Chapter One: Thirty Years on a Shoebox

Zhou Tianyue—the guard who had carried an Asian team into the world finals for the first time, and the athlete behind the original Skyvault One. As a child, Lin had skipped breakfast for three months to buy a bootleg poster of him. Lin closed his eyes. When he opened them, the golden writing remained. “Low blood sugar?” His coworker Sun Hao passed with empty boxes and snorted. “Being poor is making you hallucinate.” Lin touched three other boxes. [Flightveil VII. Standard retail release. Genuine. Projected average annual decline over five years: 9%.] [Red Hare collaboration. Right shoe genuine, left shoe counterfeit. Swapped by prior owner in July 2023.] [No collectible value. Recommended for ordinary wear.]