Chapter Five: The Bureau of Corrections

A woman with silver-rimmed glasses stepped through a side door. Her badge read LUO WEN, ADJUDICATION. “Field Director Chen, your authority is suspended. Recovery takes priority over local stability.” Xu opened the umbrella and touched its copper wire to the metal wall. Every light burst. In the dark, Lacuna drew a red escape route along the floor. They followed it into a circular archive. Drawers rose into the unseen vault, each labeled with a person's name. A child's sob came from Lin's drawer. “Bait,” Xu warned. “An entrance.” The annotation beside it read: [Lin Mo: current version, twenty-nine years. Retired versions: six.]