Chapter Two: The Person Who Was Replaced

On the far wall hung a photograph of people in white coats before an abandoned lens factory. A younger Pei Zhaoting stood at the center. In one corner, twenty-year-old Zhiwei looked away from the camera while hiding a note behind the frame. Yanqiu unfolded the yellowed paper. “Yanqiu, if you find this, they have started testing your eyes again. Homeward in Rain is not a painting. It is a door. Trust no one you recognize with your glasses on—including me.” Lin Mo spoke from the doorway behind them. “Did you find what your sister left?”