Criminal Psychology Story: This is a true story I ...

Criminal Psychology Story: This is a true story I witnessed with my own eyes…

This is a true story I witnessed with my own eyes. Years ago, my close friend Emily was pursuing her master’s degree at a university in the Southwest United States. During a trip to Arizona, she was lured and trafficked across the border into Mexico. There, she endured brutal exploitation until her body gave out. She contracted hepatitis from contaminated blood, and her own blood was drained to the point of exhaustion. Before she died, she managed to send one final message to me.

“Alex, it’s Emily. I don’t think I’m going to make it. Please be careful. If you can, watch out for Ryan. Ryan is my boyfriend.”

My best friend was named Hannah. She had been an orphan since childhood, relying on government support to get by. In college, we were inseparable—like two shadows. After graduation, she said she was heading back to her hometown in Arizona to study for the civil service exam, while I chose to stay in Washington, D.C. On the day we parted, I hugged her tightly and sobbed. But half a year later, I lost all contact with Hannah. No matter how hard I searched or asked around, she had vanished without a trace.

I never imagined that late one night, many years later, I would receive a strange text from an unknown number.

“Alex, do you remember Hannah? I fear she won’t survive much longer. You have to be careful. If possible, keep an eye on Ryan. Ryan is my boyfriend.”

Three days earlier, Ryan had already booked a vacation trip to Arizona for us. When the message arrived, I was packing my bags. I felt a rush of joy mixed with confusion. After all these years, I finally had news about Hannah. But as I read and reread the text, a deep unease settled over me.

I immediately set my luggage aside and turned to look at Ryan, who was sitting nearby, engrossed in playing a video game on his phone. His face showed intense focus. I had known Ryan for five years. He and Hannah grew up in the same county, and their relationship was very close. In fact, Hannah had been the one to introduce us. I thought it over and realized how strange this all seemed.

I tried calling the number that sent the message, but it said the line was no longer in service. That immediately felt wrong—how could a nonexistent number send a text? I contacted my carrier’s support line. They confirmed it was a virtual number, possibly with delayed signals, but the receipt time matched when it was sent.

That night, I checked an old alumni group chat and suddenly saw a post: “Does anyone still remember Hannah? They say she disappeared a long time ago, but yesterday her body was found near the Mexico border. Her blood had been completely drained.”

It felt like a hole had been punched through my chest. The pain was so sharp that I burst into tears. I clutched my chest, slowly sinking to the floor, gripping the edge of the table but too weak to stand. I couldn’t believe it. I refused to believe she was dead. Just yesterday, she had been laughing and talking to me, promising to show me her hometown in Arizona. How was I supposed to find her now?

I covered my mouth, sobbing until I choked, my whole body shaking. I collapsed onto the floor and cried until I was dry-heaving, right through until dawn. Ryan only came home then, while I was still crying, my voice hoarse, unable to speak a word.

He panicked and asked what was wrong. Between sobs, I told him everything in broken fragments. He immediately checked the group chat, then messaged the person who posted it privately. But all night, there was no reply. Two hours later, after Ryan went out to buy breakfast, that person suddenly responded. When I tried calling, it rang once before the number blocked me.

When Ryan returned, he gently comforted me. “Look, it’s obviously just a nasty rumor. If it were true, why would they block you so quickly? Don’t worry too much. When we get to Arizona, I’ll help you ask around for real information.”

Tears streamed down my face as I choked out, “Do you think she could really be dead?”

Ryan shook his head. “No way. Don’t let your mind run wild.”

That night, I had a nightmare. In the dream, Hannah was running desperately toward me, blood pouring from her mouth. She looked at me with pleading eyes. “Save me, Alex. Please save me.”

I jolted awake, covered in cold sweat, my hands trembling. I couldn’t fall back asleep. I grabbed my phone, opened our old messaging app, and stared at Hannah’s profile picture. I sent her a message: “Where are you? I miss you so much.” Tears fell onto the screen as I covered my mouth and cried quietly.

Then I remembered the virtual number from the earlier text. I searched for it on the app, and a profile appeared—a silhouette drawing of Kevin Durant, the basketball player Ryan admired most. Hannah’s warning echoed in my head: “Watch out for Ryan.” A chill ran down my spine.

Without hesitation, I tried to add that account as a contact. But as soon as I entered the old group chat, I discovered I had been removed. “Why?” I texted Ryan. “Why did you remove me from the group?”

He replied instantly, even though it was late: “I was worried you’d see all those crazy rumors and get upset, so I helped you leave the group.”

I gripped my phone tightly and stayed silent for a long time. “Do you still have that person’s ID? Earlier I was too tired to add them as a friend. I only remember the number. Can you send it to me?”

Ten minutes later, Ryan finally sent it. I entered the number into the search—no results. Clearly, that account belonged to Ryan, and in those ten minutes, he had blocked friend requests from it. A cold dread washed over me. At that point, I was certain Hannah’s death was connected to Ryan.

The sky was still dark. I sat there trembling, staring at Ryan’s profile picture on the app. I knew my options were limited. Reporting to the police right away might alert him without any proof. But if I continued the trip to Arizona with him, I might uncover more clues. I decided to take the gamble.

“Hannah,” I whispered, “please hold on a little longer. Don’t let anything happen to you.”

I muttered that to myself all night. As the sun rose around 7 a.m., Ryan woke up looking energized and ready. “All packed? Traffic out of D.C. can be brutal—we should head to the airport early.”

I looked at his familiar face, but a profound fear surged inside me. I had lived with this man for five years without realizing I might be sleeping next to a monster. I forced a smile. “You go ahead. I need to call my mom and give her a few instructions.”

I stepped onto the balcony to call my mother, glancing back. Ryan was watching me intently, his expression guarded. He smiled and said, “Don’t you remember? That time you got drunk and insisted on logging into your account on my iPhone to sync our contacts. You forgot to log out, so now when your mom calls your phone, it routes through mine. I was just answering for you.”

I pressed my lips together without replying. He knew I rarely checked app permissions on my phone—everything had been calculated. I pretended to be clueless. “Really? I don’t remember that at all.”

Ryan paused, then laughed it off. “Well, now you do. Want me to log you out?”

While he was making tea, I pretended to write a list of instructions for caring for my mom’s fish. In reality, I used a cotton swab dipped in lemon water to write a secret message on the back of the paper. Once dry, the words would vanish, only visible near heat.

As expected, Ryan picked up the paper. “This smells like lemon.” I snatched it back, acting flustered. “Oops, I spilled some lemon water. Look, this fish-care list is really important—check it carefully.”

I casually waved the paper in front of him, then set it back down. Ryan lost interest, smiled, and said nothing more before leaving the house.

In the underground parking garage, I deliberately let him carry the luggage, then suddenly ran to the security guard. “Sir, my mom is forgetful—please remind her that my fish loves playing games. I’ve played with it since I was little.” The guard smiled and nodded.

Back at the car, Ryan narrowed his eyes. “What were you talking to the guard about for so long?” He smiled warmly, but it sent ice through my veins. He was cautious to a terrifying degree—always like a venomous snake hiding in the shadows, never leaving an opening.

I glanced aside and noticed his expensive watch left on the seat. I pretended to take scenic photos but actually captured the watch. Later searches revealed it was a high-end model with built-in recording and hidden camera functions—the same one Ryan had “accidentally” left at home before Hannah’s message. He never forgot anything by accident.

I didn’t dare believe what I was thinking. Calling the police now? He would notice immediately. Fear flooded me, but I stayed calm and took a few more innocent photos to cover my tracks. I told myself, “Stay strong, Alex. You’ve already logged out of your account. He won’t check your browsing history.”

But no matter how carefully I prepared, I made one fatal mistake.

Not long after boarding the plane, I felt dizzy, my head spinning. In my haze, I heard Ryan’s voice in my ear: “Alex, you know that security guard? He’s my uncle.”

When I came to, Ryan’s voice was beside me again. “Alex, we’ve arrived in Nogales. This is near Hannah’s hometown. I just called my contact—he said someone saw her heading toward a dangerous area on the Mexican side. If you want to find her, we’ll have to go there.”

A heavy weight settled in my chest. Nogales—a remote, perilous border zone. “Call your mom to let her know you’re safe,” Ryan said lightly. “I already did a video call with her.”

I nodded, pretending to stay calm. In my peripheral vision, Ryan was still holding my phone, the corner of his mouth curved in a knowing smile. I understood that from this moment, I had fallen into his trap. The only thing left was to find a way to get a message out.

I asked casually if the trip package included Nogales. Ryan ruffled my hair. “No, but if you want to look for Hannah, I can take you. We’ll be reunited soon.” His smile grew more twisted.

“Okay,” I said. “Hand me the phone—we still need to pay for the hotel. I’ll use my app.”

Ryan refused immediately. “Your health isn’t great, and you’re not used to the weather here. I’ll handle the phone for you.”

He had completely cut off my contact with the outside world. Even at the hotel, I couldn’t borrow a phone or charger from him. A terrible feeling crept over me. Was this his secret base? I didn’t know what organization Ryan was tied to, but if he could infiltrate high-level systems, he was no ordinary player. The thought that he had been monitoring me for five years sent chills down my spine.

That night, I lay in bed unable to sleep. Fear made my breathing rapid. I prayed again: “Hannah, please don’t let anything happen. I don’t fear danger—I only fear failing to save you.”

A glass of water sat on the table. I didn’t dare drink it.

At 2 a.m., a strange noise came from outside. I strained to listen. The door lock rattled, followed by a crude curse: “Damn it, Ryan, this door is stuck. Give me a hand.”

My whole body shook. I jumped up and grabbed the bedside lamp. If they burst in, I’d fight to the death.

The lock clicked and twisted hard. The door flew open. I saw Ryan’s face and another rough-looking man whose eyes gleamed with something unnatural. My heart pounded so fast it felt ready to burst from my chest. I could barely breathe. Tears welled up.

I pretended to tremble and sob. “Ryan, who’s that? I had another nightmare. I want to call my mom—I’m so scared.”

Ryan approached, his voice gentle. “It’s just the hotel manager. The lock is broken—he’s fixing it. Signal’s bad here anyway; you can’t call. You’re sick—rest up.”

He hugged me and soothed me softly, but I didn’t believe a word. My body shook violently. Through gritted teeth, I asked, “Do you have my phone? I want to look at a photo of my mom.”

Ryan shook his head. “No, sweetheart. Your phone’s out there.” My heart sank. My eyes darted to the rough man holding an iPhone.

He lost patience and glared at Ryan. “Stop wasting time. She hasn’t drunk the water yet—how are we supposed to move her? If we don’t handle this within 48 hours, her family will call the cops.”

They planned to deal with me. If no news came in 48 hours, authorities would act. I couldn’t wait to die. I lunged at the man, grabbed the phone, and screamed, “Siri, call the police!”

The man went berserk. He yanked my hair, twisting my head back, and quickly ended the emergency call. His leather shoe kicked me hard, knocking me to the floor. “You bitch—want to die?”

The pain was unbearable. He kicked my stomach again, cold sweat pouring out. I gasped, wheezing, “Siri… Siri, call the police.”

Ryan stood by without intervening. Only when I could barely move did he pull the man back. “Don’t kick her anymore. She’s merchandise. Damaging the body lowers her value for the high-level deal.”

I felt ice-cold. He had dropped the mask—this was his true face. The other man looked at me like a piece of meat ready for slaughter. I clenched my teeth, eyes burning with fury.

Ryan leaned down and whispered in my ear, “Alex, you still don’t get it? From the beginning, everything was our plan. The fake messages, the rumors in the group—it was all staged by us.”

He leaned closer. “And you know what? You should never have trusted Hannah.”

I trembled, lips moving, my mind in chaos. “Never trust Hannah”—what did that mean?

I tried to stay conscious, but the man gripped my jaw and forced me to drink the untouched glass of water. Soon, I lost consciousness again.

When I woke, chaotic sounds filled my ears. I groggily opened my eyes to tall teak trees. I was lying on muddy ground. Before me unfolded the most horrifying scene of my life.

Two massive grinding machines were operating. Nearby, over a dozen emaciated young women stood in line, their skin pale and bodies withered, barely able to stand. Two burly men shouted commands, urging the girls forward.

I stared in shock as each woman staggered toward a machine. One reached the front; the men ripped off her clothes and threw her in. The gears ground with a sickening crunch. I froze, my mind blank, throat dry, unable to make a sound. The air reeked of blood. Sprays of fresh blood splattered across my face.

I touched my cheek—real blood. Panic nearly drove me insane. I staggered up, screaming wildly, “You monsters! You’re demons!”

My head felt like it would explode. Agonizing pain shot through every nerve. I wanted to claw my own eyes out, to destroy myself for witnessing this. It couldn’t be real.

A rough hand grabbed my hair, forcing my head down, making me kneel. I coughed violently. In my blurred vision, another girl was thrown into the grinder. Her legs flailed desperately in the air before vanishing. The gears continued their wet crunching as blood and flesh chunks flew into a container.

I vomited until bile came up, crying until I had no strength left. I clutched my head and slammed it against the dirt. “This isn’t real. This can’t be real.” The sounds echoed in my ears, driving me toward madness.

Then I saw a familiar figure. Hannah stood at the end of the line, eyes vacant, skeletal thin, cheeks hollow. She wore a yellow dress—the one I had given her before she went home. I had told her yellow was vibrant and that she should try brighter colors, that her life didn’t have to stay so gloomy.

Joy surged through me—I had finally found her. I wanted to call her name, but my throat was too dry. My lips moved silently: “Hannah.”

She stepped forward slowly. I wanted to save her, but why couldn’t I move? Why couldn’t I speak? I trembled, tears streaming, trying to scream but only managing hoarse, broken sounds. I reached out desperately, but my body wouldn’t obey. I clawed at the dirt, making strangled noises in my throat.

Hannah finally saw me. A faint light returned to her empty eyes. Her cracked lips moved. “Alex…”

She tried to run toward me, but the men grabbed her arms and twisted them behind her back. Rage burned in my chest. I don’t know where the strength came from, but I suddenly broke free. As I lunged for Hannah, a powerful kick from behind slammed me to the cold ground.

I reached toward her, tears rolling down. One man grabbed my hair and yanked me up; another stopped him. “Don’t hurt her. This girl has strong observation skills and a medical doctorate. The higher-ups specifically ordered us to keep her to help examine and stitch organs for these girls.”

Stitch organs? I stared numbly at the remaining trembling women as the men tore off Hannah’s clothes, lifted her, and prepared to throw her into the grinder.

I lowered my head, lips quivering, unable to form a complete word. A hand tightened in my hair. One man leaned close to my ear, voice laced with mockery. “This is your best friend, right? Agree to join our organization, and we’ll release her right now.”

Join? What organization? I turned in shock to the man holding me. He grinned. “City girls like you have no idea how cruel the world really is. This is a transnational organ trafficking ring. We deal in kidneys, livers, blood, even bones. Our targets are naive girls like you.”

He leaned in, his voice disgusting. “You have two choices: join us, or watch your friend get ground into dog food with the rest.”

He slapped my face. “Scared stiff already? Look at the girl on the left—we removed her kidney, but the surgery wasn’t finished. Her immune system collapsed, she got an infection, then became useless. Keeping the body would leave traces for the cops, so we grind them up for dog food. Anyway, these girls are trash—missing for years, and no one bothers searching.”

I bit my lip hard to hold back tears. On the other side, two men had Hannah, forcing her head toward the grinder. I couldn’t take it anymore. After searching so long, this was the end?

I screamed at the top of my lungs, “Stop! Stop! Stop!” My throat went raw. The men hesitated. Finally, they tossed Hannah to the ground. She curled up naked on the dirt.

Through my tear-filled eyes, a question flashed: Why did Hannah look so pale but not as emaciated as the others? Ryan’s earlier words echoed: “Never trust Hannah.”

My mind spiraled into chaos. Have you ever felt that—when you’ve committed to something, but the truth shatters everything you thought you knew, something you could never have imagined? That helpless feeling seeped into every vein and cell.

I clenched my fists. “Stay calm, Alex. In this situation, death is the worst outcome. Are you afraid to die? No. I can’t be afraid.”

Yet seeing the barrels of blood and mangled flesh, foam floating on the surface, I still trembled uncontrollably.

The man who had spoken gripped my shoulder, voice cold. “You can remove kidneys, livers, collect plasma. If you agree, we’ll release your friend.”

I turned to his repulsive, eerily calm face—as if this were everyday business. He wasn’t human; he was a monster.

Looking at the pale girls before me, it felt like knives cutting my heart. Each deserved a good life, but they had been destroyed, reduced to scraps, destined to die nameless in this hell.

My hands shook, but I forced calm. “If I help you… will you release all these girls?”

The man looked at me as if I’d said something ridiculous. He sneered. “Of course not. Look how well we’ve arranged their futures. First, they serve infected clients. Then we harvest their organs and sell them. That maximizes their value. Think about it—these poor girls, who cares where they’re buried?”

He laughed and barked orders in a language I didn’t understand. The men at the grinders sprang into action. The remaining girls were thrown in, except for Hannah.

I stood frozen, staring at the overflowing container of bloody pulp. My ears rang; I could no longer hear the gears. Finally, I followed them.

Along the way, I noticed a few more girls being led. One, about 13 or 14, had clearly suffered severe psychological shock. Her body convulsed, legs shaking, then she suddenly wet herself. Her eyes rolled back, limbs jerking—she was having a seizure.

The men laughed. “Look, she pissed her pants from fear. Useless girls. Next time we need to grab some boys.”

One approached, lifted her skirt, and mocked her. “See? This is basic anatomy—don’t they teach that in med school? Why so scared?”

I gritted my teeth against my anger. “The girl is having a seizure—she needs emergency care right now—”

Before I finished, Hannah grabbed my hand and shook her head. I stopped.

Moments later, the men took shovels from a truck and dug a large pit deep enough for multiple bodies. I watched in horror as they tossed the girls in one by one, then began covering them with dirt. The seizing girl was thrown in like a broken doll. Shovels of earth slowly buried them—up to their waists, then necks, then their terrified eyes. Finally, all were covered. No one screamed, but their eyes were full of terror. Those looks stabbed my heart like blades.

I bit my lip hard, tasting blood. In that moment, one thought burned in my mind: I would avenge them. I would make these beasts die without intact corpses.

A disgusting voice sounded beside me. “Sister, do you want to end up like them? If you try to run, we’ll tie you up and bury you alive.”

Goosebumps rose on my skin. I held my breath, forcing myself not to shake.

Suddenly, a cold voice rang out: “Brother Nam, the cops on the other side have been handled. Let’s move the goods to the labor camp.”

It was Ryan’s voice. Hatred surged in my chest, stinging my eyes. I knew I had to endure. If emotion overrode reason, I’d die instantly.

Ryan remained composed as he approached and pulled me closer, his tone light. “Brother Nam, Alex dropped her phone at the pickup point in Nogales. Call and see if anyone found it and can return it.”

The man called Nam glanced at me and smirked. “This girl’s pretty cautious, huh? You dropped your phone? I was too busy grabbing her to notice.” He wiped sweat with the hem of his white shirt, accidentally revealing a large gash on his abdomen, red flesh exposed.

Nam frowned. “You’re injured? Who stabbed you?”

Ryan casually touched the wound’s edge, voice emotionless. “When crossing from Arizona into Mexico, I got surrounded by local gangsters. No big deal.”

Nam took out a phone and made a call. Ryan chuckled mockingly. “Bro, you should change that virtual number. Ending in 748 isn’t lucky.”

My body jolted. The warning message about Ryan had come from a virtual number ending in 748. Now in Nogales, Ryan had just mentioned it—but the man holding the phone was Nam. If not coincidence, Ryan had lied about what happened in Nogales.

The call didn’t connect. We were loaded onto a covered truck, everything hidden under black tarps. Seated inside, I never took my eyes off Ryan, searching his face for any slip. He revealed nothing.

Hannah still held my hand tightly, resting her head on my shoulder. Her voice was a faint whisper. “Alex, stop thinking about it.”

I shook my head and patted her hand reassuringly. “You’re my friend—the most important person. It’ll be okay.”

During the journey, we changed vehicles three times. On the fourth, I saw the man who had forced me to drink water in Nogales. On his wrist was Ryan’s high-end watch—the one with recording and camera functions. He patted it and laughed at Ryan. “When you used this watch to pay at the hotel, you left it at the front desk again. What’s wrong—obsessed with this girl and dropping things left and right?”

He eyed me up and down with a filthy gaze. In that instant, my mind flashed like a wave hitting me. I broke into cold sweat but stayed sharply alert. I closed my eyes, recalling that night at the hotel. When Ryan came out of the shower, he wasn’t wearing the watch. If it recorded and monitored, he must have removed it to avoid capture.

The realization hit: “You must watch out for Ryan.” That was exactly Hannah’s warning. He deliberately left the watch. He deliberately mentioned the number ending in 748 to Nam.

Why?

I opened my eyes and stared at Ryan. His dark eyes were clear, almost unnaturally so. I had considered every possibility, and every theory led to one conclusion. That thought made my whole body tremble, tears spilling. I bit my lip hard to stop crying.

Nam gripped my chin and grinned. “What’s this—moved to tears over your boyfriend?” He looked at Ryan and laughed. “Actually, at first we planned to kidnap her and ransom the family. Her folks have money—a few hundred grand wouldn’t be an issue. But after checking her background, we found out she’s a doctor. So we changed plans: ransom plus using her medical skills, and in the end, still sell her organs. One arrow, three targets—perfect, right?”

I stared at him coldly. “Looks like you’ve investigated me thoroughly.”

He paused, then burst out laughing. “Of course. Rich families like yours always have security and nosy neighbors. We couldn’t act easily. If Ryan hadn’t brought you to Mexico, we’d have killed you long ago. Why? Simple—hire dying criminals or terminal cancer patients to do it. Even if cops investigate, they can’t trace it back to us.”

I stared into his bloodshot eyes, then suddenly lunged, screaming, “Get away!” But deep down, one question burned: Why didn’t they target men?

I turned to Hannah beside me. Her face was pale with fear. I gripped her hand tightly and took a deep breath. I had to uncover the truth.

We changed vehicles again. They forced us to walk through dense forest. Ahead, by the river, I saw a large multi-story building. It wasn’t tall—about eight floors—but sprawling, surrounded by armed guards with Myanmar-style weapons. Patrols moved constantly.

I suppressed my fear, but it surged stronger. This could be one of the largest organ trafficking hubs in a chaotic place like this border region, where factions fought over every inch amid growing instability. But I cared about only one thing: Ryan’s true identity.

He stood nearly 6’3″, towering even among the burly men. I stared at his smooth neck, then charged at him, shouting, “It was you! You did this to me!”

The men immediately rushed in and grabbed me. I cursed but clung to Ryan as if in rage, actually biting his ear hard. But really, I whispered into it, “Are you an undercover cop?”

In that breath-shared moment, I heard him whisper three words: “Special Agent Ryan.”

My strength drained. I remembered clearly that in undercover anti-trafficking rules, agents never revealed their real identities. My father had been an anti-drug undercover officer who died when I was 18. He wouldn’t say his real name unless signaling he truly was law enforcement.

I broke into sobs, body going limp. Ryan pulled me into his arms and patted my back. “Alex, my treasure. Let me tell you a secret—I’m really an undercover cop. My real name is Ryan.”

I clutched his shirt and whispered, “Hmph. If you keep this up, I’ll find a new boyfriend.”

His eyes reddened for a moment. His chiseled, resolute face showed a flash of pain, but he quickly smiled. “Go ahead and switch. But before you do, at least see if I can protect you, okay?”

I glared at him. “Dream on. If I switch, it’ll be right away—unless you die. Otherwise, I’ll definitely switch.”

Ryan suddenly pulled me close, his arms tightening around my back so hard I could barely breathe. In that instant, I realized my words might become a curse. I looked at his familiar face, but my heart shattered. Tears fell, and I burst into uncontrollable sobs. I was terrified—terrified my words would come true.

Ryan chuckled softly, teasing. “See? You’re such a difficult, grudge-holding little girl.”

The surrounding men hooted and laughed. “She’s yours, man. Hurry and take her inside—show her what happens when you mess with the boss.”

Ryan smirked without arguing, just held me tight and dragged me toward a small room by the guard post. Hannah tried to follow, but Ryan blocked her. I deliberately struggled and fell a few times to make it look real, then let him pull me along.

He opened the door, tossed me inside, and leaned down slowly. “Scream loud so they think I’m really hurting you.” He gently set me on the wooden plank. Sweat dripped from his chin onto my neck. I bit my lip, pulled his belt off, and whispered, “Use this.”

His hand trembled slightly. His voice dropped. “Alex…”

I nodded firmly. These organ traffickers showed no mercy. If they saw him soften, they’d suspect. I had deliberately provoked him in front of them earlier so I could approach him more easily later.

Now I only wanted to ask one question. Outside, mocking laughter rang out. “What are you doing in there? We don’t hear the girl screaming. Not man enough? Put some force into it!”

Ryan raised his hand. I gripped the belt tightly and gritted my teeth. “Hit me.”

The first lash cracked across my face, stinging red. I screamed deliberately, crying out to convince them it was real. When I had the chance, I whispered, “How long have you been undercover? Have you investigated the organization’s ranks? Is Hannah one of them?”

Ryan shook his head. “She’s not high-level, but she tried to join—extremely dangerous. Hannah once attempted to infiltrate the organization.”

I frowned. “What about the others?”

Ryan sighed. “The others don’t work directly for it, but they waver on whether to join or not. That’s why I warned you not to trust her.”

He paused, then continued. “Remember the night you got the message saying Hannah was dead? I went out to buy you food. I took a long time because Myanmar border guards summoned me to meet a high-level figure. She oversees the entire organ trafficking network in the northern U.S. border region.”

He looked at me seriously. “Do you know who she is? She’s the woman you once thought was a victim.”

I shook my head. Ryan hesitated, then spoke slowly. “It’s your mother.”

My mother—the gentle woman who had loved and protected me my whole life, always treating me tenderly. How could she be involved in organ trafficking? My head buzzed. I couldn’t accept it. I stared at Ryan, unable to make a sound.

He gently stroked my face, voice low. “Alex, she has always monitored you. She’s the one who built the apartment complex where you live. That day you messaged her from the bathroom, she called back not out of worry, but to confirm if the organization should eliminate you. If they suspected you were pregnant, they wouldn’t kill you immediately—they’d keep you for value. They control everything about you, including your body.”

I was stunned. Suddenly, every small detail became clear. Ryan syncing my iPhone to his account wasn’t to monitor me—it was to mislead my mother. Nam wanted to kidnap me for ransom, but if my mother’s organization was involved, the goal wasn’t money anymore. They wanted control. My mother knew my family well because she was my father’s second wife.

But no matter the reasons, this was beyond imagination. I had never thought my mother could be tied to something like this.

I suddenly remembered the hidden message I left in the fish-care list using lemon water. I panicked, trembling. “I left a secret message in the fish list.”

Ryan kissed my cheek lightly and whispered, “You’re right. The security guard in the complex is my uncle, but he’s a double agent—whoever pays more gets his loyalty. If he found your message, everything is likely under control. When we landed, besides the monitors, who else overheard our entire conversation?”

At that moment, the door was kicked open. Hannah burst in, panicked. “What are you two doing? No sounds at all!”

Nam smirked as he slowly entered. “Ryan, you’re tough, huh? Why so quiet? What were you two whispering?”

Ryan stood, pretending to fix his belt, and said calmly, “Nam, this girl’s difficult. It took a lot of effort to discipline her. I think it’s best to send her to the labor camp.”

Nam shoved me forward, sneering. “Next time I’ll handle her myself.”

A group of women in long skirts dragged me upstairs. The upper hallway had no air conditioning; windows were covered with thick curtains, blocking any view inside. In one corner of the building stood a lightning rod; the walls were peeling, as if struck by lightning many times.

As I entered, Hannah suddenly grabbed my hand tightly, her voice shaking. “Alex, can we stay together? Alex, I’m so scared.”

I looked straight at Nam. “Can she come with me? I’ll do the heavy work for her.”

Nam burst out laughing, then slapped me hard across the face, knocking me to the floor. “Here, there are only two kinds of value: make money while alive, or provide organs when dead. If you don’t want to be dissected, keep your mouth shut and stop making demands.”

I braced myself on the floor, easing the pain. From the corner of my eye, I saw Hannah flash a cold smile. In that instant, I realized something horrifying: Hannah had sold out to the organization. She had deceived me—and Ryan.

I was beaten repeatedly. I thought I was searching for a friend, but I was facing a demon. I had always trusted my mother, but she was the devil behind it all.

What was this? In just a few short days, my entire world had been turned upside down. The pain cut to my bones. I lay sprawled on the floor for a long time, unable to stand.

Nam kicked me. “Get up, or do you want to die early?”

Hannah quickly pulled me up, her voice trembling. “Nam, don’t be angry. She didn’t mean it.” She shook her head, lips quivering, eyes full of fear. But how could she switch emotions so quickly?

Then Nam changed his mind. “Fine. This girl’s Ryan’s. I suggest putting her in a room with Hannah. That way, if she makes any moves, we can use Hannah to threaten her.”

Threaten me? I didn’t understand, but Nam said no more. In the end, Hannah and I were taken to the basement—a filthy cage-like cell with a tiny window like an animal pen.

Later, I was moved to another area to work in the medical room. Late at night, strange screeching sounds came from outside, like terrifying noises from afar. Hannah trembled with fear all night. I had to comfort her. She curled up in my arms like a frightened baby bird.

In that moment, I hoped I was wrong. I hoped Hannah was truly just a victim.

But the next morning, in my drowsy state, I saw Hannah raising her hands as if to strangle me. I blinked, and she immediately pulled back. I was fully awake, but she returned to her timid demeanor from yesterday.

I stared into her eyes for a long time. Suddenly, my eye sockets burned. How long had we been apart—two years? Nearly three? I lowered my head, smiled faintly, then looked up. Tears fell uncontrollably. I tilted my head back, trying to force them inward, but I couldn’t. I sobbed and hugged Hannah tightly.

“You know what? I value our friendship so much. It was so hard for me to find you. Please don’t disappoint me. I really beg you—don’t make me despair. I’m truly terrified, but I…”

I didn’t know what else to say. She was my most important friend, yet she had betrayed me. I couldn’t understand. Was she truly evil?

I sighed, my mind spinning. I couldn’t cry too long—Nam hated the weak. He only believed in the strong.

Just then, he entered, smirking. “Done yet? Time to work, little girl. We’ve prepared an operating table for you to practice on. Let’s go.”

He dragged me to a standard Level 3 operating room, about 300 square feet, equipped with heart monitors, blood flow devices, and oxygen, but only three medical instruments.

I frowned. “Where’s the patient?”

Nam glanced at me. I followed his gaze to Ryan being wheeled in on a gurney by two large men. Ryan’s abdomen was soaked in blood, staining his white shirt. His forehead dripped cold sweat, lips pale, no color left in his face.

Nam leaned close to my ear. “Yesterday the doctors were busy. Ryan only got anti-inflammatory meds, but the wound got worse. If you want to join and work for us, you need guts. We’ve prepared a patient for you to practice on. If you can operate, we’ll know if you can continue.”

I didn’t reply, just asked, “Is there anesthesia?”

Nam smirked. “Anesthesia? For minor surgery like this, no need. He can handle it.”

I clenched my fists without a word. I knew they didn’t trust Ryan. He was observant with excellent judgment—qualified to lead the captured girls to the labor camp. But he had come under suspicion. So they used this to warn him—and me. They were warning me: if I stayed close to Ryan, I’d die with no grave.

I looked into his eyes, rage boiling inside. I wanted to kill Nam on the spot. I gritted my teeth, lifted Ryan’s shirt. The wound was torn wide, flesh a bloody mess mixed with pus—clearly deliberately aggravated. Someone had cruelly dug into it with their hands to worsen the infection. It was Nam.

Suppressing my hatred, I calmly stitched the wound. Throughout, Ryan said nothing, but cold sweat poured down, his body rigid with excruciating pain.

When I finished, my hands were covered in his blood. I stared at Nam, voice icy. “Done. Anything else?”

He looked at me for a moment, then smirked. “I knew you were smart—and cold. You control your emotions perfectly, no hesitation. She was right—you’re prime material, worthy of training to take over the organization.”

She? I knew the answer. His tone held respect, showing the person he mentioned held high status and knew me well. It had to be my mother. She had planned this from the start.

The more I thought, the more horrified I felt—the sensation of being pushed into an abyss grew stronger.

Nam chuckled. “You did well. Rest now. Tomorrow you’ll start learning organ harvesting from the camp’s senior doctor.”

On the way out of the operating room, footsteps sounded behind me. I stopped. Nam caught up, smiling ambiguously. “Alex, someone reported to us that Ryan is an undercover cop. What do you think? Any way to test him?”

I turned, voice cold. “So you’re the one who deliberately aggravated Ryan’s wound.”

Nam froze. “How did you know it was me?”

I stared at him without blinking. “I’ve heard that a professional organ trafficking organization must be utterly ruthless. When I joined, I witnessed the worst cruelties. But among all the people I’ve met, you’re the most heartless. Besides you, I can’t think of anyone else capable of such brutality. Plus, the wound on Ryan’s stomach wasn’t from beating—it was dug out by hand.”

Nam laughed loudly. “You’re really smart. That woman wasn’t wrong. But so what? It was just a small lesson. When the organization suspects you, whether you betrayed them or not, the outcome won’t be good.”

I pressed, “Who is she? You’ve mentioned her many times.”

Nam stopped laughing, his voice turning cold. “Not time to tell you yet. But sooner or later, you’ll meet her.”

I didn’t ask more, because I had a terrifying suspicion that made my body shake. I looked toward the peeling wall outside the building with the lightning rod—that area was least monitored. During rainy season, lightning struck frequently, damaging the walls badly, so they never used it as command center. If power was cut, the surgical systems would be disabled too.

I bit my lip and silently noted it.

Nam leaned close, voice suggestive. “Want to test if Ryan is an undercover cop? If you really suspect him, we can kill him right now.”

I had anticipated Ryan’s fate in this hell full of crime—betrayal was never forgiven. If you couldn’t sink deep into the swamp, you were eliminated and killed. I swallowed hard, looking straight at Nam, lips moving but unable to speak.

Nam sneered. “Not willing? Come on, I’ll take you somewhere.”

As soon as he finished, I heard chaotic footsteps. I turned and saw a group of girls running over in panic, hands still stained with blood they hadn’t washed off. Clearly, they had just been forced to practice killing like me.

Leading them was a bespectacled girl who looked very timid. Despite the thick glasses, I saw her eyes darting wildly in extreme panic. Her hands shook several times as she tried to put them in her pockets but couldn’t.

I was about to warn her when Nam stepped forward. Without a word, he opened a window, picked her up, and threw her down.

You know the sound of a water balloon bursting when it hits concrete? This was a thousand times heavier.

I froze, walked to the window. The girl lay on the ground below in a pool of dark red blood. She convulsed violently, face twisted in pain, blood trickling from her mouth. She coughed blood a few times, then her eyes rolled white. She stopped moving.

The group of girls screamed shrilly. Nam walked away calmly. I couldn’t take it. I rushed over and grabbed his arm. My whole body felt like it was sinking into an abyss. My voice was ice-cold. “Where are you taking me?”

Nam glanced at me, then at the trembling girls. He smirked. “If anyone shows fear, their end will be like that girl—just thrown from a high floor. We have no shortage of women here.”

The girls huddled together in terror, none daring to speak. Nam turned back to me, smiling. “Pick her up.”

I silently followed him. He took me to a place called the lab. Inside, dozens of skulls were neatly arranged on shelves—some cracked, some shattered, some pierced through.

Nam spoke slowly. “Do you know whose skulls these are?”

I shook my head. He sneered. “All undercover cops. They died protecting the people. So if Ryan really is one, next time you’ll see his skull here.”

I silently looked at those skulls and lowered my head deeply. I had never imagined the world could be this cruel. My heart turned to ice. I answered calmly, “If you want to test Ryan, I can think of a way. But if I’m not certain, I won’t act.”

I had already guessed Ryan’s fate. He had only two paths: sink into the mud or be torn apart. Thinking of that made my heart heavy again.

Nam was very pleased. He looked at me with interest, walked to a black plastic bucket, opened the lid, reached in, and pulled out something shiny. He rubbed it on a skull as if polishing bone.

I stood still, but turmoil raged inside. If I had a knife, I wouldn’t hesitate to stab him, then dissect him like a specimen.

Nam continued rubbing the skull while whistling casually. I quietly observed the surroundings. The door lock was electronic—if power went out, it couldn’t open. From what I’d seen, Nam had a narcissistic, controlling personality, so he never carried keys. This was evident from the type of lock he used.

After he finished, he led me to another area with three large shelves full of glass jars containing human parts preserved in formalin—hands, ears, lips. Each body part was severed but retained its shape, looking horrifyingly lifelike.

At the end of the room was a large tank containing a liver floating in solution, blood vessels still connected, but the organ itself was no longer clear—it looked like it had been chopped to a pulp.

I forced down nausea, nearly vomiting. At the same time, I made a decision: I would kill Nam using the formalin solution.

Nam suddenly turned, startling me. I barely avoided his gaze. He pointed to the jars of preserved parts. “Do you know whose these are?”

I answered, “I don’t.”

Nam sighed with regret. “All of them are brothers who lived and died with us. Look carefully—this severed leg belonged to Wang Ping, sold out by an undercover cop in the Philippines. There’s a huge black market for organs in Manila, and he was taken there. This ear was bitten off by an undercover cop during a struggle.”

He pointed to each sample, recounting bloody stories. Each time he spoke, I felt his hatred deepen. After finishing, he lowered his voice, eyes full of killing intent. “Do you understand why we hate undercover cops so much? Once we learn their identities, we kill their entire families—leave no one alive.”

My body jolted. In my head, a sound rang out, but too fast to grasp. In a flash, Nam walked to the largest glass tank in the room. Inside was a liver, but it looked cloudy, as if damaged. He sighed. “Why is it so cloudy? Everyone knows the formalin concentration and mixing ratio affect tissue freshness.”

I pressed my lips together and seized the chance. “Maybe your mixing formula has issues. I can help adjust it to keep the organs fresher longer and preserve the original appearance of your brothers.”

Nam’s eyes lit up. “Really?”

I nodded. He took a deep breath and said softly, “This is the organ of the person most important to me—Ryan. He once protected me, but in the end…”

At that moment, a beep sounded beside my ear—like a heart monitor alert. Ryan. He didn’t know that was Ryan’s real name.

My whole body felt pricked by needles. My head throbbed. The memory fragments suddenly connected. Nam kept rambling. “If he were still alive, he’d be about Hannah’s age. She’s 24 now. You’re around that age too, right? Your file says 20, but I don’t think so. You’re very calm and cautious for your age. When threatened, you don’t tremble—instead, your eyes are sharp. You’re far better than Hannah.”

He stared at me, his gaze growing stranger. “I always feel like you resemble someone.”

I faced his gaze calmly. “Who do you think I resemble?”

He smirked without answering. I knew he was testing me. He suspected but had no proof. He wanted me to slip up.

Then he opened a locked cabinet. Inside was a thick stack of sealed documents. He knelt and flipped through them, finally pulling out a dusty folder. He brushed it off and slowly opened it. On the cover, in large clear letters: “Ryan’s Diary.”

But Nam didn’t open the diary immediately. He just stroked the cover lightly, then slipped it into his shirt and chuckled. “Tonight I’ll read it again to reminisce about my glorious past.”

Based on the current situation, there were two things to confirm. First, why was Nam suspecting Ryan at this moment? Second, was this diary fake? It was too thick to have been created recently.

I probed with a faint smile. “You’ve never suspected your own brothers? Could any of them have been caught by the cops?”

Nam’s face immediately darkened, but he couldn’t hide his unease. I noticed the small reaction right away—facial expressions can’t be fully concealed. If Ryan was truly his brother, it was very likely Nam didn’t know Ryan was the undercover. So who was Ryan really? Why use that name?

Pieces in my mind stacked tighter and tighter.

Leaving the lab, Nam asked how to preserve organs in formalin without cloudiness. “Do you really have a way?”

I nodded confidently. “I do.”

He suddenly laughed loudly. “You’re really interesting. You can stay calm even watching girls I tortured. Why?”

The words slipped out: “Because I have no way back. I’m backed into a corner with only two choices: die or submit to you. But if I submit, I’ll become an executioner—cutting organs from those girls. Even if I survive, I’ll get life in prison. So I have only one path: join your organization.”

Those words were my plan—I had to stay and wait for the right moment to strike back. But after saying them, I jolted. I felt like I had said this before.

Nam stepped closer, narrowed his eyes to observe me, then smirked. “So cold. I have a feeling you’re truly my successor.”

Successor? A wave of fear engulfed me. I had confirmed Ryan was suspected and been assigned to prepare formalin, so Nam temporarily spared me.

I returned to the room with Hannah. She sat hugging her knees, staring at me with hatred and coldness. “Alex, where did you go?”

I told her the truth. In that instant, Hannah suddenly snapped. She lunged, grabbing my collar, teeth gritted as she screamed, “You submitted to them? You dare say you wanted to save me? If so, why choose to submit?”

I was about to reply, but she suddenly burst out laughing. “That’s right, Alex. You did well. You should submit. Otherwise, you’d have died long ago. You should become an accomplice. You should become…”

She lowered her head, staring at her own hands, eyes wide, laughing maniacally.

I immediately sensed something wrong. She had never acted like this before. But now, looking at her, I felt her spirit had completely collapsed.

I gently stroked her cheek. “Hannah, don’t be afraid. I’m here. Don’t be afraid. I’ll protect you.”

She stopped the madness and obediently leaned into my arms, voice small. “Will you really protect me? Will you take me out of here?”

I nodded. “I’ll get you out of this place. I’ll take you back to your hometown in Tucson, where it’s like spring all year.”

That night, I held her just like our first night here. I whispered old memories. “Hannah, remember the first time you moved into the dorm? You carried a bag of osmanthus cakes. You said it was a specialty from Arizona. Do you remember what I said?”

She replied softly, “What did you say?”

I smiled faintly. “I said I don’t like sweets.”

Hannah giggled, then rested her head on my shoulder and gradually fell asleep. I slowly closed my eyes too.

The next morning when I woke, three men stood outside the door: Ryan, Hannah, and Nam. Hannah pointed at me, voice loud. “Nam, see? I wasn’t wrong. She really wanted to escape. She even wanted to take me with her.”

I opened my eyes wide and looked at her. She breathed heavily, eyes avoiding mine and darting to Nam. Ryan stared at me like a hawk, sharp eyes unblinking.

Nam spoke first. “You wanted to run?”

I didn’t answer, still fixed on Ryan. I mouthed silently to him: “Lie.”

My mind was still lingering on yesterday’s conversation. Nam had said Ryan was his brother, but Ryan wasn’t the real Ryan. So who was he? Who was deceiving whom?

I unconsciously frowned. Nam stepped closer, voice lower. “You wanted to run?”

I smiled faintly. “Do you really believe what a mentally ill person says? Haven’t you noticed something wrong with Hannah since yesterday?”

I was gambling big. If I guessed right, Nam already knew Hannah’s mental state. If he knew, why use her words to question me?

Before I could think it through, Nam stared at me and said slowly, “How would I know if you really wanted to run or not? Let’s use a lie detector.”

A lie detector. I couldn’t escape it, and I couldn’t let Nam live any longer. This time I didn’t answer. Nam smirked. “Compared to people, I trust machines more.”

I grabbed his wrist. “You promised I’d do two things for you first, right?”

Nam brushed my hand away coldly. “You can do them after passing the lie detector. If you have nothing to hide, what are you afraid of? Ryan, watch her.”

With that, he left the room. His figure vanished behind the door.

Finally, I understood—he didn’t fully trust me. My eyes reddened. I grabbed Hannah’s collar, teeth gritted. “You really sold out to the organization? Why did you report me to Nam? Why?”

I roared, then slapped her hard. “I risked everything to save you, and this is what you do?”

Hannah looked terrified. Sometimes she looked at me and smiled blankly, sometimes she stared at the floor, sometimes at the ceiling. Her mouth kept muttering. Suddenly, she hugged me tightly, voice coquettish. “Don’t kill me. Please, I’m very obedient. I’ll listen. I won’t go against them anymore. Don’t kill me, please.”

I took a deep breath, letting her clutch my clothes. “Tell me—are you really crazy, or just pretending?”

Hannah suddenly pushed me away hard, eyes wide. “No! They won’t kill me. But you—you’re different. You’re one of them. You’re one of them!”

She backed toward the wall, screaming. “You’re the devil’s daughter! You’re just like them! Just like them!”

She completely lost control, her mind disordered, unable to provide any useful information.

I turned to Ryan. “Do you think she’s really gone insane?”

Ryan replied calmly, “She only acts insane in front of you. Otherwise, she’s completely sane.”

I grew even more confused. If she was really crazy, why only show it with me? If she was faking, what was her goal?

I slumped down, hands covering my head, feeling extremely exhausted. Ryan sat beside me, voice low. “You approached Nam too quickly, acted too obviously. He’s definitely suspicious of you now, Alex. Do you know what he’ll do next?”

I thought carefully. Only two possibilities. First, Nam wanted to check if I was truly loyal to the organization, so he’d use the lie detector to see if I planned to escape. Second, he wanted to check if I was lying about Ryan being undercover.

Ryan looked at me coldly, voice steady. “I received word from an insider—Nam already knows I’m undercover. The evidence is overwhelming.”

I turned to him in shock. Ryan smiled faintly, leaned close to my ear, and whispered, “Alex, Nam isn’t testing your loyalty. He just wants to confirm one thing: whether you know I’m undercover. If you answer no, you’ll die immediately.”

My eyes swelled red. My teeth nearly bit through my lip, drawing blood. “Ryan, who is the real Ryan?”

In the corner, Hannah looked like a broken wooden doll. Her empty eyes gazed at me, the corner of her mouth curling into a cat-like smile. “Ryan. Do you know him? You’re very familiar with him. Or maybe you’re the one who killed him, hehe. If you don’t know, just open Ryan’s diary and see, hehe.”

Her voice was light, as if floating in the air. My whole body went cold. Every hair stood on end. Open Ryan’s diary and see.

Had I been to this camp before? My hands trembled uncontrollably. Ryan hugged me, voice hoarse. “Ryan was an early undercover cop sent to the organ trafficking organization in the border region five years ago. He died. Before he died, the organization still hadn’t discovered his cop identity. Because he had penetrated so deeply into their structure, the police decided to have someone continue using the codename Ryan to finish his unfinished mission. In other words, yes—Ryan is just a codename.”

Ryan nodded. He gripped my hand tightly, voice trembling. “Alex, don’t you understand? Nam has stopped hiding when facing you. That’s the clearest sign. Sooner or later, you’ll die.”

I shook my head. Tears fell drop by drop as I looked into his clear eyes. I couldn’t control my hands as I placed them on his broad shoulders, choking out, “If you’re sure you’ll die, why did you bring me here? Do you want me to die with you? If so, why did you save me from them?”

A flicker of hesitation appeared in Ryan’s eyes. I immediately caught it. “Ryan, if you brought me here, there must be another reason. Or…”

I turned to look at Hannah, voice hoarse. “Hannah once said she wanted to kill Ryan. What exactly does she know?”

Ryan took a deep breath. His eyes wavered. Finally, he explained, “Hannah once accidentally entered Nam’s storage room and saw Ryan’s diary. It contained some things, but I don’t know exactly what.”

His words were full of holes. Nam was cautious. Ryan’s diary was something he treasured deeply. He kept it in an absolutely secure place surrounded by alarm sensors, even preserved with formalin. How could Hannah accidentally enter? How could she read it?

He was lying. They were hiding something from me. I gripped his hand tightly, took a deep breath, and said sternly, “So that means only Hannah knows the truth, and you don’t.”

Ryan didn’t deny it, just nodded lightly.

In the corner, Hannah smirked with a strange smile. I asked no more. Anyway, Ryan had said Hannah only became insane after meeting me.

Although my head hurt terribly, I needed to calm down. The biggest danger right now was Nam. I needed to eliminate him first, then find a chance to open his locked cabinet and see what Ryan’s diary really said about me.

Ryan asked if I had a plan. I replied that I had observed the camp. I noticed the east wall showed lightning strike marks and connected directly to the lightning rod. If I could place a small metal plate near the air conditioning condenser unit, I could channel electricity straight there. When lightning struck, it would burn out the entire camp’s wiring.

Ryan’s eyes lit up. He smiled faintly. “I thought about disrupting the power before, but the stabilizer system here takes samples too frequently, so I couldn’t find a feasible way. Alex, you’re smarter than me.”

I didn’t hold back. “No matter how smart, I still don’t know what you and Hannah really want. My head’s a mess. For now, I need to focus on the lie detector test.”

“Ryan, do you know which circuit the storage room’s electrical system connects to?”

Ryan pondered. “All the circuits on the right side share one line, including the operating room and the AC condenser. Plus, there’s a storm forecast for next week.”

I nodded. “Then I have to pass the lie detector first. But relying on myself isn’t enough—I need sedatives.”

I turned to look at Hannah, voice lowering. “Can you watch her? I’m afraid she’ll report us.”

Ryan replied gently, “Yeah.”

I looked into his eyes, sensing something strange. He smiled faintly. “Alex, do you know how long we’ve been waiting for this day? Finally, it’s almost time to meet him.”

Meet him? Meet who?

I frowned, about to ask more, but Ryan suddenly hugged me tight. His whole body shook. I felt hot tears falling onto my neck. I froze for a second, then hugged him back.

With Ryan’s help, I obtained sedatives.

During the lie detector test, Nam asked only two questions. He sat down and asked directly, “Alex, do you plan to escape, or do you want to stay here and seize power?”

I answered firmly, “Stay here.”

Outside the monitoring room, someone checked the machine and gave Nam an “OK” signal. He smiled faintly, looking satisfied, then continued, “Is Ryan an undercover cop?”

The feeling was like walking a tightrope—one slip and I’d fall into an abyss ten thousand feet deep. How should I answer? If I said yes, Ryan would definitely die. If I said no, the sedative might not fully mask the physiological reactions—my heart rate would spike, blood pressure rise, brain waves change.

I felt like I was suffocating. Sharp pains stabbed my chest as if someone were squeezing my heart. I forced myself calm and decided to gamble big.

Just as I opened my mouth to say no, Nam suddenly tossed the lie detector aside and laughed loudly. “Alex, no need to test anymore. Hahaha.”

He laughed like a madman, hands on the table, eyes bloodshot with red veins. “I’ve known Ryan was a cop for a long time. I just wanted to see how you’d react—see if you had the guts to succeed me.”

My chest ached sharply. I had a terrible premonition.

The next second, Nam calmly ordered, “Ryan, deal with her.”

I sat on the chair, feet planted firmly on the ground, nails digging into my palms until they bled. If I didn’t suppress it, the hatred in my eyes would reveal everything. I stared straight into Nam’s eyes and asked, “You want to groom me as successor. Why kill me?”

He looked at me calmly and smirked. “Your mother handles logistics across Southeast Asia. Your family has some influence, but until now, no one has noticed your disappearance. Do you know why?”

I placed my hand on the table, feeling my heartbeat slow. My hearing and smell seemed to vanish. Only a strange sound echoed from afar, as if someone were calling me.

Nam continued saying something, but I could no longer hear clearly. The call grew closer. Suddenly, Nam waved his hand in front of my face, startling me out of the daze. I blinked and slowly regained awareness. I opened my mouth and finally spoke, “Because she’s one of you.”

Nam burst out laughing, voice full of mockery. “Looks like you guessed right. Yes, you’re truly the daughter of Trinh Uyen. At first, your mother and father founded this organ trafficking organization together. Later, it expanded and grew to its current scale. Unfortunately, your father died early, but look how glorious the organization is now.”

Glorious—built by trampling countless corpses. Trinh Uyen—was that my mother’s real name?

Nam saw the doubt in my eyes and chuckled. “That’s right. Trinh Uyen is your biological mother. When she was pregnant with you, she was hunted by Philippine police, so she abandoned you at the door of a professor accepting international students from the Philippines. Your father was killed during that pursuit, and your mother left you behind. No need for more explanation—I understand everything.”

My mother had found my adoptive father and married him. It turned out it was all a plan. I had always thought she loved me, always protected me. But the truth was she had deceived me for years.

Tears silently rolled down my cheeks. My whole body shook from the cold. Nam patted my shoulder lightly, his voice full of ridicule. “This is why your mother treated you specially. You’re very smart, but you also have psychological issues—bipolar disorder with symptoms of dissociative identity disorder.”

Dissociative identity disorder. The first time I heard it, I was completely stunned. I looked at Nam in shock, but he just casually gestured. Immediately, a subordinate brought a thick file—my medical records.

It clearly stated I had once suffered severe dissociative identity disorder, even with four different personalities. But later, I was cured. The person who treated me was Ryan.

My hands trembled as I flipped through the pages, unable to stop shaking. When I finished reading, I was utterly frozen.

Nam was still smiling. “You’ve been through a lot, right? But you also have talent. See, the world has no clear black and white—only the strong survive.”

I suddenly grabbed his collar, teeth gritted. “So you deliberately sent the fake message to Ryan saying Hannah was about to die, luring me here?”

Nam kept smiling calmly. “That’s right. I discussed it with your mother long ago. A trafficker with only one personality isn’t perfect, but one with two is the ultimate criminal. You don’t need treatment—you’ve already reached the ideal state.”

I gripped the table tightly. My fingers drummed rapidly on the surface, but I couldn’t calm down. No. I didn’t want this. I wasn’t a criminal. I didn’t want to become a killer. I wasn’t a demon. I wasn’t like them.

My whole body shook as I curled up, nearly shrinking into a ball. Nam’s voice still echoed in my ear. “Given the current situation, it seems our treatment method has been effective. Your eyes have changed—you’re starting to waver. But don’t worry. There’s still one doctor who can help you control everything. She…”

I immediately understood who “she” was. Before killing the enemy, I needed to endure to the extreme. Nam paused, looking at me with interest.

I dug my nails into my palm, letting pain spread to force myself to stay calm. I said, “I need a type of metal with the strongest conductivity in this camp. In the next 10 days, I won’t give Ryan any chance to send documents out. I’ll also find out if he has accomplices.”

Nam narrowed his eyes and tilted his head. “What do you need highly conductive metal for? To electrocute Ryan? 10 days? Alex, do you know you’re looking more and more like your second personality?”

“Fine, I’ll let you try.”

I nodded, turned, and left. But as soon as I stepped out the door, my whole body shook uncontrollably.

Inside the room, Hannah was still huddled in the corner as usual. I angrily grabbed her collar, teeth gritted. “Are you a doctor or an undercover cop? Are you one of them or fighting against them?”

Hannah smiled strangely, baring her teeth stiffly. Her mouth formed a twisted grin as if trying to tear at the corners. “Alex, let’s go home. Go home. I’ll take you back to Arizona, hehe.”

My chest ached with rage. I couldn’t get any answers from her. She was truly crazy.

Suddenly, Hannah hugged me tightly and whispered in my ear, “Do you know who the doctor is? He’s a bad man. He’s in Nam’s storage room, hehe.”

I wanted to ask more, but Hannah started babbling nonsense again. I completely collapsed. I hugged her tightly, choking out, “We’re friends—best friends, Hannah. But in the end, I couldn’t find any clues.”

Late that night, a new thought gradually emerged: If the doctor really existed, was it possible there was a third person? Could it be someone other than Ryan or Hannah? Was Nam deliberately revealing this to make me suspect Ryan and Hannah?

If Hannah was really an undercover cop, then killing her would be the trump card I could use to topple Nam. From the beginning, Nam’s true goal wasn’t to test if Ryan was undercover—he already knew the answer. He just wanted to test my courage and scheming, and most importantly, he wanted me to kill Ryan.

I was like a puppet controlled by his strings. I had to cut those strings.

I had to kill him. This couldn’t be delayed any longer.

The next day, Nam gave me a silver alloy bar with extremely strong conductivity and thermal properties—one of the highest-conductivity metals. As soon as I requested the strongest conductive metal, he didn’t give pure silver but an alloy mixed with impurities. He was guarding against me.

Nam looked at me and asked, “Alex, what do you need the strongest conductive metal for?”

I lied, “To deal with Ryan.” But in reality, I needed it to kill Nam.

Formalin is a preservative solution mainly composed of water mixed with formaldehyde. I knew that in construction projects, if formaldehyde concentration exceeds safe levels, it can cause acute leukemia. Inhaling too much causes nausea, dizziness, abdominal pain, even anaphylactic shock.

I wanted to poison Nam with formaldehyde, but I had to ensure that when he was poisoned, he couldn’t call for help. So I would burn out the electrical system of the storage room, trapping him inside with no escape.

This silver alloy bar was the key to burning the electrical system. But I needed an ally—someone I could trust to help execute the plan.

The first person I thought of was Ryan. But could I trust him? Actually, I had no one else to rely on. I had to go find him.

That afternoon, I went to see Ryan. Compared to two days ago, he looked much thinner. When I saw him, there was still blood at the corner of his mouth. One hand clutched his stomach, face pale. My heart twisted.

Why had it come to this? Why wasn’t everything like before? Clearly, he had once loved me, protected me. Now I couldn’t see through him anymore.

I thought of Nam’s message: Kill Ryan as soon as possible. It felt like a sharp knife slicing my heart. Even breathing hurt.

I wanted to hug him, but I didn’t even know what I was thinking anymore.

Ryan stepped in front of me, just like old times, gently ruffling my hair and saying softly, “Why that expression? Nam ordered you to kill me, right?”

Tears welled in my eyes, blurring my vision. Ryan smiled faintly. “I don’t want your hands stained, Alex. Listen, I know you have many doubts. I know you don’t trust me. But trust me—I will never hurt you.”

I covered my mouth, pressing hard on my collarbone to ease the pain in my heart. Choking, I said, “Ryan, why are you hiding things from me? Why has Hannah become like this? You know everything, right? Tell me.”

Ryan gently wiped the tears from my face, his eyes full of tenderness. “I’m sorry, Alex. There are some things I can’t tell you. But remember one thing—you are the hidden eyes and ears of the police.”

Hidden eyes and ears—what did that really mean?

Ryan explained: “Previously, you suffered from dissociative identity disorder. Ryan cured you. He was an undercover who continuously sent information out. But after he died, the trafficking organization became too powerful. The police couldn’t break in, so they decided to use you. They took advantage of your second personality’s special traits to bring you into the camp. If your original personality wasn’t changed, you’d have a strong investigative drive and a sense of justice—you’d try to save those girls. That was the best plan. But if you lost your original personality and became the second one, the police would use you as a trump card inside the organization.”

Nam was right. Ryan had once cured me, but my mother wanted me to become the second personality. And Ryan—he had calculated both paths. I was just a pawn in their hands, a tool that could be used anytime.

I looked at Ryan, pain making me unable to speak. My chest felt tight. I clutched at it hard, trying to suppress the pain. Choking, I asked, “So you only pretended to love me, pretended to help me, pretended to care? All of it was fake? Even if I try to hide it, my lips still tremble uncontrollably. You… you’re just using me. You’re deceiving me. Because my mother founded the organ trafficking organization, you wanted to keep me alive, not let me be killed. That’s why you used me, right?”

Ryan tried to step forward, but I pushed him away hard. “Don’t touch me. Don’t touch me.”

For the first time in my life, I was truly afraid—afraid of myself. Afraid that no matter how much it hurt, I still couldn’t leave him. I lowered my head, not daring to look at him. My voice was hoarse and trembling. “Do you really want to save those girls? Or is it all fake?”

Ryan stayed silent for a long time, then nodded faintly. “Yes.”

I bit my lip hard. It took a long time before I could speak the next sentence. “Then in exchange, please kill Nam. From now on, pretend we never knew each other.”

Footsteps approached from afar. Ryan moved closer. I panicked and shouted, voice hoarse, unable to control my breathing. “Don’t come near me. Don’t come near me. I’m begging you. Don’t you know? I have no sense of justice. I’m not a good person. I won’t save anyone. I won’t save anyone at all. Don’t come near me. Someone, save me! Is anyone there? Can anyone save me from this nightmare? Ha… it hurts too much.”

The final step of the plan—even if Nam was poisoned and killed, I had told Ryan the entire plan. From my earlier observations, the air conditioning condenser’s wiring on the west corner of the building connected directly to Nam’s storage room. Burning the condenser would definitely cut power to the storage room, trapping him inside with no escape. But the camp’s surveillance was strict—I couldn’t cut the power myself.

I needed to harness the power of nature. The area around the condenser had a high frequency of lightning strikes. I had crafted an ultra-thin metal wire from the silver alloy and placed it on the condenser to channel electricity. When lightning struck, the surge would ignite the cooling system.

I explained the plan in detail to Ryan and instructed him: Starting tomorrow, the rainy season would arrive, increasing thunder and lightning. Tomorrow, when we replace the new formalin solution for the storage room, place the metal wire on the condenser unit, then slightly adjust the position of the lightning rod.

Ryan didn’t say much, just replied softly, “Okay.”

He took the metal wire from me. I turned to leave, but as I walked away, he suddenly called my name. “Alex.”

I stopped. His voice was calm but cold. “From this moment on, I won’t trust anyone—including you.”

In the following days, I continuously experimented with the formalin solution. I had to ensure Nam would be poisoned immediately upon contact. The only thing I could exploit was what he treasured most—his brothers.

In Nam’s storage room, there were 40 jars of formalin solution, symbolizing his 40 dead brothers. No matter how important the others were, none could compare to Ryan. So I secretly swapped the solution in Ryan’s jar. I adjusted the glycerin and oxygen ratio, increasing the formaldehyde concentration to the maximum. When Nam opened it, he would be poisoned instantly.

After four days of final testing, I succeeded. I created a special formaldehyde solution— not too strong-smelling but lethal upon inhalation.

I reported to Nam that the new preservative solution was ready. He personally labeled each jar to identify the brothers inside. But when he labeled Ryan’s jar, he stuck it on a normal formalin jar, not the one I had poisoned.

Was this coincidence? The probability of him mislabeling was extremely low. There could only be one explanation: Nam suspected me.

I froze for a few seconds. I had to swap the poisoned jar back immediately. Nam had been watching me the whole time. He approached, voice slow and smiling. “Alex, is there a problem with that preservative jar?”

I shook my head lightly. He looked at me meaningfully, then flashed a strange smile.

Outside, thunder boomed. Lightning had begun.

Nam stepped closer, voice full of curiosity. “What did you use the silver conductor for? I don’t want to suspect you. But can you give me an explanation?”

I tensed, teeth gritted. “Haven’t you figured out the answer yourself these past few days? It was my own idea.”

Nam nodded repeatedly. “Very good. Very good. Then come with me to check everything.”

That night, I secretly returned to the lab and swapped the labels on the jars. I moved the label from Ryan’s jar to the poisoned one, ensuring Nam would open it himself.

The next afternoon, the storm arrived. Thunder rumbled, lightning flashed across the sky. Nam ordered the captured girls to transfer the formalin jars into his storage room. Only then did I realize this room wasn’t just storage—it was a mini lab with filtration and absorption equipment for formaldehyde gas. He was too cautious. We had underestimated his defenses.

After the girls left the room, only Nam and I remained. Nam locked the door tightly and looked at me slowly. “Alex, do you want to confess anything? Why did you sneak back to the lab last night?”

I calmly took a deep breath, avoiding his gaze. “I was just checking the state of the preservative solutions again.”

Nam chuckled softly. “Oh, really? Then why did I see you on the hidden camera peeling the label off Ryan’s jar? You swapped his label. Do you know? This morning I had someone move that jar to a cooler spot. Guess what I discovered? Just shaking it lightly causes the oxygen inside to bubble out. Its smell is ten times stronger than normal formalin. So I had those girls sniff it. Guess what happened?”

I was so tense my back was drenched in cold sweat. I said nothing—I couldn’t. Nam narrowed his eyes, his smile sinister and satisfied. “All of them collapsed immediately. I don’t know if they’re still alive or dead. But do you know what’s most interesting? I tried smelling it myself, but I didn’t go into shock or have trouble breathing. Do you know why?”

He slowly leaned his face close, breath brushing my skin. “Because you’re not smart enough to kill me.”

My whole body trembled, but I forced calm. Nam patted my shoulder lightly, voice carrying a hint of regret. “Alex, why are you so tense? You haven’t truly become the second personality yet, so even if you make a mistake, I can still forgive you.”

He knew. He knew everything. I had failed.

Nam ordered me to continue arranging the body parts in the storage room. Bit by bit, I carefully placed them in position, pretending to be respectful and fearful. Then the moment arrived—a bolt of lightning struck the corner of the building. The entire room shook violently. I knew Ryan had succeeded. He had placed my silver wire in the right spot.

Nam shrugged and laughed. “The weather’s weird today—thunder and lightning like it wants to tear this place apart.” He took out his phone and called, voice low. “A, check the stabilizer system, filters, transformers, and the lightning rod on the roof immediately. Don’t let the power go out.”

I listened to every word, then continued pretending to be worried, quickly finishing the arrangement task. When it was time to place Ryan’s preserved heart, I deliberately dropped it. Thud. The heart fell to the cold floor.

I panicked and crouched down, trembling. “Sorry, sorry. I didn’t mean to.”

I stood still, pretending to be in panic, eyes full of terror. Nam laughed with delight, eyes lighting up with amusement. “Alex, are you afraid of me? Scared to the point of trembling just from a few words I said?”

He slowly walked toward me, bent down to pick up the heart. In that instant, I tore off the mask from his face and stomped hard on Ryan’s heart. Thud.

Nam collapsed immediately, a violent coughing fit erupting. I didn’t give him time to recover. I kicked the heart hard toward his nose. Nam coughed and retched violently, his face turning purple. He began vomiting heavily.

Another bolt of lightning struck, closer this time. The west wall shook violently, making the room tremble wildly. Nam rushed toward the door, but in the hallway came the sound of zzzzzz—electric shock. The entire building lost power completely. The storage room door automatically locked.

Nam lost balance, vomiting nonstop. He collapsed to the floor. I slowly watched him, waiting for the final judgment of the thunder god.

I wore the mask, crouched down, and looked at him. My voice was low and cold. “From now on, Uncle, you won’t have the chance to forgive me anymore.”

Nam couldn’t make any sound. He convulsed, lips moving as if trying to say something but unable to. He continued vomiting. He tried to roll over to avoid the vomit, but I immediately stepped on his chest, forcing him to lie on his back. The pile of vomit blocked his mouth and throat, preventing him from breathing.

I looked down at him from above, voice full of contempt. “Do you know where you lost? You lost because you were too arrogant. You always acted alone, thinking we were all afraid, thinking no one dared resist.”

Nam coughed and retched, more vomit coming. He began struggling but couldn’t breathe. I laughed mockingly. “From the day I saw those girls die horribly at your hands, I swore I would kill you. And now, you can never turn back.”

I gritted my teeth and continued. “Do you know why I wasn’t discovered even after swapping Ryan’s label? Because I never intended to swap the label. What I really did was inject 95% concentrated formalin directly into his heart and then stomp it to pieces right in front of you, letting the poison spread so you would inhale it.”

Nam’s eyes twisted. He opened his mouth weakly, begging. “You want to be the bad guy, right? Save… save me. I’ll tell you who the doctor is.”

I leaned down. “Who is the doctor?”

He nodded frantically but coughed harder. Vomit sprayed everywhere, covering my mask. In a short moment, he suffocated to death.

In just a few seconds, I couldn’t extract the doctor’s name. It was too late.

I released my grip, voice cold. “Speak. Who is the doctor? Tell me and I’ll spare your life.”

He pointed toward the file cabinet—the one holding Ryan’s diary. I dragged his limp body over, forced him to unlock it with fingerprint and iris scan. Inside, besides Ryan’s diary file, there was a top-secret psychological diagnosis report on me, the treatment method, and the doctor’s name signed in the bottom right corner: Lily.

I asked coldly, “Is she Hannah?”

Nam shook his head. I pressed, “Where is she?”

He struggled to speak. “A few months ago, she gave me the treatment documents and disappeared. I’ve never met her. I deliberately mentioned the memory reenactment therapy in front of you to make you suspect Hannah—so you two would kill each other.”

I leaned down, staring at him, and whispered one final sentence. “But you miscalculated.”

Haha. Indeed, I had set the trap for Nam to fall into. But who was that woman Lily? If I could find her, could she cure me? If cured, then I wouldn’t need to become the second personality anymore. I had to find her at any cost.

As I thought, Nam started coughing again. He seemed unable to hold on much longer. I coldly watched him, using my foot to kick over the jars of body parts preserved in formalin. The solution spilled everywhere, mixing with ears, noses, arms—various chunks of flesh flying.

I looked around. Tears fell uncontrollably. The dead girls seemed to surround me, witnessing me punishing Nam. I pressed my foot hard on his chest, watching him writhe in agony, watching his eyes roll white, watching his eyeballs nearly bulge from their sockets. Finally, he couldn’t breathe anymore. He died right in front of me. His hands fell limply to the floor.

I was drenched in sweat, unable to control the tears pouring down. I had truly killed him.

About ten minutes later, absolute silence came from outside. I tore off the mask, collapsed to the floor, pretending to be poisoned too. Someone picked me up, shaking me and calling. Just from the breathing, I knew it was Ryan.

I was given gastric lavage, forced to drink something. In the end, I survived.

In the infirmary, Ryan stayed by my side the whole time. He said, “Alex, your mother has arrived.”

I stared intently at the bedsheet without reacting. At this moment, I had no time to worry about my mother. My mind was full of question marks. I began thinking. Right now, Ryan was probably the most honest with me. His undercover identity had been confirmed. But Hannah was different—she grew stranger and stranger. Her identity was full of questions. Moreover, Ryan seemed not to know who she really was. And the woman named Lily was even more mysterious—she had never appeared.

I thought for a long time, then spoke. “Ryan, do you know who Lily is?”

Ryan looked somewhat surprised, then replied, “You know Lily? She once cooperated with Ryan’s undercover team. Extremely mysterious—no one knows her true identity. Which team she belongs to. After Ryan died, she also disappeared.”

I frowned. “Previously she still contacted Nam, assessing my mental state, guiding him on how to turn me into the second personality. Now you say she disappeared. If she’s really an undercover cop, why contact Nam? And Hannah too—I think she and Lily are connected. I don’t believe she’s really crazy.”

Ryan stared at me, smiling with reluctance. “Alex, there are things I can’t think through for you. You have to find the truth yourself.”

I slowly turned my head and looked straight into Ryan’s resolute face. Suddenly, I thought of one thing—my mother’s message. She wanted me to kill Ryan. Now that Nam was dead, she would definitely be even more anxious.

I had been immersed in the plan but suddenly woke up. “Ryan, you have to leave here.”

Ryan shook his head. “It’s too late now, Alex. From the moment I decided to go undercover, there was no turning back. Besides, with Nam dead, someone needs to take the fall. Do you think you can explain his death to the higher-ups? But your mother—she’s the type of woman who never accepts betrayal. She needs a reason to stand firm in the organ trafficking organization.”

I looked at him, puzzled. Ryan explained, “Nam was the most vicious in the organization. Your mother used him. Do you know how she handles undercover cops? She doesn’t need torture—she uses a special drug. This drug doesn’t affect beta brain waves, so the person unknowingly reveals all secrets. Six years ago, she made me take that drug too.”

I was stunned. “If not for my vigilance, if I had really revealed the list of undercover cops, your identity would have been exposed long ago. At that point, you’d have only one path—death.”

As soon as the words left my mouth, the infirmary door was suddenly pushed open hard. A group of people in black clothes, armed, rushed in without a word. They immediately dragged Ryan away.

I panicked. My mother, taking advantage of my light sedation, had forced Ryan to drink the drug. She wanted to force him to reveal the whole truth. I gasped, crawled out of bed, and rushed toward where Ryan was being taken. But as I reached the hallway, I suddenly stopped.

I couldn’t follow. Those girls locked in the training camp needed me to save them. If I followed Ryan, it meant completely cutting ties with him. I’d be labeled as undercover with no way out. Even as the daughter of the trafficking boss, I couldn’t avoid being killed like Nam.

But what about Ryan? I leaned against the cold wall, slowly sliding down to sit. I forced myself to stay clear-headed. “Alex, you can’t go down there. You can’t let emotions control you. You can’t soften.”

I kept reminding myself, continuously suppressing the pain rising in my heart, until the commotion from below echoed up. I slowly raised my head and looked through the curtain gap in the window.

Two Myanmar mercenaries were tearing Ryan’s clothes. He was tied with both hands hanging loosely from a large wooden post in the courtyard. His body was covered in long and short scars, dark brown, light brown, pink—my eyes wandered over those scars, and chaos surged in my head. Something flashed like a voice calling from afar. It rang clearly in my mind.

“Alex, the biggest mistake you made was giving birth to a son. Haha, that little brat has ambition too. So young and already wanting to be a cop. What if one day he becomes an undercover and gets sent into an organ or drug trafficking organization? Going undercover in an organization like this is no different from signing your own death warrant.”

I clutched my head, trying to suppress the spreading panic. The voice grew closer. It whispered right by my ear. “Ryan—that’s your son’s name. Ha… I’m really afraid he won’t escape his fate.”

My mind was in turmoil. My chest heaved violently. My head throbbed. Cold sweat poured out as if something were crawling out of my mind. The blood vessels on both temples pulsed strongly. Why couldn’t I remember this? Was it the effect of the second personality?

I glared down at the courtyard, trying to regulate my breathing. The two mercenaries rolled over a black paint bucket, closer. Only then did I realize it was a beehive bucket used to attract swarms of bees.

They slowly loosened Ryan’s bonds, placed him inside, leaving only his head exposed. Then they beat the bucket hard with sticks. The bucket shook. The bees began flying wildly. Soon, hundreds of bees swarmed into the bucket, crawling all over Ryan’s body.

He was in great pain, clenching his teeth, whole body shaking violently.

At that moment, I saw a familiar figure—my mother, Trinh Uyen. She coldly stared at Ryan. “You killed Nam, right? Ryan, how long have you been in this organization? From the beginning, I never expected you to be an undercover cop. Now you need to explain to my superiors.”

She personally beat the bucket hard. The bees swarmed and flew around Ryan’s eyes. He squeezed his eyes shut, shaking even more violently.

I took a deep breath. Even my breathing felt exhausting. I bit my finger, trying to control my trembling shoulders. Finally, I couldn’t hold back. I turned away, lowered my head, covered my mouth with my hand, and sobbed uncontrollably. I didn’t dare look. The pain was excruciating. Truly too painful.

I wanted to rush down, wanted to save him, but I couldn’t. Once I went down, everything would end.

I don’t know how long passed. Cheers rang out from below. I slowly turned my head. Ryan was almost unrecognizable as human. His whole body and face were swollen with huge blisters. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. He looked exactly like when I first met him that day.

My whole body froze for a second. Suddenly, I remembered something from long ago. That day, he had seriously said to me, “Alex, you know what? If you’re an undercover cop and about to be tortured to death, the police prepare a special drug. This drug is wrapped in a membrane that can be hidden deep under the tongue. It contains cyanide. Just bite through the membrane and the person dies immediately.”

That day, I had asked him, “Can’t undercover cops find a way to escape?”

Ryan smiled faintly. “This drug needs to be tested a week in advance. If the situation isn’t too severe, there’s no need to bite it. But if there’s no way out, just spit out the wrapper so stomach acid doesn’t break it down.”

Now I understood. That afternoon when I found him, there was blood at the corner of his mouth. It turned out he had already tested the drug then.

The mercenaries beside my mother also noticed the abnormality. They rushed over, trying to dig the poison out of Ryan’s mouth. Ryan struggled, waving them away. The boss, Ryan, clenched his teeth and tilted his head back, not letting them touch him. The veins on his neck bulged. All the blisters were stretched to the point of nearly bursting.

Trinh Uyen saw this and, without hesitation, pulled out a knife. She stabbed straight into Ryan’s stomach. Ugh.

I let out a choked scream. My lips trembled violently. Tears fell drop by drop onto the back of my hand. I was about to lose sight of him. Ryan… I can’t see you clearly anymore.

That knife was like scissors, cutting from his stomach up to his ribs. Blood spurted out. Ryan was in so much pain his jaw trembled. That woman was too cruel. She was truly a demon. My eyes burned. My fingers were soaked. Only then did I realize I had clawed them raw.

At that moment, one man was trying to dig in Ryan’s mouth. He trembled as he shouted, “Boss, Ryan is saying something! He’s confessing! He says there’s still another undercover cop in this training camp—a girl. Damn it, he’s not breathing anymore, boss!”

Before my eyes, everything suddenly went dark. I closed my eyes tightly, staggering, nearly falling. I didn’t dare open my eyes. No more. No more. No more. Ryan shouldn’t have ended like this. He shouldn’t have. It couldn’t be.

I collapsed, leaning against the glass, staring at the knife deeply embedded in his body. Too clear. Too glaring. He hung his head there, blood dripping steadily from the corner of his mouth.

Why isn’t anyone saving him? Why isn’t anyone there? Where is everyone?

I felt my mind was no longer normal. My vision became blurry, losing focus. I whispered his name. “Wake up, Ryan. Wake up.” He hung there, stomach slashed open, blood flowing endlessly. He had once said he was an undercover cop, someone who used his life to protect ordinary people. So how could he die? How could it be like this?

My tears could no longer be controlled. I ran forward on bare feet, staggering. In my daze, someone appeared blocking my path—it was Hannah. She stood there in a white coat, her whole body radiating a cold indifference.

She was no longer crazy. She looked at me and ordered the people behind her, “Inject her with sedative. Her mental state is unstable.”

I lowered my head to look at her, lips curling into a faint smile. “Look, you’re really heartless. You’ve joined the organ trafficking organization for a long time, right? So who controls you—Nam or Trinh Uyen?”

Hannah ignored me, just turned and signaled her subordinates. Immediately, they restrained me and dragged me back to the infirmary. Outside, Ryan was still hanging there. I could barely resist. I was tied tightly to the bed and injected with a strange sedative. I struggled, but soon my body lost all strength.

Hannah stood beside me without saying a word. I glared at her. She had deceived Ryan, making him think she was crazy. But in reality, she was only using the madness to hide her true purpose. She wasn’t crazy. She was just pretending. So what was her goal? To make Ryan and me suspect each other and kill one another?

Hannah showed no expression. “Yes, I deceived Ryan long ago. I belong to your mother. She wants to turn you into the second personality. I was just performing a play to stimulate you. When I read Ryan’s diary in Nam’s storage room, I also saw your psychiatric evaluation file and the treatment method. Now that Ryan is dead, I don’t need to pretend anymore.”

Her voice was emotionless, like a pre-programmed machine. Only now did I understand why her smile was so eerie, why she treated me like a sister but ended up like this. I couldn’t understand. I looked at her, unable to comprehend who she really was. My eyes reddened, nearly in despair. “You and Ryan knew each other since childhood. Ryan… he’s dead, hanging out there. Can’t you see?”

The pain hit again like countless knives cutting into my brain. I clutched my head tightly, body shaking. It hurt too much.

Suddenly, a voice rang out, growing clearer. I saw a familiar gentle face—it was Ryan. I let out a piercing scream like a madwoman. At this moment, I looked no different from Hannah earlier.

Hannah stepped forward and injected me with another dose of sedative. It seemed the previous one wasn’t enough. I looked at her blankly. “Why are you a communications expert but operating as a psychologist? When did you know my mother?”

Hannah remained indifferent, but this time she answered clearly. “I’ve known your mother for a very long time. Since I was little. I grew up on the Arizona-Mexico border, in Nogales. She sponsored my elementary education. I owe her a favor, so later working for her was normal. Don’t look at me like that. I studied communications and psychology. Yes, I deceived you, but I also treated you. If you want, we can still be sisters.”

I laughed coldly. “Sisters? Look out the window. Look at Ryan covered in blood.”

Hannah acted as if she didn’t hear, stepping back a pace and saying lightly, “I’ve observed you for a while. I see you’re developing toward the second personality. In the next few weeks, we’ll conduct experiments to see if you truly switch to the second personality. I’ll help you as Lily recorded.”

She casually lifted the hem of her coat, revealing a small listening device. I immediately realized she was acting. Everything just now was a performance. It was like a bucket of ice water dumped on my head. My mind instantly became clear.

My mother had made Ryan drink a drug that stimulated beta brain waves, forcing him to reveal the truth. And when he was hung up, he had said there was still another undercover cop in the training camp. Hannah had also revealed her identity—she was the psychologist my mother mentioned. She had injected me with sedative, but why didn’t she continue? Why not increase the dose? There was only one reason—she did it on purpose. She was sending me a message. She wanted me to stay alert. But for what?

Ryan’s words echoed in my head again: “There’s still another undercover cop in this training camp.”

I suddenly froze. Was Hannah the undercover cop? But she had already left the room.

I lay there, my mind about to explode. Everything had two identities. If Hannah was applying Lily’s treatment method, then clearly she was Lily. Who was Lily exactly?

I couldn’t figure it out. But right now, the most important thing was to determine Hannah’s true identity and then help her avoid detection by my mother. I knew my mother too well—she would quickly discover the remaining undercover’s identity.

As I was thinking, my mother walked in. There was the smell of blood on her—the blood belonging to Ryan.

I stared into her eyes. In my heart, only one desire remained: save those girls and send this demon to hell.

She slowly approached, hugged me. “My treasure, I’m sorry Mommy came late. But Mommy always believed you could adapt to this place without problems. You didn’t disappoint Mommy. You killed Nam, right?”

She knew I killed Nam? I glared at her with bloodshot eyes. She slowly pulled away from the hug, voice light. “What’s strange about that, treasure? I knew about your plan with Ryan from the beginning. Mommy has always been listening in on Ryan, listening in…”

I looked at her coldly. She casually took out a recording device. Inside played the full plan between Ryan and me—from the conductive metal wire to the formalin. But the content had been altered. Clearly, someone had edited the recording.

I cautiously probed. “Did Hannah help you monitor us? Was this recording sent to you by her?”

Trinh Uyen smiled. “She wouldn’t dare disobey you. You even saved her, but she betrayed you. Aren’t you very disappointed? But Mommy doesn’t blame her. Because Mommy only wants to help you grow.”

Immediately, I understood. Hannah was indeed the undercover cop. She had really pretended to be crazy. But I still couldn’t be 100% sure. My mother was far more cunning than me. I decided to probe further.

“Mommy has never suspected Hannah? Ryan said there’s still another undercover in the training camp. It could very well be her.”

Trinh Uyen didn’t waver, just paused briefly before replying, “Impossible. Hannah is Mommy’s person. She’s the psychologist who treated you.”

She trusted Hannah absolutely. This made me suspicious. She was extremely paranoid and rarely trusted anyone. But why trust Hannah to this extent?

I tried once more. “What if she really is an undercover cop?”

Trinh Uyen smiled. “As long as you provide proof, Mommy will believe it immediately.”

Her smile caused me excruciating pain. I thought of Ryan still hanging outside, body covered in blood. Hatred boiled in my chest. With red eyes, I looked through the window. “I want to personally bury Ryan alive.”

Trinh Uyen looked disappointed. “Looks like you still haven’t fully switched to the second personality.”

This time I didn’t reply. I knew very well that more and more images of Ryan were appearing in my head. This was a sign. Perhaps soon I would completely become the second personality. If I wanted to stop the process, the only way was to find Lily. But right now, I had no clues about Lily except Nam, who was dead, and Hannah, whom I suspected.

I decided first to confirm whether Hannah was really an undercover cop. Then I would officially take action against my mother.

As I thought, Trinh Uyen patted my shoulder lightly. “Just leave Ryan to Mommy. These days, Mommy has indulged your kindness too much, Alex. In this world, the strong eat the weak. If you want to survive, you must learn to be ruthless.”

Ryan’s body was taken to a very distant place. I didn’t want to bury him near the training camp. When lowering the coffin, I hugged his cold corpse, leaned close, and whispered, “I won’t bring you home. I swear, no matter where you are, I won’t look for you anymore.”

I slowly pulled away from his ear, but suddenly felt something in Ryan’s ear canal—like a small piece of paper hidden inside. Under the sunlight, I carefully used a knife to retrieve a small piece of silk cloth. Unfolding it, a few words were written: “My phone was lost at the bag shop in Nogales. Hannah is not trustworthy.”

The last two words immediately shattered all my previous assumptions. I had just suspected Hannah was the undercover cop, right? But there was also the possibility that Trinh Uyen deliberately created confusion in my perception, just like Nam had done.

How to determine? In any situation, I always had to consider from two angles. I carefully verified the handwriting—it was definitely Ryan’s. So there were two possibilities. Ryan had known long ago that Hannah was monitoring me for my mother, so he didn’t say it directly. But before dying, he left this message. Before dying, Ryan realized Hannah was not trustworthy. So I had to confirm Hannah’s identity even more.

I took a deep breath. Shovelful by shovelful, I covered Ryan’s body with earth. Bit by bit, the dirt covered his eyes. Finally, I completely buried him. Throughout the process, I tried to restrain myself, but when the last shovelful of dirt was done, I couldn’t hold back. I collapsed to my knees, back hunched, sobs bursting out uncontrollably.

“Do you know? I failed to protect your son. I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Ryan.”

A sweet, fishy taste rose in my throat. I covered my mouth with my hand and looked down—blood. I smiled mockingly. The memories in my head suddenly became clearer than ever.

On the way back, I thought about how to set a trap for Hannah. Immediately, I remembered Ryan’s phone. Back at the camp, I told Trinh Uyen, “When I was kidnapped, Ryan lost his phone. He said he left it at the bag shop in Nogales. Mommy, I want to go there to retrieve it. There might be important information about the undercover cops.”

Trinh Uyen didn’t agree immediately. She stared at me and said slowly, “Alex, you’re still your first personality, right?”

I nodded. She continued, “Your first personality is too weak, too kind. How does Mommy know you won’t use this chance to contact the police? Here’s the deal—M Mommy will let you go, but first you have to take a test dose. What do you think?”

Her voice was gentle like spring breeze, but my whole body felt cold as if falling into an ice cellar. Using a test drug to detect undercover cops—to test her own daughter. In her eyes, I was no better than a tool. I didn’t resist, just calmly replied, “Okay. Anyway, this drug has no effect on people with dissociative identity disorder.”

Three days later, I went with Hannah to Nogales to find the phone. Based on observation and judgment, I quickly found the bag shop Ryan had mentioned. It was near the hotel where Ryan had once stayed—a place with high foot traffic but also very convenient for monitoring activities around the hotel.

I asked the shop owner, “Did you find a phone?”

The owner was very friendly. “Oh my, it’s been so long. I was afraid no one would claim it, so I charged it every day. Are you the one who lost the phone?”

She glanced at Hannah, then went inside and brought out a phone, handing it to me.

I stared at her for a moment before taking it. I entered the password and checked the photos, browsing history, lock screen—everything looked exactly like Ryan’s phone. But this was not Ryan’s phone. She knew Hannah. She was guarding against me. But I didn’t expose it, just smiled and said, “Give me two baozi—one with vegetables, one with meat.”

The owner was still friendly and got the baozi. But when I scanned to pay, I deliberately transferred a large extra amount. I held up the phone for her to see. “Thank you for keeping the phone so long. This is a thank-you fee.”

The owner stared at the screen. Her expression suddenly froze. After several seconds, she spoke. “No need, no need. Really no need.”

On the way out of Nogales, Hannah was silent. She wrung her hands, looking somewhat tense. I lowered my head, looked at Ryan’s phone, and whispered, “Hannah, do you know why I risked coming back here?”

She shook her head. I said, “Because I want to save you. I really want to save you. That thought keeps haunting me, echoing in my head like a command. I watched Ryan die. It hurt so much. I don’t want to lose you anymore. So tell me—who are you really?”

Hannah blinked but said nothing. I laughed. “A normal person who finds a phone would either turn it in to the police or not bother charging it every day. Why didn’t she demand a ransom but just kept it? Do you think this phone is really Ryan’s?”

Hannah grew more tense. I smiled lightly, looking straight into her eyes. “Why are you so nervous?”

Hannah didn’t move, just whispered, “What do you want to say?”

I swallowed hard and lowered my voice. “This bag shop is in a less crowded area, but it’s near the hotel Ryan once took me to. It’s very suitable for monitoring. Do you understand? In other words, the shop owner is either a cop or an informant. She looked very familiar with you. That means you’ve contacted her before. Do you want to explain?”

Hannah froze. Her whole body stiffened as if pricked by needles. “I don’t know her. I just bought things there before.”

I leaned close to her ear and whispered, “I didn’t bring any listening device. You don’t need to worry.”

Hannah startled. I placed my hand on her shoulder and laughed coldly. “Your behavior at the camp and now are completely different. The day Ryan died, you injected me with sedative and deliberately exposed the listening device. You didn’t accidentally let me see it—you did it on purpose. Moreover, in the recordings my mother obtained, there was no content about Ryan and me planning to escape. The data had been edited. So what did you do?”

Hannah’s face paled. Her eyes widened as if she couldn’t believe it. I sighed seriously. “Don’t look at me like that. After going through so much, who wouldn’t become more vigilant? Besides, I’m just asking if you’re an insider or not. I still haven’t confirmed it. My mother isn’t trustworthy either. If we return to the camp, the only outcome is death. Think about Ryan.”

Hannah sat there, beginning to tremble. After a long time, she finally spoke. “Alex, among the people on the list, you’re the smartest. I’m the second smartest. You’ve always had the advantage over me. Before, I didn’t believe it, but now I do. No mistake. I’m an insider. The bag shop is our secret contact point with the police.”

I stayed silent for a long time. “Besides the insider identity, do you have any other role?”

Hannah no longer hid it. “I have two identities. On one hand, I work for the police. On the other, I also work for your mother. I walk the line between justice and evil. That day, I deliberately injected you with sedative and deliberately exposed the listening device. I wanted you to help me eliminate your mother. She’s truly insane. I’m very afraid of her.”

I bit my lip and paused for a few seconds. “Leave this place. Go as far as possible. Ryan is dead. I don’t want you to die. I don’t want to see your corpse. Either you go right now to the bag shop to find your teammates so they can take you out of here, or wait until I completely become the second person—I will kill you with my own hands.”

Tears welled up. I gripped her hand tightly. “I tried to save you, Hannah. Don’t make me despair.”

Hannah looked at me for a very long time. Finally, she turned and left. I watched her figure, pain unbearable. In my head, images flooded back, filling my skull as if it would explode. I collapsed in pain onto the floor.

Why were there so many things like this? I hugged my head, curling up in the corner, eyes closed, trembling. I don’t know how long passed. When I opened my eyes, everything seemed completely different. I knew I had become the second person.

Eighteen years ago, Hannah was brought back. It was me who reported her.

I stood beside Trinh Uyen, my mother. My mother looked at her and smiled. “Hannah, I never expected you to be an insider.”

Hannah trembled as she looked at me. “You deceived me.”

I smiled faintly. “Yeah, I didn’t expect you to be so easily fooled.”

I let you go, but you didn’t leave. Now your insider identity is too obvious.

Hannah narrowed her eyes and stared at me. “You’ve become the second person, haven’t you?”

I didn’t know how she saw it, but I still nodded. My mother looked surprised. “Hannah, are you sure?”

Hannah shifted from panic to calm. “Aunt Uyen, no need to act anymore. I’m certain. She’s changed. Let me examine her more carefully.”

When Hannah suddenly changed her attitude, I couldn’t react in time. Trinh Uyen smiled with deep meaning. “So this time the treatment phase two wasn’t in vain. I didn’t expect her to recover so quickly.”

What did treatment phase two mean? Trinh Uyen sighed and explained, “Actually, when you killed Ryan, Hannah was always watching you from the shadows. She thought you were transforming into the second personality. Then when you asked if she was an insider, based on your personality, she knew you wouldn’t confirm immediately. So she decided to go along with your plan and agree to let you take her to Nogales. If at that time you let her escape, it would mean you still carried the first personality. But instead, you suddenly returned and reported her to me. Honestly, I couldn’t be sure whether you had truly switched or not. In Lily’s diagnostic documents, phase two of the treatment requires continuous stimulation with bloody scenes and betrayal. You killed Ryan to make Hannah play the insider, then betrayed her again. Indeed, the effect was extremely strong.”

I felt Hannah was even better than Lily. She knew how to adjust the treatment method according to the actual situation. She laughed with self-satisfaction. I could barely breathe. It turned out everything was just a play. I took Hannah to Nogales because I wanted to confirm her identity. But later, when I saw her run away, I began to suspect she was only pretending to be an insider. Because a real insider, at this stage when only she remained in the training camp, absolutely could not run. Once she ran, she would lose all contact with the organization. If it was really the police planning a net to capture the entire organization, her running would cause the plan to collapse.

Thinking that, I thought she had betrayed long ago. So I reported her to my mother. If she really worked for my mother, then my mother would handle her herself. If she hadn’t betrayed yet, I would still have a chance to find a way to save those girls. So reporting was also a second test. But I never expected that it was all just a performance. Too perfect. Everything was a deception. She had only one goal—to force me to completely become the second personality.

Haha. I was wrong. I had tried hard to believe Hannah was a good person, but I had underestimated the cruelty of this world.

I coldly looked at the two people before me, at their smiling faces like flowers. Finally, Hannah spoke. “Foster mother, when Alex took me to Nogales, she seemed to have found a contact point. That’s the baozi shop at the east corner of xx street. You should send people to handle that place. Also, Ryan’s phone has been brought back by Alex. I can help you decrypt all the communication information inside.”

Hannah appeared extremely calm. She looked like someone reading a book—composed and discreet. But in my heart, layers of turbulent waves surged. I turned and left. Hannah immediately followed.

When we reached the hallway, I stopped. “No need to follow me anymore. From now on, you’re just a testing tool for me. I’ll see if I have truly transformed into the second personality. Our friendship ends here. I have no more attachments to you.”

Behind me, Hannah sighed softly. “Do you remember? The first time the school organized a basketball game, you broke your leg. I bought a lot of cucumbers, scraped out the seeds inside for you to eat. I told you that since ancient times, there’s a saying: eating cucumber seeds helps bones heal faster. I didn’t want you to suffer pain for too long. At that time, what did you say to me?”

I took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I don’t remember.”

But actually, I remembered very clearly. I would never forget that sentence.

After returning, I sat on the bed thinking. The phone I brought back was fake. That meant the real phone was still at the baozi shop, still in the shop owner’s hands. Trinh Uyen was decisive and ruthless—she would definitely send people to handle the shop owner immediately. I had to save her.

Fortunately, during the day, I had managed to signal her. At that time, I pretended to show her the payment screen, but actually tilted the phone at an angle so Hannah couldn’t see. On the screen, I had set my Wi-Fi hotspot name to: “Hannah has been exposed. Leave quickly.” That was why the shop owner froze for a long time.

Before going to Nogales, I had planned ahead. Ryan’s phone had fallen into the hands of the police insider. No matter what Hannah’s true identity was, those agents would definitely be alert to her. Thinking that, I immediately took out the phone, deleted the Wi-Fi name, then checked the history of authorized devices to find Ryan’s real phone. Because his phone had once connected to mine, I could easily locate it. Before long, I successfully connected.

Now, I only needed to take a photo. If Ryan’s phone automatically synced the photo, it proved we were sharing the photo library. This was a way I could secretly send messages.

I took a photo of a blank wall, then used the editing tool to write on it: “You are in danger. Leave quickly.”

I wasn’t sure if they would believe it. Five minutes passed with no reply. I took another photo. This time I wrote: “Ryan is dead.”

Less than 30 seconds later, a new photo appeared in my library. On that blank wall were a few words: “We received the message. We will withdraw immediately.”

Just as I predicted, the shop owner had taken this photo and sent it back. I continued sending one final message: “Many girls are being held at xxxx. Please track the yellow-striped trucks traveling from Arizona to Mexico belonging to my mother’s logistics company. Read and delete this immediately.”

Within 30 seconds, the message was deleted. I knew iPhones have a feature to recover deleted photos, so I quickly recovered the deleted photos, erased all the written text, restoring them to the original blank wall, then canceled the sharing of Ryan’s photo library. Everything was done completely discreetly.

About 30 minutes later, I received news from my mother’s subordinates: the shop owner had fled. Trinh Uyen was so angry she smashed her teacup. She searched Ryan’s fake phone but found no information except browsing history, photo album, and some useless data that Hannah had recovered—all empty.

Finally, she checked my phone, but it only had three photos of a blank white wall.

The next day, my mother forced me to take medicine under Hannah’s supervision. I admitted I had become the second personality. She also gave me a sedative pill. But there was one issue. I understood very clearly: If I had truly transformed into the second personality, why were the memories of the first personality still so clear? Could I easily switch between the two personalities?

Two weeks after Ryan’s death, I officially participated in organ harvesting operations. Looking at the price list before me, I couldn’t suppress my trembling. A normal heart was priced at $150,000 USD, while premium ones reached $900,000. Scrolling down, a kidney was $300,000. Eyeballs—I stared at the number below: $3,000 USD. One living person’s eye removed—only $6,000 for both eyes?

A subordinate standing beside reminded me, “Miss Trinh, do you want to adjust the prices? Lately, border police patrols have increased. Transporting goods isn’t as easy. We need to change the prices.”

I nodded. A thought suddenly flashed in my mind: Police were increasing border patrols. This was good news. I signed the price list unconsciously. But when I looked down at my signature, I froze. I had just signed “Lily.” Lily? I had no consciousness when writing that name. It was as if it was deeply etched into my bones. I panicked, fingers trembling, and quickly crossed out the signature.

Although I had transformed into the second personality, I still clearly remembered past events. But I still couldn’t remember how Ryan had cured me. I had to look at that diary again. Previously, when I was lightly poisoned, I hadn’t had time to finish reading Ryan’s diary before my mother took it back. I was sure she hadn’t read it. But if she didn’t read it, why did she keep it?

Thinking of that, I felt even more uneasy.

In the following days, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t remember. I decided to find some reason to make my mother voluntarily give me the diary to see.

Lately, Trinh Uyen’s mood was extremely irritable. The reason was the police increasing control at the border. At the meeting, I thought of a way to approach her while making a suggestion. “Now the border is strictly controlled. If Mommy wants to transport organs abroad by land, it won’t be easy. Why not try sea transport? Lately, Myanmar is building an oil pipeline. Mommy can use the name of transporting materials to ship goods through the southern ports of Myanmar, then use speedboats to take the organs out.”

My mother frowned. “The police haven’t caught the undercover Ryan mentioned yet. We have to resolve that first. Why have the police been so active lately? This has never happened before. Could it be related to the time you went to Nogales?”

She suddenly fell silent. A calculating light flashed in her eyes. I was so tense I didn’t dare breathe heavily. After who knows how long, she smiled and said to me, “Haha, you underestimated Mommy. No one in the world understands you better than Mommy.”

I knew what she was implying, but instinctively I felt uneasy about Hannah.

Trinh Uyen said no more and returned to the transport topic. She agreed with my suggestion and ordered her subordinates to survey the oil pipeline area in Myanmar.

As soon as the discussion ended, she hurriedly left the meeting room. I knew Hannah had been tortured, but only the next afternoon did I hear she was imprisoned in the underground dungeon of the secret prison.

When I went to visit her, she was lying sprawled on the ground, no strength left. Blood continuously trickled from her mouth. She shook her head almost uncontrollably, as if she had been hit in the head.

I slowly approached, squatted down, voice hoarse. “Have you been exposed?”

Hannah said nothing, just kept shaking her head nonstop. I reached out and stroked her head. “Actually, I still remember the cucumber seed thing for healing bones. I still remember you once said to me, ‘Alex, no matter what happens later, I will always trust you unconditionally.’ And likewise, I will never deceive you.”

Hannah, from the moment I asked if she remembered, I had thought a lot. Why did Ryan’s fake phone look exactly like the shop owner’s? That required high technical skill. Why did she know the phone was fake but still lie to my mother? I began to understand. The person who understood my mother best, the one with the greatest advantage when beside her, was only you. Yet I still tried to stay away from you. But in the end, it was you who got hurt.

Tears fell onto the floor. “See? Even though I tried to distance myself from you, in the end you were still dragged into it.”

Hannah coughed a few times. From beginning to end, she didn’t reply. But I already had the answer. I had to save her.

That night, I went to find Trinh Uyen. She showed me Ryan’s fake phone. This phone had fake positioning software. As long as it was plugged into the charger, the position shown on the map wouldn’t change no matter where it was taken. That’s why the police increased patrols. But that day, I had checked this phone—it had no fake positioning installed. If it did, it must have been installed many days ago, not just recently. Clearly, Hannah had taken the blame for her.

No matter whether she was acting with me or with my mother, her final goal was to protect me. Just like Ryan—he had also protected me that way.

When Ryan was alive, he once told me a story about two undercover cops, A and B. B was very capable, but A was a double agent. A protected B, but until death, he never revealed his true identity to B. Even before dying, A deliberately made B think he was the bad guy.

Ryan had tried to make me stay away from Hannah. Both of them had bet everything on me. Both were ready to die to protect me.

Ryan was an undercover cop. Hannah was a double agent. Then what about Lily?

I clutched my head, trying to remember, but still couldn’t. Late that night, I received a connection request from another device. I guessed it was the police. I accepted the connection, and immediately they sent a message in the form of an edited photo: “In five days, the police will launch an attack. If possible, Comrade Alex, please find a way to meet us again before the operation.”

I quickly replied, “My mother plans to use the Myanmar oil pipeline to disguise organ transport. The assembly point is near this route, close to Chin State.” After sending, I immediately restored the photo to its original state to avoid detection.

Two days later, I used the excuse that sea transport of organs had encountered problems to personally inspect the transport route and secretly meet with the police to detail the plan. No matter how vigilant my mother was, she could never imagine I had betrayed her.

Three days later, border patrol forces suddenly decreased. My mother let down her guard. She thought because the training camp was deep in the dense forest, the police couldn’t find the exact location. But in reality, the police were just creating a distraction.

The next day, Trinh Uyen discussed how to handle Hannah. She decided to let Hannah have the same fate as Ryan. This time, I didn’t give her the chance. I didn’t let Hannah live, but I also wouldn’t let her fall into their hands. I stood on her side and said coldly, “Hannah is an important piece. She once had contact with the police, so first extract information, then kill her. That way, it’s not wasted.”

Trinh Uyen was furious. “Alex, why do you still have a bit of kindness? If you continue like this, I can’t assign you punishment tasks.”

I stood up, gripped her wrist tightly, and glared. “Punishment? Who is more qualified to punish than Nam? If Mommy wants to kill him and frame Ryan, then why is he still alive?”

Trinh Uyen’s expression changed immediately. “What are you talking about?”

The subordinates who had once followed Nam were all present in the room. With just a few words, I could make the atmosphere more tense. If she wanted to put me in danger, I would respond with danger.

Nam’s subordinates immediately slammed the table and stood up. I smirked. “Mom, besides cruelty, what else do you have to deserve being the leader of this organization?”

Trinh Uyen’s eyes swept over everyone, slowly turning to me. “Alex, are you trying to undermine their trust in me?”

I smiled nonchalantly and threw out a recording. In it was my conversation with Hannah last night. When I deliberately tricked her into saying what was needed, in the recording Hannah said that Trinh Uyen had incited me to kill Nam and then frame Ryan to consolidate her power. She said my mother really didn’t care about finding the insider—she just wanted to torture until someone confessed. She said the most suspicious person was Trinh Uyen herself.

Even though those were lies, it was enough to cause a big storm. After all, Trinh Uyen had been away from the organization for too long. Everything before was managed by Nam. Now Nam was dead, and the land transport network she built was gradually collapsing. Who wouldn’t suspect she was deliberately controlling everything?

Amid the chaos, I threw out another phone. Inside were some forged documents creating a script that Trinh Uyen had secretly contacted the police to betray the organization. Real and fake mixed together. I didn’t care if they believed it or not. I just needed Trinh Uyen to be busy dealing with them, with no time to care about Hannah.

That midnight, Trinh Uyen came to find me. She questioned me. I set a condition: give me Ryan’s diary, and I would help Mommy regain trust from the organization.

She handed it to me. I flipped through page by page and found the records of my condition and the treatment method.

Diary entry 3025: Lily has recently treated Alex very effectively. She no longer wants to become a bad person. I guess she will soon return to being a normal person. Perhaps not long from now, she will be completely cured.

Diary entry 3040: Lily was once an insider but ultimately betrayed the police and became a true villain. The condition to continue treating Alex—I agreed to help her leave the organization. In exchange, she will have a peaceful life. She has leukemia and doesn’t have much time left.

I was stunned. If Lily was someone else, why did I unconsciously sign “Lily” on the documents? Why did that handwriting look exactly like mine?

In Nam’s storage room, I frowned, pretending not to care. Trinh Uyen looked at me. “You don’t believe it, do you? You still think you retain memories of your complete self?”

I shook my head. “Mommy wants to test me?”

Suddenly, I coughed hard. My hand was covered in blood. I froze for a second. Trinh Uyen laughed. “The drug you took actually contains a small amount of a serum-like substance, but it also has components that damage the lungs. Do you think your lungs are still intact? Don’t you feel breathing has become more difficult lately? If you lie, I might not notice, but if you don’t obey, I won’t give you the antidote. Alex, you’ve changed. I don’t think I should give you the antidote.”

I stared at her, and suddenly I remembered Nam’s words: inherited schizophrenia. Trinh Uyen also suffered from schizophrenia. But she had never been treated.

I smiled faintly. If I had to face a madwoman, the only way was to talk like a madwoman. I continued pretending to be obedient, threatened and subdued by her.

Epilogue

Alex sacrificed herself that summer in Mexico. The sky poured with heavy rain, thunder rumbling. The day she left, the rain fell even harder. She lay there, her hand still clutching a handful of earth. There was a water lily flower. Her face was as pale as paper, washed by the rain, flowing northward toward her homeland.

Her hometown was in Washington, D.C. There, people daily looked toward the sky, waiting for the red five-star flag to fly. In her heart, she still held a national flag.

The police found her. A female officer knelt down, gently patting her face. “Sister Alex.” She didn’t open her eyes. The female officer called again. “Alex.” She still didn’t respond. The female officer choked up, tears covering her face. She was so thin, almost just skin and bones. The female officer covered her mouth, but finally couldn’t hold back and burst into tears.

She carefully took the national flag from Alex’s arms and wrapped it around her cold, stiff body. She straightened her messy hair. “We will take you home. Your mission is complete, Alex. We will take you home.”

The female officer cried until she couldn’t speak. Afterward, only choked sobs remained around her.

On June 15, 2019, Alex’s death was officially confirmed. She was 28 years old. She was buried in Tucson, a land like spring all year round. She would forever lie beside her comrades who had also devoted themselves to protecting the country, making silent contributions. She would no longer be alone.

The police protected her family and erased all information about her identity. She was only a codename: “No.” But the name Alex would forever be engraved in the hearts of those who had gone through everything with her.

The fate of Hannah—50 years later, in a lecture hall on criminal investigation, a white-haired professor stood on the podium telling about the most outstanding agents of the past century. When he mentioned the codename “No,” the screen displayed an image of the real Ryan’s diary.

Entry 325: Today is the 60th day I have infiltrated the organ trafficking organization. Besides me, I have a teammate. She once suffered from dissociative identity disorder, psychologically unstable. But after treatment by Lily, she betrayed the police and completely sided with the organization. She is the daughter of the boss of the transnational organ trafficking ring, Trinh Thanh. Her name is Alex.

Today is the 20th day she has been operating as an insider.

Entry 340: A fierce power struggle broke out within the organ trafficking organization. Nam is competing for the market with Trinh Thanh’s couple. I know I might die, so I took a bullet for Nam. But I cannot reveal my cop identity. Otherwise, Alex will take my place to complete this mission. I will lock my diary in a bank safe so the bank can transfer it to the police. Please believe that Alex is not simply a perfect plan—she even deceived the police.

The diary was sent to the police exactly one year after Alex’s death. This document was stored in a Swiss bank under the name of client Lily. Only then did the police officers become completely stunned. They immediately compared Alex’s handwriting with Ryan’s. Their handwriting was identical. It turned out the diary in the trafficking camp was only half true. Alex had mimicked Ryan’s handwriting to forge part of the content, misleading Nam.

The entire police lecture hall fell silent. Along with the diary was a video recording. In the video, police stood in formation performing the oath ceremony. Beside them were Alex and Ryan.

Ryan said, “Comrade Alex, please read your oath.”

Alex raised her head high, face resolute, eyes unwavering. She placed her hand on her temple. Each word resounded: “I will forever be loyal to the motherland. I will protect the people with everything I have. I will dedicate myself to this land. I will not retreat. I will not hesitate.”

In Ryan’s eyes, tears rolled down. He said softly, “I hope you will always be here, Alex.”

The final two monologues in Alex’s video recording—she sat on a chair, calm and gentle. She looked into the camera and smiled sweetly.

The first segment: I met Ryan when I was 20. I suffered from inherited schizophrenia. My first personality was Alex. My second personality was Lily. Lily was a stronger doctor who also understood the organ trafficking organization better. After becoming an agent, Lily tried to self-treat, turning herself into the first personality. Lily was the personality Trinh Uyen liked. She always had Ryan evaluate the treatment effectiveness. But Ryan never wrote the method in the diary.

The second segment: Ryan’s death stimulated me. I was also infected with an unidentified virus in my lungs. I only had half my lifespan left—estimated less than 50 years. So I decided to carry out my final plan. I requested the police to conceal Ryan’s exact time of death. All communication sent to the intelligence center was edited by me, including the suggestion to use agents Ryan and Hannah as bait to lure Alex—that is, me—into the trafficking camp. When I became Alex, I constantly looked for opportunities to impersonate Ryan and Hannah, making them believe I was their teammate.

If you are watching this recording, it means the police have accepted my plan. At the same time, I used the name Lily to contact Nam and gave him a fake Ryan diary. I hope my plan succeeds.

After speaking, Hannah’s tears fell like rain. She said in a choked voice, “That year, she told me to run. I ran and ran, very fast. I wanted to be the first to survive. I didn’t dare turn back to look at her. By the time I turned around, she was lying there, eyes closed, no longer moving. She was my sister, yet in the end I abandoned her.”

Below the podium, a criminal investigation student raised a hand and asked the professor, “The person with codename No acted as a double agent twice. The second time she hid all the secrets. Did she really not reveal anything, Professor?”

Hannah nodded. Her eyes suddenly became misty. In that moment, she seemed to see the figure of that girl from years ago.