Chapter One: 12:44 A.M.

I no longer knew whether I had been protecting Xiao Qiao or the coward in me who dared not declare war on He Yuanshan. At one-thirty, he let me leave on the condition that I submit a “resuscitation reflection” by nine. I walked toward the apartment I had rented after separating from my husband. Three missed calls from Lu Wenchuan glowed on my phone. When the fourth came, I rejected it. We had lived apart for eight months. Whenever he asked whether I was sleeping, he sounded like he was discussing a case that belonged to somebody else. The rain had stopped. At the mouth of the alley, the convenience store was gone. In its place stood a narrow bronze door. There was no sign, only a line of letters lit by rain: NOCTURNE. OPEN 00:44–04:44.