Chapter One: At Midnight, the Chips Spoke

A second message arrived from an unknown number. “Mr. Lu, we have a YaoCore production line that has been dead for ninety-seven days. Every expert says it cannot be saved. If you can truly hear it, name your price.” Signed: Su Wanqing, Ruifeng Precision. Across the rain-soaked city, silver-sun chips inside billboards, driverless taxis, and payment terminals awakened one by one. “Candidate has passed the Preservation Trial.” “The succession sequence of the Machine Civilization is open once more.”