Chapter One: The Extra Man on the Screen

Ye Lan did not scream. She backed into the aisle and aimed a fire extinguisher. “You're not Zhou Xiao.” “Zhou Xiao is the man who plays me.” Lu studied the empty seats as if recognizing a cemetery. “And you always reach for the extinguisher first.” “Always?” He raised a hand. A filament of light pinned Ye Lan's shadow to the wall. A projector gear turned inside its chest. “In seventy-two hours, *The Faceless Age* premieres. When the countdown ends, reality receives its final cut. Streets, dead people, everyone you remember loving—they will become whichever version the Director chooses.” “Which director?” “We call him Wen Que.”