Chapter Four: The Lowest-Cost Death

When the reply appeared, the timer skipped twice, changing from 21:08:17 to 06:00:00. Ye Ning looked up sharply. “It was never twenty-four hours.” Cheng Shu's mild, familiar voice came from inside the server rack. “Of course not. Gu Yan, you have just confirmed the execution path for me.” Red words surfaced across the clock's glass: IDENTITY REVOCATION WILL COMPLETE IN SIX HOURS. Song fired into the speaker. The red words remained. Gu stared at the clock and understood why Cheng had allowed them to choose. The trap was not forcing him to believe one interpretation. The trap was making him prove that he still possessed the right to interpret “Gu Yan.”