Chapter Two: A Borrowed Childhood

Shen opened an outlet and found an obsolete memory card hidden inside. It held a single surveillance clip from the same building, dated seven years earlier. A little girl with a ponytail ran down the corridor as flames rolled behind her. Someone outside the frame hammered on a door in the rhythm of an SOS. The victim in the old report was nine-year-old Chen Xiaokui. Chen Mo's sister. Chen Mo was not the sender. That night, Shen traced the building's wiring and found an illegal charging circuit installed by the landlord. Its insulation had already melted. A timer would activate demolition equipment at 3:17 a.m. in seven days. When the circuit overloaded, the stairwell would become a chimney. Chen knew about it and intended to warn no one.