Chapter Four: The Tapes Remember True Names

The Shen Wu inside the screen wiped away DO NOT TRUST HIM and wrote a smaller sentence: Do not trust the end of what he tells you. Behind Gu Linchuan, the townspeople climbed onto the platform. Lu Bainian reached for the red cord, but the woman in the screen pointed urgently beneath the black stone. A rusted railroad spike supported its base. Shen Wu kicked it free. The stone tipped toward the tracks. Every glowing name went dark, and the townspeople stopped like puppets without strings. Gu snapped the cord and pulled Shen Wu off the platform. A train thundered out of the tunnel without a headlight. As the darkness passed through them, Shen Wu felt a page torn from her mind.