“- Rejoice, O Lien Mei, for you have been chosen as the seat of the spirit! Three warriors bowed low, two stepped towards me. - No! Have mercy! I just passed the exam! My hands were twisted back and tied with a rope. They pulled the sword from his belt. The door slid aside, and a portly man in a crimson cap and a crimson scientist's robe stood in front of my nose. The eyes are attentive and cunning, the chin is decorated with a small beard. Plump hands. The mantle is embroidered with white cranes. The man knelt down and touched his forehead to the floor three times. “My name is Shim Tai-shi, oh shendi.” The Divine Emperor Gua-di of the country of Ve appointed me as the Dispenser of Death. I will accompany you to the Heavenly Pavilion. "Shendi"! Title of the condemned..."From the author: The story was first published in the Kirovograd magazine "Threshold" in 2001. Thank you very much to Daria Stepanova ( for the cover !The text of the book was translated from the original language using an artificial intelligence program. For the most part, the translation of the text is of very high quality, but in some cases, due to the imperfection of the technology, there may be incorrect phrase translations in the text, as well as single words and expressions may not be translated.