The Sovereign Auditor: World Liquidation.

Chapter 9: The Slumlord’s Reign Ends

The air in the tenement district tasted like soot and desperation. I walked down the narrow alleyway, my blood-stained shirt sticking to my back. 

Nova-Tech was a mountain of glass and steel, but this place was a gutter. My "home."

A thick plume of black smoke rose from the central courtyard. I rounded the corner and stopped.

Old Man Geng was there. He was a squat, greasy man with a yellowed undershirt and a face that looked like a crumpled paper bag. 

He held a shovel in one hand and a cigarette in the other. Behind him stood three thugs—local muscle with cheap tattoos and dull eyes.

They were standing around a rusted oil drum. A trash fire roared inside it.

"Careful with that one, boys," Geng cackled, pointing at a stack of worn textbooks. "Medical science is highly flammable."

He kicked a box. My sister’s books—the ones I’d worked three jobs to buy her, spilled into the dirt. A thug grabbed a handful and tossed them into the flames.

"Stop," I said. My voice was quiet, but it carried across the courtyard.

Geng turned. He squinted through the smoke, a crooked grin revealing teeth stained by tobacco. 

"Well, well. Look who decided to crawl back. Han Sen. You look like hell, kid. Did you finally try to rob someone who could actually fight?"

"Get away from the fire, Geng," I said, taking a step forward. "Oh, he’s got a backbone today!" Geng laughed, looking at his thugs. 

"Found some more blood to sell, did you? Or maybe you sold a kidney this time? You’re late on the 'protection' f*e. And now, you’ve got a 'cleaning f*e' for leaving this garbage in the hallway."

"Those are my sister's belongings," I said. "They’re fuel now," Geng sneered. He picked up a thick anatomy text and held it over the drum. 

"Two thousand dollars, Han Sen. Right now. In my hand. If I don't see the green, the rest of her library goes into the soup."

"You’ve taken enough from me," I whispered. "I’ll take whatever I want!" Geng barked. He dropped the book. It hit the flames with a heavy thud. Sparks flew into the air. 

"You're a tenant. That means you're a dog. Dogs don't own things. Now, where’s my money, or do I have to send the boys to search your pockets?"

I didn't reach for my wallet. I didn't reach for a weapon. I pulled out my phone. The System interface flickered in my vision.

[Target: West District Tenement Block 4.]

[Owner: Geng Holdings (Fraudulent Lien detected).]

[Market Value: $8 Million.]

[Liquidation Cost: $12 Million (Expedited Transfer).]

"I’m giving you one chance, Geng," I said, my thumb hovering over the screen. "Walk away from the fire. Leave the block. Never come back."

Geng stared at me for a beat, then doubled over in laughter. The thugs joined in, a chorus of mocking brays. 

"He’s giving me a chance! You hear that? The doormat is barking!"

He stepped toward me, jabbing a greasy finger at my chest. "You’re a loser, Han Sen. You live in a hole. Your sister is a corpse in waiting. You have nothing. Now, give me the two grand or I’ll break your other arm."

"Confirmed," I muttered. I tapped the screen.

[Transaction Complete.]

[New Owner: Han Sen.]

[Registry Updated: 100% Ownership.]

[Command: Asset Restructuring.]

Suddenly, the courtyard erupted in sound. Not screams, but the rhythmic chirping of dozens of cell phones.

From the balconies above, from the cracked windows, from the dark doorways, everyone’s phone went off at the exact same time.

"What the...?" Geng stumbled back, pulling his own phone from his belt.

He stared at the screen. His eyes bulged. His hands started to shake. "This... this is a mistake. This is a prank!"

"Read it out loud, Geng," I said.

Up on the third floor, an old woman leaned over the railing, clutching her phone. Her voice was trembling. 

"It says... 'Your rent for the next five years has been paid in full by the new owner.' Five years!"

"Mine says it too!" A man yelled from the basement stairs.

A wave of murmurs turned into a roar. Dozens of tenants were spilling out into the courtyard, eyes wide, looking at their screens like they were holding pieces of heaven.

"Who’s the new owner?" A thug asked, looking nervously at the growing crowd. Geng’s face went white. He looked at his phone again. 

"It says... New Management Rule: 'The previous landlord, Geng, is a trespasser. Any tenant who assists in his removal will receive a permanent utility credit.'"

The air in the courtyard changed. The fear that had hung over this place for a decade evaporated. It was replaced by a cold, sharpened hunger.

Fifty tenants. Hard-working people who had been bled dry by Geng for years. Mothers who had skipped meals to pay his "fees." Fathers who had taken beatings from his thugs.

They started to close in. "Now wait a minute!" Geng shrieked, waving his shovel. "I still have the papers! This is my land!"

"No," I said. I stepped out of the way, fading into the shadows of the alley. "It’s their home now. And you’re just trash in the way of a cleaning."

A young man, whose father Geng had evicted in the snow last winter, stepped forward. 

He wasn't smiling. He was holding a lead pipe. Behind him, a group of laborers formed a wall of muscle.

"Five years of rent," the young man whispered. "That’s a lot of gratitude, Geng."

"Stay back!" Geng yelled, his voice cracking. He looked at his thugs. "Do something! Hit them!"

The three thugs looked at the fifty angry faces. They looked at the massive crowd closing the exits. They looked at each other.

Without a word, the thugs dropped their bats and bolted toward the back fence, scrambling over it like rats. "Traitors!" Geng screamed.

He turned back to the crowd. The circle was tightening. The light from the trash fire cast long, dancing shadows of the tenants against the crumbling walls. They looked like giants.

"Han Sen!" Geng wailed, looking toward the shadows where I stood. "Help me! I’ll give you the books! I’ll give you everything!"

I didn't answer. I watched through the System’s eyes. My retinas glowed with a faint, violet light as the liquidation began.

[Target: Old Man Geng.]

[Social Standing: Liquidated.]

[Status: Eviction in Progress.]

The first tenant reached out and grabbed Geng’s yellowed collar. Then another grabbed the shovel. Then the wall of people collapsed inward.

The screams started. They were drowned out by the cheers of the liberated.

I turned my back on the courtyard and started walking. I didn't look back at the fire. I didn't look back at the man who had tormented me for years.

I had a sister to pick up from the hospital. And I had a city to buy.

The drop in my stomach was gone. In its place was a cold, calculating hunger. The Ledger was open. And I was just getting started on the first page.