Xia Xiaoman remembers everything—the blood on the pavement, the shattered glass, the whispers of a debt too large to repay—everything except how her parents truly fell to their deaths. As an investigative journalist, she infiltrates the world of Li Moting, the ruthless heir to a financial empire, armed with nothing but a recorder and her perfect memory.  

"Three therapy sessions a week," he offers, fingers steepled, his voice colder than the rain outside the window. "In exchange for your silence."  

But what begins as a calculated game of revenge spirals into something far more dangerous. He scales a crumbling factory to save her from kidnappers, his hands bleeding, yet claims it’s merely "asset protection." She discovers ledgers in his study that implicate his family in her parents’ ruin—yet finds her childhood lullaby tucked in his desk drawer, the notes still intact after twenty years.  

On the night the truth comes crashing down, he kneels in the snow, pressing a pair of worn ballet flats into her hands. "Hate me if you must," he murmurs, "but let me remember you properly this time."  

And when she plays back the tapes—the ones she swore were evidence—all she hears is the unguarded hitch of his breath when she entered the room, the quiet, damning confession: *", Xia Xiaoman you were never part of the plan."*

Xia Xiaoman discovered an old tape recorder in the server room, endlessly looping a children's choir. When she pressed stop, every smart device in the city suddenly broadcast the same message:  


The medical center's main screen illuminated, displaying the MN-07 subject list with each name updated with current whereabouts. Li Moting gripped the console—the top entry gleamed in gold:  


**「Lin Lan → Li Moting → Xia Xiaoman → ?」**  


The arrow pointed to an empty photo frame, its glass reflecting their joined hands.  


Chapter 53 - Passing the Torch: A New Era Declaration