The Man Who Is Always First

Jiang removed her headset. For the first time, she looked startled. “Again.” She threw three tennis balls at a wall. Lu saw every intersecting rebound, but his hands caught only two. The third grazed his fingers. “Your eyes arrived,” Jiang said. “Your body didn't. You really are copying us.” Silence tightened around them. “How do you know?” Lu asked. “Five years ago, Gu Changye switched stances in his first championship and used his opponent's finest technique. Since then, he has arrived before everyone.” She studied Lu. “Now there are two of you.” “Will you report me?” “The league tests for drugs, not miracles. I care about one thing: can borrowed eyes understand a real punch?”