Kong Hui’s secret lair was about the same size as a normal hospital operating room. There was an operating table in the middle of the room with a spotlight above it, and a refrigerator next to it which contained all the drugs one would need for plastic surgery. Apart from that, I saw jars with preserving liquid in them that contained ears, noses, and even entire faces!
Xiaotao took photos of these ‘specimens’ with her mobile phone. Among them, she found a face that belonged to a person who’d been reported missing.
There was a huge gas tank next to the refrigerator with a label written in English. It was probably a type of general anesthetic. Next to it was a table with miscellaneous objects placed on top. Surgical robes were hung on the wall. There was a cabinet full of disinfected tools like scalpels and hemostats on the other side of the table.
Yuanchao handcuffed the man to a heating pipe, and began searching through the drawers. I went to check the operating table. There were some blood stains next to the operating table. I took a cotton swab and smeared it and put that into an evidence bag. If it was found to be Xu Xiaohui’s blood, Kong Hui would definitely be convicted as the murderer.
Then, suddenly, Yuanchao said, “Guess what I’ve found!”
He held up a notebook in his hand. We stared at it. Xiaotao gasped and responded, “Is it full of newspaper clippings of…”
“Wait!” I cried as I glanced at the handwriting in the notebook. It looked just like the letter that Jiangbei Daggers sent Grandpa! I turned to the faceless slave and asked him, “What is the connection between your organization and Jiangbei Daggers?”
His pupils contracted the second he heard those words.
“N-no connections at all!” he answered.
I was furious. I kicked his injured leg and shouted, “You’re lying!”
“Song Yang!” Xiaotao held me back. “Calm down!”
I couldn’t keep calm. I had been searching for Jiangbei Daggers for so many years. The faceless slave shivered in fear and pleaded, “Please don’t make me say it! I’ll die if I reveal anything!”
I grabbed a scalpel and threatened him, “You’ll die if you don’t say anything! More than that, I will make sure you die slowly and painfully!”
“No, please, I beg you!” he responded. “I’m just one of their lowly pawns! I can’t tell you anything!”
At that moment, the door suddenly banged shut. Xiaotao rushed over to check, and she immediately shouted, “We’re locked inside!”
I then smelled something strange. I heard a gurgling noise. I turned around and found a tube that was leaking gas into the room. This tube was connected to the anesthetic.
“We have to open the door now!” I shouted, frightened.
Yuanchao tried to knock down the door, but because the door opened inwards, it had no effect. After a while, I noticed that Yuanchao’s movements grew slower and weaker. Then, I felt light-headed, and I saw that Xiaotao was feeling the same way too. Everything in front of me began to dissolve into a blur. In the middle of the room, I saw the faceless slave biting his thumb.
I quickly grabbed a piece of medical gauze. I tried to run to the bathroom to soak it in water so I could cover my nose and mouth with it, but no sooner had I taken a step than I fell to the ground helplessly.
Xiaotao collapsed beside me. We were both still conscious, yet we couldn’t move our bodies at all.
The sound of the faceless slave’s cackles filled the room.
“Didn’t I warn you?” he jeered. I could hear him clearly. I saw him approaching me, then he grasped my hair and held up my head. He was wearing a gas mask, and he had bitten his thumb off to break free from the handcuffs.
He slapped my face and taunted, “Weren’t you so bold just a minute ago, boy? Why are you so quiet now?”
I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t even lift a finger. All I could do was glare at him.
He took the gun from Yuanchao and toyed with it in his hand.
“Maybe I should use his gun to shoot you and this woman,” he said. “Then I’ll use this woman’s gun to shoot him. After that, I’ll dump all your bodies on the side of the road. Let’s see how the police will solve this case! Hahaha!”
He pointed the gun at me and was just seconds from pulling the trigger. Right at that moment, Yuanchao lunged at him and threw him to the ground. The gun went off but it didn’t hit me. Then the gun fell out of the faceless slave’s hand and slid under the cabinet.
This last exertion sapped all the strength that Yuanchao had left. The faceless slave grabbed a scalpel and stabbed it into Yuanchao’s leg and twisted it.
“You can’t feel it, can you?” he hissed. “That’s too bad. Maybe I should make you watch as I dig out all your internal organs!”
At that moment, the door opened suddenly. The faceless slave was startled. A man barged in and he shouted, “Don’t kill them!”
I thought he was here to save us. But the next word out of his mouth made my heart sink.
“I want to turn them into pigs!” he crowed. “Then they’ll wish they were dead!”
This man turned out to be Kong Hui himself.
“What a great idea, Dr. Kong!” the faceless slave laughed. “I wasn’t able to see your last masterpiece. Now I’ll be here to watch the whole process!”
“That woman was just a failed product,” scoffed Kong Hui. “These three would give me a chance to hone my skills. I believe that I can use this method to serve the organization one day! Do me a favor and help me move them to the back room!”
They both started to lift Xiaotao up. She tried desperately to hold onto my hand, but all our strength had been drained by that point. The last thing I felt was our fingers touching.
I heard their conversation in the back room. The faceless slave was saying, “This woman is pretty, isn’t she? Do you mind if I have fun with her first?”
“Don’t you dare, you bastard!” snapped Kong Hui. “She is high-quality material for my experiment. I won’t let you ruin it!”
Then they returned and began to lift me up. I was carried to the back room where there was a bed, a sofa, and a TV. I didn’t see Xiaotao anywhere. When I got close to the sofa, the cushion was lifted up. I then realized that the sofa was hollow, and there was just enough room inside it for two people.
Xiaotao and I were stuffed inside the sofa, then the cushions were placed above us, trapping us in a dark narrow space. My body was completely paralyzed by then, and I couldn’t feel Xiaotao beside me at all—I could only hear her rapid breathing.
The two men continued talking as they picked up Yuanchao.
“This guy’s too heavy!” snorted the faceless slave.
“Bring the saw over,” said Kong Hui. “I’ll cut off his calf…”
It was like a knife was plunged into my heart. I was frustrated and annoyed at my own helplessness at the moment. But all of a sudden, the sofa cushion was lifted up slightly, and a slender hand reached inside. The hand shoved a pill into Xiaotao’s mouth. She tried to resist it, but to no avail. Then I heard a voice whisper, “Suck on it. Don’t swallow!”
It was a delicate and slender hand, just like a woman’s, yet the voice turned out to be a man.
After that, another pill appeared in the palm of that slender hand. The pill was shoved into my mouth. I tasted it, and seconds later I felt completely refreshed. Wasn’t this my own Mind Clearing Pill?
The Mind Clearing Pill had powerful detoxification and mind refreshing effects. Just seconds after having the pill fed into my mouth, my tongue could move again. I quickly asked, “Who are you?”
“The person who warned you!” the voice replied.
“Is your surname Song?” I asked.
He avoided answering the question. “Young master, I will only ask one thing of you—please forget about this case once you escape from this place!”
“But I’m a police officer!” Xiaotao argued.
“So what?” the voice countered. “Do you know how many police officers they’ve killed? This organization is not something to be messed with!”
“Young master,” he continued, “I beg your forgiveness for my failure in protecting your grandfather, but please, don’t put yourself in harm’s way! You are the last burning candle of the Song family. If you die, our long line will forever be extinguished!”
There was no doubt in my mind now that this man belonged to the Song family.
Xiaotao tugged at my hand and whispered, “Let’s see what this guy looks like!”
I nodded. We pushed the cushion away and emerged from the sofa. However, though the man was speaking not seconds ago, all we saw was a faint ray of silvery moonlight shining through the open window into the empty room.