Chapter One: Thirty Years on a Shoebox

Withdrawn after a last adjustment on May 3. Outer label mistakenly applied by warehouse staff.] [Defect: Heel separation on left shoe; no structural damage. Estimated repair cost: 180 yuan.] A graph unfolded beneath the text. 2026: 900–1,500 yuan. 2027: 8,000–12,000 yuan. 2031: 70,000–95,000 yuan. 2036: 320,000–410,000 yuan. 2056: 1.8–2.6 million yuan. His hand jerked, dropping the box onto his knee. The words did not vanish. A second page opened. [Owner Fragment: Zhou Tianyue wore the right shoe during a thirty-seven-minute closed test. On the underside of its insole, he wrote: “The left knee can still hold.” Three months later, he announced his retirement, publicly citing family reasons.]