Chapter Four: Read, No Reply

Dust clung to his suit, and two fingers were missing from his right hand. With those remaining, he was writing on the wall: BEFORE MIDNIGHT. If they did not go, something else would come. They left their phones behind, taking paper maps, mechanical watches, and a disposable film camera. From evidence storage, Qiao Qi brought a sealed iron box containing the paper files of seventeen missing people. Zhou Ye carried an old cassette recorder. When the tape turned, he could not hear his own voice, but he heard the breathing of deleted people beneath the static. They reached the west side at 11:20 p.m. The data center resembled a black hard drive forgotten by the city. Vines covered its walls. The address plate was gone.