Chapter One: Thirty Years on a Shoebox

The debt collector's message appeared while Lin Chuan was kneeling on the bottom shelf of the stockroom, gathering discarded shoeboxes. “Mr. Lin, if this matter remains unresolved by 6:00 p.m., we will contact your employer and emergency contacts.” It was 5:42. He had 316.70 yuan in his bank account, 870,000 yuan in debt inherited through his father's personal guarantee, and a forty-thousand-yuan shortfall on his mother's surgery deposit. Beyond the stockroom, the speakers at Leap sneaker store repeated the same advertisement: “A legend returns—the thirtieth-anniversary Skyvault One collection. Global release tomorrow at midnight!”