Chapter One: A Borrowed Life

At two, his phone woke him by vibrating. There was no call. A black icon he had never installed sat on the screen, marked with a golden ring shaped like a scale biting its own tail. He could not delete it. When he powered down the phone, it lit itself again. After fingerprint verification, silver words surfaced on black. [THE EQUILIBRIUM LEDGER IS NOW BOUND.] [VISIBLE RANGE: ULTRA-HIGH-WEALTH ACCOUNTS.] [AN ACCOUNT IS NOT A BANK BALANCE. IT IS THE TOTAL TRUST A FORTUNE CAN STILL CONVERT INTO VALUE.] Countless names streamed past beneath gray fog. Only one account flared red. [SU FAMILY—CHENGHAI GROUP] [COMPOSITE VALUE: 41.87 BILLION YUAN] [TRUST DEFICIT: -0.6%, EXPANDING] [IRREVERSIBLE COLLAPSE ESTIMATED IN 17 HOURS, 42 MINUTES]