The morning sun crested the eastern jagged ridges of Mount Kunlun, casting sharp golden light across the vast snowfields.
Lin Mo walked down the polished stone steps from the observation deck, his hands tucked loosely into the sleeves of his dark silk robe. Behind him walked Su Wan, Chief Legal Counsel Shen Qiaoqiao, and Lord Wen Zhengming, their footsteps muffled by the fresh layer of morning frost.
At the center of the vast landing terrace, the Star-Road Sovereign Payment Monolith hummed with immense celestial resonance.
The ten-ton crystal pillar, carved from raw interstellar obsidian and veined with pulsing purple quartz, rose thirty feet into the cold mountain air. Soft, iridescent halos spun around its crystalline apex, singing with the distant frequencies of deep space.
Near the base of the monolith, four figures in bright yellow sanitation vests were working in a disciplined, miserable row.
Former Emperor Ji Wudao, former Minister of Revenue Sima Quan, former Minister of Works Qian Wansan, and Star-Envoy Varkos were chained to a communal brass safety tether. Each man held a heavy wooden snow shovel.
Varkos wheezed as he pushed a mound of frozen slush into the drainage grate.
His right arm socket sputtered with tiny blue sparks, his scarred face smudged with soot and axle grease. He glared at the crystal monolith with profound, bitter resentment.
