Chapter Five: The Route to a Draw

Before kickoff against the Skylarks, the scoreboard displayed 1–0. Officials hurried to reset it. Jianxia knew it was no malfunction. Zero was reminding them that the destination had already been written. The Falcons had one objective: do not win. Yet the Skylarks played suspiciously poorly, offering chance after chance. Qiao Ran deliberately missed twice, drawing boos. At halftime, Gu Chenzhou appeared beside the bench, immaculate in a suit marked LEAGUE DATA PARTNER. “The system has detected abnormal competitive behavior,” he said. “Deliberately refusing victory may disqualify you.” “Do you represent the system,” Jianxia asked, “or does it represent you?”