Chapter Five: The Shadow Arrives First

The destination was Daocuan's Sundial Square at 2:31. Every Linchuan streetlight pursued Cheng from behind. However he turned, his shadow pointed ahead like an impatient dog. Shen Jing wrapped him in a reflective emergency blanket while Xu Man smashed illuminated advertisements. Darkness erased the shadow, but not the deadline. Zero had sealed the nearest ventilation shaft into Baiyu. Police closed from both ends. Xu Man forced open a photography studio. Cheng arranged its lamps on every side; four shadows canceled one another, allowing him to move. Then the walls opened luminous eyes. The shadows they cast no longer belonged to Cheng. One limped, one was old, and one held nineteen-year-old Cheng Yao's hand.