Chapter Three: Don't Look Back

He remembered more of the night his sister disappeared. Cheng Yao had not entered alone. In the camera's blind spot, another Cheng wearing a gray sweater beckoned to her. “He didn't wake tonight,” Cheng said. “He's Zero.” Shen Jing removed her hood and held up the old ticket, her eyes carrying tears withheld for twelve years. “In your city, I've been missing for three years,” she said. “In Daocuan, I've waited twelve.” She turned the ticket over. Beneath nineteen-year-old Cheng Yao's handwriting was an adult's second line: Ge, if you finally recognize me, don't ask who I am again. “Cheng Yao?” She nodded. At the west end, Zero's features returned. Police lights surrounded him; Xu Man and Mother ran toward him.