Xie Fangfang is gone, forever.
She hanged herself using her own pants, which she tied to the door frame of the prison cell. It was a sight that would haunt anyone who witnessed it. Her two snow - white thighs were left dangling and swaying in front of me. Despite the fact that my psychological endurance has toughened over time, this scene still managed to strike terror deep within me, leaving me almost paralyzed with fear.
The woman who had lain beside me just the night before had chosen to end her life right before my eyes that very morning. How could anyone remain unmoved by such a tragic event?
"Stop staring! Come and help me get her down!" I called out after sitting on the ground in a daze for a while. I hoped that the others in the cell would assist me.
But not a single soul paid me any heed. Each one of them, either standing or sitting, with their arms folded, leaned against the wall, watching with cold indifference.
Seeing their callous expressions, a wave of anger surged within me, and I felt an urge to lash out. She was one of us! She was a living, breathing human being last night before we went to sleep. The words were on the tip of my tongue, yet in the end, I held them back. In this wretched place, no one can be sure if they will live to see another day. In such a situation, self - preservation often trumps any sense of camaraderie.
Since no one was willing to offer a helping hand, I had no choice but to grip Xie Fangfang's legs with all my strength. With great effort, I slowly and carefully managed to get her down.
Xie Fangfang's death was not only a tragic but also a terrifying sight. Even after I got her down, her eyeballs seemed to be bulging out of their sockets, and her tongue protruded abnormally long. Moreover, there were feces and urine on her thighs, indicating that she had lost control of her bodily functions before passing away. The stench was overwhelming, making the whole situation even more harrowing.
I tried my best to avoid looking at her horrifying face. I rummaged around the cell and finally found two pieces of tattered clothing. Bracing myself against the nauseating smell, I wiped the filth off her legs. Although the smell still lingered on me after the cleaning, it was at least somewhat better than before. How I wished there was clean water to wash her body properly. Of course, it was just a wishful thought. In the prison cell where we were held captive, there wasn't even a toilet, let alone clean water. We had to carry out all our daily activities, including eating, sleeping, and relieving ourselves, right within this cramped and filthy space. Those scoundrels in northern Myanmar, who ran this place like a park of horror, would rather have people clean the cells from time to time than build proper facilities. They truly treated us like caged animals, with no regard for our basic dignity.
After roughly cleaning Xie Fangfang's body, I untied the pants that were tightly fastened to the door frame of the cell. It took a great deal of effort, but I managed to put them back on her. Xie Fangfang had probably hanged herself late last night. Her body hadn't completely stiffened yet, although her joints were somewhat rigid and couldn't be bent easily. Otherwise, I doubt I would have been able to dress her.
After putting on her pants, laying her flat, and tidying up her hair as best as I could, I was completely exhausted and collapsed beside her. Looking at her body and then at the door frame, which was barely one and a half meters high, I couldn't help but wonder how Xie Fangfang had managed to do it. Hanging herself with pants in such a confined and low - ceilinged space must have required an unimaginable amount of courage.
"It's better to be dead. At least she's free now," I thought to myself as I looked at Xie Fangfang. I couldn't help but feel a tinge of envy. At least she no longer had to live in constant fear of being beaten, didn't have to worry about the consequences of failing the assessment today, and didn't have to be haunted by the nightmares of having her kidneys harvested or being drained of blood to make fertilizer. Hadn't I myself considered taking my own life during the first few days after arriving in this hellish place?
I believe Xie Fangfang had probably lost the will to live after being violated by those monsters in northern Myanmar. Coupled with the upcoming e - fraud assessment today, the fate of those who failed was too dreadful to contemplate. To survive, one would have to beg their families to send money for ransom. Xie Fangfang probably knew that she wouldn't pass the assessment, and she didn't want to endure the horror of having her organs removed or being dismembered, nor did she want to involve her family. So, she chose this cruel way to end her suffering.
I had initially thought that Xie Fangfang's suicide would cause some kind of commotion in the park. However, her death was like a tiny grain of sand dropped into a muddy puddle, not even causing a ripple. When those villains in northern Myanmar learned of her death, they simply dragged her body out like she was a worthless piece of trash. I have no idea where they took her body or what they did with it. Maybe they threw it in a desolate place to be devoured by wild animals, or buried it haphazardly in a hole, or perhaps even used it for some inhumane purpose like making human fertilizer. Regardless of the outcome, from the moment her body was dragged away, she vanished from my life completely. Her suicide was just another insignificant event among us, the poor souls trapped here like livestock.
When it was time for breakfast, we were herded out as usual to eat. And then, the final assessment of the e - fraud course officially commenced. From start to finish, that brute Abu didn't even mention Xie Fangfang's suicide. As the assessment began, I had no choice but to force myself to forget about the tragic event and focus all my energy on the e - fraud assessment.
There was only one assessment task for all of us - to make phone calls and do whatever it took to persuade the people on the list provided by those northern Myanmar criminals to transfer money. Each of us had a list with fifty names. The information on the list was rather sparse, only including name, age, address, phone number, and some basic details of their immediate family members.
"The list in each of your hands has been pre - screened for high - quality targets. As long as you make good use of what you've learned these days, you should have no problem achieving at least one successful transaction," Abu announced. "The assessment time is from 9:00 in the morning to 6:00 in the afternoon. If you pass the assessment and are promoted to a full - fledged salesperson, you can move out of the underground cell and enjoy better food. If you fail, your kidneys will be harvested and you'll be bled to make fertilizer. Now, you know what to do. Let's start!"
With Abu's shout of "Begin," many people immediately grabbed the landline phones in front of them and began making calls, racing against the clock. Of course, there were a few of us, like me, who were more cautious. We didn't rush into making calls but instead first analyzed the list in our hands.
The first lesson in e - fraud psychology taught us that when attempting to deceive someone into transferring money without any face - to - face interaction, it all comes down to exploiting human nature. What is human nature? It encompasses greed, lust, fear, horror, worry, and many other emotions. If you tell an old man on the phone that he's won a huge lottery prize, do you think he'll believe you? But if you tell him that his son working in another city has been in a serious car accident and is in the hospital, will he be worried? Uncovering and taking advantage of the deep - seated emotions like greed, lust, fear, horror, and worry within different age groups and social classes is the first and crucial step towards successful e - fraud.
I spent nearly an hour simply dissecting and analyzing the list I received. I crossed out the names of those who I deemed had the lowest probability of success. I made special marks on the names of the elderly, pregnant women, migrant workers, and people from rural areas. After this process, there were only 17 names left on my list. And it was from these 17 people that I would attempt to make my first e - fraud transaction in my life.