Chapter One: The Man Who Erased His Debt

Lin stared at the highlight he had revised seventeen times and laughed. For eight years, he had manufactured perfect lives for other people. Now he was about to lose his own tomorrow. Someone knocked. When he opened the door, no one was outside. A matte-black box sat on the floor without a label or delivery slip. Inside was a silver flash drive stamped with an eye surrounded by a selection marquee. He plugged it in. No installer appeared, but a new icon placed itself on his desktop. TOMORROW LAYERS. The interface resembled the editing program he used every day. Across the center ran a single sentence: Edit today. Possess tomorrow. “Even malware does customer research now?”