Ryan's family lives in Pak Hoi Street, Yau Tsim Mong District. When I worked with him as a paparazzo in 12 years, I often ate sesame paste at Jia Jia Dessert near his house, and it was from that time that I developed the habit of loving sweetened water, which I seldom ate in the Mainland afterwards.
Now returning to his old stomping grounds, he stops by and packs three orders of sesame seed paste and joins Fyren at Ryan's house.
He knocked on the door and waited half a minute for the door to open. He was sleepy-eyed, obviously just waking up, and told us to make ourselves comfortable, wiping his face with a handful of water from the sink. The room's furnishings were the same as always, with clothes piled high on the couch, an entire wall plastered with celebrities and movie posters, and a large whiteboard hung on the other wall with scribbles and drawings on it. I moved the scattered items on the coffee table to put on the sesame paste, and a few Polaroids fell out of one of the open yellow envelopes.
"How'd your face get hurt?" Ryan looks at me and pulls sesame paste out of his bag, lifts the lid of the box, and drinks it to himself.
"Got my ass kicked in Tidewater two days ago." I said.
"Coming to Hong Kong for Chinese New Year?" Today is the 28th day of the Lunar New Year 2015.
"What's this?" I picked up the Polaroid and the picture was of a severed end finger.
"A case of organ mutilation." Ryan flicked the Polaroid open with his index finger; there were six of them: a severed tail finger, a severed tail toe, an ear, three teeth (two incisors, one canine), a small piece of scalp with hair, and two male nipples.
"What the hell?" Fyren frowned.
"Turned up in a trash can yesterday." Ryan said, "Took a case investigating an extramarital affair, was trying to get some physical evidence from the person's trash, but ended up turning over a black bag with these things in it in a public trash can in the neighborhood where he was staying, and I suspected that these people were being abused, so I brought it back for investigation."
"No police?" Fyren asked.
"Planning to report today."
"Where are these?" I look at the Polaroid.
Ryan got up, opened a freezer in the refrigerator, took a black bag out of it, and placed it on the tabletop, propping it open to reveal a frosty layer of organs inside.
"Anything yet?" Fyren leaned over to look at the organ.
Ryan shook his head.
"Check the composition of the residue in the broken nails of the hands and feet, there may be a breakthrough." Fyren suggested.
"Want to check together?" Ryan asked.
"We'll come over and help you when we're done with ourselves." Fyren said.
"What happened to you guys?" Ryan noticed Fyren's hands were bandaged.
"A while ago in Chaozhou to investigate a snake venom case, the clues led to Hong Kong, this batch of snake venom is a large amount, the use is unknown, only know that the venom in Chaozhou to pick up, in Hong Kong at a certain pier delivery, we want to find this batch of snake venom, and then find out that the receiver." I said.
"Snake venom liquid or snake venom pellets?" Ryan asked.
"What's the difference?"
"Snake venom is a protein toxin that is perishable and can only be kept for a maximum of two weeks when properly refrigerated. In large quantities, it should be used for production, which requires the venom to be made into a dried product for preservation. The conversion process is complex and requires a whole set of highly sophisticated equipment, such as dryers, condensers and sterile sterilizers."
"It's venomous snake fluid." Fyren said, "We didn't find such a device there at the snake farm in Chaozhou."
"The snake venom that was shipped over is in dire need of preservation and transmutation, so the vicinity of the delivery location is most likely where the shipment of venom was stored." Ryan said, "I'll try to find out if there are any such factories from the wharves first, but there are more than two hundred wharves in Hong Kong, big and small, so give me some time."
Fyren and I spent New Year's Eve 2015 in the car.
Ryan spent two days to help us find the place where the snake venom was converted and preserved. It was a warehouse-cum-factory, built by the Tung Chung pier, and we were certain that this was where Shane and FuBian made the handover of the snake venom, as the warehouse was the asset of batarian YasinChen.
Coinciding with New Year's Eve, the warehouse staff went home on vacation, leaving a security guard in the front door of the duty room. This warehouse around the airtight, two steel gate back door by the internal anti-lock, forcibly pry open, it will be the warehouse space to amplify the sound, go in only through the front door a way.
Acting in the twilight, we were going to light smoke outside the window of the duty room to lure the guards out. First, we collected the papers and bundled them into cylinders, while Fyren took a bottle of vodka from somewhere to use as fuel for the fire. Fyren took out a bottle of vodka from somewhere and used it as fuel for the fire. After that, he stayed in the car and waited for the streets to thin out after midnight. Looking across the river at the bright lights and the yachts celebrating Chinese New Year, we were so sad that we took out two paper cups, poured some vodka into them, and clinked them with our sandwiches to celebrate the New Year.
Around ten o'clock, there are yachts in the fireworks, the sound loud and clear, I stared at the ashes fell into the sea, not long, Fyren pushed me, signaling to look at the warehouse, because the window of the duty room can not see the sea, the security guards out of the door, around the sea, staring at the fireworks. Without delay, we rushed out of the car, near the front of the warehouse to put on a coat and hat, into the hidden doorway.
Inside the darkness, vaguely visible in front of the two rows of tall shelves, we walked along the shelves deeper, saw a room separated by glass, put the flashlight against the glass to shine inward, there are some instruments inside, the door is affixed with a traditional Chinese "research and development room" sign. The door was locked, and Fyren used a tool to open it.
As Ryan said, the machines were snake venom conversion equipment, and we were inspecting them when we suddenly heard a rustling sound in the room, and as we approached the source of the sound, we realized that it was mice in cages, individually compartmentalized, lab rats.
There was a cold storage room in one corner of the room, with a padlock on the handle, and the door was thick and iced over around the edges, so that pulling it open would make a jerky noise; Fyren unlocked the door and looked into the crack of the storage room, waiting for the light of fireworks to come on from outside, and he then pulled the door open, the rattle thus fading into the sound of the fireworks bursting.
Cold air bubbles up as we enter the cooler, the thermometer by the door reads zero degrees and I zipper my jacket to the top.
Fyren turns on the light, and in front of him are rows of wooden shelves, between which are distributed conical glass bottles sealed with cork, surrounded by a ring of tin foil and labeled with the name of the snake's venom, the date of harvesting and preparation of the poison, the weight, and the batch number. The bottles contained small yellow pellets.
Outside, the shelves are stocked with cosmetics, some of which are snake venom masks.Fyren thinks it's just a front, and with this array of labs and the use of mice, it doesn't look like cosmetics are being developed.
There was a door to the southwest, a conference room, and we entered, the fifty square meter space occupied by a long wooden table, in the center of which a projector was fixed, and a filing cabinet against the inside corner.
We searched through the documents in the cabinet and found that the main use of snake venom was indeed to make face masks, and that some of the venom was used in research on anti-cancer and blood pressure-lowering drugs.
Fyren closed the iron shutters in the room, and then turned on the projector, intending to find the video content, I did not expect this projection, and then found the problem: the left edge of the window hit the filing cabinets, although only a slight extension of a centimeter, but the height difference caused pixel distortion, with such a video meeting, not to mention obsessive-compulsive people, who watched it can not stand.
The projector is stationary, as is the viewport projected on the wall screen, and that means the cabinet has been moved recently.
We moved the cabinet out of the way, and there really was a two-foot long and wide combination safe embedded in the wall. What we were looking for was, not surprisingly, inside.
The code was a nine-panel grid, which Fyren illuminated with a fluorescent light, revealing dense fingerprint prints on the five numeric keys, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8.
Although I get the code numbers, I don't really know the length of the code, "What's the point?" I wondered.
"The password should be six digits, 242638," Fyren said without thinking.
"What?" I was surprised.
Fyren took out his cell phone and opened the Nine Grid Input Method, "Convert these six numbers into pinyin keys, it's 'bat', B(2) I(4) A(2) N(6) F(3) U(8)."
"You're thinking too fast for that." I was secretly impressed.
"Do you remember that warehouse in Guangzhou? There's the same combination lock there, and I lifted the fingerprints last time as well, and it was the same five numbers, and it took me some time to realize that they had to be converted from pinyin." Fyren pressed the combination with his hand, and with a click, the safe's lock cylinder popped open.
Connecting the dots that this was a viper stronghold, I thought of the Kill Bill 2 ruse of hiding vipers in the money box and, fearing foul play, warned Fyren to be careful as he swallowed hard and pulled the cabinet door gently open, and I shone a flashlight inside to find that the cabinet held only two red books.
Taking it out, the red satin cover has the word "Invitation" written on it, I was puzzled to turn it over and saw that it was written in Chinese calligraphy: Sent to Mr. Donovan, please attend the wedding ceremony of Mr. FuBian and Ms. Ying on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year of 2015, Monday, February 23rd of the Gregorian Calendar.
Seating: Ritz Room, The Peninsula Hong Kong, 1st Floor.
Time: 6 p.m.
When I opened another book, the information was the same except that the invitee was "Fyren".
Fuck! Fucked.
"Ying is the daughter of the chairman of Thousand Morning Realty," Ryan told us, "and the sister of Yasin Chen and Nathan Chen."
As the financial mastermind behind FuBian, once YasinChen died, the funds were cut off, and we assumed that the Bat Cult would be in an unsustainable situation. We didn't realize that FuBian's ultimate goal is to get rid of the two heirs and marry the only daughter of the chairman of "Thousand Morning Real Estate".
"What's with this groom?" I pinged Ryan, who didn't realize we were checking out FuBian.
"I've heard that I'm friends with YasinChen who studied abroad together, a native of Guangzhou, and highly regarded by ChairmanChen."
"Both sons are gone, which means he's ChairmanChen's handpicked son-in-law?" I asked.
"Right." Ryan said, "I've heard people say it's an entry into the family, and later, when ChairmanChen retires, he'll probably take over the Thousand Morning Group. You guys are still investigating YasinChen's case?"
"I've seen the Chen family in the news again recently, and I was curious to learn more." Fyren turns to ask, "By the way, any progress on that organ mutilation case of yours?"
Ryan called the police, who then cordoned off the Discovery City neighborhood where the organ was found, investigated the people who entered and exited the gate that day, and went door-to-door, but found no suspicious candidates, not even a single person with a missing tail finger.
Discovery City is a high-class residential area with tightly guarded gates, and only experienced doggy detectives like Ryan can blend in. He turned over the organ around 8:00 a.m. on February 15, and the community will clean the trash cans once each at 10:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. in the morning and evening, which means the perpetrator threw out the garbage in the area between 10:00 p.m. on the 14th and 8:00 a.m. on the 15th, a time when there were fewer people and it was easy for outsiders to draw attention to the crime.
If the person didn't live here, there was no reason at all to risk getting caught just to sneak into the neighborhood and throw away stolen goods.Ryan therefore guessed that the murderer, or someone who knew the murderer, could have been a service worker in the neighborhood. Assuming it was an outsider, there must have been a purpose for the risk of dumping it here that had to be done.
The test results of the organs came out afterwards, confirming that the fingers, toes, ears, scalp and two nipples, each belonged to six people, and together with the three teeth that could not be detected, there were as few as six or as many as nine victims in this case. But the weird thing is that there have been no murder cases in Hong Kong recently, and the police department has not received any report related to them.
"These victims are either still in captivity or are living in silence after the fact." Ryan speculated.
"Still imprisoned is less likely, and inexplicable disappearances are always reported by family members." Fyren pondered, "This case is said to be abusive, but it doesn't feel right, what kind of murderer abuses and only cuts one part of the victim's body? And did you guys notice that the organs that were cut, were non-fatal, not only were they not fatal, but it could even be argued that the missing parts of a person's body wouldn't cause much of a problem in his life. So I'm inclined to think that this is a series of intimidation cases."
"Gangster behavior?" I give examples.
Fyren nodded, "Don't rule it out."
"Still checking then?" I asked.
"But it could also be a case of injury or abuse, in which case the victim's life would be in danger, and it would be best to find one of the victims and ask questions before making a judgment." Fyren asked Ryan, "Do these organs have any identifying features?"
"I extracted the residue from the broken nails, nothing broke through in the toes, but I found some tiny metal wires inside the tail finger, composed of zinc, iron, and copper alloys," Ryan pulled out a plastic Ziploc bag and handed it to Fyren, "Do you think this victim could have been an electrician or something? "
With a magnifying glass to enlarge the wire, found that all are spiral shape, "electricians operate at high temperatures, will burn the metal, but these wires still retain the luster, it should be a machine cut, what machine can cut such a fine spiral filament, in my experience, only the key machine can be polished out, and the key is usually made of zinc, iron, copper alloy. " Fyren analysis.
"Looking for stores with key cutting machines?" Ryan said, "Look outward, centered on Discovery City."
"Such a store is unimpressive and there are too many of them to find with our manpower." Fyren asks, "Is there a faster way?"
"A missing person notice?" I suddenly thought of a method that I often used when I was a paparazzo before, "Publish a missing person notice in the major newspapers in Hong Kong, say that we are looking for a relative, bring along the information about the five gold store and the key machine, and then say the number of honorariums, the lack of a tailfinger is an obvious feature, as long as we come in contact with the owner of such a store, we are sure to have an impression."
"Well, then the two paths go together, first we release a search notice in the media channels. We'll visit the five gold stores on the ground." Fyren commanded.
Myself, Fyren, Ryan and two assistants, searched the Five Gold Shop for two days with no luck. That's when the search came back with feedback that someone had seen the manager of the five gold store who was missing his tail finger.
The address of the store is on Chun Yuen Street in Wan Chai, which is 12 kilometers away from Discovery City, no wonder we didn't find it.
At eleven a.m., Fyren, Ryan and I arrived at the hardware store, a store, but really just a glass case in front of the door, a key cutting machine on the counter, I took a key to the owner, who rose from his chair, short, gray at the temples, with three deep raised eyebrows, his face glistening with grease, and a foul odor gushing out of his mouth when he spoke, in his early to mid fifties.
He took the key with his left hand and held it up in front of his eyes for a moment, after which he used his right hand to break the shaft of the machine, and we noticed that his right hand was missing its tail finger and was wrapped in gauze. I took a business card from the business card box on the counter and learned that his name was Jie.
There is another door in the store, covered, and no light is turned on in the door, Fyren enters the store pretending to look at the shelves, and while the owner of the store is concentrating on punching the key, he pushes the door open and glances in, suddenly bowing and apologizing inside, "Sorry, wrong door." The door is then pushed shut from the inside. The shopkeeper turned around, "What are you doing?" Fyren quickly explains, "I thought there were parts inside, sorry."
"Inside is the room, and that man is my wife." The shopkeeper looked at us suspiciously and handed me the typed key.
Ryan placed a five hundred dollar Hong Kong dollar bill on the countertop and moved to the store owner, "Boss, I need to ask you something."
Jie body back, "What the hell are you guys doing?"
Ryan pulled another newspaper from his coat pocket that was folded into pieces and held it up for Jie to see, "The police recently reported a case where some body parts were rummaged through a trash can in a neighborhood, and one of the tail fingers we verified was yours, and would like to find out more about it from you, please cooperate."
"Are you guys cops?" Jie's face panicked.
"We're detectives, assisting the police on an errand." Ryan guided, "It's okay, we'll keep the witness safe."
"Get out!" Jie hesitates, "Or I'll call the police."
"You report it," said Fyren; "the police have been working on this case lately; let them ask you."
Hearing the commotion outside, the door to the room inside the store opened and out came a haggard looking woman, hunchbacked, as if seriously ill, "Jie, what happened?"
"None of your business, get in there!" Jie turned his head and yelled as the door closed again and he looked frustrated, "The end finger was accidentally cut when I was operating the machine, I'm really not sure why it ended up in the trash."
"What kind of machine cut it?" Ryan asked.
"That's," Jie pointed to the key cutting machine, "that's it."
I was just about to retort when I heard Fyren beat me to it, "Thanks for your cooperation."
Ryan took away the five hundred Hong Kong dollars on the table, exchanged it for a twenty Hong Kong dollar bill, and followed us out.
I hadn't gone more than a few steps when a teenager in a school uniform brushed up against us and walked right into the door of the room in the hardware store, and I heard the voice, "How's everyone today, Mom?" He didn't say hello to Jie.
"Tossing and turning and no progress at all." Ryan complained on the way.
"There is progress." Fyren said, "First of all, he was indeed one of the victims, and secondly, he was acting panicked and telling flawed lies, possibly because he was afraid or was siding with the killer."
"Or maybe he has problems of his own and is afraid of being implicated himself if the case is exposed." I seconded.
"So what should we do next?" Ryan asked.
"You keep on him," Fyren said, "and we'll go ahead and run an urgent errand tomorrow."
"What is it?"
"Meeting up with an old classmate." Fyren said, "We'll be at your place at two o'clock the day after tomorrow."
Tomorrow is the fifth day of the Chinese New Year, FuBian's wedding day.
The Peninsula Hong Kong, situated on the edge of Victoria Harbour, has hosted countless celebrities and dignitaries since it opened in 1928. When Hong Kong fell in World War II, the then Governor signed the surrender document in this hotel and was imprisoned here. The hotel has become one of the icons of Hong Kong because of its rich history, and it was naturally the venue of choice for the wedding of the daughter of the Chien Chen Group.
Chen's two sons suffered accidental deaths, which had caused the Thousand Morning Group to suffer a shadow, and now this wedding is held, from the preliminary momentum and rehearsals, there is the implication of a happy ending.
We ordered two suits for the occasion, and Fyren put on a pair of black-rimmed glasses with video function, and walked along the road with a new look, noticing that the girls looked at us differently. Fyren thinks I'm overthinking this wedding of the century, which FuBian has been planning for a long time, and won't choose this time to do something to us.
"Besides, I've already set up a meeting with Ryan, and he'll call the police in case something does happen to us." Fyren held up his glasses, "This is the first time we've met with FuBian, so we're both here."
The hotel lobby was gilded and the entire floor was covered in flowers of every color, and after passing through the security gate, we were seated at a table.
There were a lot of dignitaries at the banquet table, and it was a grand start. If you didn't know what FuBian had done, you would think that the groom standing on the stage wearing a black velvet suit, black bow tie, and white flower on his chest was a young talent, and you would be sure that the Chisen Group would climb up the ladder in the future if he took over the reins of the company.
I think he and Ying are a match made in heaven. Ying is tall and pretty, and she holds FuBian's hand, and I see unadulterated love in those admiring eyes.
At first I always wondered what kind of charisma FuBian had to recruit the henchmen who worked for him, to convince the guests, seated at the banquet table, many dignitaries with grand openings, to put money into his cult business, and now to trick a girl's heart.
Seeing that smiling, humble FuBian on the stage, I suddenly solved the mystery: some people are born with a magnetic field that compels people. And such people usually don't go on the right path.
After the whole wedding process was completed, and all the toasts had been made, FuBian naturally clinked glasses with us and said "thank you for your hospitality". Towards the end of the ceremony, FuBian came on the stage again and took the host's microphone, and expressed his honor of welcoming the bride and his gratitude to the guests in Cantonese, and then he suddenly looked in our direction. I had a bad feeling.
True to form, I heard, "Next I'd like to invite two more of my old classmates up to the stage, this is the first time we've met since I went to study in the U.S. Donovan, Fyren, come up here, I'd like to introduce you to everyone."
The guests looked towards us and Fyren looked down and cursed in the shape of his mouth, smiled and stood up as we walked onto the stage.
"Old classmates, hugs!" FuBian said in Mandarin as he opened his arms to us. I was hesitating when Fyren hugged him and I did as I was told.
Being watched was a terrible feeling, and brought back the feelings I once had when I read a review at the school flag-raising stand, head down, feeling my ears burning and my palms sweating.
"What are you guys up to now, after all these years?" FuBian goes on the offensive.
Fyren took the microphone handed by the host, "You, a listed group president, asking this question isn't making fun of us, what do we do, isn't it all just a mix of food in your eyes."
"You say that," FuBian laughed, turning towards his guests, "Back then, at school, the two of them were idols I idolized, very smart. Seriously, the reason I invited you on stage is to ask you both on the spot if you're willing to do me the honor of coming to my side to help me out. As long as you say yes, you can take any position in any department of the company. Although we haven't seen each other for so many years, I still know your every move. You guys have the ability to be talented elsewhere."
"Thanks for the invitation," Fyren said, "but we're used to being free and can't stand the system of a big company."
"Donovan, take a stand too!" FuBian looked to me.
"Incompetent." Four short words, and I could still hear the tremor in my voice, wanting nothing more than to rush back to the stage.
"While we're on the subject of work, I'd be interested in one of your departments." Fyren went from defense to offense.
"Yeah?" FuBian was still smiling, "Which department?"
"It's that department that researches snake venom." Fyren said, "I've heard from inside sources that these snake venoms aren't just used for mask production, huh? Isn't that true."
"Where did you hear this news from, you're quite well-informed," FuBian looked towards the stage and said smoothly, "Cosmetics are only a part of the snake venom business, the lab has been utilizing the snake venom to develop medicines, in fact, dad has high blood pressure, I was informed that the peptides in the spearhead pit viper toxin have the effect of lowering blood pressure, therefore By the way, we have formed a drug research and development room, and we have already made some progress, but it's just still in the testing stage, so we haven't disclosed it to the public. At the same time we are also researching the analgesic and anti-cancer effects in snake venom, and I believe that in the near future this business will bring us unexpected results."
"Dad" is the chairman of the thousand morning group Chen, he sat on the main seat, obviously drank a lot of wine, face red, two thick eyebrows together, not angry from the authority, when he was young must also be a tough role. The murder of his two sons, so he was deeply hit, a devastating blow, but the business world competition bloody rain, a second pause can not be, it is said that FuBian gave him a whole psychological team, after the dredging counseling, recently there are signs of improvement. He led a round of applause, followed by loud applause.
I was frustrated that a difficult problem was just invisibly dissolved by FuBian.
"I see, then good luck to the "Thousand Morning Group" in the future." Fyren prepared to step down.
"Wait." FuBian called out to us, taking the champagne handed to him by the waiter and shaking the bottle, "Boom," the cork popped and bubbles gushed from the top. He poured it into a highball glass, handed it to Fyren and I, and turned toward the stage again, "Let's all celebrate at the end, cheers!"
Shortly after returning to our seats, a waiter came to us and leaned over, "Gentlemen, FuBian has invited you to room 1904 in an hour and would like to talk to you about snake venom."
Sure enough there is a second half where Fyren wipes a dinner knife clean with a towel and hides it in his sleeve when no one is looking. The wedding is over and the bride and groom go to the door to thank the guests. Waiting an hour, we get into the elevator and go to room 1904 and knock on the door.
FuBian opens the door, looks at us hesitantly, and says, "Don't worry, I'm the only one in the room." Stepping into the foyer, there was a semi-open kitchen on the left, and the living room had a large floor-to-ceiling window with a sparkling night view of Victoria Harbor. On the round table in the northwest corner of the living room, there was an hourglass with yellow gravel falling in thin lines.
"What are you drinking?" FuBian pulled out cups in the cabinet.
"Thanks, no." Fyren said as she sat down on the couch by the window.
FuBian unscrewed the faucet, filled a glass of water, took a sip, and walked over to the couch across from us and sat down.
"Last year, you guys spoiled my plans so that I had to change them." FuBian laughed, "Honestly, I have you guys to thank for getting me this far."
"You did take care not to show your hand, but since we were able to follow you here, that means you don't have much of a deadline." Fyren said, "We have plenty of time to play with you."
"Dao is one foot tall, the devil is one foot tall, you guys are fulfilling me," FuBian's torso was straight and his hands were placed on his knees, "You guys are qualified opponents, I like you guys, and in order for us to have a fair fight afterward, tonight I want to talk to you guys about my criminal plan behind me. As you guys are well aware, using snake venom to make cosmetics and medicines is all a front, in fact, I'm using snake venom to develop a new type of poison."
The toxin components in all types of snake venom in the world are neurotoxicity, cardiotoxicity, cytotoxicity, hemorrhagic toxicity, hemolytic toxicity and muscle necrosis toxicity, the toxin spreads all over the body through the blood circulation, causing a series of symptoms of intoxication, coming rapidly, the ingredients are complex, there is not yet a universal antivenom, which means that the doctor wants to save the patient from being bitten by the venomous snakes, he has to know the source of the snake venom first, and if he or she is bitten by a few niche snakes, it so happens that hospitals does not store this type of antivenom, then the patient will have to wait for death.
Nearly 100,000 people die every year from poisonous snakes around the world, some of them because they miss the moment of rescue.
"Most of those who die of envenomation are still difficult to identify the toxin components by their internal reactions at the current scientific level, and the determination is mainly based on body surface symptoms and clinical experience. Snake venom is a protein toxin, consisting of nothing more than the elements C, H, O, and N. It is easy to develop synthetically and also reacts more tamely than inorganic toxins, and it is very difficult to be detected if an unknown protein can be generated."
FuBian took a sip of water and continued, "So I had an idea to create a new type of poison using snake venom and other protein toxins. This poison has to fulfill two conditions, one is that it is difficult to detect, and the other is that the timing of the attack can be controlled. And since I know the synthesis principle of this poison, I can develop the corresponding antibody, the antidote, in passing."
I tensed my body and prepared my defense.
"Yes, I have developed such a poison, and now I will show you." FuBian stood up and turned to walk into the room, Fyren lowered his legs and gave me a look that said "see what happens". A moment later, FuBian walks up with a rat cage and pillbox, the white rats in the cage squeaking from the bumps.
"This delayed death method requires precise control of the amount of medicine, as well as finding the right location for the injection." He placed the rat cage and medicine box on the coffee table, put on gloves, inserted a thin syringe into the medicine bottle and extracted 0.2 milliliters of yellow liquid, then opened the cage, grabbed the white rat with his left hand, took it out, and inserted the syringe under the rat's head. Fyren stopped him, but he did not move. The injection was completed and the rat was placed back in the cage.
"This rat will die in two days. Death is caused by asphyxia due to paralyzed respiratory muscles, and it looks like a natural death. Even better, the toxin will slowly degrade on its own in the body to the point where it's nowhere to be found. And it shows all the signs of business as usual before it dies." FuBian said, "You can take it back for observation."
"What is the purpose?" Fyren asked on his words.
"With such a poison, the crime would be much less risky. Firstly there is no need to go to the trouble of creating an alibi, just inject a dosage of venom, dump it and walk away, waiting for the other person to die. Secondly because you can control the time of death, it creates a sense of play. It is the playfulness of the thing that gives it its raison d'etre. The third is that the cost of this crime is low, difficult to trace, and highly maneuverable. Imagine what kind of panic would be caused by people dying one after another in an area with normal body surfaces over a specific period of time, when the source of the poison is unknown. There are many cases of this in history."
"Why?"
"The course of history is a process of trial and error; civilization has developed to the point where it is already dead, and to go on is only to hasten the arrival of the end. The current direction is wrong, and so is the order. The fastest way to reverse the direction is for humanity to experience a new round of chaos, to cleanse itself in the chaos before it has a chance to develop a new order and unfold a new world."
FuBian looked serene, "The way I'm going to break this order today is by investing panic within the group - which requires a lot of money and means. When science can't explain death and disaster, when science can't save people, a fragile species like man will look to God as a parasite, and when God comes, the devil is born."
"Gods and demons are illusory, they cannot stand the test and will always fail." Fyren looks at FuBian.
"So it would have to be an agent, whether it's an agent of God or the Devil, who is 100 percent real." FuBian claps his hands and chimes in to express the Body of Truth.
"That's just wishful thinking on your part." Fyren said.
"It was revealed to me from above," FuBian said, "and I hold it as truth."
"You think this plan of yours is going to work?" Fyren asked rhetorically.
"It's going to be harder to implement with you guys around."
"That means you want to finish us off first?"
"You guys have been chasing me all along, it's a cat and mouse game. Since we're all face to face now, it means there's no point in using conventional methods to solve you guys." FuBian turned his head to look at the hourglass on the round table, "I have to have someone to chase to get to my destination faster, but before a new game of cat and mouse unfolds, I'd like to change the game."
My heart was beating a little faster, and Fyren beside me was panting a little.
"The champagne you were just given to drink on the wedding stage was laced with a paralyzing toxin that will make your body disobedient but your senses normal." I heard FuBian say.
Fyren pulls his dinner knife from his sleeve and it falls to the ground.
"There's no need to struggle, the hourglass has run out, and the toxin will take exactly three hours to take effect."
"You drink too." I felt my tongue swell and block my windpipe, making an unusually raspy sound.
"I have the antidote." FuBian pulled out two new syringes from the medicine cabinet, "Paralyzing your bodies and making you conscious is not meant to be abusive, it's just that I want you to hear the rules of the game that I'm about to communicate to you, it's very important, it's a matter of life and death for you in five days."
My body sinks into the couch, twice in my life I've fallen into a quagmire, both non-reality, once in a nightmare, the other in a five-star hotel room, and both times it's left me in a cold sweat.Fyren hisses from his mouth as he barely gets to his feet, and falls back into the couch, his face flushed red.
"Here are the rules of the game, please make sure you remember them." FuBian stood up, two thin syringes filled with liquid in the fingers of his right hand, and walked towards us, "I will first inject venom into your bodies, and the poison will kick in about five days from now, today is February 23rd, and that means that you will die in some sort of normal accident on the evening of February 28th."
My body was completely immobilized and intense emotions surged, causing hot tears to roll from my eyes.
"But I will leave you with an antidote. If you find it within these five days, you will be saved." FuBian pushed Fyren's head down onto the arm of the couch, patted his neck, and injected the syringe in.
"To find the location of the antidote, you must follow my clues, the clues are simple, please listen." FuBian said, "Return along one line, it takes three subway rides, Mongkok is out of princes, Six Eared Kiwis fishing for the moon, Salvationlieswithin."
My neck tingled and I felt the cold liquid mix into my veins.
"I'll take the garbage with me by the way, by the way, don't spend time looking for me in the next few days, tomorrow I'll leave Hong Kong and go to Southeast Asia for my honeymoon with my bride." FuBian took off Fyren's video glasses and threw them into the trash along with the syringe and medicine bottle.
"I wish you all good dreams tonight."