The oldest of the ghosts looked no more than fourteen or fifteen, and the youngest was still swaddled.
They turned their backs to me and began whispering among themselves.
The two ghosts beside me vanished in an instant, reappearing inside the convenience store.
I stood outside the store, watching a group of children hold a big discussion while the cold wind blew around me.
For a moment, I hesitated over my proposal.
They were ghosts, sure, but they hadn't done anything heinous. Using them for something dangerous felt rather unethical. Their childlike appearances only made me feel guiltier.
But then I realized I was overthinking it.
They might have been very young when they died, but they'd probably been around far longer than I had.
Besides, all of us—people and ghosts alike—were in the same boat now.
If the problem with the anomalous space in Yangshan District wasn't solved, we'd all be trapped here, like fish at the mercy of whoever wanted to carve us up.
I touched the wrapper in my pants pocket.
That courier ghost could return to the future and bring supplies back from there. He had a way out. He might see Yangshan District as a stepping-stone he was reluctant to give up, a mere bone he didn't want to let go of. He wasn't willing to abandon the district, but he wasn't going to save it, either.
But the people of Yangshan District had no way out. If they obeyed him, they still had to prove their worth to earn a little in return. If they refused, they'd be caught in an endless cycle of death and revival.
Gradually, my mind settled.
Whatever needed to be done, I'd still have to risk it.
The little ghosts finished their discussion and turned around, no longer showing