80 Die Together

After reading Jin Ze’s text messages, the trembling unease left behind by that pervert’s slaughter gradually began to settle.

I remembered Fang Qinghe’s earlier warning: no matter how dark the people and things around me became, there had to remain a light in my heart, something to guide me so I would not become a true demon and so I could complete my undercover assignment.

For me, Jin Ze was that light. Confident and bright, filled with a sense of justice, he could face any opponent, no matter how powerful or deranged, with calm courage.

I thought of Jin Ze as my model. I had to finish this undercover mission successfully, then earn the right to stand before him again. By then, even if I were still branded a criminal, I would at least have the standing to tell him that although I had been standing in hell, I had seen heaven.

At that moment, Baiye came close and stood beside me. He did not snatch my phone to look at it, yet he seemed to know everything all the same.

He asked at once, “That cop sent you a message?”

I curved my lips and, pretending cold indifference, said to him, “Yes. A naive little cop.”

Baiye smiled at me, then said, “I once had the chance to kill him, but I did not do it.”

I asked, “Why not? Because he is as handsome as the rest of us?”

Baiye gave a slight shake of his head. “No. Because I was looking forward to you, Master, killing him with your own hands. I saved his life for you.”

At his words, something in my heart gave a sudden jolt. If I were truly driven to that point, would I, like when I killed Scarface, personally butcher Jin Ze?

I did not dare think further. Nor did I reply to Jin Ze. Instead, I quickly switched off my phone. I was certain the police were keeping constant watch over it, and by now this would have been enough for them to pinpoint my location.

Then Baiye and I left Scarface’s hideout. As we went, I caught a flash of frigid killing intent in Baiye’s eyes.

I knew Baiye might be feeling murderous toward Jin Ze, and all at once I began to understand why Jin Ze had sent me so many messages.

Perhaps they were not only for my eyes, but for Baiye’s as well. Jin Ze must have guessed that Baiye and I might be together. He was a highly skilled psychologist, adept at reading the minds of criminals. He knew Baiye cared about me, so he deliberately sent those messages full of concern to provoke him. And once Baiye lost his temper and went looking for trouble, Jin Ze would have his chance to arrest him.

It was a clash between two genuine young masters, a collision of justice and evil. I longed to see such sparks fly, yet I did not want that outcome to come to pass, because I had a feeling Jin Ze might not be able to outmaneuver the Avenger, and Fang Qinghe’s exact position remained opaque to me. Without Fang Qinghe’s support, if Jin Ze went up against the Avenger, it would be a dead end.

Soon we had left there. On the way, I asked Baiye where we were going next. He said he would take me to learn the truth behind this murder game. My heart jumped into my throat. That was the main purpose of my undercover assignment, so I had to see it through.

Instead, Baiye took me to the train station. We boarded a train and left the city, without even buying tickets. I did not even know which city we would be getting off in next.

Nor did I know, now that we had gone so far from the city, whether the eavesdropping device Fang Qinghe had given me would still work. I only knew Baiye was probably still guarding against me. Fear crept in. If Baiye killed me on the train, I truly would have no way to resist.

Then, in the train aisle, Baiye suddenly slipped a note into my hand. After glancing around to make sure no one was watching, I opened it quietly at once.

It was a list, and I quickly realized it was a roster of the victims in this string of perverse murder cases. Aside from the first three names, which I did not recognize, the rest were Liu Yang, Chen Mengying, and the Zheng couple. Clearly, the first three must have been the three strangers whose heads I had killed.

Written after every victim’s name was the word “head.” It seemed to indicate that the heads of these victims were to be cut off. Yet after two of the names, there was also a parenthetical note reading “brain.” Those two were Liu Yang and Zhang Wentong. More strangely, one other name had the parenthetical note “liver,” and that victim was Liu She.

After reading the list, I instantly thought of the skin ledger I had once found under the bed at Zheng Wei’s forensic pathology home. I remembered that the ledger had specified which parts or organs of a human body were to be used for what kind of cosmetics.

So did the organs marked on the list Baiye gave me have some connection to the corpse cosmetics?

I could not be certain, but then it suddenly came back to me: in this whole series of cases, Liu Yang’s head had been taken away right from the start and never appeared under the police’s nose. Zhang Wentong’s head had also been removed by the killer very quickly, while the other heads had been taken later by comparison. The Zheng couple’s heads were taken only at the very end, and Liu She’s and Fang Lin’s heads were not even taken in the end; they were left behind.

And there was another thing. Liu She’s death had been the most brutal among all the victims. The flesh on his body had been turned to mince, and a snake had been drilled into his body. But that might only have been a surface appearance. The truth hidden beneath this perverse slaughter seemed to be that Liu She had actually had his liver removed.

At that thought, I felt a chill run through me. Baiye had not lied to me. This murder game was indeed premeditated. It seemed to be a frenzy of killing on the surface, but its true targets were not the victims’ heads at all. The real targets were Liu Yang and Zhang Wentong’s brains, and Liu She’s liver.

As for the other victims, first, they were being used to avenge the Dawn Organization, since they were members of Dawn. Second, they were there to disguise the true purpose. After all, if the killers had simply targeted Liu Yang, Zhang Wentong, and Liu She, it would have been far too obvious.

But what was the meaning of Liu Yang and Zhang Wentong’s brains, and Liu She’s liver?

A person’s brain and liver are not so different from anyone else’s, so why single out these organs in particular?

Confused, I looked toward Baiye, but he merely took the note from my hand and burned it at once with a match. Yes, a match, not a lighter. Baiye really did have an old-fashioned streak.

Then he fell silent and looked out the window. I did not ask him anything further.

After two more stops, Baiye led me off the train. It was not some major station, just a small temporary stop.

By then it was already deep into the night. After leaving that little station, we took a taxi to another place. I was completely unfamiliar with it, and I did not know whether that deranged Chen Mu had ever been here before, so I could only pretend to know the place fairly well and follow Baiye every step of the way.

In the end, Baiye brought me to a villa in the suburbs. When we reached the entrance, Baiye suddenly said to me, “Amu, Asura is inside. He will be the one to tell us the truth.”

At the name Asura, my whole body stiffened. It was not only because I had already learned of his existence from Professor He, and that he was a senior figure in the Avenger Alliance, the person who directly issued my assignments every time; Professor He had never given me any other information about him. It was also because I was instinctively tense. Could my undercover identity really remain hidden from this Asura?

I nodded to Baiye, and Baiye entered the villa using the password.

Yet even after we went in, I still did not see the so-called Asura. Baiye led me to a metal door similar to the one I had once seen at Professor He’s place.

I thought Asura might be behind that door. Then Baiye suddenly said, “Amu, it is time for the routine inspection.”

He pressed the switch on the metal door. When it opened, I saw that inside was not a room at all, but a narrow space with mirrors on all four sides. There were also many precise instruments around it, looking as though they could scan the human body. I reckoned that if I had any metal on me, like a bug or a listening device, it would be found instantly. It seemed that meeting such an important figure from the Avenger Alliance was not going to be easy.

I panicked then, because the last time I met Baiye, I had secretly tucked the eavesdropping device Fang Qinghe had given me into my underwear, just in case Baiye searched my pockets or clothes.

But now it looked as though the paper would not be able to wrap the fire for long.

As I stood there in mounting tension, Baiye indeed said, “Master, I am sorry. Please undress completely and enter the inspection chamber.”

My body stiffened. Still, I had no choice but to force myself to say in a low voice, “Baiye, you dare inspect me?”

Baiye replied directly, “I am sorry, Master. These are the organization’s rules. You, Master, must also inspect me in the same way.”

I continued in an increasingly displeased, low voice, “And if I refuse to cooperate?”

Baiye said calmly, “Then we die together.”