Chapter One: Spicy Enough to Hear the World Speak

In the years that followed, Su Li often wondered what exactly had been wrong with that bowl of noodles. Was it the chili, red as shattered glass pulled fresh from a furnace? Was it the old man's shadow, which moved half a beat later than his hand when he set down the bowl? Or was it the blank sign outside the restaurant—utterly bare, though viewers in her livestream insisted they could see their own names written across it? At the time, all she cared about was that her audience had finally passed three thousand. “Welcome to stop seventeen of Linjiang's Extreme Spice Challenge,” Su Li said, propping her phone against a jar of seasonings. Her smile was bright enough to sell toothpaste.