THE{ZHAO}
CODE

They say the Zhao dynasty never fell. It compiled. Its scholars carved their greatest secret not into stone, but into a cipher — the 赵码, the Zhao Code — and scattered its fragments through a temple city no map will admit exists.

Under a blood-red moon, the city still runs. Lanterns flicker like status lights. A dragon coils through the smoke above the pagoda — the last guardian process, still watching, still waiting for someone worthy of root access.

You arrive with a laptop, a lantern, and a hunch.

The locals will trade you fragments — if you earn them. The spirits speak in encrypted whispers only your lantern can render. And behind the pagoda's final gate, the complete Code waits for the one coder who can discover every fragment, decipher what the dynasty locked away — and dominate the legend itself.

The dragon is watching your commits. Make them count.

{
  "cipher": {
    "id":        "zhao-0001",
    "status":    "ENCRYPTED",  // centuries now
    "fragments": 0,             // of 9
    "crackedBy": null
  },
  "city": {
    "name":   "赵城 — Zhao City",
    "onMap":  false,
    "moon":   "blood-red",
    "dragon": "watching"
  },
  "you": {
    "role":   "codebreaker",
    "assets": ["laptop", "lantern"],
    "plan":   "discover. decipher. dominate."
  }
}