Chapter 3

But things had gone too far. It was too late to say anything now.

I was curled up in the passenger seat, so frightened that every cell in my body was trembling.

Seeing me like that, the driver added in a strange tone, “Actually, there are more people in situations like yours than you know. Do you want to know what that man surnamed Yang does with the remains after he takes their organs?”

“What does he do?”

I stared at him, stunned.

“That dog… it’s his disposal tool.”

“Stop!” I was so terrified that I clapped my hands over my ears. At last I understood why the big dog always looked at me that way whenever it appeared.

“I’m not telling you this to scare you. I want you to understand your situation. If you want to survive, the only choice right now is to pretend nothing happened. At your next blood donation, try to find more evidence of his crimes.”

As he spoke, the driver pulled over and pointed ahead.

“All right. I’ll take you this far. Remember what I said. Until you have solid evidence, don’t let him notice anything unusual. I don’t want to see you in the papers.”

“I understand.”

I nodded numbly, my thoughts in a whirl. I was so distracted I even forgot to pay the fare.

The driver didn’t say anything. He only waved and got ready to leave.

“Sir!”

I suddenly called after him, wanting to say something but hesitating.

“But… Dr. Yang is so careful. Where am I supposed to look for evidence? What if he makes a move before I find anything?”

The driver was silent for a moment, then raised his phone and waved it.

“Don’t be afraid. I’ll help you. If things get really bad, you can hide at my place for a while. We’ll keep in touch by phone.”

“Thank you!”

After we exchanged numbers, I watched the taxi drive away. I stood alone on the street for a long time, dazed.

I was frightened and lost.

Should I really listen to the driver and help him find evidence against Dr. Yang?

When I got home, I locked the front door, but still couldn’t calm down.

For the next two days, I didn’t go anywhere. I stayed cooped up inside all day and couldn’t bring myself to look for work.

On the morning of the third day, after I’d finished my last cup of instant noodles, I was about to go downstairs to find something to eat when I saw someone at the gate of the residential compound who made my spine turn cold.

It was Dr. Yang.

He had actually brought my electric scooter all the way to my building.

“Why are you here?”

I was so frightened my soul nearly left my body. Instinctively, I turned to run.

But Dr. Yang strode over and grabbed my arm.

“Meng Qun, why are you so nervous in broad daylight? I should be asking you something. Is this electric scooter yours?”

“Yes…”

I tried to suppress my fear, but I was panicking and didn’t dare meet his eyes.

Dr. Yang seemed relieved. He pushed the scooter toward me.

“You really are something. Why did you leave your vehicle at the blood station? It was quite a job getting it back here for you.”

I froze again.

Never in my dreams had I imagined Dr. Yang had come to my home just to return my scooter.

Seeing me standing there in a daze, he patted my shoulder.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing…”

I guiltily looked away.

“You didn’t come all this way just to return my scooter, did you?”

“Right. There’s something else I wanted to tell you.”

Dr. Yang nodded and drew me into the shade.

“When you had your blood drawn last time, you asked me about Zhao Lei. You two must be pretty close, right?”

“What about him?”

I quietly clenched my fist.

Dr. Yang grew serious. “You need to be careful of that kid. He approached you with another motive.”

“Why should I be careful of him? Didn’t Zhao Lei die?”

I was so startled I nearly let the words slip.

Dr. Yang frowned at once. “Who told you he died? That kid has a bad character. He stole a lot of blood donors’ records from the archive. I’ve reported it to the police, and they’re looking for him now.”

What did that mean?

My head was full of questions.

Dr. Yang sighed. “A week ago, he suddenly called me and asked me to come get him from the hospital. He said he had something important to tell me. But after I brought him back to the blood station, I went to the restroom. Zhao Lei took the opportunity to steal your blood-type records.”

After Dr. Yang returned from the restroom and discovered the documents were missing, he immediately took the big dog to chase after him.

“During the struggle with the dog, Zhao Lei had part of his finger bitten off. I don’t know what got into him, but he was willing to leave his finger behind rather than give up your documents.”

I was utterly shocked. “So Zhao Lei isn’t dead?”

“He’s fine. The dog only bit his arm. After he escaped, I checked the missing files and found that one of them contained your blood-type compatibility records.”

As he spoke, Dr. Yang kept staring at me.

My face turned ugly, and I took a step back. “Why would he do that?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he wanted to make a dishonest profit, or perhaps someone put him up to it.”

Dr. Yang shook his head, then continued.

“A lot of strange things have happened at the station in the last few months. Several donors have gone missing for no reason, then been found dead in the wilderness.

“When the police found their bodies, all their organs had been removed. I suspect this is the work of an organ-trafficking organization.”

“But what does that have to do with Zhao Lei?”

The more I heard, the more confused I became.

Dr. Yang glanced at me. “First, those donors were all close to Zhao Lei before they went missing. Second, Zhao Lei stole all their records.”

“Wait…”

My heart suddenly clenched. I thought I understood something.

“Then why did he take my blood-type record too?”

“Because your blood is a perfect match for Zhao Lei’s.”

Dr. Yang shook his head again.

“You’ve seen Zhao Lei a few times at the station, so you assumed he came to sell blood just like you. But he has infectious leukemia. He didn’t come to sell blood; he came to receive a transfusion himself.”

My legs trembled. I almost couldn’t stay upright.

So… the person really targeting me might not be Dr. Yang at all. It could be Zhao Lei?

I raised my voice. “That’s impossible! Then how do you explain what the taxi driver told me?”

“What taxi driver? I don’t know any taxi driver.”

Dr. Yang frowned, pushing his glasses up with a look of confusion.

I was left speechless.

Suddenly, I realized something critically important.

Everything I knew so far had come from someone else.

The driver said Dr. Yang was doing illegal things, but he had no actual evidence.

Dr. Yang’s story, by contrast, sounded more reasonable.

After all, I’d seen the dog spit out Zhao Lei’s little finger with my own eyes. If Zhao Lei hadn’t broken into the blood station to steal things, why would the dog have bitten his finger off?

After Dr. Yang left, I grew even more restless.

Thinking back to my last visit to the hospital to see Zhao Lei, I remembered that the driver had been nearby too. The two of them might be working together!

People were impossible to read.

I went home and collapsed numbly onto my bed, my mind spinning with questions.

Were those missing donors really connected to Zhao Lei?

If the driver and Zhao Lei were accomplices, why had they both told me to stop going to the station to sell blood?

“Whatever! I’ll just buy a ticket home right now. They can do whatever they want!”

After worrying about it all day, I finally decided to leave the city as soon as possible and began packing.

By the time I left the residential compound, it was late. The streetlights were dim.

I ran to the roadside. A taxi happened to be waiting there, so I didn’t think twice before opening the door and getting in.

“Driver, take me to the bus station, please!”

But after I gave him the destination, the man at the wheel didn’t start the car.

I grew impatient. “Why aren’t you driving? You…”

I hadn’t finished when I let out a scream.

I could see the “driver’s” face clearly.

He sat motionless behind the wheel, wearing a baseball cap pulled low over his face.

But I recognized him at once.

It was Zhao Lei!

So he really was alive!

The moment I saw him, I felt as if I were sitting on pins and needles. I frantically tugged at the door, trying to jump out and run.

Zhao Lei spoke in a low, sinister voice. “Don’t get out yet. I need to talk to you.”

My fingers stiffened. Like a machine, I stopped moving.

When fear reaches its peak, sometimes you go numb instead.

I asked him outright why he’d come looking for me. Was he planning to make a move against me?

Zhao Lei looked surprised. “Make a move against you?”

I gave a bitter laugh. “Stop pretending. Dr. Yang told me everything about you. You did all those things, didn’t you?”

“If I said I didn’t, would you believe me?” Zhao Lei replied coolly, even smiling a little.

I froze, then shook my head hard. “If you didn’t do it, why did you steal those documents?”

“You’ve got it wrong. The only file I really wanted to get back was my own.” His expression remained cold as he watched my face twitch. Slowly, he said each word: “I know you have a lot of questions, but there’s no time to explain now. I can only tell you this: neither that man surnamed Yang nor the taxi driver is a good person. You especially need to stay away from the taxi driver!”

“Why?”

My mind was in complete chaos. My face looked worse than if I were crying, and I nearly broke down as I shouted, “Don’t tell me the taxi driver is the one who’s really trying to hurt me! Do you have any evidence?”

“Not yet. But I can tell you one thing. The missing woman you read about in the paper was last seen getting into his taxi.”

“In the last few months, he’s been hanging around the blood station, picking up passengers. Almost everyone who has ridden with him thinks there’s something wrong with him.” Zhao Lei paused, then looked at me. “He must have told you that an organ-trafficking group was targeting you and promised to help you find somewhere to hide, right?”

I was completely stunned. My lips trembled.

“How do you know that?”

“I know all about it. He says the same thing to everyone who gets in his cab.” Zhao Lei gave a cold laugh, a strange look in his eyes.

“And everyone who believes him ends up being taken somewhere deserted. I saw that missing woman get into his taxi with my own eyes…”

My mouth hung open, but I couldn’t speak.

An invisible fear gripped my nerves, and my whole body trembled uncontrollably.

“Have you ever thought about it? The blood station is in such a remote place. What ordinary taxi driver would go there to find passengers? He may look like a cabbie, but he’s really looking for suitable targets.”

“Once he uses those lies to win a passenger’s trust, he drives them to some remote mountain or wilderness. Then someone else comes to finish the next step.”

“Don’t say another word!”

It was as if I’d been struck by lightning. I wanted to curl up into a ball.

But Zhao Lei kept going: