While she checked and refolded the fishing net, she was silent. But when she’d finished, she said, “It’s no surprise. These other two”—she motioned at Zeke and Houjin, who remained concertedly quiet—“know how I feel about Yaozu. Wouldn’t spit on him if he were on fire. He spent too many years propping up my murdering son-in-law down here. I can forgive it for my own peace of mind—but I won’t forget it.”

Rector didn’t believe for a moment that she’d forgiven anyone for anything.

“That being said”—she chose her words carefully, speaking more slowly than usual—“Yaozu is not an inventor, and he’s not some kind of scientist—but he understands how to run a city, or a business, or people … better than Joe ever did. So with that in mind, I will be as gracious as I can muster, and tell you that I don’t think Yaozu is the worst thing that could’ve happened to Seattle. I just hope he’s strong enough to hold it together against the sorts of men who are always trying to weasel their way inside these walls. If he isn’t, someone will take the city away from him, one of these days.”

“And better the devil you know, eh?” he said, more lightly than he meant to.

She donned her bag and started for the stairs that led up out of the cellar. “That’s one way to put it. He’s smarter than Joe, and that’s either good or terrible, depending on how the cards fall. I’m hoping for good, because I care about this place and I want it to hold together—even if he’s the glue. But I’m worried about the bad, because if he put his mind to it, he could do a lot more damage than Joe did. This city is worth saving. It’s worth fixing, however we have to go about it. But it shouldn’t be saved at the cost of making that drug, and all the people it kills. And that’s all I’ve got to say about that.”

The cellar doors parted with a shove of her shoulder.

Rector reflexively held his breath—the Blight looked like smoke, and his body rebelled against the idea of inhaling it—but he beat the instinct down.

Back into the curdled air they climbed, adjusting their gear and their garments to cover all the skin they could. Rector had hung onto Fang’s gloves, and now he felt prepared to poke around inside the dead city, whether or not he enjoyed it.

“Which way’s the wall?” he asked.

“That way,” Houjin answered, pointing.