Chapter One: The Fixed Diet

Zhiwei opened a spreadsheet containing twelve names. The missing ranged from nineteen to fifty-six. Their jobs and addresses had nothing in common. Yet all twelve had joined free nutrition assessments run by Hemera Biotech a month before disappearing. All had shown strange fluctuations in copper, iron, and cobalt. All were last seen near Wutong Street, where the Everday Restaurant stood. Twelve people in three years. No bodies, no ransom demands, no shared contacts. The first name was Shen Zhixia. Lu Yao set down the coffees without looking at that row. He knew she was Zhiwei's younger sister. He also knew police had found Zhixia's phone beside the river three years ago, but never her body.