Chapter Thirteen · Semi-Core Turbulence
Section One · Infiltration Plan
Dawn ripped away the thin membrane of night.
The gray buildings of the Ruins District bared their scarred outlines in the morning light,
like silent steel carcasses.
Jason stood at the abandoned gas station in the southeast corner of the Academic District,
his coat's hood slightly lowered, veiling eyes unnervingly calm.
The private terminal on his wrist was slowly loading a new target list.
The convergence of peripheral nodes was nearly complete,
he could finally,
extend his reach toward something truly valuable—
the semi-core nodes.
The mid-tier forces manipulating the Academic District's dark networks of circulation, resource flows, and tangled intelligence
formed the true skeleton of the Ruins District.
Control them,
and you begin to wrench at the lifeblood of this ruined city.
[System Fuxi Prompt]
The Water over Earth hexagram flickered faintly:
"Alignment is kinship. With softness, tame hardness; with kinship, move the masses."
Jason read it silently.
To approach the semi-core,
brute force wouldn't do.
He needed bait of profit, ropes of relationships,
weaving a silent web of infiltration.
In the abandoned courier warehouse behind the gas station,
a handful of reliable representatives, screened from the peripheral nodes,
awaited Jason's orders.
Kyle stood at the edge of the group,
in a black jacket, hands in pockets,
his tension tightly reined, yet carefully masked.
His gaze flicked to the terminal in Jason's hand,
a complex pang stirring within:
this boy,
in mere weeks,
had risen from an unknown ruin-dweller
to a manipulator commanding an entire peripheral node system.
Kyle once thought himself sharp.
But now—
for the first time,
a vague wariness mingled with an urge to yield rose in his heart.
"He's no pawn.
He's learning to play the board."
Kyle murmured to himself.
Jason scanned the group, his voice low, cold, and clear:
"Tonight, the peripheral channels will open for the first time, making contact with the semi-core nodes."
The group stirred faintly.
Rumors about the semi-core swirled through the peripheral node system—
the underground intelligence chief of Black Vine Society,
the hidden stakeholders of the Free Black Market,
and TRACE's covert operatives left in the Ruins District.
Contacting the semi-core
meant
stepping into the blood-soaked heart of the Ruins District's dark currents.
The air grew heavy in an instant.
Jason continued:
"Your task is simple."
"Facilitate resource flows, create intersections."
"The semi-core doesn't trust empty promises—they only believe in profit."
His gaze swept over each face,
calm as an ice blade.
[System Fuxi Prompt]
With softness, tame hardness,
with profit as the boat,
with human hearts as the oars.
Outside the gas station, in the Ruins Square,
shattered vehicles lay scattered.
In the distance, a modified wasteland transport truck approached slowly,
its hood marked with faded blue-and-white symbols—
the emblem of the Ruins Resource Liaison Station.
This was the first "legitimate" channel the peripheral nodes had secured in the resource circulation system.
Tonight, it would serve as Jason's bridge to infiltrate the semi-core.
Kyle asked in a low voice:
"Will the semi-core really trust us?"
Jason replied calmly:
"They won't trust.
But they'll come."
His tone was steady,
as if stating the inevitability of a changing climate.
The truck's door opened,
several peripheral representatives swiftly began unloading crates—
resources handpicked by Jason:
old energy batteries, repairable weapon parts, black-market-grade pharmaceuticals, refined credit codes.
Each item
was enticing enough to catch the semi-core's attention,
yet wouldn't reveal his true hand.
Jason stood aside,
eyes lowered, thoughts surging like a deep sea.
[System Dynamic Analysis]
Contact Risk: Moderate
Successful Infiltration Probability (Peripheral Agents): 47%
Recommended Action: Deploy covert threads synchronously, establish initial monitoring points.
He nodded,
issuing the covert deployment order.
In the direction of the setting sun,
at the far end of the Ruins District,
a semi-core squad began to move quietly.
They'd caught wind of a rumor:
"A new resource channel has emerged in the southeast."
In the semi-core,
resources were lifeblood.
Every new channel
could signal a shift in power.
For Jason,
this was the perfect chance to lure the snake from its hole.
Jason stood motionless in the center of the Ruins Square,
the wind carrying the sound of flapping rags and creaking metal.
He knew,
this was only the beginning.
Tonight,
he wouldn't appear before the semi-core himself.
The true infiltrators
were the peripheral nodes,
the dark currents already aligned.
And he
would be the invisible puppeteer.
—
[Fuxi Hexagram]:
The way of alignment
lies in first uniting hearts,
then prying at structures.
In initial contact, seek not total victory,
but silent, traceless entry.
Section Two · Cold Probing
Night fell again.
In the southeast corner of the Ruins District, the old warehouse district.
Jason stood far off on a derelict skybridge,
bathed in the shattered glow of neon lights, squinting as he observed the scene below.
The wasteland transport truck had reached the designated rendezvous point.
Peripheral node representatives, posing as ordinary traders,
were engaging in preliminary talks with a small semi-core contact team.
Jason didn't show himself.
He knew that at this early stage,
the lower the profile, the safer.
True strategists
never rushed to the spotlight.
[System Fuxi Prompt]
Earth over Water, the Army:
Govern the many with the many,
schedule cautiously,
chaotic yet controllable.
Jason nodded slightly.
His expression calm as the night.
The semi-core's representatives were few,
but each had sharp, predatory eyes and sleek attire,
their waists subtly bulging with concealed weapons.
The leader—
Matthew Beck.
A notorious mediator in the semi-core,
cunning, slippery, and highly dangerous.
The other,
Claire Wood.
Her gaze was cold as ice,
a key liaison in the semi-core's intelligence distribution.
Their presence
signaled that this contact was far more serious than Jason had anticipated.
This wasn't a simple resource trade.
It was a cold probing.
On the skybridge, Kyle watched from a distance.
His palms faintly sweating.
"The semi-core… they're on another level."
Kyle felt an invisible pressure radiating from the contact zone,
as if the air itself carried a metallic edge.
The peripheral representatives appeared calm,
but Jason could see the fear hidden in their eyes.
It was the natural reaction to a crushing hierarchy.
Matthew stepped forward,
his smile laced with disdain and curiosity.
"New merchandise."
"But the source—"
He drew out the word,
his voice like a thin knife slicing an invisible line through the air.
One of the peripheral representatives muttered:
"The resources… come from our own consolidated scraps."
Matthew smirked,
not pressing further.
Claire raised an eyebrow,
glancing at the resource list.
Her fingertip traced a virtual invoice as she spoke coldly:
"The quantity's small, the quality's not top-tier."
"Can you offer anything higher-grade?"
Her words
were both a demand
and a test.
The semi-core didn't trust appearances.
They believed only in strength—or manipulated strength.
Jason watched silently.
[System Dynamic Analysis]
Semi-Core Representatives' Mental State: Alertness 67%, Probing 82%, Hostility 28%.
Manipulation Potential: Moderately High.
Recommendation: Slow high-frequency resource flows, build trust gradually.
Jason lowered his gaze,
already calculating.
Revealing high-value resources too soon
would expose him.
Moderate weakness, moderate trades—
that was how to hook bigger fish.
The negotiations below pressed on.
Matthew suddenly tilted his head,
a half-smile playing on his lips as he murmured:
"Word is, you've got a new boss behind you?"
The peripheral representatives stiffened,
a moment's hesitation flickering.
A faint ripple of tension stirred the air.
That question—
a deliberate trap laid by Matthew.
Probing for a stronger backer;
faltering here would be a death sentence.
The peripheral team leader gritted his teeth and muttered:
"We… we're self-organized."
Matthew narrowed his eyes,
his smile ambiguous.
"Are you now."
"Best that way."
He turned, signaling Claire to log the exchange.
The temporary trade
was tacitly approved.
But Jason knew—
this was just the start.
The real scrutiny
was brewing in the shadows.
The wind swept across the skybridge,
lifting tattered flyers from the ground.
Kyle stood in the shadows,
watching Jason's back,
a profound realization dawning:
"He's not just entering a new battlefield."
"He's quietly seizing its pulse."
And they
could only struggle to keep up—
or be silently left behind.
Section Three · Dark Currents Rising
The night grew thicker.
Deep in the Ruins District, heavy fog boiled like a silent undercurrent,
swallowing broken walls and rubble.
The atmosphere at the rendezvous point was shifting.
The peripheral representatives struggled to maintain composure while parrying the semi-core team,
but Jason, high on the skybridge, saw clearly—
details were slipping out of control.
Matthew casually lit an old-style cigarette,
the blue-white flame trembling at his fingertips,
illuminating the subtle, almost mocking curve of his lips.
He strolled past a row of resource crates,
his footsteps echoing lightly in the empty ruins.
With each step,
the peripheral representatives' shoulders tightened further.
The air seemed to solidify with smoke and fear.
Cigarette dangling, Matthew glanced at the inventory list
and tossed out carelessly:
"These things,
worth getting so worked up over?"
His words, like a blunt knife,
slowly carved through the peripheral team's fragile defenses.
Claire stood farther back,
arms crossed,
observing the scene with cold detachment.
Her gray-blue eyes, like a predator gliding above,
pierced through every hint of guilt or unrest.
To her,
these peripheral agents
were crude, brittle—
fit only to be used, not trusted.
[System Fuxi Prompt]
Earth over Water, Army Hexagram Shift:
The Army governs the many with principle.
If chaos arises, divide and control.
Jason stood on the skybridge,
eyes narrowed,
an ancient verse surfacing in his mind:
"When chaos looms, first break its form;
when motion stirs, first weaken its will."
He issued no forceful intervention.
Because,
this was the perfect moment to sift.
Peripheral agents who could hold under semi-core pressure
were worthy to follow.
Those who crumbled easily
were useless.
The tension on the ground grew taut.
Matthew suddenly crouched,
prying open a crate to reveal neatly packed high-frequency energy modules.
He raised an eyebrow
and grinned.
"Good stuff."
His voice held a trace of smugness.
But then, pointing at the modules, he added casually:
"Thing is,
gear like this only comes from a few specific channels."
Matthew stood,
dusting his hands,
his gaze sweeping coldly over the group.
"Which channel are you with?"
—
The peripheral representatives' faces paled.
The air felt doused in ice water.
Some stepped back instinctively,
others swallowed hard.
But most,
couldn't hide their panic and disarray.
On the skybridge,
Kyle saw this unfold,
his heart clenching.
"Done for…"
He cursed inwardly.
They were underprepared.
These peripheral agents
hadn't faced a real psychological tug-of-war.
Jason remained still as stone.
He didn't step in to save the scene.
Nor did he order a retreat.
[System Dynamic Analysis]
Crisis Triggered: Peripheral Agent Stability Dropped to 42%.
Semi-Core Probing Escalated, Initial Division Effects Emerging.
Recommended Action: Divert, Induce Partial Defection, Natural Purge.
Matthew chuckled,
tossing his cigarette butt and grinding it underfoot.
"Whatever."
"Not interested."
He waved dismissively,
leading the semi-core team away with a casual swagger,
exuding absolute superiority.
The peripheral representatives exchanged glances,
seconds later, a few instinctively moved to chase and explain.
But in that moment,
Jason sent a covert command through the peripheral control line:
[Freeze Actions, Stand By.]
No one dared move.
The semi-core team faded into the night,
leaving a silent, oppressive Ruins Square.
Jason withdrew his gaze,
slowly turning from the skybridge.
Behind him,
the wind lifted the corner of a tattered billboard,
revealing a weathered slogan:
"Control the future by controlling the now."
A cold glint flashed in Jason's eyes.
—
On the Fuxi system interface,
the Earth over Water hexagram spun slowly,
releasing a cryptic prompt:
"The many cannot gather without strategy;
the moving cannot rise without restraint."
Kyle hurried to catch up,
asking in a low voice:
"…Just let them go?"
Jason gave a faint smile:
"They haven't gone far."
Kyle froze.
Jason added softly:
"Every step they take
is on the track I've set."
The wind blew from the edge of the ruins,
carrying faint traces of blood and rust.
In the depths of the night,
the true dark currents
were only beginning to stir.
Section Four · Strategic Breakthrough
The night pressed like a lead weight on the heart.
In the southeast corner of the Ruins District, the wind rattled broken rebar, emitting low, hoarse moans.
The peripheral contact team retreated to the temporary stronghold at the gas station ruins.
Hasty, disheveled,
but not entirely broken.
Jason stood silently on the top floor of the abandoned warehouse,
gazing at the retreat path through the night.
His eyes, piercing the shattered glass,
were calm—not those of a seventeen-year-old,
but of an ancient logic engine computing in the ruins.
[System Fuxi Prompt]
Earth over Water shifts to Lake over Water, Trapped:
"Trapped, one ponders change; in peril, one forges a path."
Jason lowered his eyelids.
This contact seemed a failure,
but in truth—
the initial screening was complete.
More crucially,
though the semi-core came with probing and scorn,
they had accepted the first batch of resources.
The line
was tied.
The warehouse's atmosphere was stifling.
Peripheral team members either sat in silence
or muttered curses.
Morale was visibly shaken.
Kyle leaned by the door,
brows furrowed,
and said lowly:
"They never intended a real dialogue.
We were disposable from the start."
Jason tilted his head slightly,
voice calm:
"It was never a negotiation.
It was bait."
Kyle blinked,
not yet grasping,
as Jason turned to the virtual terminal, fingers flying across commands.
The screen flashed with peripheral team member profiles.
Identities, backgrounds, recent emotional anomalies, micro-movement analyses…
Data streams flowed like a cold, dark river,
sketching vivid psychological portraits.
[System Deep Scan Analysis]
Peripheral Representative Trust Index: 54% dropped to 47%.
Anomalous Tendency Members: 4.
Controllable Members: 7.
Risk of Semi-Core Subversion: Moderate.
Jason swiftly tagged several names,
marked for observation.
Simultaneously,
he activated the [Resource Tracking Engine].
Every core component in the traded resource modules
had been silently embedded with micro-tracking chips.
The outside didn't know,
Jason never relied on trust to hold the peripheral system.
Trust?
Too luxurious.
Too fragile.
Control
was the only certainty.
Outside the warehouse, the night wind grew sharper.
A few peripheral representatives whispered anxiously,
their emotions visibly unstable.
Jason didn't interrupt.
He recorded,
observed,
waited.
Waited for the weakest psychological defenses
to crack.
The Fuxi system whispered in his ear:
"Trapped, one seeks change; the weak reveal their form.
Control not with force,
but with strategy."
Two a.m.
In the western Ruins District, a covert short-frequency communication was intercepted.
Signal source pinpointed—
a peripheral member named Harvey
was attempting to contact a semi-core subgroup, "Gray Wing."
Intent clear:
trade for protection.
Jason's lips curled into a cold smirk.
As expected, he moved.
[System Immediate Analysis]
Gray Wing Acceptance Likelihood: Low.
Counter-Utilization Intent: High.
The semi-core had no intention of sheltering traitors—they'd use Harvey for intel,
then discard him.
But Jason
was faster.
In the darkest hour before dawn.
In the southeast corner of the Ruins District,
under a derelict power transmission tower,
Harvey stepped cautiously into a semi-core temporary contact point,
nerves fraying.
He didn't know,
from the ruins of a distant high-rise,
Jason watched silently through his terminal.
He didn't know,
Gray Wing's true controlling group—"Dark Vulture"—
had already prepared bait and noose.
[System Decision Analysis]
Optimal Strategy: Allow contact, guide exposure, then counter-utilize.
Objectives: 1) Confirm Gray Wing's true intent. 2) Expose potential Gray Wing-semi-core rifts. 3) Establish an internal purge precedent.
Jason's finger twitched,
fine-tuning peripheral node monitoring parameters.
Operation Codename:
[Featherfall Plan].
A silent counter-control
unfolded in the depths of the night.
The wind stirred tattered ruin flags.
Jason stood at the edge of the high-rise,
his silhouette cold and solitary,
his gaze deep as a midnight sea.
He murmured to himself:
"A trap isn't a dead end."
"It's just,
a matter of who moves first."
Section Five · Dark Tide Markers
Three a.m., the Ruins District's deepest hour of darkness.
In the shadows of a crumbling power transmission tower, out of sight,
Harvey was cautiously handing over information.
Gray Wing's operatives, clad in ballistic leather jackets and half-masked,
spoke in cold, clipped tones.
"Resource channels."
"Organizational structure."
"Covert contact lists."
Their demands were curt, direct,
devoid of warmth.
And Harvey—
he was visibly wavering.
Sweat slid down his temple,
freezing in the chill night.
But he gritted his teeth,
reaching into his pocket for a prepared, abbreviated peripheral node list.
At that moment.
[System Fuxi Prompt · Breakpoint Generated]
"Featherfall Plan, execute."
Jason, in the shadows of the high-rise, pressed the command.
Instantly, multiple covert nodes across the Ruins District activated.
First Wave:
Intercept Harvey's real-time communication with Gray Wing.
Second Wave:
Activate embedded Gray Wing moles, fabricate localized intelligence anomalies.
Third Wave:
Coordinate peripheral resources, stage a false node exposure, goading Gray Wing into hasty action.
Deep in the ruins, a precise psychological war erupted silently.
Harvey didn't know,
the moment he handed over the list,
Gray Wing's command chain plunged into brief chaos.
Their leader snapped:
"Secure him, take him to HQ for interrogation!"
But simultaneously,
they received an anomaly alert:
Peripheral resource node leaks far exceeded expectations,
and cross-verification revealed—forged list markers!
Confusion began to spread.
[System Dynamic Analysis]
Gray Wing Command Chain Stability Dropped to 61%.
Potential Internal Discord Exposure Rate Rose to 23%.
Semi-Core Monitoring Attention: Rising.
Jason's lips twitched faintly.
The trap was set.
This wasn't a simple capture,
but the detonation of a chain reaction.
Kyle watched from afar,
seeing Harvey roughly shoved into a modified armored vehicle by Gray Wing,
a tangle of emotions suppressed within.
He asked lowly:
"Should we save him?"
Jason replied coolly:
"Save? For what?"
His gaze was ice:
"He's already a dead piece."
"More importantly—"
"Let Gray Wing busy themselves with infighting,
let the semi-core doubt Gray Wing,
let the first crack appear in the semi-core's foundation."
Kyle froze.
Only then did he grasp it.
Jason didn't care about one Harvey,
nor was he merely purging the periphery.
He aimed to destabilize
the entire semi-core structure.
Breaking the game wasn't about smashing it with brute force—
but letting it fracture from within.
Jason withdrew his gaze,
swiftly marking on the virtual terminal:
Harvey → Discarded.
Gray Wing → Dynamic Observation.
Semi-Core · Gray Wing Faction → Potential Fracture Generated.
First-Stage Infiltration Framework Complete.
First Batch of Covert Markers Set.
Potential Leverage Targets Identified.
The Fuxi system whispered:
"To move the many, act not on the surface;
to break the strong, strike not from without."
"Lurk in the heart, shatter in the subtle."
Jason exhaled a breath of cold air.
In the depths of the night,
his shadow merged with the ruins,
a silent current seeping into the decayed city's bones.
[System Dynamic Summary]
✔️ Semi-Core Initial Probe → Successfully Defended
✔️ Peripheral Node Preliminary Screening → Complete
✔️ Gray Wing Internal Disruption → Triggered
✔️ Semi-Core Systemic Instability Signs → Forming
Jason quietly noted today's conclusion:
"The first true strategic infiltration isn't built on strength,
nor on confrontation,
but on—
a single dark current,
stirring the entire deep sea into upheaval."
At the edge of the ruins,
the skyline hinted at a faint, dim light.
A new day
was silently awakening.
Jason turned and left,
leaving behind, in the ruins and the night,
an invisible, irreversible dark tide.