Chapter Three: She Said, Don't Save Me

She placed her palm against the invisible boundary. Shen raised his own hand, aligning it with hers across life and death. At the contact, a memory struck him. On the stormy night seven years ago, Lin had not waited at the clock tower. She followed the underground conduit to Data Center Zero, where water already reached her knees. A child was crying among the server cabinets. Red alarms sliced her shadow into pieces. She lifted the child. Overhead, a cable erupted in white light— The memory broke. A countdown appeared along Lin's wrist: 6 days, 20 hours, 11 minutes. “Who dies in seven days?” Shen asked. For the first time, she looked afraid. She shoved against the boundary, and the whole street began to collapse.