Chapter Four: The Eighth Item in the Warehouse

Its first page catalogued a decade of assets surrounding the No-Day Exchange. The final entry made every financial figure above it meaningless. Pledgor: Lin Suqin. Asset: Ten years of memory surrounding the accident. Beneficiary: Shen Jianwei. Status: Installment delivery; nine years remaining. Her mother had not lost one year. That had only been the first installment of ten. Jianwei removed the Lens—and realized she could no longer remember the song her father used to hum while teaching her to identify leather. The missing melody left a clean hole in her mind. Blood-red words appeared inside the frame. [EIGHTH READING. EXCESS FEE COLLECTED.] Linchuan steadied her. She handed the ledger to the police before standing on her own.