Chapter Five: The Man Who Always Delivers

The circle burst. A path made of schoolwork appeared behind the station. The three of them fell onto it as the engine behind them went silent. The image remained in Shen's camera: Lu Yuan riding away into white darkness, his back to the lens. At the lower right, one hand pointed onward. At the end of the paper path, a primary school was burning. Its flames were not red but made from crumpled children's drawings. In the playground, a child in a paper crown held up a wall that was wearing thinner by the second. Three hundred faceless children sheltered behind it.