Chapter One: No One in the World Could Pay—Except Me

At 8:17 p.m., Lin Mo carried his final delivery into Yunhai Center, rain dripping from his yellow jacket. The customer glanced at the late notice and threw the meal onto the floor. “Seven minutes late. Pay the penalty.” Lin Mo did not argue. The medical debt his mother had left behind grew new red numbers every month. He opened the courier app to accept the deduction, but the screen dissolved into static. Every phone in the lobby chimed at once. PAYMENT SERVICE ERROR. ACCOUNT UNREADABLE: ç… The customer’s seven-figure balance became crawling garbage. Reception terminals, convenience-store scanners, and parking gates failed together.