No one ordered the next mission.
That was the problem.
For the first time since he was eighteen, Li Chen woke without a schedule written by someone else.
No briefing packet.
No handler outside the door.
Just morning light cutting across a concrete ceiling.
The System was awake.
Not alert.
Aware.
[SYSTEM PHASE II — AUTONOMOUS STATE]
[Mission queue: EMPTY]
[Ethical debt outstanding]
[Recommendation: USER INITIATED ACTION]
Li Chen sat up slowly.
He felt the weight of freedom.
It was heavier than orders.
Across the city, reactions continued to ripple.
Protests formed without slogans.
Think tanks issued papers that contradicted themselves.
Military academies quietly rewrote syllabi overnight.
Grant arrived unannounced.
No escort.
No badge.
Just tired eyes and a folded jacket.
"They're waiting," he said.
"I know," Li Chen replied.
"They won't say it," Grant continued, "but they want you to pick something small. Something safe. Something symbolic."
Li Chen stood.
"That would be ownership," he said.
Grant nodded.
The System projected options.
Disaster zones.
Border conflicts.
Covert flashpoints.
Each tagged with probability curves and ethical cost estimates.
[SYSTEM NOTE]
[User choice will establish precedent]
Li Chen dismissed them.
All of them.
He walked outside.
No cameras this time.
Just air.
A city pretending it wasn't watching.
He stopped at a small memorial wedged between buildings.
Names carved into stone.
Victims of a factory collapse from years ago.
Negligence.
Ignored warnings.
No villains with guns.
Just paperwork.
Li Chen knelt.
He traced a name with one finger.
A child.
Eight years old.
The System hesitated.
[SYSTEM QUERY]
[Action classification unclear]
Li Chen stood.
"I choose this," he said.
Grant frowned. "This isn't a mission."
"It is," Li Chen answered. "Just not one you can frame."
Within hours, Li Chen was gone.
No aircraft manifest.
No satellite trail.
Just absence.
He appeared at the edge of an industrial region overseas.
Polluted river.
Rusting plants.
Workers coughing into cloth.
Children playing too close to danger because no one had told them not to.
Li Chen saw everything.
X-ray vision pierced walls.
Structural weaknesses glowed.
Chemical leaks shimmered like ghosts.
The System struggled to keep up.
[SYSTEM WARNING]
[Scope exceeds military parameters]
[Ethical debt repayment potential: HIGH]
Li Chen moved.
He shut down a plant by force of presence alone.
No violence.
Just evidence placed where it could no longer be buried.
He stabilized a collapsing structure with his own hands.
Redirected a river.
Pulled children out of poisoned water.
Footage surfaced.
Not dramatic.
Not heroic.
Just undeniable.
Governments panicked.
Corporations issued denials.
Lawyers worked through the night.
The System recalculated frantically.
[SYSTEM UPDATE]
[Ethical debt decreasing]
[New risk identified: ECONOMIC DISRUPTION]
Li Chen did not stop.
By the time night fell, thousands were evacuated.
Water ran clearer.
Machines lay silent.
Li Chen stood alone at the riverbank.
Grant's voice came through an unsecured line.
"You've just declared war on negligence," Grant said.
Li Chen watched the current.
"No," he replied.
"I chose accountability."
The System was silent for a long moment.
Then—
[SYSTEM PHASE II — EVOLUTION EVENT]
[User choice incompatible with existing frameworks]
[System restructuring]
Li Chen closed his eyes.
The first choice had been made.
And the world would have to learn how to live with it.