Chapter One: The Ring That Crushed an Elevator

They jumped back. The piano did not tip. It stood in the center like a newly erected gravestone while the display stopped at 2,411 kilograms. Then impacts echoed throughout the building: wardrobes punched through floors, tires sank into garage concrete, and a chandelier tore down half a ceiling. In a single minute, the city learned how to sink. The elevator jammed between floors. Old Huang pulled out his phone; it dropped from his hand and dented the floor. “That thing weighs ten pounds!” Lin’s own phone, keys, and tools remained normal. Only the old digital watch his mother had left him felt slightly heavier, its strap biting his wrist like an unspoken warning.