Chapter Two: In This Room, the Dead Are Still Alive

Her voice rose from the flood. “A manager may provide service. He may not choose for the guest.” “Speak plainly!” “Chen Qiming must answer: if the ending cannot change, will he still return to a world without his daughter?” Water reached their chests. Chen looked at Xiaoman and gave a smile more painful than tears. “No,” he said. “What's outside? A broken base, recycled piss, and debt. If I stay, she's alive.” The sky split. The black columns of the lunar lobby flashed beyond the opening, then disappeared again. Zhou knew it had been the door's final attempt to appear. He did not tell Chen to be strong. He did not say the dead would want him to live well.