Chapter Three: The Exchange Beneath the City

Sellers sat behind glass; one young man had white hair, while a woman repeatedly asked whether she had children. Each completed sale lit another lottery sequence on the screen. Seventy million suddenly seemed cheap. “Welcome to the Afterlife Exchange,” said the old man at reception. His badge identified him as OLD QIN, though the photograph was twenty years younger. “Aboveground, poor people sell time for money. Here, they sell roads they never walked.” He examined the ticket and paled. “Lin Jianguo's reverse ticket. Your father really did break the house.” Gu Changqing, Qin explained, was not a man but an aggregation account. Powerful clients deposited dirty fortunes and desirable lives, then selected a living shell to receive them.