Chapter One: Midnight, and Tomorrow Opens

Only his eyes could see it. At 12:12, Haiyue announced that its flagship drug had passed Phase III trials. The stock leapt above twenty-one. Traders flooded the chat rooms with celebration, but tomorrow's price remained 12.06. A crash after spectacular news meant only one thing: falsified data, or a fatal side effect. Lin opened the options page. Put contracts expiring the next day had become nearly worthless after the announcement. Twenty thousand yuan would buy 460 contracts. It was his mother's lifeline. His finger hovered over CONFIRM. Sweat gathered on his forehead. The cardiac monitor in the next room sounded through the wall, every beep a countdown.