The Red Dragon Casino was an attack on the senses.
The moment we stepped through the golden doors, the smell of sewage and smoke was replaced by fake flowers and expensive tobacco. The air was cool and clean. Above us, the ceiling was a massive holographic fish tank, with digital sharks swimming through clouds of gold coins.
The floor was packed. Humans, cyborgs, and robots crowded around tables of glowing card games and spinning roulette wheels. Waitresses with bunny ears and metal legs weaved through the crowd carrying trays of glowing drinks.
"Don't look at anything," Sarah whispered. "Don't touch anything. We are guests, but we are also prey."
A woman in a red silk dress approached us. She was so beautiful, but her eyes were completely silver. They were Fake eyes. Implants.
"Dragon-Head Wu is expecting you in the Penthouse," she said. Her voice was soft and pretty. "Follow me."
She led us past the slot machines—where desperate people plugged cables into the port in their heads and directly into the machines, gambling their own memories for credits.
We were heading toward a private elevator.
As we walked, my wrist-comp buzzed again.
MESSAGE: Not the Penthouse. The VIP Lounge. Turn left.
I stopped.
"Is there a problem?" the silver-eyed woman asked, turning around.
"I... I need to use the restroom," I lied. "Nerves."
The woman frowned. "Make it quick. The Dragon does not like to wait."
She pointed to a corridor on the left.
I looked at Sarah. "Go up. Start the negotiation. I'll catch up."
"Elias, don't do anything stupid," she warned, squeezing my hand. "This isn't a game."
"I know," I said.
She entered the elevator with the hostess. The doors closed.
Immediately i turned and walked toward the VIP Lounge.
The entrance was guarded by a massive bouncer who looked more like a tank than a man. His skin was covered in grey armor plating.
"Members only," he grunted.
I didn't argue. I looked at the scanner on the door.
Tech Manipulation.
I placed my hand near the panel. I reached out with my mind, feeling the flow of the code. It was locked tight... but it had a pattern.
Open, I commanded.
ACCESS GRANTED.
The door slid open. The bouncer blinked, confused, looking at his console. I slipped inside before he could stop me.
The VIP Lounge was darker, quieter. Booths were hidden behind curtains of smoke. At the back of the room, sitting alone at a table, was a figure.
It was a kid.
Maybe fifteen years old. He wore a hoodie with a glowing smiley face on it. With headphones around his neck. He was eating a bowl of noodles. And a laptop covered in stickers sat open in front of him.
"You're late, Caretaker," the kid said, slurping a noodle.
"You?" I walked over, hand hovering near the pistol I had stolen from the guard earlier. "You sent the message?"
"Sit down," the kid said. He tapped a key on his laptop, and a privacy bubble shimmered into existence around the table, blocking all sound from outside.
"I'm Glitch," the kid said. "And you are the most interesting anomaly I've seen in years."
"What do you want?"
"I want to help you," Glitch said. He spun his laptop around. On the screen was a live video of... me. Running from the Reaper. Blowing up the power cable, and draining the energy.
"You aren't a Technomancer, Elias," Glitch said, his eyes gleaming. "Technomancers write code. But you ate the code. Do you know what that makes you?"
"A freak?"
"A Devourer," Glitch whispered. "It's a legendary class. It hasn't been seen since the First Ascension. You can absorb energy and turn it directly into XP. You don't need to kill monsters. You can level up just by draining a battery."
He pointed to the slot machines outside the glass.
"You could drain this whole casino dry if you wanted to. You could hit Level 50 in a single night."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because I hate Malachi," Glitch said. His face went hard. "He killed my brother. Used him for parts in Server 3. I've been trying to hack the Corporation for years, but their firewall—the Black Ice—is too strong."
He leaned forward.
"But you... you don't need to hack the firewall. You can eat it."
"So you want to use me as a battering ram."
"I want to form a party," Glitch corrected. "You have the raw power. I have the information. Sarah has the Admin codes. Together? We can crash the whole damn system."
My wrist-comp beeped.
PARTY INVITE RECEIVED: GLITCH (LEVEL 20 HACKER).
ACCEPT? YES / NO.
Level 20? This kid was a monster.
"I accept," I said, tapping 'YES'.
PARTY FORMED.
"Good," Glitch said, closing his laptop. "Now, you better get upstairs. Dragon-Head Wu is about to kill your girlfriend."
"What?"
"Wu isn't interested in Sarah's codes. He's selling her back to Malachi. The deal is going down in five minutes." Glitch said.
My blood ran cold.
"How do I get up there?"
"The elevator is locked," Glitch said. "But the air vent isn't."
He tapped his keyboard. A vent cover in the ceiling popped open.
"Go," Glitch said. "I'll kill the cameras. Save the Queen."
I didn't hesitate.
I just jumped onto the table, grabbed the edge of the vent, and pulled myself up.
I crawled through the tight metal tunnel. The dust choked me. I could hear voices up ahead.
I reached the grate looking down into the Penthouse.
I saw them.
Sarah was tied to a chair.
Dragon-Head Wu—an elderly man with a golden dragon tattoo that moved across his skin—stood over her, smoking a cigar.
And on the large screen behind him, Malachi's face was watching.
"The Asset is secured," Wu said to the screen. "Transfer the credits."
"Done," Malachi replied. "A recovery team is on the way."
Wu turned to Sarah.
"Nothing personal, your Highness. But business is business."
He pulled out a long, jagged knife.
"Malachi wants you alive. But he didn't say anything about keeping all your fingers."
He reached for her hand.
"No!" Sarah screamed.
I didn't think. I just kicked the grate.
CLANG.
The metal grate fell, crashing onto the glass table in the center of the room. I dropped down right behind it, landing in a crouch, with the stolen pistol in my hand.
"Get away from her!" I roared.
Wu looked at me. Unimpressed. And the four guards in the room drew their katanas.
"The boyfriend," Wu sighed. "Kill him."
The guards charged.
I raised my hand. Not the gun. My hand.
[Skill: Energy Siphon]
I didn't aim at the guards. I aimed at the room.
The lights. The screens. The security systems. Everything ran on power.
DRAIN.
The lights in the Penthouse exploded. The room plunged into pitch darkness. The guards shouted in confusion. Their energy swords flickered and died as I sucked the power right out of the air.
[XP GAINED: +50... +50... +50...]
My body glowed with blue energy. In the dark, I was a beacon.
"You want business?" I snarled. My voice echoed with a digital growl.
"I'm here to audit the books."