I ran frantically down the street, sprinting with all my might. Lee Gee had fainted for unknown reasons and was now at Old Cat's place. Someone from Zhang's Barbecue came to inform me, saying that Lee Gee wanted me to come over.
It was almost 3 a.m. when I arrived at Old Cat’s clinic. Inside, Lee Gee was lying on a bed, still conscious, quietly watching me.
“What exactly happened, Old Cat?”
I asked anxiously. Old Cat shook his head.
“I’m not really sure either, Ethan Zhang, but something’s not right.”
At that moment, Lee Gee reached out with one hand and handed me a contract. It was already signed, transferring Zhang's Barbecue to me for just one yuan, including the land use rights.
“What’s the meaning of this, Boss Li?”
I looked at Lee Gee, a bit agitated. He gave a bitter smile and shook his head.
“Take good care of the Soulshackle Crystal.”
Just then, footsteps sounded outside, making my heart skip a beat.
“What are you doing?”
I saw several men in black walk in. Before I could stop them, they zipped Lee Gee into a body bag and shoved me to the ground.
“Hey...”
I chased after them, shouting, but they said nothing and got into the car. An old, withered hand pressed down on me from behind—Old Cat kept shaking his head.
“Ethan Zhang, you know how it is. Maybe this is what death looks like here. When someone is about to die, special people come to take them away. You’ve seen it before, and there’s no point resisting them.”
Feeling depressed, I returned to Zhang's Barbecue, unlocked the door, went inside, and took out some liquor to drink. In this place, people supposedly don’t age and don’t die, but maybe that’s just because we haven’t seen it. People like Lee Gee, who collapse for unknown reasons and become paralyzed, get taken away by those men in black.
There are all sorts of rumors about those men in black. They’re said to be the real authorities here. They don’t care about the residents’ lives—people are pretty free—but when it comes to death, they’ve never made anything public. Resistance is useless. They’re all powerful.
I had no idea how much I’d drunk, but my mind was getting fuzzy. Then someone knocked on the shop door. I staggered over and pulled it open. Outside, Rachel Lan smiled and hugged me.
“Rachel, do you think one day we’ll end up like Boss Lee?”
I asked drunkenly. Rachel Lan was tidying up the shop, sorting through everything Lee Gee had left behind—a huge sum of money, about half a million.
Right now, I don’t even know what to do. Maybe Lee Gee saw this coming long ago, which is why he wanted to find a successor. He never said anything to me, but thinking about it, even though his words could be harsh, he was always pretty good to me.
“Rachel, say something.”
I asked in a low voice. Rachel Lan paused, came closer, and sat down beside me with a glass of wine and some snacks.
“Eat something first, Ethan.”
I started eating. Rachel Lan kept smiling but didn’t say anything. About what I’d just asked her, she seemed reluctant to answer.
I had no idea what time it was. My drunkenness gradually faded, and I started to sober up.
“Ethan, about what you asked before—one day, we might end up like that too. Maybe we’ll die.”
I nodded, feeling a strange, indescribable melancholy.
“Why do you think we’re alive at all?”
I shook my head. I hadn’t really thought about that before. In this Dark Place, thinking about such things had long since lost all meaning. Here, our bodies don’t age—we always stay the same. The only things we can do are eat, sleep, or talk about interesting stories. Otherwise, it’s just exercise or playing games.