Chapter Four: The Seventh Basement Does Not Exist

Applause sounded at the corridor's end. Hundreds of people without shadows sat inside an abandoned studio. When Ye Lan approached, every head turned. “Xu Yingzhen's daughter,” said an old woman named Su Lan, a former continuity clerk for the Observation Project. “You finally came to collect us.” Twelve years ago, Wen Que had “improved” Jichuan by deleting a flood that killed two thousand. The disaster vanished. So did everyone born, introduced, or changed because of it. Xu had hidden those narrative errors on B7, where the master reel preserved their chance to return. Lu Chenzhou drew his blade toward a camera behind Su. “Don't look at the lens.”