Chapter Five: The Bureau of Corrections

Xu produced a duty roster a Corrector had dropped at the archive. Its last line read: CORE JUDGMENT MODULE MISSING. MANUAL CORRECTION RAISED TO RED. “Que wasn't stolen,” she said. “It escaped.” An alarm shrieked. [System-wide overwrite detected. Target: Xu Zhi's memories of Xu Yang.] The Correctors opened their files in unison. Xu Yang's name appeared, then vanished beneath black strokes. Xu staggered. Blood welled from the numbers carved in her arm. “His name was—” Lin gripped her arm and shouted, “Zero seven one four. Xu Yang. Your brother is Xu Yang.” The name echoed. Fingernails scratched behind the wallpaper, and water seeped from the files. “Stop the overwrite!” Chen shouted. “This floor cannot sustain resonance.”