Chapter Five: Blind Spot in the Rain

Shen Mo's gentle voice filled the speakers. “Accept treatment. Give up the slate. Doctor Su will live, and the other hallucinations will disappear.” Lu Xiao drove through a fire door. Another hospital waited beyond it, its floor numbers looping from twelve to one. “How do I prove you aren't my hallucination?” he asked. She touched the crescent scar on her wrist. “I don't know you.” Lu Xiao began to hum. He had forgotten her favorite melody; only a few broken notes remained. Su Wan stopped. Tears came without warning. “You're off-key,” she said. “You're always off-key.” Her mind did not know him, but her body did. An elevator opened onto Su Wan's editing suite. A silver editing knife stood in the console.