Chapter 13: Best Buy

  The next morning, Wei was mid-meditation when his phone buzzed.

  Not once. A steady, rhythmic vibration. *Bzz. Bzz. Bzz.*

  He opened one eye. The screen was a blur of notifications.

  "Sarah is calling," Siri announced.

  Wei tapped the green circle.

  "Dude!" Sarah's voice was distorted by wind (she was running).

  "Manager Sarah. Is there an emergency? Are the Enforcers back?"

  "No! Check the app! You got 100k likes!"

  Wei blinked.

  "One hundred thousand... likes? Is that a lot?"

  "Ideally? No. Ideally, we want millions. But for a first video of a guy cutting bread in a basement? It's huge. The comments are going wild. Half of them think it's CGI. The other half want to know where you bought the knife."

  "It was a four-dollar knife from Target," Wei reminded her.

  "Exactly. It's a start."

  Sarah paused.

  "But the lighting was trash. And the audio echoed. If we're going to build a Sect, we can't look like amateur hour."

  "What is the solution?"

  "We need to go shopping. Have you ever heard of Best Buy?"

  Wei frowned. "It sounds like a marketplace for superior goods."

  "It's a store full of glowing rectangles. Get dressed. I'm five minutes away."

  ***

  Best Buy was different from the Apple Store.

  The Apple Store was a temple. Minimalist. Silent.

  Best Buy was a bazaar. Noisy. Cluttered. Filled with blue shirts instead of white.

  "The Armory of Electric Sparks," Wei noted, dodging a pallet of printers.

  Sarah led him past the washing machines.

  "We need lights. A ring light. Maybe two. And a microphone."

  Wei stopped.

  He was standing in front of the TV Wall.

  Fifty screens, spanning from floor to ceiling. All playing the same loop of a brightly colored parrot flying through a jungle.

  The resolution was so high it hurt.

  "These illusions," Wei whispered, shielding his eyes. "They are... aggressive."

  "That's 8K OLED," a sales associate said, appearing from the shadows. "The blacks are perfect."

  Wei looked at the associate. The boy was young, acne-riddled, and wearing a badge that said 'Kevin'.

  "Young Master Kevin," Wei pointed to the screen. "Do you trap the birds inside, or are they spirit projections?"

  Kevin stared at him. Then he looked at Sarah.

  "Is he... for real?"

  "He's method," Sarah said quickly. "Very dedicated actor."

  They moved to the camera section.

  Sarah found a "Content Creator Kit." Tripod. Halo Light. Lapel Mic.

  "This is it," she declared. "The tools of the trade."

  Wei examined the ring light.

  "A Circle of Artificial Sun," Wei mused. "To illuminate the Dao."

  "To illuminate your face, Wei. Shadows are the enemy of retention."

  They walked to the checkout.

  Wei paid with his Jade Token.

  "So," Wei asked as they carried the boxes out. "With these tools, we will reach the millions?"

  "With these tools," Sarah corrected, "People will be able to see that you aren't actually using CGI. They'll see the sweat. The focus. The *Dao*."

  She grinned.

  "And then, the sponsors will call. And then, we buy your building."

  Wei nodded. He hoisted the boxes onto his shoulder.

  "Then let us return to the Cave. The Sun Circle awaits."

  Chapter 14: The GoPro

  "What is this?" Wei asked, tugging at the strap on his forehead.

  "It's a GoPro," Sarah said, tightening the buckle. "Basically, a third eye that records everything you see."

  Wei touched the small black cube.

  "A Third Eye? Like the Erlang Shen?"

  "Sure. But instead of seeing demons, it sees engagement metrics."

  They stood on the roof of the Starbucks building (Sarah had 'borrowed' the key from the Manager).

  "Okay," Sarah explained. "We need content. Lots of content. The algorithm is hungry. It wants to know *how* you move."

  She pointed towards Queens, eight miles away.

  "You're going to do that kung fu parkour thing you do to get home. And you're going to film it."

  Wei looked at the skyline. The sun was setting, casting long orange shadows across the concrete canyons.

  "You wish me to cultivate the 'Flowing Water Step' while wearing a plastic box?"

  "Yes. And try not to look down. Or do look down. People love vertigo."

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Sarah pressed the *Rec* button.

  "Action!"

  Wei didn't hesitate.

  He sprinted.

  He hit the edge of the roof and leaped.

  To a normal human, the gap between the buildings was a death sentence. To Wei, it was a gentle hop.

  He landed on the adjacent fire escape, rolled (the camera stabilized perfectly), and vaulted over a ventilation duct.

  *Fluidity,* Wei thought. *Momentum.*

  He ran along the parapet.

  He jumped to a water tower.

  He slid down a drainpipe like a firefighter, dropping three stories in two seconds.

  The footage, as Sarah would later see, was terrifying.

  It showed the ground rushing up. It showed the blur of traffic far below. It showed Wei's hands grabbing ledges that looked impossible to hold.

  It looked like a video game with cheat codes enabled.

  He reached the bridge.

  Instead of the pedestrian path, he took the suspension cable.

  He ran up the slope of the cable, high above the cars, high above the water.

  The wind howled in the microphone. The view was panoramic and majestic.

  Thirty minutes later, he landed in front of the Cave.

  Sarah was already there (Uber).

  "Let me see," she demanded, snatching the camera from his head.

  She watched the playback on her phone.

  Her eyes widened.

  "Wei," she whispered. "This is insane. People are going to think you're Spider-Man."

  "I am not a spider," Wei corrected, smoothing his windblown robes. "Spiders have poor posture."

  Sarah was already editing.

  "Title: *POV: You are late for work.* Hashtag *parkour*, hashtag *xianxia*, hashtag *donottrythisathome*."

  She hit upload.

  "Get some sleep, Wei. Tomorrow, we break the internet."

  Chapter 15: The Call

  Wei arrived at Starbucks at 6:00 AM, having taken the rooftops again (it was genuinely faster).

  He brewed the first batch of the "Han Solo Special."

  Business was normal until 7:00 AM.

  Then Sarah walked in.

  She looked like she hadn't slept. Her hair was a neon pink birds nest. She was holding two phones, and both were ringing.

  She didn't order coffee. She just slammed a laptop onto the counter.

  "Ten million," she croaked.

  Wei paused, the portafilter in his hand.

  "Ten million Spirit Stones?"

  "Views, Wei. Views. In twelve hours."

  She tapped a key.

  "The comments are broken. The server is lagging. Red Bull sent me a DM. Nike sent an email. A guy claiming to be the Prince of Dubai wants to fly you out for a birthday party."

  One of the phones buzzed again.

  "Hello?" Sarah answered, putting on her 'Manager Voice' (which was terrifyingly sharp).

  "No. He doesn't do crypto. No, he won't wear a morph suit. Yes, he can actually do that. No, it's not CGI. Pricing? Starting at fifty thousand for a thirty-second integration. Take it or leave it."

  She hung up.

  "They took it," she whispered.

  Wei served a customer (who stared at him with wide, frightened eyes).

  "So," Wei asked. "The Algorithm is pleased?"

  "Pleased? Wei, we just broke the algorithm's spine."

  Sarah looked at her spreadsheet.

  "Between the creator fund, the ad revenue, and the pending contracts I'm about to sign... we're looking at a quarter million. This month."

  Wei stopped.

  "A quarter million."

  "And that's just the start. If we launch merch? If we do a specialized course?"

  She looked up at him. Her eyes were bloodshot but manic.

  "So, Wei," she grinned, showing all her teeth. "Where did you want that dojo?"

  Wei looked out the window at the bustling streets of New York.

  He felt the pulse of the city. It was chaotic. Dirty. Loud.

  But it was also alive.

  And now, it was his.

  " Midtown," Wei decided. "Near the Park. High ceilings. Thick walls."

  He poured a cup of coffee and handed it to Sarah.

  "Drink, Manager Sarah. We have buildings to inspect."