Chapter Four: The White Ward

Lin Wan opened the hospital plans. “Seven thirty is shift change. Inpatient tower, clinics, underground oxygen plant—an attack anywhere could kill more than seven.” Lu Chen studied one tiny reflection in the image: a blue cartoon elephant. The children's hematology ward used that mural. At 7:05, they reached the eleventh floor. Children waiting for treatment filled the corridor. Blue elephants marched toward the isolation wing. Lu Chen's danger sense was unnaturally silent. “Nothing?” Lin Wan asked. “Something is moving outside the web.” He pressed his temple. “I can't feel it.” At 7:20, a nurse wheeled in seven new oxygen cylinders. Lu Chen checked the valves. No explosives, no gas. Then Tang Guo called from security.