Quantum Cultivation by Jace Kang (simple e reader TXT) 📕

Her head didn’t turn to Ken, instead facing Ryu. Purebreds were socially invisible, even in their own district.

Ryu ahemmed. “Answer Ken. What’s your name?”

“Aya.”

“Come out,” Kentaro said. “Lift your visor.”

Her head turned toward Kentaro, then settled back on Ryu.

“Do as Ken-kun says.”

She took a step out from behind the tree. The Peacekeeper tactical uniform clung to her thin body. With a tentative hand, she lifted her visor.

Kentaro stopped in his tracks. “Captain Keiko!” He turned and looked to Ryu, uncertainty scrawled in his expression.

Ryu looked back to her. As he remembered, her face was perfectly symmetrical, as only the XHumans could be, with a thin, high nose and a pointy chin. Before, he hadn’t had time to admire how beautiful she was.

But now, she shook her head. “Keiko is my sister.”

“You look exactly alike. I should know, I see her every day at work.” Kentaro sucked in a breath and covered his mouth.

Despite the boy’s embarrassment, he was right. This was the exact same face that had confronted him first in the streets, and later at Peacekeeper central. Still, she was thinner, less toned.

Her eyes swept from his to Ken’s. “Keiko has brown hair.  Me…” She pulled the helmet off and shook out her short hair.

Lustrous golden hair, like that of the Elestrae.

Ryu turned to the boy. “You said that shade of gold was impossible in humans.”

Kentaro nodded. “It is impossible.”

“I can explain,” she said, holding out Ryu’s robes.

Chapter 12:

The Hacker

B reathless from her walk, holding Ryusuke’s robes out, Aya silently cursed herself. She’d seen Keiko in the footage from his first fight in the streets, and later during his confrontation in the medical ward of Peacekeeper Headquarters, but hadn’t thought Miss Perfect would stand out to him in the heat of the moment.  And of course, Kentaro, a janitor in Kyoto Central, had probably seen her up close and personal.

Hopefully, the golden hair from Aya’s boutique genes would prove she wasn’t the Peacekeeper Tactical Team’s storied leader.

Ryusuke’s piercing eyes on her made her finger-comb that golden hair. Something hot and primal churned inside of her. He was even more handsome in person than he had been on the cameras.

No, that was just her imagination, because the cameras created 3D images with perfect fidelity. What they didn’t capture was the aura of charisma that rolled off of him in waves.

She cleared her throat and presented the robes again. “I brought a gift from Peacekeeper Headquarters.”

He reached out, but instead of taking the clothes, set his fingers on both of her wrists. She started to pull back, but then decided it wasn’t a bad thing to let a handsome man hold her hands.  Well, wrists.

“Show me your tongue,” he said.

What? She eyed him. “Why?”

“I’m learning about your health.”

From feeling her wrists? “I can tell you what the genetic scans say…”

“This method has been used for thousands of years, and can tell you a lot about someone’s body if you know how to listen.”  The pressure on his fingers changed on her wrist. “The Earth aspect of your body is weak. It is unable to Control Water. Water is Condensing on your Metal. You don’t have enough Qi to push through the blockages in your meridians.”

What was he talking about? Some Mother Nature mumbo jumbo like the stuff the Gaia terror group espoused? “No, I have a CFTR gene problem. Chloride doesn’t move to my cells’ surf—”

“Yes, I know the pathology well. That’s the language of science. I’m speaking in the language of the Dao.”

Now that was different, even if it was still nonsense. Then again, he clearly had the same genetic defect as her, and wasn’t the least bit hampered by it. As if to prove that point, a cough wracked her chest as she spoke. “Go on.”

“The Dao is about perfecting the body, to surpass the limits set on the world as perceived by science. Your very genetic defect will make you a promising Cultivator of the Water Path.”

Frowning, Kentaro shuffled on his feet.

Aya ignored him, instead thinking of Ryusuke’s words. She didn’t have any interest in farming; she just wanted to cure her lung disease so she could stay jacked into the EtherCloud forever. “What do I have to do?”

“First, stand correctly. Like this.” He dropped into a crouch, and the ground seemed to compress under him. Thighs parallel to the ground, back straight, and shoulders square, he pulled his fists to his hips.

Aya tried to do the same, but for someone who usually reclined on a cushioned chair, the walk here had already all but knocked her out.  Even with her knees bent half as much as him, and with the tactical suit’s muscle enhancers, her legs wobbled.

“Hmmmm.” Ryu scratched his head, then came out of his stance and extended a hand. “May I?”

May he what? He was so close, her heart was racing. “Yes.”

“Pardon me.” He set one hand close to her butt and the other on her stomach, and pressed.

Her legs and waist protested, but she fought through the ache as he stretched her shoulders. In the corner of her eye, Kentaro was imitating the stance, and doing much better at it.

A pit of jealousy churned in her stomach. “What is this for?”

“Your connection to the ground. We need to cleanse and fortify your Earth.” His eyes shifted to his robe, which she’d draped into the crook of her elbow. “I have something in there that can help both of you.”

Kentaro sucked in a breath. “What?”

“Pills.” Ryu slid the robe free. “In here.”

“Where?” Excitement rising in his voice, Kentaro craned his neck to get a better