Blueprint

The number in the bottom-right corner of the panel had barely finished ticking over when the pain hit.

It was far worse than last time. Reaching Lv. 2 had been like a computer force-restarting—over in an instant. This time, it lasted dozens of seconds. His vision warped, and a patch of sweat spread across the pillow. It felt as if a construction crew had started work inside his brain, tearing things down first, then installing something new.

When Han Luyi sat up in bed, his head still felt stuffy and swollen, like he had just recovered from a high fever.

Out of habit, he touched his stomach—about to get up and wash—then froze.

There were ridges.

Han Luyi lifted his pajama top and looked down. Six clearly defined abs. He stared for two seconds, then squeezed his arm. The muscle there had tightened up too. Leveling up improved his body as well? This cheat ability was getting more absurd by the day.

He stared blankly at the half-broken fluorescent tube on the ceiling. It had been like that for half a year.

He opened Sight.

[Lv.3｜Energy:127/500]

His energy cap had jumped from 250 to 500. He was currently at 127; the leveling process had consumed more than half of it.

The range had expanded again. At Lv. 2, sitting at home, the edge of his perception had just covered this building. Now, without even leaving the bed, he could sense things farther away.

Much farther.

He got out of bed and walked to the window.

Data nodes filled his vision. Dense gray dots floated in the night, each representing an object, a length of piping, a piece of equipment, all folded away. The last time, when his range had expanded from five meters to fifty, the screenful of labels had nearly drowned him. It had taken him days to learn how to filter them. This time, he had no idea how many times farther it reached, but not a single label unfolded on its own.

He tested it. There was a gray dot on the streetlamp pole at the entrance to the alley. He focused on it, and a label popped open: [Streetlamp Control Module｜Fault: Photosensor drift → occasional daytime activation]. When he released his attention, the label shrank back into a gray dot. Whatever he looked at expanded; whatever he ignored folded away.

On the third floor of the building across from him, an outdoor AC unit glowed orange: [Compressor Bearing Wear｜Expected Lifespan: 4–6 months]. There were also several basic character panels upstairs and downstairs, automatically folded into gray dots that revealed only names and ages. He did not open them. Farther out. Past the bend in the alley was Bug Café. Old Zhou had closed up long ago, but the equipment was still powered on. A familiar label hung over the Italian semi-automatic espresso machine: [Heating Module Temperature Control Offset +2.3°C]. Before, he would have needed to sit inside the café to see it.

He tried pushing farther outward. The data points at the very edge flickered like a signal with only one bar left. Beyond that, there was nothing.

About two hundred meters, probably.

He stood by the window for a while. The alley had gone quiet, gray data points floating in the night.

Han Luyi turned and sat down at his desk. His laptop screen was still on, the code for the v1.3 impact assessment module half-revised, the cursor resting on line 427. He stared at the screen without continuing.

The siege. Five attack vectors. Su Niannian's proposal. Gu Siyue's advice. Old Zhou's story.

What was he supposed to do now?

He did not deliberately ask Sight, but the instant that thought took shape, something he had never seen before appeared on the panel.

Before, Sight had been like a flashlight. Wherever he aimed it lit up. Point it at a block of code, and it told him which line had a Bug and how to fix it. Point it at a contract, and it highlighted the loophole clauses in red. Point it at a person, and it gave him basic information and emotions. Point to point. One input, one output.

This time, there was no input. "What was he supposed to do now?" He was not facing any person, any code, or any document. Sight had answered a question with no target.

The new section of his brain grew faintly warm.

A whole area surfaced in the center of the panel, like a blueprint—structured and layered—

[*Path Compilation* · Activated]

[Objective: BugKiller Commercialization Survival Path]

[Compiling...]

[*Path Compilation* · Complete]

[Step 1/5: Compliance Qualification Completion]

[Action: Third-Party Security Audit + Data White Paper + Privacy Statement]

[Resources: 120,000–150,000 + Legal Support｜Timeline: 2–3 Weeks｜Success Rate: 96%]

[Step 2/5: Product Differentiation Reinforcement]

[Action: Rebuild v1.3 Impact Assessment Module, ×2 Scan Speed for Large Projects]

[Resources: 10 Days of Full-Time Development｜Success Rate: 91%]

[Step 3/5: Community Ecosystem Opening]

[Action: Open-Source SDK + Plugin Interfaces (VS Code / JetBrains)]

[Resources: 5 Days of Development + Community Documentation｜Timeline: 2 Weeks｜Success Rate: 88%]

[Step 4/5: Channel Breakthrough]

[Exclusive Cloud Provider Partnership → Long-Term Survival Rate 34% (Fatal Trap)]

[Detected Non-Exclusive Alternative Path — Targeted Compilation Required｜Estimated Cost: 180+ Energy｜Current Energy Insufficient]

[Step 5/5: Financing]

[Action: Angel Round / Pre-A｜Valuation Range: 5–12 Million]

[Success Rate: 64% (Dependent on Step 4 Path Selection)]

[-----------------]

[Current Survival Probability: 31%]

[Survival Probability After Completing Five Steps: To Be Determined After Step 4 Compilation]

Han Luyi stared at the panel.

Thirty-one.

The energy panel in the lower-right corner ticked once.

[Lv.3｜Energy:94/500]

Just reading this list had consumed 33 points.

He did not close it in a hurry. Instead, he read through it again from the beginning.

Step one, compliance qualifications. Gu Siyue had already connected with Zhongdun for the audit, and the white paper was seven pages in. Step two, product differentiation. The exact words in Su Niannian's proposal: "Impact assessment is the moat." Step three, opening the community ecosystem. Half of the optimal path that Sight had compiled at the cost of 33 energy was already underway.

Step four.

Han Luyi stared at that red 34%.

He had researched the current state of partnerships with cloud service providers in the industry. Three million in annual minimum guarantees, homepage recommendation slots, joint marketing budgets.

If someone had slapped that contract onto his desk yesterday, he would most likely have signed it.

He glanced at the bottom-right corner—94. The alternative path required 180. He could not run it tonight.

Han Luyi opened his notes app and typed out the five-step list from beginning to end. The panel's information did not persist; once it was closed, it would be gone.

When he reached the line for step four, he paused, then added: "Alternative path pending compilation."

He saved the file and sent Su Niannian a message. "Can we meet tomorrow morning? I have some new ideas."

Outside the window, the fruit stand was closing up. The sound of metal cart wheels rolling over the paving tiles drifted in.

He was about to close Sight.

A flash of golden light flickered at the edge of the panel.

He had not scanned it on purpose. Lv. 3 passive acquisition covered the entire two-hundred-meter range.

Next door, 501.

[Lin Wanqing｜Creative Talent: Top 0.3%｜Visual Narrative Ability: Extremely High｜Commercial Value Realization Rate: 4.7%]

Top 0.3%. He had scanned the panels of several hundred people, and he could count those who made the top 1% on one hand.

Han Luyi turned to look at the two paintings displayed side by side beside his monitor—Duoduo's crayon stick figures and giant ladybug, Lin Wanqing's fabric-framed painting, a tiny ladybug perched on a doorknob.

He flipped back to his notes and added one line at the end of the list.

He closed Sight. Before the energy panel vanished, it flickered once.

[61/500]