Chapter Five: The Price of Genius

Central Academy stood on Linchuan’s highest hill. Its glass dome looked down on Old Harbor like an eye that never blinked. On Lin Yan’s first day, two hundred thousand yuan entered his scholarship account. He moved his mother to a better apartment, paid six years of medical debt, and left the remainder untouched. Students who had mocked his uniform now offered business cards. The press called him “the miracle from poverty.” Above every compliment floated a different root: traffic, investment, enrollment quotas. He had crossed the threshold between classes and found only more expensive lies on the other side. That afternoon, the dean announced an unscheduled “urban network simulation.