"I'm looking for Xu Huang. I have something he might be interested in," you say. You wonder if you're making a mistake, but add, "Jean-Claude sent me." The man seems to hesitate for a moment. Then he smiles and opens the door wide enough to let you in.
"Ah, yes," he says, motioning for you to follow him. He leads you past a counter and racks of dry cleaning, and then through a door and into a narrow passageway. You feel in your pocket for your gun, just in case.
The man stops and opens a small door in the passageway. "Through here," he says, bowing slightly. You walk slowly and cautiously into the room. It seems to be empty. As you instinctively spin around to get back out, the man shoves you down and slams the door. After a few minutes, you hear the hiss of gas coming through the vents in the tops of the walls. Soon you realize the gas is opium.
As you slide away from consciousness, you begin to have wonderful daydreams. As you imagine you are flying through space and discovering new planets, you have one last concrete thought. I'm dying, you tell yourself. But it doesn't seem that bad at all.
