In this cybernetic divine capital, where neon lights mingle with incense, everyone worships Shen Qingxian. He pities all living beings and purifies their sins. He is the living Buddha revered by the Federation, a paragon of morality certified by the algorithms of the mainframe.
Lu Jin, meanwhile, is the most notorious human trafficker in the underground black market. He sells bodies, memories, even souls. His credit record is darker than the endless night, and his morality score has been in the red for years.
No one knows that every electronic incense stick lit for the saint contains a strand of Lu Jin's genetic sequence. No one knows that deep inside Shen Qingxian's data-scripture-covered “purification chamber” is a locked-away clone indistinguishable from Lu Jin.
Until, during a purification ceremony broadcast live across the city, Shen Qingxian ran his fingertips over the foreheads of the worshippers. But for Lu Jin, hidden at the very back of the crowd, he whispered at a frequency only the two of them could hear:
“I've atoned for your sins for thirty years, Lu Jin. Now it's your turn to take this saintly body I've thoroughly defiled and go to hell in my place.”
“Remember, you were the one who wanted me to become a saint. Now this saint's selfish desire is to drag you down with me and rot together on the altar.”
