Chapter One: The Man Who Erased His Debt

At 11:47 p.m., Lin Yan was adding nonexistent starlight to a watch priced at sixty-eight thousand yuan. A message appeared at the bottom of his screen. FINAL DEADLINE: 9:00 A.M. OUTSTANDING BALANCE: ¥487,600. FAILURE TO PAY WILL RESULT IN THE SEIZURE OF STUDIO EQUIPMENT. His “studio” was an attic in an urban village. Rain leaked through the ceiling, his computer had not been paid off, and his drawing tablet was cracked across one corner. The white lamp above him flickered every ten seconds. His client was still complaining through a voice message. “The dial needs to feel like the first ray of morning over the Swiss Alps. Budget is three hundred. I want it tonight.”