Chapter Four: Beyond the Template

She divided the pitch into twenty-four squares and randomly killed three floodlights, forcing him to remember every position through broken sightlines. “A template lends you an answer,” she said. “Learn to solve the problem.” Lin slept four hours by day, trained at dusk, and still cleaned the medical center at night. He kept the job because Étoile and Noah exchanged data there. Doctor Fischer vanished, but Serge installed cameras in every corridor. Saint-Denis won four of their next five league matches. Lin used no template. He remained slow, but he arranged drivers, warehouse workers, and students into a machine. Abou delayed his runs by half a beat. Sami looked over his shoulder. Jules conserved his aging legs through positioning.