In the seventy-seventh year of the Wasteland Era, humanity huddles behind the last great wall. Two things threaten everyone still alive: the monsters outside the wall, and falling asleep, entering a dream, and never waking up.
Su Xing is twenty-one, with a synchronisation rate of zero. His seventh selection, his seventh rejection. Everyone in the city knows him: the orphan who shows up every year to disgrace himself. His parents left the city seven years ago and never returned, leaving behind a stopped pocket watch. His father said he would wind it when he came back.
On the day of the test, the crystal flashed for just an instant. The instructor stared at the display for a long time, then said, "You'll never awaken in your entire life."
That night, the hands that had been stopped for seven years moved once.
