Chapter Two: Likes Become Power

It was not telekinesis. He could only move objects he had framed as part of a “shot,” and only for seven seconds. “So reality has to obey the director until he calls cut?” Lin Xia entered wearing a cap, dark circles beneath her eyes and a termination notice in her fist. She had left one comment on his film, and her theater had dismissed her for “damaging commercial partnerships.” She stared at the raven. “Poverty finally broke you. Are you stealing military prototypes now?” Gu Yan showed her InstantFrame, but she saw only his lock screen. The joke vanished when the raven perched on her shoulder and projected the silver-masked stranger.