Chapter Two: Memory Is the Commission

She slid over the certificate. He did not touch it. “Xie Minglan designed Obsidian's first authentication mark. Public records omit one layer: ultraviolet light should reveal a reversed M beside the star track. The key to activate the correct lamp was hidden in the brooch she always wore.” “How do you know the platform offered me a brooch?” Silence tightened. “I don't know about a platform,” he said. “The brooch appeared last night in He Chenzhou's underground auction catalogue. The hammer falls at eight.” He left an invitation. On its back, in pencil: Trust no one who volunteers to prove your identity. That includes me. The auction occupied an abandoned shipyard. Bidding for the brooch began at one million.