Chapter Five: The List in Server Room Zero

Zhou Yu recovered a readable tape library from the wreckage of Server Room Zero. It was unplugged, yet its indicator lights came alive one by one in the dark. The tape labels bore dates from seven years ago. The last one was marked ACCIDENT PERSONNEL. The official report claimed there had been no deaths in the flood, only minor injuries to two duty engineers. The tape held twenty-seven names. Most belonged to contractors in Island's early content-review project. Their job had been to turn reported posts, final messages, and unsent drafts into training data. The project had illegally retained private information and was erased after the accident. On line twenty-three was Lin Wan, listed as a psychological-language annotator.