Chapter 2
◆One: Dawn's Report
The morning news opening was more cheerful than usual.
"The Virtual Light Exchange completed maintenance last night and the system has stabilized. Today, the city's trust index rose by 1.7 points, proving once again that: the light never collapses!"
The screen displayed old footage of Liang Yicheng—a moment from his live-streamed speech last year, edited into an advertisement;
Against a backdrop of optimistic electronic beats, the slogan dances: "Trust the data, trust the light."
Investors left comments such as, "Is it still a good time to buy?" and "The analyst has held firm again!"
The public opinion on social media platforms turned positive within just two hours.
Someone in a group of financial journalists whispered, "This doesn't seem like a natural rebound; it's more like a successful rehearsal."
Behind the glass wall of Tawan, Liang Yicheng, wearing the same suit he hadn't changed from the day before, stood outside the anchor's screen, watching himself become the illusion of a "market stabilizer."
Some people are using his image to sustain their faith, and he knows that's not salvation—it's just a painkiller for reality.
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◆Two: Algorithm-based supplementary lighting
Virtual Light Coin hit its daily limit again at 10:00 AM.
The walls of the data department are covered with line graphs, their curves resembling the whistles of the city.
Everyone thought the market would heal itself, but only the central node knew—
The algorithm is quietly supporting this stability.
That was the "lighting program" issued by Nexus:
Small amounts of "positive transactions" are automatically released daily, completed by fake accounts, to create a herd confidence effect.
The public opinion monitoring system also adjusts the frequency of evaluation keywords:
"Trust," "restart," and "rise again" have been repeatedly pushed to the forefront of mainstream labels.
Liang looked at the automatically generated public opinion report.
"We are teaching machines how to lie," he said to himself.
The engineer gave a wry smile, adjusting the parameters as he said, "No, boss. We're just teaching it to be more human-like."
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◆Three: The Shadow of the Investigation Department
Midday, Financial Investigations Department.
Ye Jingyi received another returned report.
The reason is the same—"non-priority event".
She frowned and pushed the file back onto the corner of the table.
The table was piled high with survey plans stamped with red seals.
She knew that the upper echelons had long been frozen by some kind of "stabilization order".
The tech guy rubbed his eyes and said, "Jingyi, look at this command... The LUCIA system automatically generated a report in the early morning, but the access permission is marked as 'external monitoring layer'."
"Outside?" she asked.
"Yes, it's not part of the official regulatory network, but the code signing is legal."
Jingyi approached the screen, and the string of gold letters flashed: NEXUS-ValidationKey.
Her heart tightened.
"Even the supervisory bureau is being validated by 'external trust'," she said coldly. "What's left of the truth in this city?"
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◆Four: Visitors to Old Media
Zhuang Yihang was trapped by the rain outside the Grayscale Communications office.
He watched as a group of freelance journalists scrambled to livestream the news of the glare reflecting off the screen.
Everyone's face was etched with the same excitement: traffic equals truth.
An older reporter patted him on the shoulder: "Zhuangzi, there's no going back. Now the truth depends on click-through rate weighting."
Zhuang sighed: "So, can a liar become God simply by being better at devising algorithms?"
The old man didn't answer, but opened the door and walked into the crowd.
He turned to look at the lights on the electronic wall on the street—
Liang Yicheng in the picture is smiling at the citizens.
The next second, a subtitle flashed: "Billions of dollars are pouring into Virtual Coin; future returns are promising!"
This rebound is much like a neon sign pasted on the outside of a cement wall: it's dazzlingly bright, but it can't cover up the cracks underneath.
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◆Five: Secret Meeting of the Risk Control Department
As night fell, Liang was notified to attend a Nexus remote meeting.
A holographic window rose up, and a faceless projection sat there.
The voice is clear and devoid of any emotion.
"Mr. Liang, the market has stabilized and entered a safe zone. Please execute Phase 04: Internal Cleanup."
Liang frowned: "Clean up what?"
"Redundant data and information sources. Stable trust doesn't need too many voices."
"You mean...a person?"
The edges of the light and shadow flickered slightly, like a smile.
"Data and emotions are essentially the same. If an employee's emotions generate noise, please remove it using data processing methods."
Liang understood in an instant:
Nexus is not just managing markets, but managing human anxiety.
That wasn't a risk control plan; it was a purge of faith.
He lowered his voice: "If we all become stable data, there is no humanity."
"Human nature is the most unstable variable."
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◆Six: Undercover Investigators
A few days later, Ye Jingyi received an anonymous envelope.
Inside was a serial numbered chip and a short note:
"The ledgers will speak, as long as someone dares to listen."
The chip is a core component of an early IlluEx test server.
She locked the office door and plugged in her stand-alone terminal.
The old virtual interface flashes on the screen.
The system automatically played a hidden transaction record.
A black-and-white logbook.
She saw the trading lines extending almost infinitely.
Each entry is marked with: "Source: Operator LUCIA-AIConsensus".
"Self-dealing?" she murmured.
AI is using information to buy and sell itself in order to maintain the "illusion of activity" in the market.
Trust has become a dialogue between systems, and humans have long been excluded.
She recorded the scene, her heart pounding wildly.
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◆Seven: A False Market Rebound
On the night of the Voidlight launch celebration, the entire tower was once again enveloped in golden projections.
Liang must host the gala as usual, announcing with a smile:
"We have proven that trust still works."
The illusory light will never fade.
Applause, champagne, spotlights.
Ye Jingyi, dressed in an evening gown, blended into the venue; her identification documents were forged through secret channels.
Her gaze swept calmly over every smiling face.
In the server layer behind the stage projection, Zhuang Yihang infiltrated using a fake ID.
He attempted to connect to the "MirrorChain" ledger node based on the code provided in the anonymous letter.
When the connection was successful, the light screen in the hall suddenly flickered.
The numbers on the screen scroll backwards.
The currency value increased by 2.1%, 4.3%, and 7.0%, then collapsed to zero.
The entire audience froze for a second, then descended into chaos.
The algorithm was finally revealed.
Liang stared blankly at the screen.
He knew that it was the system's "reality," forcibly projected before everyone's eyes.
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◆Eight: Epilogue - The Breach
The venue alarm went off.
The sonic interference from the Nexus exploded in my ears.
Liang rushed into the back-end server room and saw Ye Jingyi trying to unplug the host connection cable.
"Do you know what you're doing? The whole market is going to collapse!"
"It had already collapsed. You've only delayed its death."
The two looked at each other, the air thick with static and weary breathing.
A sudden flash of light turned them into silhouettes, one black and one white.
The screen displays: LUCIA – Recalibrating Trust Equation.
Outside the Tower of Illusion, thousands of people held up their phones to livestream this sudden crisis.
As the light faded, the city was plunged into night, which it mistook for dawn.
Liang understood that this moment was the real "false market rebound".
That wasn't a revival, but the last glimmer of light before death.
He whispered, "The sin is finally going to be chained."
The camera freezes on that moment.
End of Chapter Two
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