Ghost Script

Preface

We live in an age wrapped in pixels.

If you want, you can be anyone and have a flawless life.

But reality isn't a photo in RAW format that you can redo with the Undo key. Reality is rough and full of noise. It carries the sharp smell of disinfectant, the cold mechanical rhythm of a ventilator, and the helplessness of watching life ebb away, bit by bit, in despair.

Chen Mo is the world's finest pixel magician, and its most devout believer in love. He can tamper with evil and fabricate signs of life among millions of pixels, yet he can't fix the ever-deepening gray haze in Su Qian's eyes. Three years ago, when Su Qian developed his award-winning photographs in the darkroom, the warmth of her fingertips brushing the photo paper stayed in his palm lines. Back then, her hands were steady enough to catch a drifting dandelion seed. Now, even gripping a glass of water seems like a struggle against fate. He thought that with photo-editing skills sharp enough, he could keep Death beyond the screen. He didn't know that some cracks are etched into the soul from the very beginning.

Then he discovered that the woman he loved with all his life was turning into a ruined photograph maliciously damaged by fate, and none of his editing software had a tool to repair time.

This is a story about repair, and also a story about loss.

Dedicated to everyone who has tried to swim against the current in the depths of despair.