Chapter Two: The Person Everyone Forgot

After midnight, the girl's picture on every photocopy had become the old woman's face. Only one silver-halide negative retained the outline of the earlier figure. “Her name is—” Shen clapped a hand over Tang's mouth. “Don't say it.” She pulled free. “You saw the sign too?” They fell silent. The original post was gaining a million views per minute. Speculation about the old woman filled the comments. One popular message compared her with He Lanqiu, a retired obstetrician from Linchuan. The likeness was ninety-nine percent. The poster promised to prove it in a livestream at one in the morning. Shen called the nursing home where the doctor supposedly lived. The number did not exist. On the map, the home had become a parking lot.