*BANG—!*
The flimsy yellow-painted door of the county guesthouse crashed open, rebounding from the wall with a death-rattle groan from its hinges.
A miasma of cheap tobacco, stale sweat, and rancid food scraps flooded the corridor, obliterating the faint antiseptic scent.
Inside the dim room, fluorescent tubes buzzed and flickered, casting a jaundiced pallor over cramped iron bunks draped in greasy, threadbare sheets. Cigarette butts, instant noodle cups, and crumpled paper littered the concrete floor. Seven or eight men in rumpled suits or faded work uniforms clustered around makeshift tables cobbled from planks. One slouched in a groaning chair, playing cards; another squatted in a corner, slurping murky tea from an enamel mug stripped of paint. The air hung thick with resent
