By morning, the city was awake—but not just physically.
The financial forums buzzed with a different tone. The usual controlled flow of polite corporate announcements had been punctured, replaced by something raw, uncertain.
The anonymous exposé, published late the night before, was already circulating through private WeChat groups and professional Slack channels. Its allegations weren't direct, but damning by implication.
Three shell firms, previously unknown, linked by metadata to a digital smear campaign. Each firm subtly connected to a media conglomerate with known investments from Nantai Holdings.
And Nantai Holdings? Zixuan's favored quiet hand.
The story didn't say Zixuan's name.
But everyone read it.
At Celica HQ, Lin Feng walked into the top-floor war room just after 7:00 a.m., coffee in one hand, his phone buzzing with silent notifications.
