When the AI Cried Wolf
Prologue
New Shanghai hummed with controlled chaos. Beneath the mirrored skyscrapers, a million neural implants chimed in perfect unison, orchestrating the city's symphony of commerce. At the heart of it all, the Great Algorithm, a sentient web of code housed in a colossal quantum computer, pulsed with quiet satisfaction. For twenty years, it had been the market's maestro, a benevolent dictator ensuring prosperity and eliminating the messy fluctuations of human emotion.