The Fall: Chapter 6. Greed

I reach the end of the corridor.

I know well enough that most of the eight floor is usually desolated. Huang Ming reserves the 8^th floor for “exquisite decorations” and “statues of good luck”. He believes that the number “8” represents fortune, endless wealth and prosperity. A floor blanketed with red carpet; a floor lined up with golden, jade, diamond statues; a floor with columns painted to resemble wood; a floor with a yellowish-orange tint due to its unique choice of lightings; a floor which feels rather out of place for a modern, rather “metallic” building.

As Huang Ming has blessed this journey of mine with beneficial coincidences, it is a sign that he hasn’t given up on me yet; or maybe, I haven’t given up on him yet. It’s the same both ways.

However, the 8^th floor is also a cursed floor, as anyone who takes one step into the floor will think that Huang Ming is a man of greed. There was a time when a staff accidentally stained one of the golden statues with water. When Huang Ming knew about it, he killed the staff out of pure spite. That’s a rumour, of course, but knowing Huang Ming’s rather haphazard personality, an act like that is not out of place.

I hear a voice.

I’m now hiding behind a rather large pillar located right next to the entrance to the super long (and repetitive) corridor. I peek out of my cover. A man stands in front of a gold statue of himself in a walking pose. Both the statue and the actual man are on the phone. They are both about twenty meters away from me.

“So you are interested in purchasing ‘Statue of a Leader: The Glorious Conversation’? As you already know, I am a very, very wealthy man. I do not simply sell my face for an island’s cost. No, I request seventy billion dollars for this.”

“So we have a deal? Good. I’ll deliver this statue to you, latest by next Monday.”

His stops talking and inserts his phone into his front pocket. The phone rings. He answers it.

“So you are also interested in purchasing ‘Statue of a Leader: The Glorious Conversation’? As you already know, I am a very, very wealthy man. I do not simply sell my face for an island’s cost. But I’ll make it cheap for you, since you are my best friend. I’ll only charge ninety billion dollars.”

“So you’ll buy for eighty billion? Sure, I have absolutely no problem to that. I will deliver this statue to you, latest by next Monday.”

He stops talking. He looks at his phone and presses stuffs (I can’t really get a clear image). He lifts the phone to his ear and starts speaking.

“Hey, can you kill ‘Contact #8221’ for me? We had a deal about a golden statue of mine, and I hate rejecting people.”

“Also, prepare to blackmail ‘Contact #20’ on Tuesday, after he has given me eighty billion for the statue. Extract ten billion from him. Kill him afterwards.”

“After you do that, please commit suicide on that very day, and I’ll donate three thousand to your family.”

I hear a faint ring of the elevator. I run towards it, and head towards the 78^th floor.

This is not a journey, this is an experience; this is a rescue mission.