Chapter Two: The Person Who Was Replaced

Zhiwei remained for seven seconds. When Yanqiu removed her glasses, her sister vanished. When she put them back on, the rim held only a narrow reflection. She examined the coating, scratches, and edge stress beneath a lamp. Nothing could have produced an image. Gu Linchuan disabled the conservation room's audio recording. “You knew her.” “My sister. Missing for twelve years.” Tang Qi dropped her tweezers onto a tray. She knew the story and knew Yanqiu never joked about it. “What did you see?” Yanqiu asked Gu. “A hand at the edge of your lens. Nothing appeared on camera.” He replayed the footage. On-screen, Yanqiu froze and stared into empty air. Lin's face was complete when he left, and the timecode never skipped.