Chapter Three: The Second Corpse Grandma Left Me

“It wasn't prediction,” Zhou admitted. “It was selection.” He had been a junior engineer on Project Zhulong. In 1998, Shen Zhiwei built a prototype capable of modeling social choice. It predicted seven cascading crises that could destroy civilization. Gu Beichen wanted intervention. At first, Shen agreed. The project filtered thousands of families. Through medical access, romantic recommendations, even a late bus, it caused the birth of a child with an exceptional chance of escaping every model. “I'm not her grandson?” “The blood is real,” Zhou said. “But your parents meeting, your birth, her adopting you—it was all arranged.” Lin laughed once and punched through a display case. Three hundred dead clocks trembled.