Chapter Two: Fear Has a Price

The speakers announced, “Fifty-four minutes until the candle is blown out. Prepare a square pizza for the eighth guest.” Rule Three demanded that the square pizza go to Table Eight. Rule Four required eight guests before Lulu's song ended. The restaurant wanted them to summon someone who did not exist. “Who sent the reservation?” Lin Wan asked A-Bei. “An anonymous account offered me two hundred thousand to stream the hidden show. I thought it was marketing.” “There are six of you,” Zhou Ran said. “There were seven,” one assistant sobbed. “Our cameraman, Meng, went to the restroom after we arrived. He never came back. But until now, none of us even remembered him.”