chapter 8

I sneered. “Cheng Hui has his reasons. You needn’t worry about that.

“Now, using your method of valuation, let me estimate your price.

“Even though you’re not yet thirty, with your looks, if you were a gigolo, you’d fetch two hundred a night at most. You’re above average height and look well-proportioned, but years of desk work have left your muscles flaccid. You have no strength. If you were sold into hard labor for life, you’d be worth twenty to thirty thousand at most. Not very valuable, are you?”

His face flushed, and he looked ready to snap, but I cut him off with a wave of my hand.

“I’m not finished yet. Don’t be in such a hurry.

“Didn’t you ask about the next step in the process? In Cheng Hui’s company, people are products. Their value goes far beyond that. Your method of valuation is too shallow. Want to hear how Cheng Hui’s company would appraise you?”

He glared at me without speaking, so I took his silence as consent.

“I’d estimate your weight at around eighty kilograms. Based on my professional background, your thyroid needs to pump hormones throughout your arteries and veins, into a total of about six liters of blood.

“You have black hair, dark brown eyes, a full set of teeth, and you’re about 1.8 meters tall, which means you have long femurs and tibias, along with strong connective tissue. Your lungs, liver, pancreas, and both kidneys are functioning normally. Your heart is beating at about eighty beats per minute.

“Based on those metrics, if you were sold for parts, you’d be worth about 1.8 million RMB.”

You Hua stared at me, dumbfounded, his face a mask of disbelief.

I continued, “Your blood can be separated into plasma, red blood cells, platelets, and clotting factors to save patients on the operating table or stop hemophiliacs from bleeding uncontrollably.

“The ligaments connecting your joints can be scraped from the bone and transplanted into the knees of elite athletes.

“The hair on your head can be made into wigs or reduced to amino acids to be used as a leavening agent for baked goods.

“Your skeleton could be the centerpiece of a biology classroom. Your major organs-heart, liver, kidneys-could extend the lives of those suffering from organ failure.

“Your corneas can be harvested to restore sight to the blind. Even after you’re dead, a pathologist could extract your sperm to help a woman conceive…”

“Enough!” You Hua’s face was deathly pale, beads of cold sweat rolling down his cheeks.

“This is Cheng Hui’s business! First, he drains you dry, then he forces you to ‘donate’ your organs, and finally, you ‘donate’ your body. Every step appears legal and compliant on the surface, but every step is stained with the blood and tears of families from the bottom of society.

“During my year as Cheng Hui’s ‘wet nurse,’ I accidentally discovered that his company had partnered with hospitals he invested in to form a supply chain of ‘commodity humans.’

“I found a way to check my mother’s medical records from back then, only to discover she never had stomach cancer at all. It was just a gastric ulcer.

“The only reason they said it was stomach cancer was because someone wanted her liver. The two-thirds they cut out wasn’t her stomach-it was her liver! It was transplanted into someone named Z.

“The chemotherapy and radiation that followed were just to maintain the lie. The so-called recurrence later on was actually cancer triggered by the excessive ‘treatment.'”

“So, once you knew the truth, you decided to kill him?” he asked, gasping for air.

I shook my head. “No, I wasn’t desperate yet. I didn’t want to kill anyone then; I just wanted to find evidence to put Cheng Hui in prison.

“Another thing I gained from this was discovering Z. They were mysterious-no gender, no age-but I didn’t pay much attention to them at the time. My focus was entirely on Cheng Hui.

“As Cheng Hui’s business grew, more and more people came to beg him for favors. Everyone showered him with praise, practically kneeling to kowtow. When you hear enough flattery, you get used to it. When you hear enough tragic stories, you become numb.

“So, even though Cheng Hui always took calls in private, I observed that in almost every conversation, his expression and tone were incredibly arrogant and bossy. But there was one person-only one-to whom he always spoke softly, his tone extremely humble.

“To uncover this person’s identity and gather enough evidence, I spent three years as Cheng Hui’s wet nurse and another two years as his mistress.

“But Cheng Hui was extremely cautious; the information I could get was meager. Every time I tried to gather evidence or spy on him, I risked being sold for parts myself. Through five years of analysis and verification, I discovered that this person was someone of immense importance to Cheng Hui.”