Chapter One: The Empty Car

The bouquet lay on a seat, its wrapping still rustling. The drunk's can rolled against the doors and back. The red cap sat neatly on the floor, as though the boy had pulled his head out of it. Cheng pressed the emergency intercom. No driver answered. Instead, his own voice came over the speakers: “Don't look back.” The river tunnel should have been outside. Now a city shone beyond the windows. Towers hung upside down from a black sky. Streetlamps descended from the pavement; cars drove along walls. Every sign was mirrored, except the digits on a distant clock tower: 00:17. The girl sent a text: Reach the Daocuan clock tower in ten minutes. If you fail to wait for me, your world gets another you. Who are you? Cheng typed.