Chapter One: The Silent Meteor Shower

At the same moment, a road appeared beyond the balcony. It emerged through the concrete railing, transparent and faintly luminous, barely wide enough for one foot. It ran straight down the building's outer wall. Gray place-names crowded its surface: DISUSED AIR-CONDITIONER BRACKET. UNREGISTERED PLATFORM, FLOOR FOURTEEN. CONSTRUCTION-DRAWING ERROR ZONE. The door burst open as Cheng Ye stepped onto it. He did not fall. Gravity rotated ninety degrees, as if it too were only a map layer. He ran down the outside wall while windows streamed past underfoot. Above, the gray-coated man leaned over the balcony and raised his black phone. The white square framed Cheng Ye. One word appeared above it: CANDIDATE. “Turn left,” Echo said in his palm.