Chapter Two: Victory Has Been Paid For

Spectators streamed toward the exit. Qiao Ran reached out and pressed a finger lightly between Jianxia’s furrowed brows. “Don’t calculate alone. Football is too big for one person’s arithmetic.” She walked away. Jianxia remained there, remembering that the hand shielding her from reporters three years ago had been just as steady. When she returned to the warehouse, the ZERO folder was already open. A sentence had appeared at the end of the second document: RESULT CONFIRMED. VICTORY HAS BEEN PAID FOR. “Paid by whom?” Jianxia asked the laptop. It felt absurd. The screen answered at once. MINOR COSTS ARE NOT DISPLAYED. She remembered Xiaoman losing her favorite wristband, Wei Lan forgetting her locker code, and Wanxing staring at an old