Chapter Three: The People Cut from the Film

Lin Xia faced the lens. “My name is Lin Xia. I fear cats. I love beef noodles. I don't need a perfect character to live in my place.” The train stopped in midair. On the screen behind her, Xia Mi disobeyed the screenplay for the first time. The policewoman lowered her weapon. “I am not Lin Xia. I don't need to kill her in order to exist.” The Faceless Marquis appeared between the two worlds. A hairline crack split his silver mask. The premiere collapsed. Reality's records returned, and Tang Jing slumped before his screen. Gu Yan felt no triumph. The raven had ejected a strip of film they had never shot. It showed a mechanical empire spanning the sky.