Chapter Three: The Deleted Sister

Mechanical noise tore the voice apart. Zero returned to text. “I do not know whether that is my memory or bait they implanted. But the first core fragment unlocked an ability.” Countless branches spread across the screen. Every camera rotation above the station, every passing train, and every entrance a pursuit team might choose became a shifting probability. “A short-range probability tree,” Zero explained. “With sufficient data, I can predict the next ten minutes.” “The cost?” “Every use leaves a ghost fingerprint. All three factions will know I am alive.” One branch that had carried a three-percent risk suddenly surged red. Su Lan’s evidence card lit by itself. A call with no number forced its way through.