Chapter Four: More Doors, Narrower Roads

Jiming read each notice. The system remained silent. No one was rejecting him. Gu had made everyone afraid to answer. Xu Zhi had temporarily taken charge of crisis communications. She placed a public-opinion report on his desk. “People say you knew about SwiftLink in advance and built the module for the incident. The stories trace back to media funded by Senhai.” “Liang Sen wants to turn first-mover advantage into insider trading.” “He wants you to release the firmware evidence. If you cannot explain its source, Anhe will distance itself too.” She held his gaze. “Explain it once. How did you know?” Jiming had prepared ten answers. None would fool her. “A channel gives me information only after someone genuinely rejects me.” “A person?”