Chapter Five: Locker B17

Inside lay a burned choreography book and an old tape. The title page read: SHEN CHONG, TECHNICAL CONSULTANT, YONGYAO SITE. Shen Yan had never spoken his father's name. Seven sets of steps filled the back pages: Backward Glance, Broken Beat, Borrowed Shadow, Exchanged Heart, Reverse Step, Severed Name, Homecoming. Beside the Broken Beat, Shen Chong had written: *The gate opens through unified expectation. Move half a beat before certainty, and the tide of attention divides.* The final page held a fifteen-year-old proposal. *Burn the Night* had originally been called the Yongyao Repayment Project. Gu Chenzhou had signed as director. Shen Chong had signed as mirror-gate consultant. “His father helped build the sacrifice?” Tang Li asked.