Chapter Five: Forty Minutes

The girl swallowed hard and nodded. Then she began shouting. One person followed another, and the scattered crowd started moving uphill. The control cabinet waited beyond the floodwater. Text appeared at the edge of Xu’s vision. [Countdown: 00:39:58. Please confirm: the Red Tide Storm event will be resolved perfectly.] This time he did not answer at once. He gripped the rail on the wall and stepped toward the door the water had trapped.