Chen Mo woke up in an alley yet again.
Judging by the blue sky and white clouds, he was still in New York.
Still an alley, still beside a dumpster.
Chen Mo even suspected he had seen this dumpster last time.
Chen Mo lay facedown, his cheek pressed against the wet asphalt.
"System, do you think a luxury villa respawn point is too expensive? Can I buy a monthly pass? I'd like to request a mobile respawn point."
The system remained as quiet as if it had already skipped town.
Chen Mo pushed himself up into a sitting position, looked down, and fell silent.
His suit. Torn. Scorched.
There was a hole in the shoulder that had first torn open back at Happy Amusement Park. He had never had time to mend it, and debris from an alien spacecraft had slashed it again in New York. Now the two cuts had merged into something like a branching canyon.
An even longer tear ran along his ribs, scraped open by rebar when he rolled beneath some wreckage. He had forgotten which time it was.
The knees were worn down to a single layer of threads. When the wind blew, they felt so cold he thought his knees had grown eyes.
Dust from Gotham, dust from New York, dust from alien spacecraft, dust from the explosion at Happy Valley-all of it was smeared over the suit, like a souvenir the world had repeatedly ground against itself.
If the apocalypse had merchandise, the outfit he wore was the limited collector's edition.
"I look like I just crawled out of a garbage heap. Fine, good news: my underwear isn't showing."
Chen Mo stood up. Wind poured through the holes in his suit, chilly against his skin.
Standing in the alley, Chen Mo began contemplating