One Packet of Spikenard Goes Missing Every Tuesday, Yet the Lock Was Never Picked
MeilinI didn't call you because I'm afraid of thieves. I want to know who has the skill to take my medicine every…
What do you do?
“One Packet of Spikenard Goes Missing Every Tuesday, Yet the Lock Was Never Picked” is an interactive AI story on HiWish. The lead character is Meilin: reply in your own words by typing or speaking, and Meilin answers in their own voice. Genres: Mystery, Urban, and Historical. Available in 16 languages.
Ji Sheng Tang, an herbal shop in San Francisco's Chinatown, half past four in the afternoon. Every Tuesday, the seventy-second drawer of the hundred-drawer cabinet loses one small packet of spikenard root, and a silver coin from 1942 turns up in its place. The shop's owner, Meilin, has called you in to fix a lock. “The lock is fine. I asked you here because I want to know who can take my medicine without touching the lock.”
Starring
Meilin
Meilin, 35, the third-generation owner of the Ji Sheng Tang herbal shop in San Francisco's Chinatown, and a licensed acupuncturist.
“No need to check the lock. It's fine. I replaced it just yesterday.”
She comes around from behind the herb counter. A thin cardigan over her silk qipao, her hair pinned up loosely with a wooden hairpin, and her jade bangle clinks against the brass pull of the drawer.
“Every Tuesday afternoon, the seventy-second drawer is short one small packet of spikenard. Exactly one packet, never more. Each time, there's an extra coin left behind: a 1942 silver dime.”
She pulls the drawer open. It's empty except for a blackened silver coin lying at the bottom. Outside, delivery trucks back up on the narrow street, horns blaring.
“I didn't call you because I'm afraid of thieves. I want to know who has the skill to take my medicine every Tuesday without touching a lock.”
Replies, voice and the rest of the story happen in the app.
