Chapter Five: The Third Course Prohibition

The code 150 opened a corridor lined with mirrors. Every reflection held a different Shen Zhiwei: seventeen, thirty-two, then countless versions whose faces never changed while their eyes emptied. Lu Yao had no reflection. Gu Chenzhou's was so old it could barely stand. The third course waited in the center—a fig cured in black salt. The alarms still screamed behind them. As Zhiwei reached for it, Gu drove a silver fork through the fruit. “Zhixia told you not to eat it.” “Ten names are still falling.” “That's how Wen Qi forces you through the menu. Each course lets your blood anchor more of the banquet. After the twelfth, she can reproduce the Thirteen Seats anywhere.” Lu raised the blood-smeared phone. “Which wall holds the memory card?”