Chapter Three: Gu Yan Is Dead

Nothing strange happened the next day. That was strange in itself. From morning onward, users refreshed the REVERSE RAIN thread, waiting for larger columns of water and wilder explanations. The city issued only a notice about abnormal pipe pressure. By afternoon the thread was locked and Untitled's profile returned a 404, as if the eye watching Linchuan had finally closed. Gu Yan knew it had only blinked. He spent ten hours testing the blank card. It had no chip serial number, yet could open an obsolete protocol used in Chengtu's underground server rooms. Its NFC text had been created on the date of the Line Four accident, six months before he officially joined the company.