Sorry, 'to live' is too broad. It must be a specific desire. May I understand it as you don't want to die by the gun of the person in front of you?" Su Wei looked at his prey with interest, finally ready to cast the net.
"Yes! I'm willing to pay any price!" Frank shouted frantically, ignoring the intense pain from his wound.
"I'd be happy to help you with that, but the price is your soul. After you die, your soul will belong to the Eighth Pawnshop."
"This..." Frank hesitated. Although he didn't believe in souls, what if they existed?
"The chance to live in exchange for your soul after death. What a fair trade. You can enjoy your remaining wonderful time, or do you think your life isn't worth this price?" Su Wei coaxed.
"What do you want my soul for?" Frank asked cautiously.
"Just a collection, like how you like to collect trophies. Anyway, with what you've done, you're definitely going to hell after you die. Being collected is certainly not the worst thing. Here, you won't feel any pain."
Frank weighed the pros and cons in his mind. The other party was right. If he had a soul, he would definitely go to hell after death. Thinking of the rumored brutality of hell, Frank gritted his teeth.
"Alright! I'm willing to offer my soul after death in exchange for not being killed by that damn bastard!"
After signing the contract, Frank blinked, and the environment changed again.
He was still in the same place as before,
but the person in front of him had changed.
It was Billy, who now possessed Colin's body, another person who had betrayed him.
"F-U-C-K! Demon! You tricked me!" Frank roared wildly at the sky.
Bang!
Billy, worried that Frank's shouts would attract others, decisively fired, a headshot.
At the Eighth Pawnshop,
Su Wei was placing Frank's soul into a transparent bottle.
"You! You tricked me, you insidious demon!" Frank's soul shrieked hideously.
"Quiet! Old man, I didn't trick you. I honored my deal. You didn't die by the gun of the person on the contract, but by someone else's hand, didn't you? I am now claiming my reward according to the contract, which is your soul!"
Su Wei subconsciously touched his head, confirming that he hadn't grown demon horns.
"You tricked me, you tricked me!!!!!!!"
Su Wei stuffed Frank's chattering soul into the bottle, and the pawnshop instantly fell silent.
---
"I'm sorry, I want to be a good person!"
Looking at the body on the ground,
Billy whispered,
"Buddy, you did it!"
Colin emerged from the darkness.
This was their first meeting since they swapped lives.
Looking at each other's familiar faces,
both fell into silence simultaneously.
"What are you planning to do now?" Billy, now a state police detective, was the first to break the silence.
"Get reinstated, of course. I'll probably have endless reports to write. You'll have to help me then." Colin, finally free from his undercover identity, embraced Billy.
"Of course, no problem." Billy's face showed some guilt; being kind-hearted, he felt the other party had faced more difficulties.
Bang!
Colin suddenly picked up Frank's pistol and fired at Billy.
"Damn, I missed from this close, but it's okay, a few more shots will do it."
"Why?" Billy looked at him in disbelief.
"First, Quinnan already suspects there's a mole for Frank in the police force. If he finds out about you, and you expose me, everything I've built will be ruined again. So you have to die, to give Quinnan an explanation, otherwise, I won't be able to sleep.
Second, I don't want anyone walking around in front of me with my face. It's truly disgusting!"
Just as Colin was about to fire again, Billy disappeared, just like Frank.
"I want to live! I can pay any price." Billy had entered the Eighth Pawnshop before Colin fired.
"Respected old customer, you can pawn all your memories and start anew. When you wake up, you will be a good person, a good person with a clean background." Billy still had use, so Su Wei readily offered the pawn conditions.
If Frank had been present, he would surely have accused Su Wei of differential treatment.
"I... agree!" Billy's life had been filled with painful memories: the loss of loved ones, discrimination and injustice in the police force, the torment of being undercover, the self-reproach of killing, and so on.
"You go wait in the next room for a moment; I have another customer."
Not long after Billy left, Colin rushed in.
"With the hidden danger gone, are you satisfied with your new identity?"
"I know Billy must be here, otherwise, he wouldn't have suddenly disappeared. Please hand him over to me!"
Colin's gaze searched the room.
"Sorry, I don't know what you're talking about?"
"Didn't you say any wish could be granted here? I want to kill Billy. What do I need to pay?"
Colin said through gritted teeth.
"Wow, that's a life. If we must find something of equal value, you can pawn your luck with women!"
Su Wei explained this losing deal to the system in his mind: absolutely no ulterior motives, absolutely not out of envy.
"Luck with women?" Colin hesitated for a moment, but only a moment.
He had already fallen out with Billy.
To preserve his current achievements,
he had to kill the other party,
at any cost.
Although luck with women was precious,
compared to career and power,
Colin knew what was more important.
"Alright, where's the agreement? Give it to me to sign!"
"Sorry, out of respect for life, this time only a thumbprint is allowed."
Colin took the agreement, didn't even look at it, and pressed his thumbprint.
After Colin finished, Su Wei bent down and took a shotgun from under the table.
Bang!
"You seem to have forgotten, you've already swapped identities. You are Billy now."
---
Su Wei appeared next to Frank's body.
He picked up the gun that had wounded 'Colin', wiped off the fingerprints, put the gun back into the dead Frank's hand, and then, looking at 'Colin', who had pawned his memories and fallen into a coma, pulled out his phone.
"911, this is Billy, an undercover state trooper from Massachusetts. Detective Colin is injured and needs rescue. The address is..."
Then he called his superior, Captain Quinnan.
"Captain, this is Billy. Frank is dead. I didn't kill him. It was Officer Colin. He bravely shot that bastard Frank. He saved my life!"
Su Wei's current body was Cobb's, practically a twin brother to Billy before the trade.
Now that Colin, who possessed Billy's body, was dead,
Su Wei could just take his place.
He wouldn't need to use his daily replication quota anymore.
Moreover, this identity was real, could withstand scrutiny, and had a traceable history.
Later, he would arrange for Dr. Walsh to perform surgery to transplant Billy's fingerprints, making it even more perfect.
No place was better suited for hiding an identity than a state violent institution.