Chapter One: The Extra Man on the Screen

Emergency lights returned. The crowd moved on, remembering nothing. The information display now showed a black-and-white photograph. Eight-year-old Ye Lan sat in a studio beside her mother, Xu Yingzhen, who had been missing for twenty-one years. In red ink, someone had written: THIRD TEST SHOOT. YE LAN SUCCESSFULLY REWROTE THE ENDING. Lu went pale. “You said you didn't remember.” “I don't.” Ye Lan stared at the smiling child. The girl had the same three-shaped wound. “But someone remembers me.” In the corner, the timer lost another second. Seventy-two hours remained.