Soul Lock: The Ghost City Tycoon

Chapter 2 — The Tycoon and the Warrior

The deal should have ended the conversation.

But it didn’t.

Not when two reborn survivors stood in the same cramped shop, both carrying a decade of scars that no one else could see.

The air felt heavier after they shook hands.

Even Old Man Ling stood very still, like he had stumbled into a storm without realizing it.

Mei Lin broke the silence first.

“You’re reckless,” she said, lifting the stack of Golden Joss. “You came here with a thousand dollars and tried to buy out a monopoly.”

“It worked,” Alex said.

“Barely.” Her tone was cool. “You think walking in with confidence creates power?”

“No,” he answered. “But walking in with future knowledge does.”

That made her pause.

Mei Lin wasn’t the type to be impressed. She had seen enough death and betrayal in the last life to coat her soul in armor. But she respected leverage — and Alex had just used his well.

“You offered me a partnership,” she said. “But you haven’t explained what you bring besides a few memories and a willingness to run into danger.”

Alex motioned for her to follow. They stepped outside, the door closing behind them with a soft chime.

“Look around,” he said.

Traffic hummed. A family crossed with shopping bags. A dog barked at nothing.

“Nine days. All of this dies,” Alex continued. “The Ghost Tide begins with the Haunting Hour. By midnight, normal people won’t even know how they died. Joss paper becomes currency. Soul Locks become walls. And only two types of people survive.”

Mei Lin waited.

“Those with capital,” Alex said. “And those with the strength to protect it.”

She exhaled slowly. “So you see yourself as the strength.”

“I know I am,” Alex said. “Because in the last life, I held a ghost battalion for seven years. I learned every early spawn point, every weak barrier, every safe zone. If you want to keep your investment alive, you need me.”

A group of teenagers laughed as they passed, unaware of the two reborn strategizing the fate of their world.

Mei Lin tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “You’re a fighter. I’m a builder. Together we carve out territory.”

“Exactly.”

“But a seventy-thirty split?” She eyed him. “You’re asking for the lion’s share.”

Alex didn’t flinch. “I’m the one dying first if things go wrong.”

That answer was simple. And honest. Mei Lin appreciated honest calculations.

She looked down the street, thinking.

“In my past life,” she said quietly, “I built an entire trading syndicate from the ground up. I bought territory. I bought protection. But what killed me wasn’t money.”

Alex turned. “It was betrayal.”

Mei Lin met his eyes, something sharp behind them. “I don’t trust easily anymore. And you—someone who remembers the future—are either my greatest asset or the knife at my throat.”

Alex didn’t take offense. “Then I’ll give you something to measure me with.”

He took a breath.

“The first Soul Lock appears tonight.”

She froze.

“That’s impossible,” she said. “The Haunting doesn't start until—”

“Until the ghost tide,” Alex finished. “But some artifacts wake early. They always did. The first one is in the City Folklore Museum. They don’t know what they’re holding. But I do.”

Mei Lin stared, weighing every word. “And you want me to help you steal it.”

“Borrow,” Alex said.

“You’re calling this borrowing?”

“The world ends in nine days,” Alex said. “Borrowing and stealing are the same thing.”

She laughed softly, the first real laugh he’d heard from her — short, sharp, amused by the madness.

“You know what’s funny?” she said. “This body I’m in now… in this life… I’m not strong. I can’t fight. But I still have my mind. I know how to build networks, buy influence, hide money before the banks collapse.”

Alex nodded. “And I know how to survive when the dead start walking.”

Mei Lin lowered her voice. “Then here’s my counter-offer. I provide the capital, the storage, and the logistics. You provide the locks, the defense, and the combat strength. You get seventy percent of ghost resources, but only forty percent of the human currency.”

Alex blinked. “Fair.”

“Because,” she added, “you won’t be spending money in the next month. I will. A lot of it.”

Alex couldn’t argue with that.

Mei Lin’s tone softened just slightly. “Tell me more about this Soul Lock.”

Alex explained the Nine-Turn Coffin Lock. How the Red Dragon Triad guarded it in the last life. How it became the strongest community base in the city. How it could anchor a whole district if powered with enough Golden Joss.

Mei Lin’s breathing changed subtly.

She understood the value.

A Soul Lock was more than protection.

It was a business.

A fortress.

A monopoly.

She looked back toward Old Man Ling’s shop. “If we get the lock, the joss, and a safe zone… we aren’t just survivors.”

Alex nodded. “We become rulers.”

Mei Lin extended her hand again.

“Then let’s build our future,” she said. “Together.”

Alex shook her hand. Stronger this time.

“Where do we start?” she asked.

“First,” Alex said, pulling his hood up against the wind, “we break into a museum.”

“And after that?”

Alex smiled faintly.

“After that… we build Sanctuary Zero.”

End of Chapter 2