Chapter Five: I Made a Thousand People Take the Wrong Road

Before the bolt left the crossbow, Lin saw its past. Memory Trace flashed through the shaft: Old K fitting the head three hours ago; a Disconnector collecting the weapon twelve hours ago; Zhou Qiming leaving the storeroom key beneath a brick two days earlier. The bolt stopped a centimeter from Zhou's throat. “You know them,” Lin said. Zhou went gray. “I supplied old infrastructure maps. Professor Shen arranged it.” Old K lowered the weapon and smiled. “I only asked the fast way. Guanlan is upstairs. Come with us if you want to live.” He blew open an abandoned oxygen conduit. By the time they emerged in the alley, Linjiang had become a trap. Buses stopped, subway stations closed, electronic payments froze.