Chapter Four: Outside the Canvas

His feet returned. That dark blue shimmered across his shoes. “Is this my signature color?” “A candidate.” Zero followed him into the fog, pencil shavings falling from his edges. “Your signature color isn't one you like. It's a choice you preserve while everyone tells you to remove it. Remember its values.” Gu Yan did. C100, M86, Y35, K28. At the sound of the numbers, four cold lights appeared in the fog, arranged along an incorrect curve. They followed it. Each step caused the road behind them to be cropped away. There was no grid here, so Bai Mi could not align them. But without a grid, the world might classify them as invalid objects beyond the canvas at any moment. A baby began crying to their left.