, his breathing even, his expression unchanged. He hadn't broken a sweat. He looked down at the three broken men, his gaze as indifferent as if he were looking at discarded trash. He then turned his head and looked at Dr. Shen Hao, who was staring at him with a mixture of terror and awe.
Kai didn't speak a word of reassurance. He simply gave a slight, almost imperceptible jerk of his head towards the idling Aston Martin. The message was clear: Come with me.
Then, without another glance at the men he had dismantled, Kai turned and walked back towards the Valkyrie. He opened the rear door, a silent invitation for the terrified couple.
Inside the car, Li Wei watched it all, his face an impassive mask. He saw the brutal efficiency, the clinical precision. He saw Kai return, no more emotionally affected than if he had just taken out the trash.
The mission status in his vision updated.
[STATUS: IN PROGRESS - Targets Secured]