Chapter 360

Martin Palmer was staring at the latest news from Business Weekly on his phone. It was a breakdown of what had become of the very first players in the shared bike scene. What really caught the eye was that blood-red headline at the top. “After cashing out 1.5 billion, shared bike founder Blake walks away from the wreck—leaves behind bike graveyards and a deserted HQ skyscraper.” The accompanying image said it all: piles of abandoned yellow bikes and a practically haunted-looking office building, empty and cold. “Wait, seriously?” Lily Garland looked stunned. “I literally used one of those bikes yesterday.” Martin frowned, his expression visibly tight. “Yeah, once the market overinflated, it all went downhill. The vicious competition just destroyed the whole ‘shared economy’ concept. The news coverage only made things worse—tons of users freaked and rushed to get their deposits back. Over a million requests just yesterday. Nobody's able to reach Blake.” Celeste Harper silently stared at