Chapter Four: The Retoucher Who Refused to Retouch

Yet no Chen Mo appeared in human resources, and the entrance footage showed an empty coat walking through the gate. His name existed. His face had been erased. Zhou Kuo struck that same morning. Obsidian sent legal notices across the industry, accusing Lin of stealing Hengyao Jewelry’s trade secrets. Twelve clients canceled their contracts. Then Zhou announced an afternoon demonstration of the company’s new “TrueVision Engine,” supposedly an artificial-intelligence system that would eliminate fraudulent commercial images. Its launch visual was the same counterfeit emerald image Lin had exposed. “He’ll call the composite an algorithmic output and blame the entire scandal on you,” Su said.