Chapter Three: The First Reservation—One Billion Credits

The purifier ultimately went to Guanghan Industries under a five-year, three-hundred-million-credit license. The first payment of ninety million reached the regulated account after the Earth-Moon transmission delay. The debt system deducted eighty-six million automatically. At last, the red number under Zhou's name became zero. Balance: four million. Another ninety million in licensing revenue appeared in the hotel's operating account, restricted to base expenses. Zhou stared at the figures. Wealth did not feel like thunder or fireworks. It felt like a hand that had been crushing his throat suddenly letting go. He transferred two million to the former Yunjing employee group with the note: unpaid wages.