Chapter Three: The Observers Are Watching

For the first time, Pei Zhao was silent. Silence was not a lie, but it could still be an answer. Lin Yan snapped the storage wafer and struck the fire switch. High-pressure mist burst from the ceiling. Circuits shorted, and banks of screens went black. Su Mi jammed her eye coin into a port beside the rail. An old maintenance car shuddered awake. They jumped aboard. Pei Zhao did not pursue them. He only watched Lin Yan through the falling water. “You will come back,” he said. No equation. The car plunged into darkness. The perfect honesty of that promise tightened around Lin Yan’s chest. Su Mi leaned against the car wall, breathless, but did not release his hand. “Why did you help me?” she asked.