Chapter One: Every Satellite Forgot It

[THEY DID NOT. RECORDS WERE CORRECTED AND SHORT-TERM MEMORY OVERWRITTEN WITH NOISE. YOU COMPLETED FOUR-SOURCE VERIFICATION BEFORE CORRECTION AND CROSSED THE CANDIDACY THRESHOLD.] The display became a brutally simple contract. [EARTH HAS ENTERED AGENT EVALUATION. COMPLETE SEVEN CIVILIZATION MISSIONS WITHIN 180 EARTH DAYS. SUCCESS: AUTONOMOUS CIVILIZATION STATUS AND LIMITED TECHNOLOGICAL INHERITANCE. FAILURE: RESOURCE CUSTODIANSHIP.] “Meaning?” [EARTH WILL NO LONGER BELONG TO HUMANITY.] An hour ago, Zhou had worried about 6,800 yuan in rent. Now an alien contract had placed an entire planet under his name. “What if I refuse?” [ANOTHER CANDIDATE WILL BE SELECTED WITHIN FORTY-EIGHT HOURS. OTHER AGENT VESSELS HAVE ENTERED THIS SYSTEM.