On Blue Star, there's a bookstore that doesn't sell books.
Its owner is gentle and quiet, and never asks too many questions.
But whenever the bookstore changes its appearance, it appears on a different planet.
Not everyone can see it.
Only people with a special life essence can stumble through its door when they're at the end of their rope.
They sign a contract, trading their life essence for the owner's help.
But no one knows that the person who steps through the door isn't always the gentle Mr. Bai.
Cowardice, rage, greed, lies, flattery...
Every one of them is him, and none of them is him.
Until one day, a client hands him an old piece of paper.
"Don't let the last personality come back."
"Colin, I found an old stargate on M70. Want to work together? You make a fake star chart and flight route, I'll get the media to spread the word, then send a few batches of Foxfolk over to put on a show. Once enough people have gone through, the gate will stabilize. You get thirty percent of the resources over there, I get seventy. How's that?"
The green-skinned old man tilts his wrinkled face up at the three-meter-tall brute standing before him, showing a few yellow teeth. His pointed nose twitches. "Why are you using that appearance? It's really not suitable for people like us who like to keep a low profile."
"Get lost, you rat. All you know is dirty tricks."
"What the hell, like you're any better! Last time you sold me a fake star chart, how many people did I lose? And now you're acting all high and mighty..."
The brute's gaze sharpens. He swings his arm in a wide arc and strikes without warning.
His fist is bigger than the old man's face.
The sonic boom comes first. Red, blue, and gold shields spring up in layers, then shatter into glittering dust with a series of cracks.
The fist hits flesh, and the old man flies away like a battleship launched from a catapult, a string of sonic booms bursting behind him.
"Colin, you bastard... I'll put you on the entire sector's blacklist!"
