A light drizzle began to fall at some point, the quiet threads of rain soaking the city. In the distance, the electronic music from a shopping mall stopped dead, as if choked by the throat.
Chang Le heard her own hurried breathing echoing metallicly between the walls of the alley. Broken neon tubes cast blood-colored spiderwebs across the puddles.
The distant human voices had faded away; the drafts, normally unnoticed, now felt sharp and clear. The streetlights flickered, and the bustling world grew abnormally silent.
Chapter 186