Chapter Five: The Dead Leave Honest Accounts

"The crash seven years ago was the first test. Your mother split the project key. Half went to Zhou Jibai's father. The other half—" She pointed to Xu Zhi's ledger. The first character of each procurement entry formed a sixteen-digit key. "Our mothers knew each other," Xu Zhi said. "They weren't merely victims. They tried to destroy Project Echo together." Something crashed beyond the storeroom. Gu Yanchen opened the rear door. Zhou Jibai lay bleeding in the rain, clutching an old key. Before losing consciousness, he said, "Don't trust the death log. One person's death in it is false."