Jake was sprawled on his bed, scrolling through social media feeds that seemed to blur into a monotonous stream of memes, selfies, and food pics. His cramped apartment was dimly lit, the flickering bulb doing little to lift the gloom that had settled over him.
Qin Mo and Shen Xiuli had called the police station early in the morning, but they were still told to wait for notification.
They thought they would have to wait a long time, but at eleven o'clock in the morning, they received a call from the police station asking them to come and process the death certificate as soon as possible.
When Shen Xiuli heard that they were going to claim Shen Zhichu's body, he froze. He was like a wooden puppet, every move needing someone else's guidance.
He had come to J City to see Shen Zhichu, but when the moment came, he recoiled, too afraid to go.
The two of them went to the police station. Qin Mo stood by, watching as Shen Xiuli, his eyes red-rimmed, struggled to sign his name with the pen in his left hand.
The name he had written since childhood was now so painful and difficult to write, as if a knife was being held to his throat again.