Chapter 5

Blood covered Chen Jin. Even the ugly, hairy mole on his face was spattered.

“Help! Help!”

Panting, I lifted the brazier from the floor and hurled it onto him.

“Die!”

Glowing coals spilled over his body.

He screamed.

Clutching his head, he twisted and writhed like a dying fish thrown into hot oil.

After the burning coals had tormented him, I quickly emptied a basin of cold water over him.

He was barely conscious, scarcely breathing.

I planted my foot on his bloody head.

“Guoguo cried in front of you. You hurt her until she couldn't move. Didn't you?”

Terrified now, he kept shaking his head.

“Please. Please spare me.”

“Is that the only thing you can say?”

I kicked his head like a football.

“Try something new!”

“Let… let me live…”

“When you're dead, I'll consider sparing you.”

I opened the combination lock on my suitcase.

Snakes and black rats spilled out in a writhing mass.

He screamed again. Tears ran down his bloody face. He crawled frantically, saying he didn't want to be bitten to death.

I ignored him and left.

The snakes weren't venomous. I had kept them shut in the suitcase and unfed for days.

They were desperately hungry. Faced with a bloodied, barely breathing man on the floor, they would surely hurry over to lick the blood.

Snakes and rats crawling over him—he would be sickened, terrified, wishing for death.

After leaving, I called Officer Li, hired several people, and went back to the village.

The villagers hated me.

They couldn't do anything to me.

I searched the mountain behind the village inch by inch.

At last, beneath a small mound of earth, I found my daughter's body.

It was badly decomposed.

Officer Li suggested cremating her there.

I refused.

Forgive me for disturbing you, Guoguo.

I know you don't want to stay buried in this revolting place.

I'll take you away. I'll take you to your mother.

Back in town, I contacted a funeral home and had her cremated.

That very night, I buried her beside her mother's grave.

Once everything was arranged, Officer Li contacted me.

Someone in the village had reported Chen Jin missing.

His meaning was clear.

Had I abducted him?

I remained perfectly calm.

“Officer Li, I'm a businessman. I'm busy every day. Why would I kidnap trash like him?”

He believed me.

That evening, I bought a bottle at a pesticide shop, then went to see Chen Jin.

It was his third day in that sunless basement.

When I opened the door, he was huddled in a corner, looking deranged.

“Don't come near me! Don't!”

He hadn't eaten for three days and nights. He looked as frail as duckweed, ready to sink at any moment.

I pressed the now-cold iron bar against his head.

“Kneel again. Apologize to Guoguo.”

Obediently, he crawled up.

The moment he knelt, his body shook violently and collapsed.

I knew. His injuries, the cold, the lack of food and water—his body couldn't bear it anymore.

I didn't care.

“If you don't kneel, I'll hack you to death!”

He trembled again and forced himself to bow.

Each movement was distorted.

Hideously so.

After three bows, I crouched and cut into his finger.

His voice was weak, but full of fear.

“I… I'm bowing.”

I set the knife between his fingers and pressed.

Crack.

The little sound of his index finger coming off, together with his scream, sounded like wonderful music.

He cried out in agony. Utter terror filled his dull eyes.

I placed the blade between another pair of fingers.

I knew how cruel my words would be. I said them anyway.

“Guoguo lost four children because of you. So I'll take four fingers.

“One finger for one life. Fair.”

I struck again.

Hot, rank blood splashed my face.

He screamed.

I brought the knife down again and again.

At last, only five of his ten fingers remained.

He fainted from the pain.

I poured chili water over him.

He woke screaming.

By then, he had no illusions about escaping. Every word was a plea for me to kill him quickly.

At last, I began to feel satisfied.

Guoguo, I've avenged you.

I've made him taste the pain you endured.

I opened a can of soft drink, handed him a bottle of Coca-Cola, and said:

“Drink it all. I'll let you go.”

He seemed intent on dying.

At any rate, he swallowed it without hesitation.

Afterward, he felt no discomfort. He only looked at me.

“You… you'll let me go?”

I said nothing.

My daughter is dead, Chen Jin.

Only when you're dead can I spare you.

I left the basement and called Officer Li.

“I've just killed someone. I'm turning myself in.”

He reached the basement quickly.

When they carried Chen Jin out, he no longer looked human. His naked body was covered in blood, maggots, and rotting flesh.

Officer Li knew why I had taken revenge. He sighed.

“As long as he's alive, there's still something we can salvage.”

I smiled.

“He won't live much longer.”

He looked at the Coca-Cola can on the floor.

“You poisoned him?”

I nodded.

“He drank paraquat.”

Officer Li sighed.

“Why do this? If you'd filed a complaint, he'd have gone to prison.”

I asked:

“If he'd tormented your daughter until she froze to death, what would you do?”

For a long time, he said nothing.

Six days later, Chen Jin died.

Once swallowed, paraquat was almost certain to kill.

Within twenty-four hours, his organs would begin failing one by one.

Within thirty-six, he would begin vomiting blood, unable to live or die.

After that, every breath would feel like tiny needles piercing his nasal passages. The pain would keep him from breathing normally.

As his organs failed in agony, he would watch himself die.

I was sentenced to four years.

I had taken revenge.

I felt no joy.

However terribly Chen Jin died, it couldn't bring my Guoguo back.

I sincerely hoped there would never again be human traffickers in the world.

More than that, I hoped there would be no buyers.

Without a trade, there would be no harm.

And no more families torn apart.

Not even by death.

Four years later, I left prison and went to the cemetery.

On their headstones, my wife and daughter—the two people I loved most—smiled as brightly as flowers.