Someone set a fire at a KTV, 17 AIDS patients died, and the only clue to solving the case was an elementary school diary

The snake hot pot on the table was boiling, and Fyren picked up a strainer, from which I dipped a small ball into the bean sauce. The ball was a hand-pounded combination of snake meat and pork, mixed with shiitake mushrooms and horseshoes, and richly juicy, with a springy, firm, and sweet texture. Three days ago we arrived in Chaozhou, specifically picking game stores to eat, this is the third.

Haley said FuBian had a man who ran a snake farm in Chaozhou, "Shane." I asked the owners of every game store, but none of them knew this man, and I wondered if Haley was lying. Fyren clinked glasses with the store owners and asked, "Where do you get your snakes from?"

We drove to the snake farm that the store owner told us about, the owner said that there are only two snake farms in the whole of Chaozhou, and that his snakes are the most beautiful, Fyren then asked the owner of the other farm if he was Shane, "No." The other person shook his head, "Shane's farms don't sell to game shops, they mainly take the poison and supply it to pharmaceutical companies." Fyren then asked the owner of the other snake farm if he was Shane, "No." He shook his head, "Shane doesn't sell his snakes to game stores, he mainly takes the poison and supplies it to pharmaceutical companies."

Shane is a Shantou native. in March 2011, he took methamphetamine with someone at his Guangzhou residence. the other person overdosed and died, and the body was left for several days, emitting a foul odor before it was discovered. shane was sentenced to three years for the crime of tolerating drug use by another person. he was released from prison in January 2014.

We went to Shane's snake breeding base near Shanfen Road in Raoping County, Chaozhou City, and observed him covertly for two days. We identified Shane himself: he has curly hair, a country face, thick eyebrows, wears a pair of black-rimmed glasses, is about one meter six and a half tall, and drives a black Volkswagen. He arrives at the snake farm at 7:30 a.m. every day, makes a trip back home at about 12:00 p.m., and then goes back to the farm at 2:00 p.m. and stays there until nine o'clock in the evening.

His family is in Jiayi Garden in Xiangqiao District, and every morning at 6:30 a.m., he would send a child to the nearby Tian Elementary and Middle School to go to school.

We were worried that he would know what we looked like, so we moved very stealthily. From inside the car, I used my camera to get a closer look at the kid, and from the school badge he wore on his chest, I knew his name was Bin and that he was in fourth grade, class four.

Other than that, didn't see anyone else come in or out. When Shane leaves, we get out of the car.

Jiayi Garden is home to many outsiders and has a complex staff, so most of the tenants simply moved out and gave their houses to agents.

The neighborhood hallways are sound-activated lights, and one night when Shane came home, we watched him park his car, go into Building C, and in less than a minute, a light came on in the fifth-floor aisle window.

We took the elevator to the fifth floor, four rooms spread out on each floor, and on the shoe rack in front of the door to Room 02, there were only two pairs of slippers, one large and one small, and I kept watch while Fyren pulled the partitioned ear out of his backpack and put it on the door, and said to me afterward, "There's a TV in there and vocals."

He took out his cell phone to search for WiFi, and inadvertently found three WiFi with the prefix "Chaoju" in the neighborhood; the full name of the WiFi in Room 02 was "Chaoju-c502", and the other two were " Chaoju-c601" and "Chaoju-c204".

"The agency will put the same prefix on the WiFi of the rental property and go around the neighborhood." Fyren said.

Waiting for the elevator, the hallway suddenly came a howl, I was startled, listen carefully, it is a male voice, the voice from the 502, abrupt, sharp, strange, next door to the room of 501 is still ringing the sound of adults scolding the child, the people around the shouting seems to be unconcerned, we want to find out what happened, the howl but stopped. I looked at the time, probably lasted only two minutes.

In the neighborhood outside the street, there really is a "Chaoju rental housing" store, a short-haired girl received us, I asked in Chaoshanese Jia Yi Park housing, she said there are three sets of rental housing, A building two sets, C building a set.

"Isn't there a room on the fifth floor of Building C?" I asked the girl.

"It's on the sixth floor, the one on the fifth floor is rented."

"Can you see when it expires? We're more of a feng shui believer, so if it's due soon, we can wait, and it's no problem to raise the rent a bit."

"Let's see." The girl opened her computer and didn't avoid us. I glanced at the tenant's name which was Shane, living in building C, room 502, "Sorry, the fifth floor has a three-year contract that doesn't expire until the following March. The one on the sixth floor has a better orientation. Let me show you around."

The girl took the key and walked ahead. During the viewing we cornered her to inquire about the 502 personnel, and she said there should be three people living there, "an adult with a small child who came to rent the room."

"The other one is the wife, right?"

"No." The girl shook her head, "It's a guy."

"My lord's father?"

"Not really sure about that one." The girl smiles at me.

"We came over early today to look at the house and heard someone yelling in 502." I looked over at the girl, "It seems like something is wrong."

The girl was a bit embarrassed, "It's fine, a tenant complained about it before, every morning, the man in 502 would scream for a while, just for a while, and then it was not strange anymore. We've talked to the owner, but he says it's fine."

Shane left his hometown after his release from prison and now operates a snake farm in Chaozhou, living a two-person life, which we observe for days with nothing to show for it.

Is the kid named Bin his son? And who was the man howling in the room? Where's his wife? We must find out more about his family before we can make our next move.

We've spent most of the last few days in the car, annoyed in our minds, Fyren twists his cervical vertebrae and makes a clicking sound, "For a change, look up that Bin kid."

"How do I find out?" I took a sip of my coffee.

"Go to his school tonight."

We waited until 2:00 a.m., climbed the banyan tree next to the wall one after the other, and jumped along the branches into the enclosure. In front of us was a large playground.

Fourth grade is on the fourth floor of the school building, the school locks are simply constructed, Fyren pulls out two pieces of wire and opens the iron gate at the top of the stairs, we head up the stairs and into the office, "Look for the composition books or journals for the fourth grade class of four."

When you write in fourth grade, you basically can't get away from writing about people and scenes and things, and kids haven't mastered the skill of fiction yet, so it's mostly documentary.

Many teachers also collect student journals to review and correct.

We turned to "Bin's" notebook and had a quick look. In "The One I Miss Most," Bin wrote about how his mom got sick and died a year ago, and how he promised his mom that he would listen to his dad.

In Uncle Cobra's Cobra, he writes that because his father had been away from home for many years, when he first met him, he thought he was just an uncle who wore glasses. Once his "uncle" took him to a snake farm and he saw many "cobras" without glasses. "Uncle Cobra told me that he had traveled around the world before, that he drew a big map of the world for me, and that he also had a hobby of acting and singing."

In one of his diary entries, Bin writes about the deaths of his mom and grandma, and his dad's decision to open a snake farm in Chaozhou, where he had to abandon his kitten and leave his hometown buddies behind.

In a recent diary entry, Bin writes about how he hates his brother-in-law because he is a bad person who is often angry with his grandmother, takes her money, and on a few occasions even strikes her. Last year, when Uncle Junior was injured, Dad brought him home in a wheelchair with gauze wrapped around his body, "Dad told me that Uncle Junior burned himself playing with fire. Last week my dad hired a nanny to take care of him, but the nanny left yesterday. My dad said that because my uncle's face scared the nanny, my dad had no choice but to put a computer in the house and take care of my uncle while working in the factory. I feel sorry for Uncle Junior, but he giggles at me and drools a lot, and I don't hate him so much anymore."

Shane's wife died a year ago, and the man shouting in the room is Shane's younger brother, who, from Bin's description, is supposedly demented from the burns. Because he can't hire a babysitter, Shane has set up surveillance in the house to look after his brother. Luckily, she didn't rush into the house yesterday. I took pictures of all of Bin's essays and diaries.

The next day, when Shane drove away from home, we went to the door of 502 and knocked twice; the sound of the TV inside remained, but no one answered.

"It takes an hour to get from Tin Primary School to the snake farm on Shanfen Road, not counting the traffic. shane can't look at the home surveillance until he gets to the snake farm. during the time he's driving, we'll go in and be out in half an hour." Fyren checked the time, 6:50 a.m. He quickly opened the door.

Inside the house, the air conditioner was turned on to produce heat, and a strong odor of medicine surged. After a narrow doorway, I turned sideways to the living room, first saw a LCD TV, playing a program on the Chaozhou Channel. Then I saw a laptop computer on the coffee table with its back to the door, and the computer screen was facing a recliner not far away, leaning on which was a man who turned his face to see someone intruding, although it was known that he was a burn victim, but the sight of a skeleton-like face still gave me a shock.

The top of the hairless head reveals a red spot that secretes yellowish tissue fluid inside. The right ear is shriveled, the whites of the eyes are red and glowing, and a plaster like asphalt is applied around both eyes. The bridge of his nose is crooked, and his two nostrils face the sky. His mouth grinned, revealing jagged yellow teeth, and sticky saliva dangled from the corners of his mouth, dripping onto a white cloth he wore on his chest. The entire body was tied with gauze that had turned yellow, and outside of the gauze, a thin blanket covered it. The hands were black and red, and the index and middle fingers of the right hand were glued together. A pink warm water bag was strapped to her abdomen.

When he saw us, his cheeks and facial muscles stretched and his mouth opened wider. He smiled at us and made a "huh" sound.

We avoided the living room where the camera was pointed.

In the study drawer, we find the injury certificate and the insurance contract.

Shane's brother, named Ling, born in 1987, was killed in an arson attack at 10 p.m. on April 21, 2014, at the Shantou Cheer KTV, resulting in burns to 85 percent of his body, which was determined to be a first-degree serious injury. The insurance contract states that although Ling had been smoking drugs three days before he was killed, there was no connection to the fire accident and the insurance company paid the claim.

On the wall of Bin's room is a four-meter hand-drawn map of the world, and underneath it are several photographs, including one from last August of Shane and his son standing wetly in front of a swimming pool, Shane wearing a pair of green swimming trunks, and no bat tattoos to be found on the front of his torso.

In Shane's room, there is a dressing table with some theatrical headdresses hanging from the hooks on the side of the table, and as we got closer, there were many photos of Chiu Chow Opera plastered on the wall around her, and she was mostly playing the role of a flower girl in terms of her make-up and dress. I was reminded of Bin's essay - "Dad likes to perform and sing opera", I didn't realize that Shane is also a fan of Teochew Opera. On the wall calendar, the day of February 11, 2015 is circled in red pen, with a note next to it: a performance of Teochew Opera for the small year in Gangjian Village, Rongcheng District, Jieyang. That's tomorrow.

In another desk drawer in the room, a photo album was found, documenting Shane's upbringing. He practiced martial arts as a child, then joined the Orchid Tide Theater Troupe, and looked to be about ten years old. In some of the group photos, a certain person is cropped out, and in one of the troupe group photos, the cropping position is in the center of the first row, so it is assumed that the person who is cropped out should be a teacher or a leader of the troupe.

We were observing the photos when a howl suddenly erupted, making me shudder. Remembering Ling's behavior every morning, I reacted to the sound made by my damaged vocal cords, which was harsh enough to be heard outside, and now that I was in the room, my eardrums were being irritated by the screaming, and even though the sound subsided very quickly, a thin sweat was seeping out of my forehead. I glanced at Fyren, closed the album carefully, put it back in its original place, and then walked out of the living room. The patient is still watching the TV, Fyren walks to the door, looks in the cat's eye, and says to me, "Get out!"

"Where's the other room?" I opened it up and looked in; there was a single bed in the corner, with knitting bags and boxes strewn across the purple sheets, not like it was occupied.

"Guess it's a utility room." Fyren looked away, "Another time."

"Ling does drugs." Walking out of the neighborhood, Fyren speculated, "Howling like that every morning, I guess he's a drug addict."

In the car, I turned on the computer to search for news about "Shantou Happy KTV".

"Before we went to Hong Kong to investigate YasinChen last month, we searched out a couple of news stories about him, the first one was the murder of his wife and brother, and the second news story was a fire at one of his KTVs in Shantou, which killed seven people and injured eleven others." I turned the screen to Fyren to see, "That KTV is Cheerful KTV, Ling was burned there."

"Could it be insurance fraud?" Fyren's first thought was the same as mine, "Shane buys his brother high-cost insurance and then borrows the accident to get the settlement."

"This presupposes that he knew there was an accident that day."

"The fire was done by someone in the bat gang, and then a scapegoat was burned at the scene to pin the arson on the deceased."

"It doesn't feel that simple." I said, "The perpetrator does."

The news said that someone had spilled gasoline in the aisle of the KTV that night and set it on fire, and that the perpetrator had doused his body with gasoline beforehand and was also burned to death at the scene. Those who escaped said that the perpetrator shouted "Let's die together" in the midst of the fire.

"Look at this." I pulled the news down to the bottom, "After investigation, the arsonist's motive for the crime is likely to be revenge on society. According to his wife's confirmation, after her husband contracted AIDS from a prostitute, he became misanthropic and eventually caused a major disaster."

"AIDS?" Fyren pondered.

I unfolded the list of AIDS patients Haley had left behind and found the name of the KTV arsonist in it.

"This is the address of Cheerful KTV." I opened the two pages and compared them. "This is the address of Silverado Nightclub." These two addresses are identical."

The predecessor of Cheerful KTV was "Yindu Night Club".

In October 2013, the Yindu Nightclub was shut down in the wake of the AIDS scandal, and soon after the venue was purchased by YasinChen and transformed into the Happy KTV, which in late April 2014 was the scene of an arson attack.

"FuBian is aware that "Yindu" is a hidden danger, and once an AIDS patient wants to take revenge, the first choice is the place where he was infected.

That's why YasinChen bought Yindu and reopened it with a new look of Happy KTV, letting innocents in and waiting for some avenger to come and slaughter them. The wickedness of this scheme gives me chills.

"FuBian and YasinChen know that Cheerful KTV may have had AIDS retaliation, but the arsonist has nothing to do with the Bat Organization, and what time he committed the crime is a matter of chance, which means that Ling's burns, may really be an accident." I said.

"What appears to be an accident is actually a premeditated crime." Fyren corrected.

"What a great move to kill someone with a borrowed knife."

"It's too boring, let's find a place to eat first and take our time figuring it out." Fyren started the car, "Your place, your call."

"Since you're in Teochew," I suggested, "try the sashimi."

"I don't like fish."

"Not just fish." I said, "And oysters."

We drove to Old Fine Fish and Sashimi on Sunnybrook Road.

The sashimi is thin to the point of being translucent, consisting of grass carp peeled, boned and dried, sliced into thin slices and placed on round bamboo gimlets. We ordered a platter of sashimi and shrimp sashimi, a plate of arctic scallops, half a dozen oysters, and seafood congee for two. Just as we were about to eat, the owner's wife came over and instructed us to put a slice of sashimi in a small bowl, add cilantro, preserved vegetables, onions, chili peppers, kimbap, shredded radish, and a spoonful of deep-fried garlic oil, which I scooped into my mouth and chewed, making it tender and crunchy. The seafood congee here is different from the casserole congee, the rice soup is separated, after eating the sashimi and then drink a bowl of hot congee water, refreshing.

"Is it possible that Shane met FuBian because of his brother's burns and was brainwashed into the organization by Fu?" Fyren picks up a slice of Arctic Shell and dips it lightly in the wasabi.

"Look at this." I zoom in on the cell phone photo, "Bin's composition book mentions more than once that Grandma told him, 'Your dad shouldn't have helped Ling.'11 The two of them were working in Guangzhou and shared a room together. Could the help here be helping his brother take the blame."

Fyren picks up an oyster and flicks the meat and juice into his mouth with his chopsticks, his eyes glued to his cell phone screen, the knot in his throat rolling up and down a bit, "Well, I don't think the whole drug thing goes well with Shane either."

"The guy who overdosed and died, I checked his education, he was a student at a vocational high school in Shantou, and when I looked at Ling's file this morning, he attended that same vocational high school, and the two used to be good friends." I said.

"The two were using drugs in their room, their friend died in an accident, Ling turned to his brother for help, and Shane took the blame for that to save him and get his brother out of Canton." Fyren swallowed another oyster, "Ling was burned in the fire like that, there are many ways to harm him if he had the intention to do so. yet Shane still placed him in his home to take care of him. I tend to think he loves his brother."

"If Shane really did take the fall for his brother for three years, it's unlikely that he'd frame him after he got out of prison, and with Ling's burns, Shane would just think it was an accident, not realizing that it was a crime the Bat gang had been planning for a long time." I said, "Tell him the truth about his brother's burns and will he help us in turn?"

"It's the safest way to go at the moment." Fyren tilted his head back and poured the oyster into his mouth, "If Blaze's soft spot is gold, Shane's should be his brother."

At seven o'clock in the evening, we got off the Old Beihe Bridge in Jieyang City, turned left into the Casket Song Road, and inquired with the passers-by in Chaoshanese, "Where to do a big show?" Passers-by said the place, the car can not enter, we get off with the flow of people, walk across an arch bridge, came to a Chengdi, directly in front of the bamboo built into a theater, theater next to the tent hanging a preview sign, the stage in front of a square stereo. The red curtain in front of the stage is hanging down, the play has not yet begun, but there are already many old people sitting under the stage waiting. The preview shows that tonight's play is "The Hairpin".

We stood in the shadows of the streetlights, waiting for the Tide show to open and for Shane to take the stage.

With the sound of a big drum, the curtain slowly opened and one by one, the characters of the flower faces on the stage appeared. We watched for over an hour, sifting through the height and voice conditions, but in the end we were not sure which actor was Shane. After the curtain fell, we headed to the back of the stage, where a wooden staircase was set up underneath the stage, and entered the backstage, where some people looked at us, but didn't stop us. I inquired about Shane in Teochew, and he pointed to the pink flower girl who was sitting in front of the dressing table, removing her makeup. We were surprised, because he sang in a purely female voice during the performance, and because his makeup and demeanor were extremely flattering, we didn't see him as a man from the start.

Footsteps creaked on the boards and we walked up behind him.

Feeling someone behind her, Shane, who had already removed half of her makeup, looked into the mirror, her head didn't move, her eyes went up and then down as she continued to remove her makeup. Slowly, he said, "May I help you?" The voice is downward, thick, and very different from the singing voice from earlier.

"Wanted to talk to you." Fyren said.

"We don't seem to know each other." The other wiped off the remaining half of her makeup to reveal her face.

"We wanted to talk to you about your brother." Fyren said.

"Oh?" The other man rose from his chair and I moved back half a step, "My brother has nothing to say."

"Where's FuBian?" Fyren said.

Shane pauses for a few seconds in his undressing, before removing his pink costume and hanging himself on the hook next to the dresser, and then removing his white liner, revealing his lean backside, which I look up and down, and doesn't have a bat tattoo.

"Let's have a late night snack together." He took his clothes from the hanger and put them on slowly, after which he said goodbye to his coworkers and walked out of the theater studio.

We walked in front of a rice noodle stand in the alley and each ordered a noodle and a cup of stew.

Taking a seat on the bench, Shane asked, How did you find me? Other than going through his son's composition book and sneaking into his house to search it, the rest Fyren said truthfully.

"Since you know that I'm in league with FuBian, how dare you come to me? Aren't you afraid of danger?" Shane asked.

"We think you're being used." Fyren replied.

"Oh?" Shane stopped eating, "How so?"

"Your brother's severe burns are a premeditated crime by FuBian."

"That's impossible."

"This is our morning to go to Shantou to investigate the Cheerful KTV arsonist information, he is a fireworks factory boss in Shantou, Shantou, 13 years frequently in and out of the "Yindu Nightclub", and later even adopted one of the ladies, infected with AIDS, last April sprouted the idea of revenge, but at this time the "Yindu nightclub", has been FuBian changed into a happy KTV, your brother and the rest of the 17 victims, are FuBian through the hands of the arsonist of the object of the crime, is not an accident." Fyren printed out the investigation information and held it out of his bag for Shane to see, "This is all true, if you don't believe me, you can verify it."

"FuBian didn't know beforehand that there was such an AIDS incident at the Silver City Nightclub." Shane's expression was serious, "Even if he knew, the retaliatory behavior of AIDS patients is uncontrollable, he couldn't have foreseen it."

"He could have foreseen it, because he was the one who got Haley to spread the AIDS outbreak at the Silverado nightclub. Now it's not hard to buy the defunct Silverado, turn it into the same kind of place, induce it, and inspire the AIDS patients to retaliate. It's a chain of crime he's orchestrated, and your brother is his victim." Fyren placed the list on the table again, "This is the list of people with AIDS that FuBian asked Haley to compile, none of the people in it were accidentally infected."

"That's impossible." Shane's right cheek muscle twitched slightly, "I don't believe it."

"Mr. Shane, we're looking for you this time after prior investigation, and although you're in cahoots with FuBian, we've learned from some side sources that you're friendly to people, filial to your parents, and three years ago, even went to prison for your brother's sins." I said, "FuBian used you."

"Why is FuBian doing this?" Shane asked.

It was hard to imagine being one of the Bat-religionists asking such an outsider's question. But looking at him, it wasn't like he was pretending. "Aren't you one of his men?" I asked.

"I do work for him. Because he pays me." Shane said, "I can't figure out what you guys are saying about him planning the arson and moving a rock around."

"He started the Bat Cult, gathering people like you who have a history of incarceration, for no other reason than to add to the chaos of this world and cause the deaths of more innocents," Fyren said, "Isn't it the Devil's ambition to turn the earth into hell? They have no motive for their crimes."

"So, you guys are angels?" Shane teased.

"We're only looking for him because he messed with us, he's a hidden danger to us, simple as that." Fyren said bluntly.

"I like that answer." Shane said, "My family is my life, and if my brother's burns were truly premeditated by them, I will pursue them to the end. But before I can believe you, you have to come up with stronger evidence."

"We will." Fyren looked at Shane, "As long as you tell us where FuBian is."

Shane lights a cigarette, takes a deep drag and doesn't exhale, smoke rising from his half-open mouth.

A minute later said, "I can tell you guys that I'm the only one who knows about FuBian's place, and in case he notices, he must know that I'm the one who messed it up, and it's fine for me to pay the price, but I can't take the risk with my brother and my son. Before you guys go to him, you must promise me one thing, get my brother to a safe place, my son has academic involvement, I'll handle it myself."

Fyren nods.

"The day after tomorrow at nine o'clock in the morning, you come to my place, Xiangqiao District Jiayi Garden, Block C, 502, to be on the safe side, we should not meet, I will leave the door open for you and tell the security guards in the neighborhood that you are the health care workers who are here to pick up my brother. I will leave a white Toyota with red cross on the back door of the neighborhood, the door is unlocked, and I will prepare two sets of uniforms for you, so put them on and put on the masks and hoods.

Put my brother in the back seat and fold the recliner in the trunk. Remember to drive carefully, take the highway to Shantou, my brother can't stand the bumps. Also, after the burns, he has mental problems and has trouble facing this reality. Don't look at him directly, or he will think he is a monster and become very irritable after a long time. In order to have room for maneuver after the incident, I will install a locator under the recliner and you guys will pretend not to know. When the time comes, I'll leave a note of the rendezvous point on the coffee table in the living room, and we'll meet at that spot and make our next move." Shane said, "I'll give you FuBian's address when my brother and son are settled."

"No problem." Fyren said.

"Since you have something for us, I have some questions for you." I asked, "You were the last member to join the Bat Cult, and you don't know much about FuBian's criminal intent, but why is it that you have access to FuBian when the first few senior members couldn't?"

"Because it's my job to help FuBian raise snakes." Shane puts it bluntly, "Every quarter I'll personally ship a shipment of snake venom to the Hong Kong docks, and he's the one who picks it up every time."

"What is the purpose of snake venom?" I asked.

Shane shook his head.

"Can you tell us how he convinced you to join?" I was curious about FuBian's brainwashing abilities.

"I can't say it was convincing." Shane said, "After my wife and mother died last year and my brother was burnt, I was devastated, I had done nothing bad in my life and I was very upset that fate had treated me like this, as a family member of the injured, I came into contact with FuBian, who promised me that he would help me cure my brother. He promised me that he would help me to cure my brother. Seeing that I am down and out, he helped me to go to Chaozhou to help him to raise snakes, paid me a fee, and would give me some things to do from time to time. I hope he really utilized me as you guys said, otherwise I won't let you guys off the hook."

"One last question." I asked, "If you decided to take the fall for your brother in the first place, why didn't you turn yourself in, but waited until the body gave off a smell that was noticed?"

"Because it's important to make sure that all the drugs in my brother's system are metabolized so that my topping is effective."

Two mornings later, we went to the back door of the Jardine's Lookout and found the white Toyota with black film on the windows and a Red Cross sticker on each of the two front doors. We got into the car, followed the instructions, put on our uniforms, and went upstairs at nine o'clock sharp.

502 was open a crack and the tidal wave of TV programs and the smell of plaster filled the room. The surveillance computer is closed this time, and Ling turns his head to look at us, then at the TV, and makes a "huh" sound. Unlike the first time we saw him, his body is covered in new gauze, red ointment is applied to the wound on top of his head, his eyes are still black, his nose and ears are wrapped in gauze, and there is a vent in his nostrils, his mouth is wide open, drool dripping onto the white cloth on his chest. A pink cartoon warming bag rested on his abdomen, and Shane had left an address for a hotel in Shantou on the coffee table, along with some simple care instructions.

The bag was attached to Ling's back with Velcro. Fyren cut off the bag with scissors and carefully carried the bag to a nearby stone step, where the patient's fearfulness subsided as he watched the bag leave his body.

Fyren glanced at me and I swallowed and nodded as he pulled out a small knife and gently cut along the edge of the bag, pulling the warm water bag from it, and underneath it I found a bulging ziplock bag full of white powder, not explosives, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Fyren hefted the bag, opened the seal and sniffed, "It's heroin, two taels (100 grams) or so."

I took a photo of the license plate and checked with an acquaintance who confirmed that it was a stolen car.

I didn't realize the whole thing was a plot hatched by Shane. He used his own brother as bait to take the edge off our guard. Then he hid the poison in the patient and used his brother's fear of bumps as an excuse to get us to take the highway.

On December 29th, 2013, the "Thunder Drug Sweeper" operation carried out a major clean-up of the village of Boshe in Lufeng, Guangdong Province, knocking out 18 large drug manufacturing and trafficking gangs, arresting nearly 200 people, and seizing more than a hundred tons of raw materials used in the manufacture of narcotics. Absconding criminals to the surrounding villages to spread, the 2015 Lunar New Year is approaching, the main traffic routes naturally become the police focus on the object of attention. We drove a stolen car with a bandaged patient lying in it, completely throwing himself into the net. Transporting more than 50 grams of heroin is punishable by death, and we will only be treated as criminals who use incapacitated patients to transport drugs, which is unlikely to end well in the current "drug talk" situation. And Ling will return to his brother in one piece - all Shane has to do is explain that we took his brother hostage while he was away.

Two hundred meters further on from where Fyren parked is the entrance to the Yongguan Expressway, and I can imagine the car being pulled over by the police two minutes later.

Turns out killing people with a borrowed knife is not exclusive to FuBian.