Chapter Three: One Person Missing from the World

phone. "How do you know that?" A-Li explained the "pending deletion zone." Eliminated people did not vanish at once. First they faded from memory. When the last witness forgot, reality repaired the gap. The children's hospital had hosted a local test: during a blackout, would staff save expensive equipment or unattended children? The system marked the result a failure. Thirteen people were erased. "I wasn't abandoned," A-Li said, clutching her rabbit. "They forgot me first." Gu Ye finally understood the precision of FAILURE PENALTY: NONE. The punishment was not imposed after the challenge. The challenge was merely an appeal for someone already sentenced. Zero issued another mission.