Chapter One: After Midnight

He had doubled over laughing. In memory, that laughter now sounded like a farewell rehearsed too well. The train entered the river tunnel, and her signal vanished completely. The ceiling lights flickered twice. “Passengers, the time is now 11:59 p.m. on July seventeenth,” the announcement said. “Due to astronomical tidal effects, this train will temporarily reduce—” Static swallowed the rest. Jianyue watched the electronic display. 23:59:57. Three seconds stretched impossibly long. At midnight, something enormous seemed to bite down on the train. The wheels screamed. The lights died. In the darkness came the dull knocks of bones shifting out of place, then tearing fabric, chattering teeth, and a woman's strangled whimper.