*PLINK!*
A bead of cold sweat traced a path down Zhang Chi’s temple, striking the dusty cardboard surface of the open archive box before her, blooming into a small, dark stain.
The archive room air hung thick and motionless. The sole illumination emanated from an ancient, sputtering fluorescent tube overhead, its sickly gray-white light casting contorted shadows across towering stacks of filing cabinets and shelves laden with neglected files. The scent of decayed paper and acrid printer toner saturated the stagnant atmosphere.
Zhang Chi hunched in the rickety swivel chair crammed into a corner. Thick glasses slid down her nose, forcing her to tilt her head back to scrutinize the yellowed, dog-eared pages of Qingshan County Endemic Disease Control Primary Records - 1998. Her fin
