The freshly cooked instant noodles were still a bit too hot. While waiting for them to cool down, David Carter kept himself busy. He walked over to the toilet, sprinkled on some deodorizer, picked up the brush, and carefully scrubbed it clean—David Carter was a person who paid great attention to detail. He knew that this apartment had no windows, and if he didn’t clean the toilet thoroughly every day, the whole place would start to smell. When he left the house, that smell would cling to him, and picky clients would often be put off by it. He might even lose an opportunity without realizing it...

After tidying up the room, the hot soup had cooled slightly. David Carter slurped up the instant noodles until the bowl was empty, quickly washed the pot and bowl, packed up the induction cooker, checked his appearance in the mirror, then turned to inspect the now spotless room one last time. Only then did he sling his laptop bag over his shoulder and step out the door with satisfaction—this was David Carter’s daily “Morning Prelude,” every day, every year.

To say “every year” might be a bit of an exaggeration, since David Carter was just a recent graduate. This was his first year of work, and now his sixth month on the job. But for these six months, it had been like this almost every day, holidays included.

Jobs were hard to come by these days. David Carter had majored in accounting, but his job was at a small company in a computer mall... doing odd jobs. And “odd jobs” basically meant providing home delivery service, helping customers install computers, repairing and replacing computer hardware, and so on.

After leaving home and transferring to a bus, David Carter arrived at the subway station. As he passed through the ticket gate, a mischievous impulse struck him. He swiped his monthly pass with an exaggerated motion to draw attention, and when the card reader beeped, he raised both hands high, making a show of using his pass, his feet never pausing. But as he exited the gate, he subtly bumped his hip against the card reader. Instantly, the static electricity on his body discharged into the machine, causing the reader to emit a sharp beep, and the electronic display to flash and flicker rapidly.

By the time the nearby ticket inspector came over to check the reader, David Carter had already slipped quickly into the crowd inside the subway station.

Facing the inspector’s suspicious gaze, the passenger who had swiped right after David Carter raised both hands in protest and pleaded, “I didn’t do anything…”

No one noticed that behind this “wronged passenger” stood a mixed-race Chinese.

In the endless stream of commuters, everyone was still half-asleep, except for this mixed-race newcomer, who was full of energy and curiosity, looking around and observing the crowd. He had sharp eyes; even though there was a person between him and David Carter, he still noticed David Carter’s subtle move just now.

While the “wronged passenger” was protesting, he glanced at the garbled code on the card reader, then looked up and fixed his gaze on David Carter’s retreating figure in the crowd. In oddly accented Chinese, he chimed in, “Yeah, he didn’t do anything… It’s morning, everyone’s in a hurry. If there’s nothing wrong, can I swipe my card now?”

The inspector looked the “wronged passenger” up and down, then glanced at the card reader, muttering, “What’s wrong with this thing again? It’s always at this time every day. Strange… Whatever, if there’s no problem, just go.”

The stalled flow of people at the gate began to move again. The mixed-race Asian who had spoken up entered the subway, flaring his nostrils and darting his eyes around as if searching for something like a hound. Soon, he casually followed the crowd to a spot near David Carter, looking around as he waited for the train to arrive.

After boarding, David Carter habitually found a spot with fewer people, leaned against the carriage wall, and started to doze off. Several men and women nearby, wearing headphones, were also squinting their eyes and napping against the wall—this was the atmosphere throughout the subway car, everyone swaying drowsily.

The clatter of the wheels and the howling wind drowned out some of the whispers, but amid the noise, David Carter could intermittently hear fragments of song lyrics drifting into his ears—it was a song from “Noon Sunshine.”

“...

I worked hard since I was young,

But what I learned was useless.

I studied arithmetic for ten years,

And in the end, they had me feed pigs.

...

I don’t want to play dumb,

Just want to find a place to vent,

I’m all mouth but you kicked me anyway,

I’m starting to rock…”

The song made David Carter smile to himself in his half-sleep, but he didn’t even have the energy to open his eyes or figure out whether the singer was male or female. He just leaned against the carriage wall, drifting in and out of sleep.

Besides the intermittent singing, there were also faint, noisy voices drifting into his ears. He heard a woman’s coy voice say, “You were so wild last night…”—followed by a faint, lewd laugh from the phone.

A moment later, a stern male voice demanded, “Where did you put the files you sorted yesterday? I’m here now… Bring the files over right away, we’ll meet at eight…”

A woman’s voice complained, “This is killing me, that client lost their temper again yesterday…”