Chapter Two: One Memory, Ten Million Bids

Gu Nanshan and Su Wanqing pressed CONFIRM. The coin dissolved. A moonlit living room opened before Su's eyes. Ten-year-old Gu Ning sat at the piano, missed four notes, then looked back nervously and asked her father if it sounded good. A young Gu Nanshan applauded through tears. His pride was too warm to feel observed; Su felt as if she had lived it herself. Beside the hospital bed, the old man suddenly asked, “Young lady, why are you crying?” Gu Ning covered her mouth. Her father no longer remembered the song. Su removed the neural sensors and held the notarized result to the camera. “The brain response matches first-person episodic memory. It is real.”