Chapter Five: The Temperature of the Beak Needle

The passage admitted one person. A silver-blue needle floated at its end, surrounded by droplets. Some boiled and some froze less than a centimeter apart. Su positioned an infrared camera, Raman spectrometer, and high-speed camera. "Do not trust your skin. Read the instruments." Lin entered. His left arm seemed to burn while frost covered his right, though infrared showed identical temperatures. Pain was lying. His father's voice spoke behind the needle. "Stop. You feared hot food as a boy. I cooled every bowl of soup for you." The memory carried the smell of scallions and their old wooden table. "Tell me something an instrument can verify," Lin said. The voice fell silent.