Chapter 010: Things That Should Not Be Seen

At this very moment, Ji Haifeng could feel the burning, stinging pain from the strong adhesive on his back. As the anesthetic wore off, the broken skin began to fester and pus, while agitation, anxiety, and overwhelming fear spread through his entire body.

He had more or less figured out Du Jiang’s methods, and in the shortest possible time, he confessed everything, spilling the secret he’d witnessed two years ago that he never should have seen.

“I remember it was a Sunday night. I was playing games on my phone, but for some reason, the signal was really bad that day. So I went up to the back hill behind the school to try and get a better signal. Just as I reached the foot of the hill, I saw a group of people huddled together in the woods, acting all sneaky—I had no idea what they were up to.”

“I crept closer and saw that it was a few classmates from our class: Yang Zhihong, Song Yuan, and Gao Xiaolong. They had Lin Susu pinned to the ground. At the time, Lin Susu reeked of alcohol and was mumbling nonsense, her pants already pulled down... The three of them were raping Lin Susu!”

Xu Meijing and I both jolted at this revelation. We knew that Lin Susu had died in the fire that year, but we never imagined she’d suffered a double blow that night—first violated by three men, then taken by a merciless blaze. This incident connected directly to Gu Meijuan’s punishment; it was because Gu Meijuan betrayed Lin Susu that the three got her drunk, leading to that unspeakable tragedy.

Ji Haifeng, trembling, continued, “Later, Yang Zhihong and the others discovered me. They threatened me not to tell anyone what I’d seen. If... if I said a single word, they’d throw me into the river and drown me. I didn’t mean to hide the truth... I’m sorry, Lin Susu! I failed her, and I failed you too, Du Jiang. Please, give me a chance to make things right!”

“Ji Haifeng...” The hoarse voice of the man drifted in, with a hint of mockery. “Even now, you still refuse to tell the whole truth. Let me confess in your place, then. You saw the crime, but you didn’t intervene. Instead, you demanded ten thousand yuan in hush money from them! That night, you got ten thousand from Gao Xiaolong, and used it to immediately buy the most expensive equipment in your game.”

“Ah... you...” Ji Haifeng shuddered and tried to defend himself, “I did take the money, but it was Gao Xiaolong and Yang Zhihong who forced it on me... I...”

A cold chuckle echoed from the red cigarette box speaker. “You’ve lost yourself in your online games. Not only did you take Gao Xiaolong’s money, but in March this year at the internet café, you used your little tricks to steal an overnight laborer’s phone. You transferred fifty-eight thousand yuan of hard-earned money and bought yourself new gear in the game. You enjoyed yourself, but the worker suffered. That money was meant to save his mother from tuberculosis; because she couldn’t get timely treatment, she died that very night. Everyone questioned where the money went, and to prove his innocence, the worker jumped to his death...”

“To satisfy your vanity in a virtual world, you disregarded others’ lives. You drained your own parents, ruined others, sinking step by step into a world of sin. Someone like you has no right to live in this world. Accept your punishment!”

“I... I didn’t mean to! I never thought it would end this badly!” Ji Haifeng slumped against the tiger bench, completely bewildered. “Du Jiang, let me go! I swear I’ll change, I’ll make amends for my mistakes. I promise I’ll never play games again. I’ll get a job and pay back that worker! If I ever play again, I’ll cut off my own hands!”

The red cigarette box gave him no chance to explain. The man’s voice grew darker: “Over the years, you’ve handled a total of 108 phones—some bought with stolen money, some stolen and resold from internet cafés. The phone is your closest friend; it has become a part of you, a symbol of your life. You live and die by your phone. Today, let your dearest friend decide your fate. The device will activate in ten seconds. Whether you survive depends on your luck. Good luck, Ji Haifeng!”

“Click!”

As the words faded from the red cigarette box, a crisp sound came from the tiger bench. The mechanism had officially been triggered.

At that moment, I saw that all the phones on Ji Haifeng’s back had been powered on. Some screens lit up, some indicator lights flashed, and the copper wires and electric cables coiled and linked between them began to spark.

As soon as the phones were powered, thick smoke started pouring from the battery compartments of many of them. In that instant, I finally understood the principle of this killing device.

I pried off the battery covers of a few phones, confirming my suspicion. The consequences of this setup were truly horrifying.

These weren’t ordinary phones. They all had certain things in common: some batteries were bulging; some, as soon as electricity was supplied, turned red and scorching hot; the worst were oozing mysterious liquid.

What did this mean? It meant the batteries were all at an extremely overcharged state. Now Du Jiang had reconnected them to power, and not just any power—he’d hooked them directly to 220 volts of direct current. That meant all the batteries would be forced to operate far beyond their limits, and the moment they reached a certain threshold, they would explode. These weren’t 108 phones, but 108 bombs strapped to Ji Haifeng’s back.

No wonder Du Jiang said the phones would send Ji Haifeng on his way. If all these phones exploded on his back at once, there would be nothing left of him.

“Ah!” Ji Haifeng let out a scream as one of the old phones on his back spat a burst of sparks, making him grimace and howl in pain. “What the hell? It’s burning me alive!”

Xu Meijing quickly reached out to pull off the burning phone, but a jolt of strong current shocked her, forcing her to withdraw her hand with a cry.

The skin on Ji Haifeng’s shoulder was instantly scorched black. He struggled desperately, crying for help.

I stopped him at once. “Ji Haifeng, if you want to survive, don’t move!”

“But it hurts like hell! Did Du Jiang poke a hole in my shoulder?” Ji Haifeng wailed.

I told him to shut up and listen. “The situation on your back is complicated. Du Jiang has strapped 108 old phone batteries to your back and hooked them all up to 220 volts of direct current.”

Ji Haifeng had studied mechanical design, and immediately understood. “Damn it! Du Jiang wants to blow me up? That son of a—! Why is he doing this to me? Why?!”

Xu Meijing said, “Now’s not the time for complaints. We need to figure out how to get the phones off. Zheng Yan, can’t we just cut the wires?”

I shook my head. “And you claim to be a designer. Du Jiang deliberately tangled the wires to confuse us so we can’t sort them out one by one. Plus, the circuit is obviously wired in parallel; unless we know the exact path of every wire, cutting the wrong one would only increase the current’s speed and intensity, and Ji Haifeng would be electrocuted on the spot.”

“Bang!”

As we discussed solutions, a loud explosion erupted from Ji Haifeng’s back—a shattered smartphone had blown up.

A fist-sized wound burst open on his back, blood gushing out.

“Ah…” Ji Haifeng’s body went rigid, his screams filling the air. “It blew! It blew! Are you just going to let me die like this? Zheng Yan, Xu Meijing, save me! I don’t want to die!”

Xu Meijing grabbed my arm. “We can’t take off the phones or cut the wires—what do we do, Zheng Yan? We can’t just watch Ji Haifeng get blown up! You’re so smart, think of something!”

“Cut the power! Shut off the electricity! Zheng Yan! Pull the main breaker on this ship!” Ji Haifeng, frantic with fear, shouted desperately in my ear.

Xu Meijing quickly covered his mouth. “If we could cut the power, do you think we’d be struggling like this? Ji Haifeng, shut up and listen to Zheng Yan!”

My eyes lingered on the tangled phone circuit boards: the flickering screens, the heart-wrenching screams, the web of wires—these unstable factors filled my mind, forming a seemingly impenetrable barrier. I felt this was not only a test of Ji Haifeng’s fate, but a challenge to the very limits of my own thinking.

...

I’ve got it! There’s a way!