At eight-fifty in the morning, ten minutes before the Monday opening bell, the air inside the spire of Vault #5 was bitterly cold.
The high observation deck overlooked the circular expanse of the Central Milky Way Exchange Ring.
Ancestor Du Gu sat atop a throne carved from black venomous jade, his long green fingernails tapping a steady, unsettling rhythm against the armrest.
[Ancestor Du Gu. Master of Vault #5 (The Poison-Short & Disaster Derivative Vault). Goodness Score: -96 / 100.]
Du Gu was skeletal and gaunt, his pale skin stretched tight across high cheekbones. His sunken obsidian eyes glowed with venomous cunning.
Beside his throne stood Ancestor Jin Suanpan, dressed in gold-embroidered robes and carrying his massive, two-meter platinum abacus.
[Ancestor Jin Suanpan. Master of Vault #1 (The Imperial Usury Vault). Goodness Score: -97 / 100.]
“Du Gu,” Jin Suanpan said, his voice grating like dry gravel. “Our monitoring nodes detected multiple query pings against the Central Clearinghouse mainframe late last night. Someone was reading Clause Eighty-Four of our master debt covenant.”
