After three months, Thrall parted ways with the 14K. Although in some respects he revelled in the job – “I loved the kudos, I thought I was the only Westerner working for the Triads” – undoubtedly it was the right decision to move on. His life was still in a rut: by night he smoked meth to stay awake on the door, by day he was too high to wind down. “To say things got bizarre would be an massive understatement.”