Chapter Five: The Dead Leave Honest Accounts

Rain fell outside the abandoned laboratory at 9:50 that night. When Xu Zhi crossed the empty lot, Gu Yanchen was waiting beneath the entrance canopy. Without surprise, he offered her an umbrella. "They sent you the message too?" "No." He glanced at the water on her shoes. "You looked at me seventeen times this afternoon, then had Tang Man cancel dinner. It wasn't difficult." "They demanded that you come alone." "So you planned to come alone in my place." Xu Zhi accepted the umbrella. "We're even." The building had no power, yet an emergency lamp glowed at the end of the corridor. In a records room they found an old server and half a charred duty ledger. Xu Qinghe had not been a patient.