Chapter Five: Seat Thirteen

Before Zhou was taken to intensive care, he gave them one name: Lu Chuan. Lu had produced for the Viewing Society and was the only public financier of the Echo project. After the fire, he had vanished from every credit list. Lin found an old photograph: gaunt face, round glasses, and the missing tip of his right ring finger. At midnight, the new outtake did not emerge from evidence storage. It slid from the crack beneath a seat in Auditorium One. The camera sat at floor level, showing only audience shoes and the bottom edge of the screen. Seat thirteen remained empty, its back marked LU CHUAN. Onscreen, a silent home video played: a little girl blew out birthday candles. Applause rose in the auditorium.