At 11:30 PM, the bar had been closed for over twenty minutes. In the empty alley, a slender figure stumbled down the street, weaving unsteadily in high heels toward the Night bar. She grasped the glass door handle, yanking it with all her might, but it wouldn’t budge; it was locked. She began pounding on the door, calling out loudly.
“Open the door, Zoe… May… Bie… Has it closed already at this hour?”
The girl was Sunny. The day before, she had called Zoe to request a day off as she had a date with a wealthy man introduced by a friend. Receiving the call from her close friend had made Sunny very happy. She felt a glimmer of hope for a bright future with the rich man she had always dreamed of.
However, after just two days of meeting and talking with him, she discovered that the man introduced by her friend was already happily married with two school-age daughters. He confided to her that he was unhappy with his wife, feeling bored and frustrated each time he came home to see his aging spouse.
Sunny felt bitter, not only because she was involved with a married man but also because she pitied the wife who had been quietly betrayed by her husband. This experience made her realize the extent of men’s fickleness.
In his drunken state, he spoke of how, before becoming wealthy, he was just an ordinary man who started from nothing and was supported by his wife throughout his business endeavors. But after gaining money, he saw his wife as unattractive and unworthy of a successful man like him. Meanwhile, his business partners were surrounded by beautiful young women, and he wanted the same—a young, beautiful woman by his side, even if only as a clandestine lover, since he had no intention of leaving his wife and children.
How shameless. The wife who had sacrificed everything for him, supporting him through thick and thin to achieve success, was deceived by him. How could a girl in an illicit affair mean anything to him? Happiness is a personal choice. Even as an ordinary girl, Sunny deserved genuine happiness, not the borrowed, fleeting happiness from someone else’s life. Ultimately, such borrowed happiness must be returned to its rightful place.
Thus, Sunny decided to end things with the man. After getting drunk and losing her way at the bar, she eventually came to her senses and took a taxi to the familiar alley where she usually went to work, heading toward the Night bar.
Unable to open the door, Sunny sat down on the steps in front of the bar, her eyes glazed as she looked up at the night sky. Suddenly, a vague figure appeared before her like a thin mist, with deep, dark eyes and a cold smile. Sunny thought someone was playing tricks on her and, clutching her handbag, swung at the figure.
The apparition vanished, leaving only a chilling smile behind. Sunny shook her head to clear her mind and stood up, hurrying to leave the alley. As she walked, she glanced back, seeing the eerie figure following her with a sinister grin.
Her pace quickened, but in her panic and fear, she lost her balance on her high heels and fell onto the street. The ghostly figure took advantage of the opportunity, speeding up and floating past her. Its cold, misty hand grabbed Sunny’s pale neck, lifting her and slamming her into the wall. The ghostly fingers, seemingly harmless, tightened around her throat until she had no strength left to struggle. Her eyes gradually dimmed as the warmth of her soul was siphoned away, her life extinguished in an instant.
The cold hand released her, and her lifeless body fell to the ground. Jill looked up, savoring the boundless pleasure of the life force it had just consumed. It felt incredible, brimming with vitality and energy. Jill was thrilled, believing that if it continued to absorb more souls, it would surely regain its human form and become powerful and immortal.
Jill glanced at the pale corpse lying motionless before it, smiling coldly. “It’s late and you come here instead of going home; you sought your own demise. Don’t blame anyone else.”
“This morning, a jogger passing through Alley 135 behind the Night bar discovered a motionless body on the street. Upon closer inspection, the body was identified as a young woman, estimated to be around twenty years old.
By the time she was found, her body had already stiffened, with joints becoming rigid and difficult to move, indicating she had been dead for about 2 to 3 hours. However, with the temperature dropping significantly last night, the cold environment could have slowed the rigor mortis process. In any case, it’s up to the forensic team to determine the exact cause of death and identify the victim to locate her relatives.”
Zoe stared at the TV screen in shock. Although the face of the deceased was obscured, the figure and attire unmistakably resembled Sunny. The handbag next to the victim was the one Sunny always carried; she was extremely fond of it. The alley was the rear entrance to the Night bar, so it was definitely Sunny.
At that moment, Neil emerged from his room. “Let’s go exercise, my lovely boy.”
He closed his room door and turned to Zoe, but his smile faltered as he saw Zoe’s tear-streaked face. Tears were streaming down Zoe’s cheeks, soaking his workout clothes. As soon as Neil saw him, Zoe couldn’t hold back any longer; he burst into tears and threw himself into Neil’s arms.
“It’s Sunny, Sunny is dead, Neil.”