It started with a whisper.
A single post on an industry forum—anonymous, clinical, impossible to trace.
No accusations.
No conclusions.
Just documents.
Screenshots of internal emails. Transaction timestamps. Audio transcripts with voices carefully distorted but unmistakably professional.
The title was harmless.
"Questions About Northshore Acquisition Metrics."
By noon, it was everywhere.
Xu Kai noticed something was wrong when his phone wouldn't stop vibrating.
Not messages.
Notifications.
Mentions.
Tags.
He opened one at random.
Isn't this tied to Horizon Group?
Those projections look inflated.
Who approved this?
Xu Kai's pulse spiked.
He opened the link.
The first email he saw made his stomach drop.
It was real.
Too real.
Not the recordings.
Not the calls.
Worse.
The context.
Carefully selected. Precisely timed.
Someone hadn't tried to expose him.
They had framed the question around him.
Xu Kai slammed his phone down and stood.
"Everyone stay calm," he snapped to his team. "This is speculation."
But the room buzzed.
People whispered.
Eyes flicked toward him, then away.
At 2:14 PM, an internal message arrived.
Subject: Temporary Suspension of External Communications
Xu Kai's heart sank.
He wasn't named.
But the walls were closing.
Leon watched it unfold from a quiet co-working space downtown.
Laptops glowed.
People typed.
News spread faster than truth ever did.
The system interface hovered, unreadable to anyone else.
[Public Perception Shift Detected.]
[Target Reputation: Destabilizing]
[Authority Points +9]
Leon exhaled slowly.
The key wasn't volume.
It was timing.
His phone buzzed.
Chen Yiming:
Media teams are circling.
Horizon's legal department is active.
Leon replied:
Leon:
Hold.
No escalation yet.
He closed the chat.
This was the dangerous part.
If he pushed too hard, Horizon would crush everything—truth included.
So he waited.
Xu Kai was summoned again at 4:30 PM.
This time, not to an office.
To a conference room with no windows.
Three people waited inside.
Legal.
Compliance.
And someone Xu Kai had never seen before.
They didn't smile.
"Xu Kai," the woman from compliance said, "this is an internal clarification."
Clarification.
That word tasted like poison.
"You are not being accused," she continued. "But your proximity to the Northshore data requires explanation."
Xu Kai swallowed.
"I followed protocol."
The unknown man spoke.
"Did you contact any external intermediaries regarding this promotion?"
Xu Kai froze.
Just for a fraction of a second.
Enough.
The woman's pen paused.
"We advise full transparency," she said gently. "It benefits everyone."
Xu Kai's chest tightened.
"I spoke to people," he admitted. "But nothing improper."
The man nodded once.
"Understood."
No reassurance followed.
Xu Kai left the room with cold sweat soaking through his shirt.
The hallway felt longer than usual.
His phone vibrated.
A message.
Lina:
What's happening?
People are talking.
Xu Kai didn't reply.
He couldn't.
Leon's system chimed again.
[Containment Phase: 40% Complete]
[Warning:]
Target may attempt narrative reversal.
Leon stood, packing his laptop.
He had anticipated this.
Xu Kai would try to speak.
To deny.
To reshape.
But denial without ground was just noise.
Leon sent one message.
Leon:
Release packet B.
Delay six hours.
He left the building.
At 8:47 PM, a financial blogger posted a follow-up.
Not about Horizon.
Not about Northshore.
About process violations.
General.
Harmless.
Except one example matched Xu Kai's department exactly.
No names.
But the comments filled in the blanks.
By midnight, one name trended quietly.
Not nationwide.
Not explosively.
Just enough.
Xu Kai
Xu Kai stared at his screen, hands shaking.
His name shouldn't be there.
He wasn't famous.
He wasn't public.
And yet—
His phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
"…Hello?"
Silence.
Then a familiar, calm voice.
"You should stop fighting it," Leon said.
Xu Kai's breath hitched.
"You," he whispered. "This was you."
Leon didn't deny it.
"I warned you," Leon said. "Waiting was an option."
Xu Kai's voice broke.
"What do you want?"
Leon paused.
"Nothing," he said. "Not yet."
The line went dead.
The system interface glowed softly.
[Containment Phase: 60% Complete]
[Next Trigger:]
Internal sacrifice imminent.
Leon looked out at the city.
Lights flickered.
Names rose and fell.
And somewhere inside Horizon Group…
A decision was being prepared.
Because when pressure reached the top—
Someone always got pushed off.