Bone City

Someone is breathing in the wall. The rangefinder tells me: the wall is 0.3Mm thinner. The last text message my sister sent before she disappeared: "Don't count the steps." I didn't count, but the steps themselves were one less, and there was an extra shadow in the mirror. My left ear has been deaf for twenty-five years, but I heard the cries of three thousand children who were buried alive in the Bone City thirteen hundred years ago. Now, the city is counting my heartbeats, and there are nine thousand and ninety-two left. My name is Shen Du, structural engineer. My tools are rangefinders, tuning forks and data. I want to go in and bring my sister out - even if Bone City wants to eat me. Don't count the steps, don't let your shadow be longer than you, don't look in the mirror. Because the city is listening. This novel and its characters are purely fictitious. Any similarity is purely coincidental and should not be imitated.