Chapter One: Tomorrow for One Dollar

Yet the immediate cause of failure was neither technology, funding, nor a rival. It was a four-dollar cup of coffee. 【Causal trigger: Northstar Air Americano, batch NX017-C7.】 Lu looked up. Beyond the curtain leading to economy, a meal cart had just begun to roll. A new notice appeared beside the asset. 【Auction closes in 00:59.】 【Minimum increment: 1 celestial credit.】 He possessed only one credit. In theory, he could not even raise the opening bid. But beside the bidding button was a tiny option: accept conditional settlement. Lu expanded the clause. 【A buyer who voluntarily assumes the asset’s existing cause of failure may purchase at the floor price. Once assumed, causality cannot be canceled.】 Forty seconds remained.