Chapter Five: Who Breaks First

The words on his hoodie split open. Beneath his skin, comments scrolled: ATTENTION SEEKER. FAKE. CLOUT CHASER. WHY AREN’T YOU DEAD YET? “Shut up!” He covered his chest. The deleted could not have their attention revised by majority consensus. They already existed outside the majority. Xu Zhao broke first. The glass corridor collapsed. Lu Chen pulled Lin Mo into an old office. Qiao Qi and Zhou Ye tumbled after them while thousands of Xu Zhao’s own comments dragged him into the dark. The door read: MEMETIC PROTOCOL JOINT LABORATORY—LANGUAGE UNIT. A seventeen-year-old group photograph hung inside. A younger Lu Chen stood in the back row wearing a badge labeled PROJECT FUNDER. Beside him was a bespectacled man: HE WENZHOU, CHIEF LINGUIST.