Chapter Three: The Exchange Beneath the City

Seven-Code Alley did not exist on any map. Su led Lin through a condemned district and counted to the seventh abandoned lottery shop. Six strings of odds had been painted on its shutter. The final line read: BONUS 09. VOID AFTER MIDNIGHT. Lin fed the ticket into the old terminal. It spat out two copper tokens, and a door slid open inside the wall. Below was not a casino but a brilliantly lit stock exchange. The ticker displayed impossible assets: ADMISSION TO AN ELITE UNIVERSITY—ORIGINAL OWNER AGE 19—87% COMPLETE. MARRIAGE TO THE ZHOU HEIRESS—INCLUDES TWELVE YEARS OF SHARED MEMORY. TWENTY-SEVEN CANCER-FREE YEARS—URGENT SALE. Well-dressed buyers raised bidding paddles.