Chapter 4

Which meant it was packed full.

Everyone knew a computer case needed empty space for cooling.

Xiao Cheng's expression changed.

His hands trembled as he removed the screws and pulled off the panel.

Thud.

Without its support, the thing inside fell to the floor.

My voice shook so badly I could hear it myself.

“Call the team...”

“We've found another victim.”

What had fallen from the tower was a shriveled corpse.

Nothing but skin and bone.

Dark red skin stretched tight around glass-marble eyes.

The terror of death was permanently imprinted in the pupils.

To force the body into the tower, the killer had mercilessly broken every bone.

It lay in a grotesquely twisted pose.

The abdomen was a vast empty cavity.

Broken ribs jutted through flesh.

That hollow belly looked like a monster's mouth full of fangs.

Or some evil sacrifice.

Xiao Cheng's throat convulsed.

Especially when he saw that the wires he'd just connected led straight into the victim's flesh.

He couldn't hold it back.

He vomited on the spot.

My own stomach heaved, but I forced myself to open every remaining tower.

The contents were worse.

Contorted bodies.

Abdominal cavities gaping like demonic mouths.

Organs immersed in an unknown solution, even twitching faintly.

To call it a procession of demons wouldn't have been an exaggeration.

Yu Tian was formally arrested.

Experts identified the victims hidden in the towers.

His fingerprints were found on the cases too.

Every piece of evidence pointed to him as the man behind the organ-trafficking ring.

After killing the victims and removing their organs, they dried the bodies, packed them into computer towers, and exported them to overseas shell companies.

Once the ships left territorial waters, the cases containing bodies were thrown into the sea.

Those containing organs were disguised as computer parts, sold to shell companies, and fed into the black market.

I'd thought Yu Tian would stubbornly deny everything.

As I knew him, even with the evidence laid out before him, he'd grit his teeth and refuse.

What I hadn't expected was that he'd admit every crime without a single denial.

Not only did he confess to running the ring and colluding with foreign organizations, he volunteered his plan to frame Meng Erxi and Wang Wuyu.

“Why are you telling us everything?”

In the interview room, I finally had to ask.

He leaned back.

His wrists and ankles were shackled, but he looked perfectly at ease.

“I'm going to die anyway. You'll ask, so I might as well tell you and save us the trouble.”

It made no sense.

Everyone feared death.

Especially a thug like Yu Tian.

Yet now he seemed indifferent to whether he lived or died.

Relaxed, even.

That made it stranger.

“Hey, can I have a cigarette? I'm cooperating, aren't I? Even if you're executing me, you can let me have one first. Not much to ask.”

At my silence, he raised two fingers as though holding a cigarette.

“No. Regulations. No smoking.”

I answered coldly, stood, and took the recorder and written statement to the archives.

But when I returned, through the interview-room window I saw Yu Tian with a cigarette between his lips.

Eyes narrowed, drawing deep drags.

I couldn't tell what he was thinking.

I frowned.

Once we were done, I'd have to find out who'd openly broken discipline by giving a cigarette to a serious offender.

Back in the office, Tang Lin called.

“Lu, excellent work. The higher-ups are very pleased. How about being my deputy next year? When I retire, this position will be yours.”

His voice was full of delight.

“I'm still a long way off.”

I smiled awkwardly.

It wasn't false modesty.

I'd solved exactly one major case. I had far too little experience.

“Never mind that. Has Yu Tian confessed? It's time we wrapped this up.”

He changed the subject.

“Everything. The charges are established: smuggling, organ trafficking, murder. In a case this serious, the final sentence will almost certainly be death.”

I answered honestly.

“Good. Criminals like that deserve punishment.”

Tang Lin's voice immediately turned serious.

“Now I have an order.”

I acknowledged it and closed the window and door.

“Yu Tian's crimes have had a serious social impact. We've received information that victims' relatives may attack during his transfer.”

“To ensure he reaches trial, the higher-ups have decided to move him to the detention center on the outskirts at two this morning. That will minimize risk.”

“Also, to prevent him becoming agitated and killing himself, the sentence will only be announced in court. Until then, no information about it is to be disclosed. Clear?”

He spoke slowly, as though afraid I might miss something, and asked for confirmation at the end.

“Clear.”

I answered firmly.

With a particularly dangerous criminal, there was no such thing as too careful.

To maintain secrecy, I told no one about the transfer.

At three in the morning, I escorted Yu Tian into the police car.

Apart from the driver, only he and I were in the back.

His hands were cuffed behind him, and heavy shackles locked his feet.

Resistance?

He could barely move a finger.

The car left headquarters for the detention center outside the city.

Halfway there, in the dim streetlight, I saw him bare his teeth at me.

The sinister smile chilled me.

“You can't kill me.”

“I've got people above.”

He grinned in delight.

“I won't be executed.”

“They'll let me out.”

“Then I'll take my time getting back at you.”

“A little at a time.”

“Torturing you, a little at a time.”

His hoarse laughter was like a venomous snake hidden in the dark.

Gooseflesh rose on me.

I was about to speak when brakes shrieked and a horn blared beside my ear.

I turned.

All I saw was the black bulk of a truck coming straight across us.

Crash.

The world spun.

I saw the driver hurled from the wreck, his limbs torn off.

Yu Tian and I were flung through the air and landed in grass beside the road.

I coughed up blood and tried to push myself upright.

Under the pale moonlight, a figure jumped from the truck's cab.

He kicked aside fragments of the police car.

As though he'd spotted something, he drew a gun.

Bang.

Bang.

Two shots into the wreckage.

I shuddered.

In an instant, I understood.

This was no accident.

It was a planned silencing.

I looked at Yu Tian.

Those shots seemed to have taken the bones out of him.

He huddled there, trembling.

“Looks like your boss isn't very reliable.”

“They're killing both of us to shut us up.”

I nudged him with my foot and lowered my voice.

I already had a suspicion about who was behind it.

“Impossible...”

“No...”

“He promised...”