Chapter 743

• Chapter Seven Hundred and Forty Eight
• The moonlight over City M did not shine equally on its inhabitants. While the neon spires of the central district pulsed with artificial life, the peripheral shadows housed the "Respite Zones"—the poor communities established by the mandate of the President. These were not the sprawling, lawless slums of old, but structured sectors carved out of every city in the Lusaka Nation. Each Governor was legally bound to provide basic housing, clean water, and communal kitchens to those the economy had outpaced. It was a system of survival, a safety net that made the population easy to find and even easier to mobilize.
• Under the cover of this administrative silence, the Auction House security moved like wraiths. They didn't knock on doors; they slid thin, embossed cards under them. They handed "flyers" to the night-shift laborers and tucked "insignificant" slips of paper into the hands of the elderly sitting on porch steps. To the residents of the Respite Zones, these were just curiosities—pretty ink on high-quality stock, perhaps a gift from a passing stranger.