Chapter One: The Man Deleted by the World

Nobody knew that, to launch before the next financing round, the team had deleted the failure reports most dangerous to patients with rare diseases. Lin knew. He had written those reports. Three hours earlier, Legal had pushed a nondisclosure agreement across a conference table. His supervisor, Chen Mo, had offered one sentence of explanation. “The incident needs a cause. You were head of security.” Lin had refused to sign. He sent the test records to the internal audit address. The company responded by accusing him of stealing data and attacking production systems. Its beautifully worded industry notice reached every professional group chat before he reached the lobby. His phone vibrated.