Chapter Four: The Seventh Basement Does Not Exist

Its red light was already on. Old monitors showed Ye Lan on the stage five seconds ahead of reality. On-screen, Su lunged at her. Ye Lan did not move. Five seconds later, Su pushed her away from a hole opening beneath her feet. A filmstrip tendril seized the old woman instead. Bai burned it apart while Lu sealed the lens with light. A timeline appeared in Ye Lan's mind, but she refused it. She could not pay a memory for every danger. “A future frame isn't an order,” she said, pulling Su free. “It's only the version Wen Que wants us to believe.” The camera burst. Inside the control room stood a sixteen-millimeter projector with an empty spindle and a recording left by Xu Yingzhen.