Chapter Four: The Eighth Item in the Warehouse

According to the encrypted records, every stolen original had spent nineteen minutes in Climate Room Seven. Yet only seven sealed crates stood inside. Jianwei checked each lead seal until the Balance Lens cast pale gold words across the rear wall. [STRONGEST DESIRE: To be treated as a door, not a wall.] Could an object desire? For the first time, a reading hung over no human being. Instead of touching it, she removed the spectacles and rapped on the insulated panels. The sixth returned a hollow note. Linchuan was already examining its screws. “Recently removed.” Behind it was an eighth crate, unnumbered, its lid carved with the same scale as the spectacles. It held no jewelry or painting.