The city no longer whispered.
It breathed, shifted, and waited—as if every corner and corridor had begun listening, weighing allegiances in silence.
At the Apex Tower's eleventh floor briefing room, Lin Feng stood before an opaque glass screen displaying a rotating map of municipal procurement contracts. Most of the markers blinked green. But five, deep in the logistics and civic grid sectors, glowed amber.
Five anomalies.
Five weak points.
"The pattern holds," said Qian Yexue, arms folded tightly across her chest. "Each flagged node traces back to Nimbus Strategy, routed through different shell buyers in South Korea, the Netherlands, and an unnamed foundation in Botswana."
"And each one passed compliance because the purchases were made just under Apex's threshold for mandatory vetting," added Ren Yuhan, stepping up beside her with a secondary tablet. "They're staying invisible by design."
"They're eating us in fractions," muttered Yu Xian from across the table.
