The silver vine behind the post station's back window climbed across the entire wall in just three days.
But no one knew that every day, Zhao Tiezhu would go blind for five minutes, deaf for five minutes, and lose his sense of smell for five minutes.
It all began with three parcels addressed to people who could not be found.
In an old neighborhood south of the city, thirty-year-old veteran Zhao Tiezhu ran a tiny parcel station barely bigger than a handspan.
The rent had shot up from three thousand to nine thousand. Yue Jianshan, from the Kuaida Parcel Station next door, leaned against the doorframe and laughed. "You won't last until the end of the month."
He said nothing. He lowered his head to scan a parcel, crumpling the shipping label in his hand.
That night, he dug out a delivery slip template left behind by the former stationmaster. A line of tiny text was printed on it: "Three parcels with no known recipient. Sign for them, and you're in."
The screen flashed red, and a black box appeared out of nowhere on the third shelf.
He reached out and touched it. His right eye went blind for five minutes.
Words appeared on the box: Recipient Zhao Tiezhu. Cost: five minutes of sight in the right eye. Item: a packet of seeds.
He scattered the seeds in a discarded flowerpot. Ten minutes later, a silver vine sprouted and twined around the window frame.
The next day, Yue Jianshan brought people to block the entrance and seize the parcels. One of his men had his glove slashed by the vine. The wound instantly scabbed over, and he was so frightened that he dropped the parcel and ran.
But Yue Jianshan didn't know that every time the vine was used, Zhao Tiezhu lost another sense.
Worse still, Shen Tinglan, an auditor from the Municipal Postal Administration's Inspection Division, had arrived.
She flipped through his System records with a cold expression. "Why are the recipient fields blank for these three parcels?"
Zhao Tiezhu was tongue-tied and couldn't explain.
All he knew was that Yue Jianshan next door was secretly selling parcels from another world.
And the next item waiting to be signed for inside that black box was already on its way.
(New book, please add it to your favorites.)
