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Chapter 137: Gears and Margin 5:40 a.m. The alarm never rang. Lin Chen opened his eyes on his own. The numbness in his left foot had already spread to his calf, as if it were wrapped in a layer of soaked burlap. He sat...
Chapter 138: Dirty Data and Fault Tolerance Six in the morning. It still wasn't fully light out. Lin Chen opened his eyes. The paper over the main room's window had turned a dim gray white. He didn't move at first. Inst...
Chapter 136: Thresholds and Contracts Wednesday. 5:40 a.m. Dawn had not fully broken. Lin Chen opened his eyes on time. No alarm clock. His body clock was already tied to the markings in the ledger. He threw off the thi...
Chapter 135: Cardboard and Tick Marks At five fifty in the morning, before the alarm had a chance to ring, Lin Chen opened his eyes on his own. The light in the main room was still gray blue, and the paper window let in...
Chapter 134: The Margin of Two Yuan an Hour At five forty in the morning, dawn had not yet fully broken. Lin Chen pushed open the wooden door of the main room, and the dry hinge let out a rasping scrape. He paused, felt...
Chapter 128: Tick Marks and Margins The fog had not yet fully lifted. When Lin Chen circled from County No. 1 High School’s side gate toward the back street, Old Chen the gatekeeper was sweeping up last night’s fallen l...
Chapter 127: Blueprints and Margins The tip of the pencil scratched across the paper with a fine, even rustle. Lin Chen did not put pen to paper immediately. He stared at the blueprint, his gaze moving slowly along the...
Chapter 123: Scales and Negative Values The rain fell in a dense, fine curtain. There was no wind; the threads of rain struck the bluestone paving straight down, kicking up a layer of white mist. Lin Chen did not run. R...
Chapter 121: The Report and the Gap 2:50 p.m. Lin Chen pushed open the wooden door of the senior year office. The smell of heat, chalk dust, and old newspapers rushed at him. The long table was already crowded with home...
Chapter 118: Gradations and the Snow Line The draft through the corridor was harsher than before. Lin Chen folded the deferred exam application form in half and slipped it into the pocket of his undershirt. The edge of...
Chapter 117: Early Frost and Gradations At five thirty in the morning, the alarm did not ring. Lin Chen woke from the cold. Wind leaked through the gap in the dorm window, scraping along his cheekbones like the dull edg...
Chapter 116: Half a Centimeter of Tolerance At six twenty in the morning, the sky still had not fully brightened. The temperature in the dorm had already dropped below freezing. Lin Chen opened his eyes and watched the...