Chapter Five: Beneath the Mask

The answer stopped Zhou's fist. It had never appeared in any record. “Gu moved the demonstration forward,” Shen told Lin. “Eight tomorrow night. He believes your synchronization is already sufficient.” “You caused those eleven accidents.” “Not the first two. When my ability appeared, I believed I had changed the outcome. Gu found me and built the first stabilizer. After the second rescue, he said we needed controlled variables if we wanted to eliminate the cost.” “So you broke valves and shifted rails. You pushed people toward death, then saved them.” “Every time, I believed the next trial would erase the residual line.” “You believed that for eleven lives?” “No,” Shen said. “I was afraid to admit the first had died for nothing.”