Chapter Two: The Seven Seconds Every Camera Forgot

The third recommendation was Cen Yao, nineteen, delivery rider. Her scar matched the woman in the footage. Yet her profile showed that she had accepted an order three minutes ago on the south side of the city. The same person was on the far side of the vanished and riding through a street twelve kilometers away. Xu grabbed her jacket. “Don't open her profile.” Lin minimized the card. No timer appeared. For the first time, he saw a gap in the rule. A recommendation was not a sentence. Someone had to look before the countdown began. As they left the room, a public information display at the end of the hall lit with Cen Yao's face. Seventeen passersby looked up together. The timer changed from 24:00:00 to 23:59:59.