A City Without an Owner

Gu Tingchuan had built a city inside a Linjiang mountain. Its public name was the Skyvault Integrated Disaster Center. Disaster funds from twelve nations had paid for it, and it was supposedly designed for thirty thousand people. Internal plans on the Echo server showed that only three thousand could enter the core. Every name on the list had a voting weight beside it. Minimum requirement: one hundred thousand. “This isn't a shelter,” Su Mi said. “It's a vault for high-impact voters.” Two hours into the fourth cycle, the three came together for the first time without explanations or tests. Su followed a gesture her previous self had left on archive security footage.