Chapter Four: The Arsonist in the Camera

Hearing Rust told Shen Yan otherwise: one brass key on Luo's ring trembled with the memory of opening the iron door in the photograph three years ago. Shen Yan did not expose him yet. Every twelve hours, the camera produced another picture: a charred gasoline can; Luo opening the alley door; Xu Zhi aiming a gun at Shen Yan. The future seemed designed to turn every ally into a suspect. Xu Zhi arranged the photographs and noticed that their shadows pointed the wrong way. “This is mirrored. The fire isn't at Listening Rain.” Across the street, the abandoned Yongan Photo Studio had the same narrow entrance and upper windows. They entered its darkroom and found boxes of newspaper clippings about people saved from disasters.