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Lin's left eye was useless now. Everything on that side looked like someone smeared Vaseline over a camera lens. He could see shapes, colors, but no edges. The shipping container walls bent weird when he turned his head. Su Jin's face kept sliding out of focus.
She was staring at the map he'd drawn. Her finger still on that red dot.
"Two hours," she said. Her voice was flat. "He's been in my market for two hours."
The scavengers around them didn't move. Lin could feel them waiting. Someone's breath smelled like cheap tobacco. Another guy's jacket was dripping water onto the concrete. Little sounds that got loud when everyone stopped talking.
"Where," Su Jin said.
Lin blinked. His right eye was doing all the work now and it was already tired. "I don't know where. I know he's here. That's what the trade gave me."
"Bullshit." That was the guy with the machete. The one who'd wanted to cut Lin open an hour ago. "You paid with your eye and all you got was 'he's here somewhere'? That's a garbage deal."
Lin almost laughed. "Yeah. It is."
Su Jin looked up. Her eyes went to his left eye, the one that didn't track right anymore. She didn't ask if he was okay. She wasn't that kind. But something in her face shifted.
"You gave up your eye for intel you can't use," she said.
"I gave it up so you'd have a chance." Lin's head was pounding. The pain was creeping in now, past whatever the curse had done to dull it. "He's here. You know he's here. That's more than you had five minutes ago."
Su Jin folded her arms. "And what do you want for it? You don't do charity."
"I want you to believe me." Lin's voice came out rougher than he meant. "About the curse. About the deals. I'm not selling you a con. This is real."
She didn't answer. The silence stretched. Somewhere in the market, metal clanged. A train car door. Someone shouted something Lin couldn't make out. Normal market noise, except nothing felt normal anymore.
Dr. An stepped forward. He'd been standing back, arms crossed, watching. "The physiological changes are real," he said. "I can confirm that. What he traded, he lost. Whether that means the rest is true..." He shrugged. "I can't prove metaphysics. But the damage isn't fake."
Su Jin's jaw tightened. She looked at the map again. Three routes. Weapon caches. The attack window at four AM. And one red dot, somewhere in her market, already inside the walls.
"If he's here," she said slowly, "then he's not coming in at four AM. He's opening the door from the inside."
Lin nodded. His vision blurred and he had to blink hard to clear it. "Yeah."
"Which means we don't have hours. We have minutes."
"Yeah."
Su Jin looked at her people. Twelve of them in this container. More outside. How many could she trust? How many had Lei's boss already bought?
She turned back to Lin. "You're asking me to lock down my market. Search every container, every tunnel, every hole. Turn this place inside out. You know what that does? It breaks the one rule that keeps this place alive. Nobody asks questions. Nobody looks too close. You come here because we don't care what you did topside."
Lin met her eyes. "He's going to kill everyone here if you don't."
"Maybe." Su Jin's voice was cold. "Or maybe you're lying. Maybe you owe him money too and this is all a play to get me to tear my own market apart."
The machete guy shifted. Someone behind Lin moved. The air in the container got tight.
Lin reached into his pocket. Pulled out the laminated card Su Jin had given him three days ago. The market pass. The thing that said he belonged here, that he was under her protection.
He held it up so everyone could see.
Then he tore it in half.
The sound was loud in the quiet. Cheap plastic ripping.
"What the hell are you doing," Su Jin said. Not a question. A warning.
Lin dropped the pieces on the map. Right on top of the red dot. "I'm done asking you to trust me. Believe me, don't believe me, I don't care anymore. I paid what I paid. I told you what I know. You want to wait and see if I'm lying? Fine. I'll be gone."
He turned. His depth perception was shit and he almost walked into someone. The guy stepped back, surprised. Lin pushed past him, heading for the container door.
"Lin." Su Jin's voice.
He didn't stop.
"You walk out of here without that pass, you're nobody. Anyone can touch you."
"Yeah," Lin said. He didn't look back. "I know."
He stepped out into the market.
The air hit him first. Cooler out here, damp, smelling like rust and old grease. The market was still busy. People moving between stalls, voices haggling, someone laughing. They didn't know yet. Didn't know the red dot was already among them.
Lin's left eye made everything tilt wrong. He had to focus hard to walk straight. The concrete under his feet looked closer on the right, farther on the left. His brain kept trying to fix it and failing.
He headed for the tunnel. The north exit. The one that led back toward the old subway entrance. If he moved fast, he could get topside before Lei's boss made his move. Get out. Disappear. Three million in debt and half blind, but alive.
The tunnel entrance was dark. The market lights didn't reach far in. Lin stopped at the threshold, letting his right eye adjust.
That's when he saw it.
Someone was hanging on the tunnel wall. Arms spread. Head down. Blood on the concrete underneath, pooling.
Lin's stomach dropped.
He knew that jacket. Cheap leather, fake patches. He'd seen it two days ago. The debtor. The guy who'd tried to sell fake medicine and got caught. Su Jin's people had beaten him, thrown him out.
Now he was nailed to the wall. Actual nails. Through the palms. His chest still moving, shallow breaths.
Not dead yet.
"Lin Mo."
The voice came from inside the tunnel. Deep. Calm. Like someone ordering coffee.
A man stepped into the light. Older, maybe fifty. Gray hair cropped short. Expensive coat, the kind you didn't see down here. Clean. His shoes weren't even dirty.
He smiled.
"I've been waiting," he said. "Su Jin's people are loud. You're louder. Trading your eye? That's commitment. I respect that."
Lin couldn't move. His heart was slamming against his ribs.
The man gestured at the debtor on the wall. "He owed me eight thousand. Couldn't pay. So I made him an example." He tilted his head. "You owe me three million. Let's talk about what kind of example you're worth."
Behind Lin, he heard footsteps. Su Jin and her people, coming out of the container. But they were too far. Twenty meters, maybe more.
The man's smile widened.
"So," he said. "Lin Mo. Let's price your life."