Chapter One: One Million Words

For the first time, Han's casual expression vanished. “How did you know?” “A guess.” Han noticed the gray square in his palm and removed his loupe. “Many people guess. Guessing what you shouldn't know gets you killed.” That evening Chenzhou anonymously contacted the city history museum. Its preliminary offer was 120,000 yuan—enough to pay the bills. It brought him no comfort. Back in his ten-square-meter apartment, he tested the ability as if debugging an unknown system. He touched a cup, the lock, his old computer. Stronger emotion produced clearer fragments; ordinary use left almost nothing. He could not choose an owner, and older memories cost more. A million words sounded generous, but careless reading would exhaust it quickly.