Chapter Five: A Call from the Forgotten

She did not cry. She took out a paper chart and wrote her name on the cover. The ink immediately began to fade. “I need Contacts,” Cheng Ye said. Echo hesitated. “Consuming it can recall the deleted. But contacts are indexes of relationships, not names. Each recall burns part of a relationship that still exists.” “Whose?” “Unpredictable.” His sister's balance lost another decimal point. “Authorize.” As Contacts vanished into Echo, every phone rang. The caller ID corrected itself repeatedly: TANG JI, TANG JI, BLANK, TANG JI. Cheng Ye answered. An extra shadow appeared on the wall. Tang Ji had no body; he could only assemble himself from their remnants of him.