Hua crouched beneath the flickering neon sign, the dim light casting long shadows across the narrow alley. She could feel the cold bite of the metal street beneath her as she pried open the broken panel on the side of an old power conduit. Her fingers were numb from the chill, but she kept working, twisting wires and rerouting circuits like she'd done a thousand times before.
In the undercity, nothing worked the way it was supposed to. The entire place was a graveyard of forgotten tech—old, rusted, and barely functioning. Hua had grown up fixing things that were well past their expiration date. It was the only way to survive here. And surviving was all she ever did.
"Hey, you need some help?"
The voice came from behind her, smooth but unfamiliar. Hua didn't bother turning around. "I'm fine," she muttered, twisting another wire into place. Sparks flew, lighting up the alley for a brief second before they died out again.
"Are you sure? Because it looks like you've been at that for a while."
Hua sighed, finally turning to face the speaker. He was standing a few feet away, hands tucked casually into the pockets of a long black coat. His hair was dark, and his face was shadowed by the dim light of the alley, but his eyes—his eyes were sharp, studying her with a mixture of curiosity and amusement.
"I said I'm fine," she repeated, this time with more irritation in her voice. She didn't have time for small talk, not when she was behind on repairs and rent was due in two days.
The man smiled slightly, not moving. "It's just that you're working on a pretty old system. I've seen these before—they're tricky."
Hua's eyes narrowed. "And what do you know about it?"
"Enough to know that you're probably going to need a replacement part for that relay. And I've got one."
She stopped, hands frozen over the conduit. A replacement part? Those were nearly impossible to come by down here in the undercity. She had to scavenge what she could, and most of the time it barely worked. But this stranger—whoever he was—spoke with confidence.
Hua stood up, brushing the grime off her hands as she sized him up. "What's your angle?" she asked, crossing her arms. "People don't just offer parts for free down here."
He stepped closer, pulling something out of his coat pocket. A small, gleaming piece of tech—sleek and new. It was the relay she needed. "No angle," he said, handing it over. "Just thought you could use it."
She hesitated, eyeing the part suspiciously before taking it from his hand. It felt too easy, too convenient. People didn't give things away in the undercity. There was always a catch.
"Why?" she asked, frowning. "What do you want from me?"
The man's smile faded slightly, replaced by a more serious expression. "I just want to talk. About your future."
Hua's eyebrows shot up. "My future? I don't have a future. I've got rent due in two days and a bunch of broken machines to fix. That's my future."
"You're wrong." He stepped even closer, his voice dropping to a low whisper. "You're more important than you think. And if you let me, I can help you see that."
Hua stared at him, her mind racing. Who was this guy? And why was he so interested in her? She wasn't anyone special—just a girl trying to survive in a city that didn't care whether she lived or died.
"Who are you?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
He hesitated for a moment before answering. "My name's Ming," he said. "And I know things about your past… things you've been kept from."
Hua's mind raced, her grip tightening on the relay in her hand. She could feel her pulse quicken, the steady rhythm betraying the calm expression she struggled to maintain. Her past? What could he possibly know about her life? As far as she was concerned, there wasn't anything worth knowing. Just a string of hardships, losses, and broken promises left behind by a world that didn't care.
Ming's eyes remained steady, unwavering as they bored into hers. It wasn't the look of someone trying to manipulate her or extract something. There was something else, something unfamiliar—genuine concern, maybe. Or maybe she was imagining it. She'd learned not to trust anyone, especially strangers.
"Look, I don't know what you think you know about me, but you've got the wrong person," Hua finally said, turning back to the open panel. She slotted the relay into place, hoping the conversation would end there. She didn't have time for this.
The familiar click of the part locking into place gave her a small moment of satisfaction. A few more adjustments, and the panel would be up and running. She focused on that—the simplicity of fixing something broken, something she could control.
"I'm not wrong," Ming's voice cut through her thoughts, pulling her attention back to him. "You're Hua, daughter of the mechanic who once had ties to TechCorp. You may think you're just surviving down here, but there's a bigger story. One that starts with your family."
Hua froze, her hand hovering over the panel. The mention of her father stung, like a fresh wound being reopened. She hadn't thought about him in years—at least not in the way Ming was implying. Her father had been a simple man, a mechanic who tinkered with scraps and tried to make things work. He'd been no one important, just another cog in the machine that was the undercity.
"What are you talking about?" she asked, her voice harsher than she intended.
Ming stepped closer, his tone soft but serious. "Your father wasn't just any mechanic. He used to work for TechCorp, before things… went wrong. They erased him, Hua. Erased his identity, erased his connections. But he left something behind. And you're the key to unlocking it."
Hua let out a bitter laugh, slamming the panel shut. "You've got to be kidding me. My father barely had enough to keep us alive. He wasn't some corporate bigshot."
Ming's gaze didn't waver. "Not a bigshot. But someone important enough for TechCorp to take notice. He was working on something—something that threatened their control. And they made sure no one would ever find out."
She turned to face him fully now, her arms crossed defensively. "And what exactly am I supposed to unlock? I don't have anything. I'm just trying to get by."
Ming reached into his coat once more, this time pulling out a small, sleek device—a thin, rectangular object that pulsed with a faint blue light. It looked like something out of a futuristic lab, far beyond anything she'd ever worked on before.
"This," Ming said, holding the device out toward her, "is part of what your father was working on. It's a prototype—a piece of tech that could change everything. And you're the only one who can make it work."
Hua stared at the device, a mix of fear and curiosity bubbling up inside her. She wanted to reject everything Ming was saying, wanted to believe that her