Chapter Three: The Observers Are Watching

Lin Yan stared at his mother’s mortality estimate. One nod would give him the prize, the academy, a home, and safety. It was the optimal solution he had pursued through every problem he had ever solved. Su Mi suddenly took his hand. Her palm was cold. The unsolvable equation traveled along their joined arms and disrupted every number in sight. She did not urge him to refuse. She did not ask him to trust her. She merely made the choice difficult again. Then Lin Yan realized every option Pei Zhao offered shared one premise: Lin Yan had to be alone. “You didn’t arrange the collision,” Lin Yan said. “You arranged the transfer. You don’t create crashes. You create a high enough probability, then appear as the savior.”