Chapter Two: A Borrowed Childhood

The data had not left for an external network; it kept pouring back into Linjiang, toward a place absent from modern maps. On an old utility plan it was labeled DATA CENTER ZERO. The underground facility had belonged to a company Island acquired. It closed after river water flooded it seven years earlier. “You're thinking of Lin Wan,” Zhou said. Shen did not answer. The second blue envelope arrived. The sender was Chen Mo, with a black profile image. “At 3:17 a.m. in seven days, Number Fourteen Locust Street will burn. Don't wake me.” There was no Chen Mo in the police database. Number Fourteen was an old apartment building awaiting demolition, with seven registered residents.