Chapter 1

A brutal case had shaken our town.

A man had sexually assaulted a young girl, leaving her psychologically traumatized and dependent on a urinary catheter for life.

Then he had grinned and produced a psychiatric certificate.

He thought it would save him from punishment.

The court sent him to our hospital.

Clever of him. He'd found the one place beyond the law.

01

“Wang Ba. Male. Thirty-six. A week ago, he lured a thirteen-year-old girl to his home and assaulted her. He ignored her pleas and subjected her to a severe beating, leaving her with broken ribs and other serious injuries—”

“All right, all right!” Wang Ba dug a little finger into his ear. “I've heard the charges enough times. I'm sick of them.”

He leaned back, laughing. “I'm here to get better, Your Honor. Not to play courtroom with you.”

Two officers stood behind him, one tall, the other short.

The younger officer shoved him, disgust written across his face. “Show some respect!”

Wang Ba merely shook his head and ignored him. He was convinced the law could no longer touch him.

“Director Li, here's his psychiatric certificate.” The older officer took a document from his briefcase and handed it to me. “See if there's anything wrong with it.”

He stressed the word “wrong.”

I understood perfectly.

Unfortunately, whoever had issued the certificate knew their work. There wasn't a flaw in it.

I shook my head.

Wang Ba burst into wild laughter. He pointed at his head and shouted at the younger officer.

“Officer Zhang, I've told you! I'm mentally ill. You can't do a thing to me!”

He stepped so close they were almost nose to nose.

“This place is beyond the law. A few years here and I'll be out. A hundred times better than prison.”

He boasted about the bargain he thought he'd struck, without a trace of remorse for the child.

“You animal!”

Veins bulged on Officer Zhang's forehead. He raised a fist, but the other officers held him back.

Wang Ba spread his arms.

“Go on, hit me! Throw away your career to punish a bastard like me!”

Officer Zhang glared at him, helpless with rage.

Wang Ba turned to me and held out his hand.

“Director. I'll be in your care from now on.”

I ignored the hand.

“First, congratulations on finding the one place beyond the law.”

I drew my stun gun and pressed it against his back. The shock sent him screaming to the floor.

Bending over him, I studied that repulsive face.

“Second, on my territory, you follow my rules. This isn't a convalescent home.”

“It's a psychiatric hospital.”

“What are you planning?”

Officer Zhang sat across from me, his voice hoarse, his face drawn.

In half a day, he seemed to have aged several years.

Outside, outrage over the case was still spreading. The child lay critically ill in hospital; her family seemed to have gone gray overnight. Yet the man responsible had apparently escaped punishment with a single certificate.

The case had pushed people past their limit. Even their most basic convictions about right and wrong had been shaken. Some were threatening to storm our hospital.

I poured Officer Zhang a coffee. He left it untouched, staring at the desk.

After a long silence, he spoke, choking on the words.

“I let him get away... I promised that child I'd catch the bad man. We kept our promise. We arrested him. And now this.”

His shoulders began to shake.

There was an anguish in this earnest young man's eyes that words could scarcely convey.

I patted his shoulder and smiled.

“You haven't let him get away. You've brought him exactly where he belongs. He'll soon understand that the law is the greatest shield civilization has.”

He looked up sharply. “What do you mean?”

I pointed at the surveillance monitor.

“We're in for quite a show.”

Wang Ba slowly came round, clutching his head. It took him a while to gather enough strength to get out of bed.

The room was tiny, with space for little more than a bed and a toilet.

Years of damp had coated the walls in green mold.

The smell couldn't have been pleasant. He covered his nose and stepped into the corridor.

It stretched a long way. The neglected lights flickered, making the gloom seem deeper and more threatening.

There was something special about this building.

It had once housed many psychiatric patients. After a savage struggle, only three had managed to remain.

Like venomous creatures sealed together in a pot: three survivors, each more dangerous than the rest.

Wang Ba knew nothing of that history. He wandered around, quite interested in exploring.

Before long, he spotted a room glowing pink.

His spirits lifted at once.

He hurried toward it like a dog that had caught a particularly irresistible scent.

Everything inside was pink: the doorframe, the carpet, the enormous bed.

White gauze hung around the bed. Huge stuffed animals crowded the pillows, with a long-haired figure lying among them.

The hair hid the sleeper's face. Beneath the covers, a powerful shape rose and fell with each steady breath.

Wang Ba mistook the figure for a young woman. His grin returned, and he approached the bed with unmistakably predatory intent.

Officer Zhang sprang to his feet.

“That filthy bastard!”

I pushed him back into his chair and told him to wait.

“Wait for what?” His face was red with urgency. “I'm not letting it happen again!”

Before I could explain, Wang Ba's expression supplied the answer.

He gave a strange yelp and snatched back his hand as though he'd touched a snake.

The sleeper woke and sat up.

The metal bedframe groaned under the movement.

A stretch revealed two enormous, hairy arms.

Those enticing curves had been spectacularly overdeveloped muscles.

The pink blanket slid down over a broad, hairy chest.

This was no delicate young woman. It was a bearded, broad-mouthed man, two meters tall, who looked capable of killing an ox with one punch.

Apparently the size-forty-five feet had given Wang Ba quite a fright.

“Who are you, mister?”

The giant rubbed sleepy eyes. The childlike voice made the contrast all the more startling.

“Mister, have you come to play with me?”