Ghosts in the Ledger

In the hyper-connected metropolis of Velaris, citizenship, reputation, and memory are reduced to encrypted strings in a government-corporate database known as the Persona Ledger. When the enigmatic CEO of Aethelgard Industries is murdered through a tampered medical profile, three executives compete for the throne, only to find their digital selves rewritten by an invisible hand. As poisonings, sexual blackmail, and fabricated moral failings shatter the candidates one by one, analyst Cedric Vane discovers that identity is the deadliest weapon of all—and the killer is someone who no longer officially exists. A razor-edged corporate thriller from the Ning Hangyi tradition, where white-collar savagery hides behind a screen of code.