Chapter Two: The Nine-Hundred-Yuan One-of-One

Luo Yi lived in an aging apartment block behind Hailin's old stadium. Lin knocked for twenty minutes before the door opened a crack. The white-haired man heard “Zhou Tianyue test recording” and immediately hardened. “Don't have it. Threw it away years ago.” As the door began to close, Lin set the blue box down and opened it. Luo's eyes found the shoes; his fingers tightened around the frame. The Sole Ledger displayed another fragment. [In 2016, Luo Yi secretly preserved the sample, intending to save footage of Zhou Tianyue's final healthy session. During Obsidian's inventory, fear drove him to hide the shoes among factory rejects and conceal the tape inside the base of the “2004 Hailin Youth Team” trophy. He has carried the guilt for ten years.]