Chapter Five: The Twelve-Division Business

Yan endured four hours of questions without evasion or pleas for forgiveness. The collateral was nine seconds belonging to a dead miner's widow: her husband's smile as he looked back before leaving home. She did not know what she had lost. She simply began to cry as the broadcast ended. After seeing the negative, Shen Yan sent Yan's full confession to the press. The candidate's career ended that night. “You broke your rule,” Qi Man said. “It's my rule.” “You sound more like Gu every day,” Lin Wan said. That hurt more. Seven exposures had given Shen Yan wealth, access, and a dangerous sense of justice. He believed he could choose who deserved an apex and force the powerful to pay in truth.