Chapter Two: A One-Pixel Target

“Your retoucher just quit. The launch is tomorrow morning. The borrowed emerald was chipped during the shoot. Maybe three people in this city can rebuild it well enough for an eight-meter screen tonight. The other two are abroad.” Three seconds of silence. Then Lin received ¥180,000. “See you at eight,” he said. Obsidian occupied the twenty-ninth floor of a tower in the financial district. Zhou pushed a drive across a glass conference table. “Fix the chip. Make the gem fifteen percent larger, make the model’s skin translucent, and replace the background with an aurora. Two hours.” Lin opened the file. “Five hundred thousand. In advance.” The room erupted. “Extortion?” Zhou snapped.