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

Five minutes later, emergency news filled the plaza screen: banks, payment platforms, and securities systems around the world were reporting the same failure. Lin Mo’s courier balance was unreadable too. Orders stopped. So did the penalty. Outside, a supermarket crowd fought over supplies while cashiers raised useless scanners. People had banknotes, but no one trusted dead verification machines or wanted to make change. Lin Mo had not eaten all day. His pockets held an arcade token and a battered black phone he had bought for thirty yuan at a flea market. It had no brand, a cracked back, and no modern apps. He had wanted only its durable battery. Now it alone showed no corrupted code. A gray icon he had never installed sat on its screen: ORIGIN.