Chapter Two: Beyond the Nine Frames

At 10:32 the next morning, Chen stood outside the pharmacy feeling like an idiot waiting for a comet. The street was painfully ordinary. Delivery riders raced the light. A guard yawned against a concrete post. Ten meters away, Xu Zhixia pretended to study her phone. “Eleven minutes,” she said through his earpiece. “You didn't have to come.” “If nothing happens, I'll take you to a doctor. If it does, I'll prove you're sane.” At 10:38, a girl emerged from the subway in a yellow scarf. Low ponytail. Violin case in her left hand, a coin flipping above her right. At 10:42:50, a white delivery van entered the intersection without slowing.