Deep within the folded Sub-Void Dimension outside the thirty-third heaven, the dark-matter array hummed with malevolent power.
Three hundred fugitive shadow auditors stood around a massive black obsidian altar. Their faces were concealed beneath heavy iron masks, but their Goodness ratings flickered between minus eighty-one and minus eighty-nine.
For ten thousand years, this shadow syndicate had been the most secretive arm of the Heavenly Plunder Bank. When corrupt sect lords looted mortal granaries, these auditors created fake shipping receipts. When ancient emperors stole disaster relief funds, these auditors laundered the gold through fictitious asteroid mining concessions. They considered themselves the invisible kings of cosmic finance.
At the center stood Sly-Fox Hu, the former Chief Offshore Accountant of the Heavenly Plunder Bank. His Goodness score was a toxic minus ninety out of one hundred.
Sly-Fox Hu held up a crystal goblet filled with fermented void wine.
“To the gullible fools in the thirty-third heaven!” Sly-Fox Hu sneered, his thin lips curling into a triumphant grin. “Lin Mo thinks his open-source operating system governs all of creation! He thinks every living soul is happily eating hot wontons and singing hymns of peace!”
The auditors chuckled, their cruel laughter echoing off the hollow asteroid walls.
