Novel

Chapter 5: The Architect’s Gambit

Mei Lin confronts the L&C lawyer, confirming her father is alive and orchestrating the neighborhood's liquidation. After a failed attempt to stop Uncle Chen from destroying evidence, she tracks Jia to a basement node, only to find the courier is actively accelerating the network's collapse. Mei Lin retreats to her childhood home, discovering a foundational ledger that reveals the true, long-standing debt behind the neighborhood's current crisis, just as her father arrives to confront her.