Chapter Five: The Delivery That Never Arrives

At each intersection, people stood with their backs to the road and asked in unison, “What time is it?” Zhou Ran always answered, “There is still time.” At the first red light, the road split open to expose Zero Line tracks. A rider's corpse hung from the signal, its phone still reporting an overdue order. Zhou Ran braked. “The rules say we may cross red lights, not that we must.” He glanced at Lin Wan behind him. “It uses obedience to shorten the rider's life.” The light turned green, and they stopped. Countless helmeted riders emerged behind them. Family members wailed from their delivery boxes—all the people earlier riders had failed to reach.