A City Without an Owner

The system locked the object's state. The firing pin stopped a fraction before impact, sealed in invisible amber. Gu pulled the trigger three times. Nothing fired. Su stepped forward and pressed her trauma shears to his carotid artery. “I'm very good at saving people,” she said. “So I know exactly where not to touch.” Lin took the third shard. [RULE SHARD 03 ACQUIRED: LOCAL OVERRIDE.] [ONCE PER CYCLE, ALTER ONE CONDITION IN A NON-CORE RULE FOR SIXTY SECONDS.] [WARNING: REPEATED INTERFERENCE WILL RAISE MONITORING LEVEL.] Gu saw the message and smiled. “At last. Why do you think the system put a shard in the city I built?” “Because it knew you would build it.”