Chapter Three: You Were Painted Too

Donations fell like rain, enough to erase every debt he owed. Before ending the call, Gu said only, “You think you won back your reputation? You let them see you.” The connection died. Before four, Lin returned to his burned apartment. Zhou had gone back into paint. Qi Xia had not. The more people remembered her, she explained, the longer she could remain real. Among the ashes, the childhood photograph Lin carried in his wallet was untouched. It showed him at ten inside an unfamiliar studio, with a cropped hand resting on his shoulder. Qi Xia turned it over. Letters bled slowly across the blank back: “WORK ZERO: LIN MO. ARTIST: SHEN ZHOU. RECOVER BEFORE THE TWELFTH REVISION.”