10. The Heartbroken

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The night passed in perfect peace.

No attack came; from the surrounding courtyards, watchful and anxious neighbors all breathed a sigh of relief.

“Too scared to come? Those punks must have a shred of sense!” Kuipa glanced up at the sun, its golden rays painting an oily sheen across his face, yet his eyes were lively, betraying no trace of fatigue. He turned to his neatly dressed nephew, who was heading out the door—two enormous dark circles ringed the boy’s eyes. “Didn’t sleep well last night? You look more exhausted than a night owl like me. Still so young, but already so frail—straighten up and get yourself to school. When you get home, I’ll teach you a few of life’s lessons!”

“Aren’t you all going to take a break?” Dean slung his messenger bag over his shoulder, concern in his voice.

“Back in the day, I lay out on the shore for three days and nights—no sleep, no rest… Sure, I’m older now, but staying up late is no harder than knocking back a few drinks,” Jacob replied, chewing on a slice of bread fresh from Grandma Tangya’s oven. With his beard bristling, his mouth exhaled a peculiar blend of egg yolk, avocado, fermented spirits, and roast meat. “Get going, and don’t be as long-winded as your missing father!”

...

Dean bit into a slice of bread as he pedaled to school.

Locking up his bike in the lot, he immediately sensed something different in the air. Students clustered in small groups, whispering excitedly, their faces alight with anticipation.

The entire campus buzzed with energy, as if on the eve of some grand festival.

“Hey, I feel better just seeing you made it in one piece.”

Rast waved from the school gate. Today he had ditched his usual hooded jacket for a blue-and-white shirt, looking neat and respectable. His back was straighter, and a new spark of confidence glimmered in his eyes.

Dean nodded slightly, reassured that his efforts yesterday had not been in vain.

“What’s going on? Is there a holiday coming up?”

“Memorial Day’s still two weeks away! But the day after tomorrow, Saturday night, rich kid and baseball team patron Bob Lowe is throwing a birthday party at his villa atop Mount Moncarlo.”

Rast recalled, “He did it last year too—there was food from all over the country, beer, vodka, soda, whiskey, all you could drink, plus all kinds of wild games—drinking and kissing contests, speed dating… From what I heard, at least dozens of singles found someone at the party that night.”

“We can just drink whatever we want?” Dean frowned. That didn’t jibe with what he remembered from his previous life—wasn’t underage drinking strictly forbidden in the U.S.?

“What law says so?” Rast replied, clearly excited. “It’s a private party. As long as nothing goes wrong, nobody cares.”

“You know so much—did you go?”

Rast nodded. “Bob’s got a whole crowd of hangers-on and acquaintances. Anyone who’s even a little familiar can get in, and friends of friends too. Basically, unless you’re a killjoy, most people can go—including us. Last year you absolutely refused, so I went by myself and got an eyeful.”

“This guy really knows how to win people over—no wonder an outsider like him can play king and still be so popular,” Dean said, his face tense and severe. This was hardly good news for him.

“The day after tomorrow, want to check it out together?” Rast suggested.

Dean clapped his friend on the shoulder, handed back the few dollars he’d borrowed yesterday, and said, “Bob and I don’t get along. If I go to his party, he might take the chance to humiliate me. But you’re different—go, have fun, and maybe find someone special. Graduation’s next year—you should start thinking about a date for the prom!”

Rast licked his lips, clearly tempted, but shook his head.

“If you’re not going, neither am I! We’re college league brothers—we stick together!”

“Come on, man, that’s not necessary.”

“Without you, I’m not going!” Rast’s insistence moved Dean.

Only in student days does such pure friendship exist.

“Let’s talk about Mona… have you found any leads?”

The two walked shoulder to shoulder through the portico.

“She worked at Super Lo Cinema. You know the place?”

“Famous movie theater, not far from my apartment… head north past the nearby mall…”

“Oh, right…” Dean hesitated, recalling a vision from his hallucination. “Do you know about the sewers in Las Vegas? Do people really live down there?”

“You’re asking the right guy! Grace is a hotel lobby manager—she’s seen it all and heard every kind of story. She told me… Vegas’s sewers are way bigger than you’d think, like an entire underground city.”

“Some treasure hunters dreaming of instant riches get chewed up by Vegas’s harsh reality and high costs and end up living in the sewers. Even some rich folks, after blowing their fortunes at the casinos, wind up as paupers and move in. They work by day, sleep in the sewers at night for free, saving up in hopes of making a comeback… There are also disabled people and the mentally ill who can’t fend for themselves…”

“A lot of illegal activities go on down there.”

“It’s dangerous—if you don’t get out before the rainy season, the floodwaters will drown you…”

Dean’s face grew darker with each word.

The sewers were clearly a den of chaos.

How could someone as sweet and seemingly innocent as Mona survive in a place like that?

Troubled by this, a strange anxiety welled up in Dean’s heart—a mix of restlessness and worry that he couldn’t put into words.

He hadn’t slept well last night either.

It was odd. Mona wasn’t even his type; he’d never even met the girl in person.

But he couldn’t help caring about her, thinking about her.

No doubt, this was the lingering effect of his body’s previous owner.

“Dean, Dean… you’re already dead! Stop tormenting me. I promise, I’ll fulfill your last wish.”

The whole morning, Dean found himself muttering, distracted, unable to focus.

Lunchtime.

He couldn’t wait to ask for leave and race out of school, hopping on his bike. But after only a few steps, the bike wobbled dangerously and felt incredibly hard to handle. Looking down, he saw the tires were slashed all over.

“Damn it, which jerk did this?”

Frustrated, Dean borrowed Rast’s bike. Rast’s grades weren’t as good, and he worried that skipping class would hurt his GPA, so he didn’t tag along this time.

“Must’ve been someone trying to suck up to Bob. Be careful. Do you still remember the way to the cinema?”

“Yeah.”

Dean followed the road out of the suburbs and into the bustling city.

North of the mall, at the entrance to the shopping street.

The golden sign reading “Super Lo Cinema” gleamed in the sun.

A giant banner hung at the theater’s entrance: “5/21 – Star Wars II: The Empire Strikes Back, Coming Soon!”

But on a weekday morning, only a handful of moviegoers rode the escalator inside.

Dean parked his bike and hurried into the theater’s lobby.

“You again?!” The ticket seller, a tall, thin young man not yet twenty, wore an honest smile, but at the sight of Dean, his face twisted into a wry grin. “It’s been half a month—I’ve told you ten times already, Mona and I are just coworkers. We only chatted a few times at work. I have no idea where she’d hide out!”

“Give me a break!”

Dean’s eyes flickered.

The previous owner had already come here many times, but still hadn’t found Mona?

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Was Mona missing?

He lowered his head, thinking a moment, then spoke earnestly, “Buddy, I just want to ask you one last time. I promise this is the final time I’ll bother you.”

“It’s no use asking again!” The ticket seller waved him off impatiently. “Move along, don’t interrupt my work, or I’ll call security!”

“How about this?” Dean slipped a two-dollar bill into his palm. The young man glanced at it—swoosh—

Like a mask falling away, his moody expression turned into a radiant smile. He bowed gracefully and tucked the cash into his jacket.

“Chris Owen. Delighted to serve you.”

Dean’s mouth twitched. Las Vegas—truly a city where money talks. But he’d just gotten six hundred bucks from his uncle, so he was flush with cash!

“I’ll ask, you answer. This time, I want as much detail as possible.”

“I promise, not a word left out!”

“When did I first meet Mona?”

“You don’t know?”

“Buddy, remember the rules?”

Chris looked puzzled, but in the spirit of cash-for-peace, he didn’t pry. “I can only tell you what I know: you met at least three months ago… Mona was off that day and came here with you to watch ‘Alien.’”

So, they’d known each other at least three months.

Dean glanced at his system—the event progress bar began to inch upward.

“Did Mona and I often come together to see movies?”

“Every week, up until half a month ago…”

“What kind of movies did we watch?”

“You two weren’t like other couples—no romance films. You both loved sci-fi and horror. Jaws, Dawn of the Dead…”

A faint smile curved Dean’s lips—their tastes matched his own.

“How much do you know about Mona? How old is she? Where does she live? What’s she like? Any other friends?”

“You’re asking weirder and weirder stuff. Are you playing amnesiac Sherlock Holmes?” Dean handed over another two dollars.

“I swear, if I say another word, I’ll cut out my own tongue!” Chris grinned broadly. “Far as I know, Mona’s eighteen. She’s got a great personality—always smiling, never gets angry no matter how nasty the customers are. Pity she used to live in the sewers and is an orphan… not easy to like, so people kept their distance. She didn’t have any friends.”

No parents, Dean mused.

And no real friends.

On these two points, she and the former owner really were a perfect match!

“Where in the sewers did she live?”

“No idea. Vegas’s sewers are like a maze—only the regulars know their way around. You haven’t found her either, have you? That’s why you keep coming to bother me.”

...

Dean took a deep breath.

“So, when exactly did she disappear?”

“Half a month ago, in the morning—she was supposed to be on shift, but didn’t show. The manager thought she was just skipping a day, but she never came back. No matter what we tried, we couldn’t reach her. And honestly, you can’t get ahold of people living in the sewers—police can’t help either!”

“I’ve come here ten times? What did I say to you?”

Chris looked at Dean with genuine pity, as if at a hopeless soul. “You want me to repeat your words?”

“That’s right, go on.”

What, is this guy some sort of masochist? Chris mocked inwardly.

“You said that the night before she went missing—that’s the afternoon of April 19th—you two came here for a movie, so how could she just vanish?”

April 19th?

Dean stroked his chin.

This body’s birthday was April 20th—the very day Mona disappeared.

“For the first couple days, you just waited around like a fool.” Chris’s tone was thick with the scorn reserved for lovesick idiots.

Dean’s lips parted, but it felt as if an invisible hand gripped his throat—he couldn’t utter a word.

“But a few days later, you realized something was wrong. You searched for her frantically, asked everyone at the cinema, even thought she’d had an accident and almost went to the police.”

Dean’s chest heaved, his breath growing ragged. His body suddenly felt beyond his control, his state growing ever stranger.

“Eventually you told Old Jack, the cinema manager, everything.”

“You said you’d planned a trip to Los Angeles with Mona during summer break; the night before she disappeared, April 19th, you’d even given her two thousand dollars you’d saved up.”

“She took the money and vanished the next day.”

Dean’s face blanched, the blood draining away as Chris’s words stabbed at his heart like a knife.

No, I’m not the former owner.

I don’t even like Mona—why should I feel heartbroken?

“The manager said, ‘Seriously, what are the odds? Only a love-blind virgin, some naïve fool, would think she’d come back, or imagine she met with foul play.’”

“Do you know how much two thousand dollars is? For people like us, it’d take two years to save that much. It’s enough to risk breaking the law, and Mona was no exception.”

Chris paused.

“Buddy, face reality—just count it as paying for a lesson. Who hasn’t been conned when they’re young? Mona just played her part too well—she was sly as a fox, but on the surface looked sweet and innocent.”

“You didn’t even keep any evidence?” Chris’s tone was tinged with pity. “It’d be hard to accuse her of anything.”

So, the former owner was swindled out of everything by a con artist, his feelings toyed with?

Dean’s head spun; he clutched his forehead, his body suddenly weak.

“Buddy, are you alright? Feeling sick?” Chris helped him to a couch in the lobby and handed him a glass of ice water.

“I’m fine. Just let me be alone for a minute.”

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Dean’s mind was a tangled mess as Mona’s image flashed before his eyes.

That sunlit smile.

So gentle, so sweet.

Could she really be a liar?

He blinked hard. The air around him rippled like the surface of water, hazy and dreamlike.

Suddenly, on the empty couch beside him, beneath the dim, flickering ceiling light, he saw the vague silhouettes of two people leaning close together.

“Did you like the movie?”

“To tell the truth, I barely paid attention. I was thinking about something else. Tomorrow’s your birthday—I’ve got a big surprise planned.”

Mona gazed at her boyfriend, stars in her eyes and a look of pure happiness on her face.

“Silly, how is it a surprise if you tell me?”

“I know I’m a dope, but I don’t need you to keep reminding me!”

“Let me guess—your gift is… taking me to your place?”

“What’s so wonderful about the sewers? They’re wet and filthy! I begged someone for ages to get this gift for you—it won’t let you down!” Mona clenched her fists in mock protest, acting cute.

“You’ve been leaving early every night lately just for this? Don’t wear yourself out. Honestly, whatever you give me, as long as it’s from you, I’ll love it.”

Dean put his arm around the girl’s shoulder, squinting in contentment.

...

Breathe… in… out…

How could anyone be so foolish, so stupid?

Dean stood, wiping the dampness from the corners of his eyes, a sharp ache stinging his nose.

“Lu Dean, you are yourself—you’re not that fool from before, and you don’t even like Mona!”

He shook his head fiercely at the glass fish tank behind the sofa, repeating the words aloud.

Suddenly, the reflection in the glass shuddered, shifting with the light, forming the face of a round-faced, hawk-nosed man.

Once again, he plunged into another memory.

“I heard Old Jack say you got swindled out of a fortune by a former employee of my family’s cinema?” Bob’s face twisted in a sneer. His powerful right hand pressed down on the back of a man kneeling in the soft mud at the riverbank, forcing his head into the icy water. “Tch—you’re a dead dog, a pitiful clown, a nameless loser and a waste of space, without a shred of dignity.”

“What makes you think any woman could want you?”

“That clever actress—she took your money and ran to L.A. to enjoy the good life. I bet right now she’s lying in the arms of some young stud, laughing at you.”

Bob Lowe yanked his head up by the hair, staring at that face—pale, drenched in tears and river water, weak, desperate. With a look of disdain and disgust, he spat.

“Don’t you dare harass my family’s theater staff again, or I won’t let you off.”

He let go and hopped into his convertible, tossing out one last taunt:

“Idiot, if it hurts that bad, why don’t you just go die?!”

...

Breathe… in… out…

Why don’t you just go die?

The words echoed endlessly in Dean’s mind, like a radio he couldn’t turn off.

So that’s it. Now I remember everything.

Dean sat on the sofa with his face in his hands, his shoulders racked with trembling. The grief that gripped him was almost tangible.

A few stifled sobs escaped through his fingers.

In that moment, he could no longer tell if he was Lu Dean from China, or Dean, the American high school student.

A Chinese boy, far from home.

Orphaned young.

Timid by nature.

Ignored and looked down on by classmates.

Hounded and mocked by the spoiled rich kid from the baseball team.

His well-meaning but scatterbrained uncle, busy with work and rarely home, unable to offer any real warmth.

But all of it—he swallowed in silence, enduring it alone.

Until one day, a smiling girl entered his life.

She’d lived through the same hardships, lacked friends, loved movies—instantly, they clicked, their connection seamless.

He thought they were soulmates, threw himself into love, giving everything, convinced it would bloom.

But on his birthday,

The one he loved struck the final, fatal blow.

The surprise gift he’d awaited so eagerly turned out to be heartless betrayal. He became a laughingstock.

Hope shattered.

His love had been a lie from start to finish.

His life, from beginning to end, a tragedy.

Dean Lu.

No wonder you chose to destroy yourself.

The man on the sofa said to himself.

...

Ding!

The system suddenly jumped.

Dean’s bloodshot eyes fixed on the progress bar.

It had surged to full.

One hundred percent complete.

Reward, ready to claim.

...