Chapter Four: The Second Scene

They opened all eleven recordings. Before the warehouse fire, silver webbing tore a gas valve. Before the subway derailment, it loaded the switch rail. Before the observation deck collapsed, a precise sideways tug weakened its bolts. Every miracle first created the instant that required one. Lin remembered the blow at her back. Perhaps the person behind the archive door had not been the only one who pushed her. The screen went black. White words appeared: YOU FINALLY FOUND THE SECOND SCENE. Below them came a place and time: the abandoned Linhai Planetarium, 11:40 a.m. It was signed with a single name—YAO. Zhou unplugged the router. The screen remained lit. “He's inviting us,” Lin said. “Or choosing somewhere without cameras to kill us.”