Chapter Four: Everyone Has a Line

Lin filmed them. On her phone the new signs were solid; to the naked eye they flickered between old and new. She stepped backward and struck yellow tape laid across the pavement. Rain fell normally outside the taped area. Inside, drops hung motionless until she crossed the line. “It isn’t changing the whole city at once,” Gu said. “It dresses whatever is in shot.” The movie file had grown by 936 frames—thirty-nine seconds. The new footage consisted of establishing shots: traffic lights, the hospital, Lin’s old building. The last showed the intersection where they now stood. Onscreen Lin looked up half a second before the real Lin did.