Chapter Three: The White Platform

“She can't see clearly enough. She's still waiting.” Cen produced an old phone with a shattered screen. “You have twenty-three hours. Follow me, or keep asking questions until the door closes.” She rode into the dark. Xu drew a flashlight and followed. Its beam revealed an ordinary tunnel. Only when it was off did other arrows appear in the reflections. They passed sealed platform doors and squeezed sideways through a maintenance crack. There was no equipment room beyond it. A white platform opened below them. It had no tracks, only a flat ocean of gray mist. The station sign read LINLAN, its letters composed of tiny usernames. Hundreds of screens hung from a high ceiling, playing moments no one had watched: an empty intersection before dawn, an