Chapter Three: The Person Taken

Every program listed eight performers. The final act was sometimes MIA, sometimes UNKNOWN, and sometimes Xia Mi. “I’ve studied the echo tide since I was twenty,” Wen Yu said. “It doesn’t send anyone into the past. It briefly overlaps two realities. You didn’t change history—you forced your way into another version of your life.” “Who is the silver-haired woman?” “I don’t know. But after I abandoned the voyage two years ago, I heard someone call your name through that tape recorder. Since then, I’ve dreamed of you dying on a stage.” An unknown number sent Xia Mi a video recorded ten minutes earlier. Tang Li entered the old lighthouse, following the silver-haired singer. At the end, the woman looked toward the hidden camera and lifted her mask.