Chapter Five: Backup Power for 130 Million People

He Chongshan pushed forward an old shortwave set. “When aerospace engineers lose the internet, do you think we forget how to transmit?” They concealed synchronization data inside time broadcasts, traffic radio, and television captions. The signal controlled nothing. It only announced grid frequency. Each device chose whether to participate, how much to contribute, and when to leave. At 8:17 p.m., the attack began. The first hub slipped phase. Then the second and third. An invisible electromagnetic tsunami moved toward the cities of the Yangtze Delta. Every curve in the control hall turned red. “Shed load!” an operator shouted. “Wait ten seconds,” Zhou said. “In ten seconds we lose synchronization.”