Chapter Three: The Countdown Is Not for Sale

In an appendix Jianwei secured five percent of the database project’s profits for the head of the independent authentication unit. As the final signature dried, something cracked softly inside her handbag. She put on the Lens. Her countdown froze at 00:46:07:11, then dissolved into golden dust. [PRICE-DIFFERENCE DEBT SETTLED.] [WARNING: YOU ARE NOW REGISTERED WITH THE NO-DAY EXCHANGE.] Linchuan stood by the window as if he had expected the result. “Congratulations. You proved you would win without it.” “Now pay your side.” He gave her an encrypted drive. It contained three years of secret Hengfeng warehouse records. Dozens of originals had been replaced with replicas, then repurchased through offshore funds to launder their provenance.