Chapter Two: Rewards Can Bleed

The coordinates led to an abandoned subway station. Its entrance was welded shut, yet Pei Jin stepped through it to greet Gu Chen. “My ability followed me home,” he said. “So did the cost. When I escaped, an open maintenance door inside locked itself. My confinement always transfers somewhere nearby.” Lin Yao arrived and asked, “Who are you?” She laughed at their alarm, then admitted she had forgotten an old woman from yesterday's delivery route. She remembered only the candy wrapper the woman had given her. Zhou Heng and Su Wanqing joined them. In reality, the five looked even more like strangers. Wanqing produced an ER roster. “Chen Tuo was a resident. The system forgot him, but an ownerless coat still contains his notes.”