Chapter Five: Beneath the Mask

The anchor rose beneath Lin's skin and reached toward him. He lifted one hand but did not dare touch it. “Why me?” she asked. “Your mother.” Twenty-six years earlier, a phase leak at Linhai's old reactor trapped seventeen pregnant women between overlapping outcomes. Lin's mother was the sole survivor. Lin showed no ability after birth, but her life field remained stable in two states. Zenith bought the hospital archive and waited for her to grow up. “The list was planted for you to find. The man on the roof made sure you fell. My job was to connect you to Skyweb,” Shen said. “I took the memory card because it held Gu's original disaster orders. I was too afraid to publish it. I only gave you a self-erasing copy.”