Chapter Three: The Price of an Apex

In one day, forty-seven names filled the waiting list: a voiceless diva, a surgeon with trembling hands, a mathematician who had forgotten his formulas, a candidate unwilling to feel fear before a debate. Shen Yan refused them one by one. The list only grew. Some offered houses, others passports, still others a loved one's medical record. Every request had a righteous reason and filthy money attached. Lin Wan charted every exposure, restored state, duration, and stolen memory. A pattern emerged. He Xiao regained his body, costing the public seven minutes. Duoduo borrowed health she had never possessed, costing her mother's most precious forty-three seconds. Chen regained judgment, costing his softest two minutes and eleven seconds.