The seventh night began.
I sat at the front desk, waiting quietly.
Second by second, time passed. After eleven, I found my mind growing worse and worse. That drowsy feeling made me desperately want to sleep.
I lit a cigarette, hoping it would help me stay awake.
It was useless. In the end, I stopped sitting and got up to pace around the room.
That was the only way to keep myself alert.
By a little past midnight, not a single customer had entered the shop.
But something strange happened. The fish Master kept in the tank began floating belly-up, one after another.
These past few days, they had been the only living creatures unaffected.
Yet now, they had inexplicably turned belly-up and soon stopped moving.
I looked around the shop. "Has the shop started draining vitality faster?"
That was very possible.
There was nothing I could do to save Master's fish.
By one in the morning, I was exhausted beyond belief. Even walking felt tiring.
I could only return to my seat.
But the moment I sat down, Big Yellow Rooster beneath the counter gave two clucks—"Cluck, cluck"—then became extremely restless.
"Brother Chicken, what's wrong? Did you find something?"
I stroked Big Yellow Rooster's head.
Then I discovered that it was trembling.
It was afraid. It must have sensed something.
I instantly became alert. Could a terrifying customer be about to enter the shop?
Just as that thought crossed my mind, a set of footsteps suddenly sounded.
I looked up and saw a burly man around seven feet tall walk in from outside. He wore a black jacket and sunglasses, with his high collar covering his chin.
This was the first time in my life that I had ever seen someone so tall.
I studied him and found that