Shanghai's afternoon sun poured down on the bustling streets, casting long shadows across narrow alleyways. Merchants shouted their wares, bicycles weaved through pedestrians, and the hum of life created a rhythm that masked the undercurrents of reality. Yet for Lyo Kao Ken, the ordinary world was merely the surface. Beneath it, threads of possibility, currents of force, and subtle disturbances whispered and twisted in response to his presence.
He walked calmly, observing everything with his piercing blue eyes. His long purple hair swayed softly with each step, tied neatly but flowing naturally. To the ordinary observer, he was nothing more than a young man moving through the crowd. To the universe, however, he was a principle of supreme existence, a hidden anchor around which reality itself adjusted.
It began subtly. A ripple, almost imperceptible, wove through the air—a distortion that carried intent. Someone, somewhere, had noticed him. Unlike the previous anomalies, which were mere threads of curiosity or unintentional disturbance, this was a conscious approach. A force from outside the ordinary frameworks of China had begun moving toward him.
Lyo paused beneath a ginkgo tree, letting the golden leaves fall around him. The air felt different, charged with a tension that even the city's normal chaos could not mask. Passive amplification stirred within him. Any attack, any interference directed toward him, escalated automatically. This force, untrained and unaware of his conceptual supremacy, would only increase its own peril.
From the shadows of a nearby alley, the disturbance began to manifest. It was faint at first—a shadow, flickering unnaturally, bending the edges of perception. Lyo observed it calmly. His presence alone corrected probabilities around it, forcing the anomaly to strain against invisible barriers it could not comprehend.
"You feel it," a familiar voice threaded into his awareness. Jeong Althea Xiao, distant yet intimately connected, whispered with her usual playful tone. "It approaches knowingly. Interesting… they are testing you."
"Yes," Lyo thought, allowing the concept to settle. "Intentional interference… yet insufficient." His calmness was absolute, his demeanor unchanged. He did not raise his hand, did not speak. His existence alone was a correction, a principle beyond attack or measurement.
The shadow solidified slightly, forming an abstract shape that flickered between human and animal forms. Its presence stretched reality around it, creating tension in the fabric of perception. It was attempting to gauge him, probe him, perhaps even to threaten. And yet, the closer it moved, the more its own power amplified passively, its own threat escalating into futility.
A street vendor tripped on an unseen obstacle. Normally, it would have caused a minor panic, but the falling cart righted itself mid-motion, dumplings sliding harmlessly onto the ground. Lyo's passive amplification had corrected the imbalance, neutralizing the minor chaos without conscious effort.
He adjusted his satchel slightly, eyes still calm. The shadow hesitated, now aware that its attempts to interfere were only feeding its own escalation. Every pulse of intent, every attempt at aggression, caused the entity to grow more unstable.
"Fascinating," Althea's voice continued softly. "Even when they know, they do not know how they fail. Every step they take strengthens their futility. They are dancing in your shadow, yet you do not move."
The shadow flickered again, attempting a more direct approach. Threads of distortion cut through the air, aiming to disrupt him. But each strike only increased its own instability. Its attacks, though deliberate, became a cascade of failure, corrected automatically by the principles of Lyo's passive amplification.
Onlookers remained unaware. A child skipped past, holding a kite that suddenly lifted with a stronger wind than expected. The kite danced above them, perfectly balanced, as though guided by some unseen hand. Lyo passed without noticing, his focus entirely on the anomaly.
He took a step forward. The shadow trembled. Its forms twisted in confusion, unable to reconcile the impossibility it faced. Lyo's calm presence, measured and absolute, forced the entity into an internal conflict it could not overcome. It was aware that it could not harm him, yet it could not cease its approach. Every motion, every thought, every attempt to probe him, amplified its own vulnerability.
Lyo tilted his head slightly, observing without interruption. Passive amplification surged subtly around him, escalating the threat without conscious effort. The shadow's attempts became chaotic, self-defeating. It twisted and flickered violently, unable to maintain cohesion.
"They do not understand," Althea whispered, amusement threading her words. "Every deliberate step strengthens what they try to oppose. How poetic."
A breeze swept through the courtyard, scattering petals from a nearby cherry tree. The shadow shuddered and collapsed inwards, not destroyed, not fully dissipated—merely corrected by the principles it could not oppose. Lyo remained perfectly calm, his presence unchanged.
Shanghai continued its rhythm, the city unaware of the subtle multiversal disturbance that had just occurred. Merchants carried on, children played, pigeons cooed and scattered across rooftops. The city itself moved, unbothered, perfectly ordinary.
Lyo adjusted his satchel, walking on, purple hair catching the sun. The shadow, now a minor ripple in the unseen currents, had faded temporarily, leaving only traces of its failed interference. Yet he knew it would return—or others like it would, drawn by the rising awareness of his existence.
"The world is beginning to sense you," Althea whispered, her voice trailing lightly in his mind. "They will continue to test. But for now… observe, remain calm. Let them escalate themselves."
He nodded internally. "Let them approach. Their own actions will reveal their limits. I only observe."
Shanghai's streets remained vibrant, ordinary, and chaotic, but beneath the surface, threads of reality were shifting, correcting, aligning. Forces that tried to interfere found themselves escalated beyond control, their intent meaningless against a principle beyond opposition.
And Lyo Kao Ken walked among them, calm, composed, untouchable, and utterly supreme.
The first conscious interference had arrived.
And it had failed.