In Shanghai in the late winter of 2024, fine snow was falling outside the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Bund office buildings. Mi Daye curled up in his workstation, staring at the beating clock in the lower right corner of the computer screen - two seventeen in the morning. The coffee machine hummed idling for the third time. She numbly took a bite of the cold sandwich, and the salty salad dressing mixed with wet tears slid down her throat.
