Chapter Three: The Price of Match Four

REQUIRED COST: EXECUTOR’S MOST PRECIOUS MEMORY COST CONTENT: QIAO QING. RAINY NIGHT. FIRST TOUCH OF THE BALL. Jianxia stopped breathing. A blurred recording played. Rain fell from an old awning. Twelve-year-old Qiao Ran stood in an alley as her sister rolled a battered ball toward her. Qiao Qing said something with a smile, but static swallowed the words. This was Qiao Ran’s memory. The program did not merely know about it. It had already reached inside. A countdown appeared: TIME UNTIL TRANSACTION CONFIRMATION: 71:59:59 Jianxia punched the screen. Cracks spread across the glass, but the memory continued beneath them. Blood ran across her knuckles.