Chapter Three: The Price of Attention

V24 was rendering by itself. Its filename was not *Through Tomorrow*, but *Final Whistle*. No one could cancel it. Onscreen, the Super Bowl clock reached zero. One hundred thousand spectators raised their faces to the stadium display. The Obsidian car vanished. In its place was a live image of Chen sitting in this very edit suite. The Chen inside the screen turned, as if looking back across eleven days. The final whistle blew. His fingers dissolved into static. Three seconds later, the chair was empty. A countdown appeared: 10 days, 08 hours, 14 minutes, 39 seconds. A gold crown flashed before black. Then the office speakers carried Kron's gentle voice. “Mr. Chen, now you know the price of attention.”