Time Burns Between the Pages

At twenty-eight, Lin Shen runs a secondhand bookstore in Mong Kok. One day, he begins dreaming of the future with increasing frequency. He forgets the dreams as soon as he wakes, but experiences an uncanny sense of déjà vu in real life. Then he discovers that he is “forgetting”: how to write, how to recognize people, how to remember. Even his own name is slowly fading from his mind. At the same time, the national neutrino detection station picks up an anomalous signal, pinpointing its source precisely to the entrance of his bookstore. A scientist tells him, “You aren't producing the signal. You're the only one who can receive it.” The signals come from another timeline, where he himself is calling for help. A pocket watch that has been stopped for years has its hands fixed forever at 11:59:59. When it completes that final second, the universe will make its ultimate choice.