Handong: Sha Li wants political achievements? I'll shut down the entire province.

The waiter slammed the black plastic tray onto the table with a "thud".

A few drops of leftover tea spilled from the cup, landing on the pristine white tablecloth and spreading into a small puddle.

Lu Yike raised her head.

The waiter in front of me was expressionless, and his eyes even showed undisguised disgust.

"Madam, checkout. Then, take your belongings and leave quickly."

Lu Yike gritted her teeth and gripped the edge of the table tightly.

"I'm still waiting for my friend; he went to the restroom."

The waiter rolled his eyes, smirked, and let out a cold snort.

"Mr. Wang has already disappeared along the fire escape. He had only paid half the money."

The waiter pointed to the holographic sensor on the corner of the table.

"Please scan the code for the remaining portion."

Lu Yike reached for her phone, but her knuckles were stiff and she couldn't control her fingers.

She opened the holographic payment interface and aimed it at the sensor on the corner of the table.

"Beep—whoosh!"

The machine suddenly emitted a piercing, distorted alarm that made people's eardrums tingle.

A line of scarlet text suddenly popped up in the center of the screen.

[System blocked. This user has triggered a Level D undesirable label.]

The red light flashed, illuminating Lu Yike's deathly pale face.

The young people at the next table turned their heads.

Their eyes looked as if they were looking at cockroaches that had just crawled out of the sewer. One girl even deliberately covered her nose and moved her chair.

The waiter impatiently bent his knuckles and tapped the table.

"Hurry up, stop dawdling. We're getting red cards flashed all the way backstage, the kitchen isn't even preparing your food anymore."

He forced a smile, his tone stiff.

"Please don't make things difficult for us laborers, okay?"

Lu Yike took out the cash from her bag.

She slapped a few red bills haphazardly on the table, grabbed her coat draped over the back of the chair, and turned to leave.

The high heels stomped on the carpet without making a sound, which was incredibly frustrating.

The moment the revolving door is pushed open.

The cold autumn rain, carrying withered leaves, splattered all over her face with a "plop."

The floral dress she wore today was as thin as paper.

The cold wind blew straight in through the collar and hem of the skirt.

The damp fabric clung to her thighs, making her teeth chatter uncontrollably from the cold.

She stood under the eaves outside the glass door, using her phone to hail a taxi.

The software interface is completely gray and white.

The little circle representing order taking spun twice, then froze, and a lifeless pop-up window appeared.

Your credit score is insufficient; no vehicles are available to accept your order at this time.

A taxi with its green light on drove out of the rain.

Lu Yike quickly ran forward two steps and waved to stop the car.

The driver slammed on the brakes and pulled over to the side of the road, just rolling down half of the window.

A photo of Lu Yike popped up on the car's infotainment screen with a huge bright red X on it.

The driver looked like he'd seen a ghost in broad daylight.

"Screw you!" he cursed, jerking the steering wheel and flooring the gas pedal.

The tires rolled over a puddle on the side of the road.

With a "splash," the foul-smelling mud splattered all over Lu Yike's bare calves.

"Hey! You..."

She hurriedly took two steps, but her foot stepped on a protruding piece of broken brick.

A muffled "crack" sounded.

The stiletto heel of her right high heel broke off and rolled into a puddle.

A sharp pain shot through her ankle, and she limped against the cold lamppost.

Rainwater streamed into my eyes through my hair, stinging and blurring my vision.

By the time she dragged her sprained ankle back to her old neighborhood, it was already completely dark.

The door hinges of the security door are lacking lubrication.

It made a dry, harsh creaking sound when pushed open, echoing in the empty hallway.

The room was pitch black.

A sour, rancid smell from the thawing refrigerator, mixed with the pungent smell of meat, assaulted my senses.

"Mom? Why aren't the lights on?"

Lu Yike bent down to take off her shoes, and threw the broken-heeled shoes into the entryway with a dull thud.

No one answered.

Only the screen of the old television in the corner of the living room flickered with a faint, static-like white light.

Wu Xinyi slumped into the fabric sofa.

He was shrouded in shadow, clutching a wad of soaking wet toilet paper tightly in his hand.

"The power's out?" Lu Yike groped in the dark to press the plastic switch on the wall.

I pressed it twice, click-click-click, but there was no response at all.

Wu Xinyi sniffed.

His voice was so hoarse it sounded like a piece of coarse sandpaper was stuck in it.

"It won't open, it won't open." She patted her thigh, her voice trembling.

"Lingxiao Power Grid has frozen our account... saying we didn't have enough points, and they just cut off the power in the background."

Lu Yike stood frozen by the wall, her fingertips still pressed on the switch.

"That refrigerator..."

"It's melted, completely melted. The flesh is bleeding, and it's all over the floor."

Wu Xinyi sobbed, her shoulders trembling.

Lu Yike shuffled over in her slippers and sat down next to her mother.

The sofa cushions felt damp and had a musty smell.

"It's okay..." Wu Xinyi suddenly grabbed Lu Yike's hand tightly.

The old lady's hands were ice cold.

Her nails weren't trimmed properly, and they dug deep into the flesh of Lu Yike's hand, causing a sharp pain.

"I checked my court-issued retirement account this afternoon, and it was completely grayed out!"

Wu Xinyi, who is usually dignified, even swore at this moment.

"I went to the neighborhood committee to find Old Liu. They looked at me like I was a beggar, completely ignored me, and slammed the door shut on me!"

She became more and more agitated as she spoke, her breathing sounding like a leaky bellows, her chest heaving violently.

"I'm thinking of going to the supermarket across the street to buy some noodles to make do with a meal."

"The person in front of me got 15 cents for scanning a QR code, but when it was my turn... the machine just popped up a 5-dollar bill!"

Lu Yike felt a violent spasm in her stomach.

The acidic fluid pushed up my esophagus, burning my throat and causing a soreness.

She swallowed hard and took out her phone.

The faint light from the screen illuminated their pale faces.

In the upper right corner of the WeChat icon, dozens of unread messages are displayed in red.

She opened the pinned group chat for her relatives.

My cousin sent a long voice message, which the system converted into text. The black text on a white background was very eye-catching.

"Okay, then let's just forget about each other from now on. Hao Hao has a holographic online class tomorrow, and if he's associated with you, the system will deduct his credit score. We can't ruin the child's future."

Slide your fingertips down.

It was sent by an intern I used to work with at the Anti-Corruption Bureau.

"Director Lu, I'm sorry, I've transferred the two thousand yuan you advanced to this anonymous card."

"Please don't add me on WeChat anymore, I'm afraid my account will be affected. Sorry."

Immediately following, a line of small gray text appears: You are not yet friends with this person. Please send a friend request first.

Lu Yike didn't believe in superstition.

My fingers trembled as I tapped my cousin's profile picture and pressed the voice call button.

A cold, mechanical female voice came through the receiver: "Sorry, the user you dialed is temporarily unavailable..."

There wasn't even a dial tone.

I've blocked them all.

Lu Yike slumped down against the sofa back.

She eventually collapsed onto the cold wooden floor.

The cool air seeping from the floor tiles climbed up my tailbone little by little.

She finally understood.

Yan Qingfeng didn't need to send anyone to kill her; killing people is too dirty a thing of the trade.

That man, using a bunch of cold, low-level code, wove a vast, all-encompassing web.

As long as you're in this net, you dare to resist.

He charges you exorbitant prices even for a single breath of air.

There was no violence, only pervasive social exclusion.

No one will take me to a taxi, I can't afford to buy groceries, and even my relatives are my enemies.

They are people who constantly preach righteousness and consider themselves superior.

Forced by these rules, they became the lowest of the low in Handong City, even worse off than sewer rats.

Wu Xinyi suddenly jumped up from the sofa as if she had been electrocuted.

She nervously started rummaging through the drawers under the coffee table, making a clattering noise as she did so.

"No! We can't just wait to die like this!"

The old woman grabbed a bunch of car keys, her eyes bloodshot, and stumbled toward the door.

"I'll beg someone! I'll throw away all my pride and beg someone!"

Lu Yike weakly lifted her eyelids, looking at her mother's crazed back, her voice dry and hoarse.

"Mom, who can you ask for help?"

"Find Lao Gao! Find Gao Yuliang!"

Wu Xinyi stomped her leather shoes on while shouting in her hoarse voice, not even picking up the shoehorn that had fallen to the ground.

"He used to be the secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission, after all. He has so many protégés and old friends; surely one of them can talk to Ling Xiao!"

Lu Yike gave a bitter smile.

She reached out and gripped her mother's trouser leg tightly, her knuckles turning bluish-white from the force.

"Mom, give me a break. Where are we even going to find Secretary Gao?"

Wu Xinyi was stunned and looked down at her daughter.

"He went to the pharmacy last week, but the scanner couldn't scan the code to buy his blood pressure medication, and he didn't have any cash with him."

Lu Yike bit her lower lip until it bled, and tasted a faint metallic taste of blood in her mouth.

A chilling, desperate smile curled at the corners of her lips.

"He's lying on an extra bed in the city hospital corridor right now, not even qualified to have an oxygen tube, just waiting to die."