A bone-deep chill pierced through Wei Lai’s coarse cotton jacket like countless tiny needles, sinking into his flesh until his teeth chattered uncontrollably. He snapped his eyes open. Instead of the glaring incandescent bulb on the ceiling of his rented apartment, he saw dark blue-green cliffs and low-hanging lead-gray clouds stretching across the sky. Wind roared past his ears, carrying the damp cold peculiar to the mountains as it swept through the pines.
