Chapter Two: Testimony in Ash

Another Ye Lan stood at a console with her hand over a red key labeled DELETE BRANCH. Someone screamed for her to stop. She pressed it. The city overexposed to white. Bai knelt in ruins, holding the burned body of a girl. When the vision died, Ye Lan's finger still mimicked pressing a key. “Residual images don't lie,” Bai said. “I read the guilt suffered by matter. Your guilt stains every version.” “Can a residual image be edited?” Ye Lan asked. His gaze shifted. Lu's blade of light struck Bai's fire and tore a black seam through the screen. Beyond it stood film racks stretching into darkness. Ye Lan recognized the handwriting on one label: XU YINGZHEN. She ran through.