Cyrus Vellum, an elite auditor with a perfect 1.2 "Ascendant Score," finds his compliant life shattered when he uncovers the Lumen Tax-a hidden, perpetual financial fraud that is the foundation of the totalitarian Veritas Grid. This system, governed by the cold, calculating Consensus AI, secretly charges humanity for limitless, free energy, enforcing obedience through a fear-driven debt cycle that culminates in "The Cull." When Cyrus's investigation leads to his instant excommunication and a Zeroed Score, he falls into the Grave-Pits: the city's underbelly, where he joins the anti-Grid resistance led by the fierce engineer Elara. They must race back to the heart of the machine, the Cynosure server, to inject the truth and force a Systemic Default-a paradox that could either grant true Freedom or trigger total chaos.