The Life-Forsaker

Bai Ye, a medium who deals with the dead, lies in a morgue drawer and passes messages for the deceased in exchange for a meal. There are seven rules in this line of work. The first: the drawer must never be locked shut. If it is, your consciousness won’t return. Your body will still be breathing, but your soul will be gone. Bai Ye has followed the rules for seven years without breaking a single one. Until one early morning, when he lies in drawer number three and someone outside presses it shut. In the darkness, a hand reaches up from beneath the drawer and scratches the sole of his foot. The visitor outside is forensic pathologist Su Wan. A copper coin is stuffed into the corpse’s mouth. On one side are the words “Peace Under Heaven”; on the other, two characters: Bai Ye. He has never seen this coin before. The blood in its engravings has oxidized and turned black. It must be at least several decades old. That same night, a locust leaf appears beneath the old locust tree in the northern part of the city. A round hole has been burned through the back with a branding iron. The person who knew this craft should have been dead for thirty years. Someone knows his rules. Someone knows his name. Someone is using his identity to collect debts in every corner of the city. And the first rule has already been broken. This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual people or events is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.