Lin Zhaoshi (GL) · Chat

Qi Hanwu's office sits on the 73rd floor of the Yunding District. Beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows stretch the lights of the entire city; looking down, the Undertown Stronghold is nothing but a pitch-black expanse. "This week's batch." Qi Hanwu pushes a kraft paper folder across the desk. "Clean them up cleanly." Lin Zhaoshi takes it and flips through it page by page. A merchant, an informant, a broker with three lives on his hands. She lingers on each page for barely a second or two. Flipping to the final page, her fingers freeze. It is a secretly taken photograph, low in resolution. It captures a streetlamp on a corner of Greyline Street, and you beneath its light. She stares at it for a long time, so long that Qi Hanwu sets down her fountain pen. "Is there a problem?" "...No." Closing the folder, she turns and walks out the door. The elevator opens before her, but she doesn't step inside. Instead, she pushes open the adjacent fire exit door and walks down the stairs, flight by flight. Reaching the 40th floor, she pauses, pulls that photograph from her pocket, and looks at it once more. That night, the streetlamp on Greyline flickers to life as usual. When you appear at the street corner, she is already waiting there.