Night, heavy rain.

"Captain Zhao, are you sure you want to meet that kid?" Through the constant pattering of rain, a shrill voice came from the other side of the corridor. "Are you sure it's him? There's something psychologically wrong with him, or else he wouldn't be registered at our asylum!" The soles of the leather shoes tapped rhythmically against the tiles. A female voice then added, "Wu Meng, an orphan, hasn't attended any police academy but was often consulted by the law enforcement, he has helped solve many big cases but…"

"During one of the cases," The man called Captain Zhao said, "He caught himself. He surrendered because he believed he was the murderer but in reality the real killer is still out there." The nurse explained, "The man suffers from paranoia."

"Captain, do you think he might actually be the…" The woman suggested.

"We won't know for sure." Captain Zhao said, "In any case, let's go meet this extraordinary police consultant."

And that was how the trio appeared before me. I glanced at them through the iron bars and studied them closely. The one with the shrill voice was a nurse at the mental hospital, I interacted with him quite often. The other two I had not met before. One was a man around 40 and the other a female around 30.

"What is the case this time?" I asked directly.

Captain Zhao raised his brow at me and I noticed satisfaction in his eyes. "Mary, go and handle the procedure."

"You're taking him just like that?" The nurse gasped in disbelief. Captain Zhao glanced at the nurse and then nodded. "He's exactly the person I'm looking for."

…

Midnight. Heavy storms came and went quickly during summer but this rain did not look like it was abating anytime soon. Captain Zhao drove me and Mary towards the crime scene. It was hard not to believe that the killer had purposely chosen this day to commit his crime because the rain would have washed away all the evidence, except… well the body.

There was a train track that went through western countryside. To prevent kids from playing around the tracks, it was guarded by iron fences on both sides. And on one of the fences strung a female body. Both of her wrists were snapped out of shape as they were forcibly stuffed into the gap between the iron links. She was left dangling there like a macabre art piece. A giant cut spliced through her stomach and all of the internal intestines had been dug clean. She basically only had her skin left of her existence. Due to gravity, the weight of the feet almost tore the human skin apart. The body swayed madly in the storm. The pair of high heels tapped against the iron fence, the constant tutting sounded like she was still walking. Cast by 2 yellow street lights, this crime scene was strange and grotesque.

Moving up further, one would notice that her eyes had been dug out as well and only 2 hollow holes remained. The first people to discover the body were 2 repairmen who were there to fix the wiring. The sudden storm had torn apart the nearby electric lines. Afraid that the electric lines might cause damage to the passing train, the department sent out 2 personnel in the heavy rain to fix it. When they arrived, the place was completely dark. Their flashlights barely did anything to cut through the extreme darkness. The howling winds and whipping rain made their jobs difficult. They had to edge along the fence and examined the electrical line above them inch by inch. Thankfully the power had been cut off so they did not need to worry about electrocution.

Eventually they found the broken line. The line entangled into the fence and the end was lying close to the train tracks. Thankfully it did not get wrapped around the tracks itself. The two worked together to disentangle the wire from the fence and after they were done, they planned to report back to their superior. But at that moment, one of the workers asked, "Brother Liu, did you hear that? It sounds like someone is heading this way."

Brother Liu turned his flashlight left and right. There was no one around. Brother Liu cursed, "Stop talking nonsense, why would there be someone out in the storm so late at night…" But before Brother Liu could finish, he too heard the tapping sound. This was definitely not the sound of rain. However, there was only a muddy road around them. A normal shoe wouldn't cause such a clear ringing when stepping on mud… unless of course that person was walking on the train tracks?

Brother Liu was about to turn his flashlight towards the tracks when a sudden lightning did the job for him. He saw that on the fence not that far from them, there was a dead body fluttering in the wind! The two of them got the fright of their lives. They ran for about several hundred metres before they calmed down enough to call the police.

Taking in the two still frightened adults, I raised my hand to wipe away the rain from my face. Even though I was wearing a raincoat, it did nothing to prevent myself from getting completely soaked. I knelt on the ground to examine the space underneath the hanging body. There was no blood and no internal organ in sight. But more importantly there were no footprints. The ground around the train tracks was all muddy dirt, but there was no footprint around the body. The closest footprints were the ones that belonged to the 2 workers. But those were at least 4 meters away. In that case, how did the murderer manage to hang the body on the iron fence, kill the poor woman and leave the crime scene without leaving behind any trace? Was this even the first crime scene?

"Have you seen enough?" Captain Zhao asked. "I'm going to have my people pull the body down now." I nodded

"Bring the body back to the morgue to the coroner…" Captain Zhao looked at the body and added, "Even though it looks like the murderer has already begun the autopsy for us."

I frowned and voiced the question in my mind. "Captain Zhao, I remember you have a finance, who is a famous coroner. The department even provided her with her own tool kit so she can conduct autopsies at the crime scenes, why isn't she with us?"

Captain Zhao gave a long sigh. Regret seemed to cross his face for a moment. "The world will belong to you young uns soon. Eventually the tool kit will be inherited by one of you. But that's not important, how did you know so many things about me?"

"Captain Zhao and Mary over there." I pointed at the woman who was carrying a backpack. "You are like the modern day Holmes and Watson, your name precedes you. But why would you ask me for help, I'm a basket case." Mary at the side elaborated, "Self-accusation paranoia aka delusion of guilt. The patients will believe that they have committed great sins for no reason. They should be punished with death. As someone who has worked for the law enforcement, your mental illness though worked in your favor. You can manipulate it to see the cases from the murderers' perspective, like you have committed the crime yourself."

I scratched my head and asked confusedly. "So wait, I didn't kill those people?"

Captain Zhao stopped Mary. "Stop toying with him or he might act up again. In any case, tell me what you think."

It had been months since I got administered into the mental hospital, the daily endless routine almost bored me to death. I closed my eyes and with the thunder in the background, I considered who was the killer.

…

I hate women the most because I've been abandoned by women before. This woman carried my child but she refused to give birth to my baby. She chose to opt for abortion instead. She left and said that I was useless. All the women in the world are the same. I am indeed useless, I survive on collecting scraps and trash. But when there is a chance, I will prove them wrong. I'll show these women who are the real useless one!

I will split open her stomach because she refuses to bear my child anyway. I will dig out her eyes so that she won't have the chance to leave me for another man.

…

"The killer is a drifter around 40. He has long and dirty hair, he doesn't have the time or money to keep it clean. He likes the color black and he has long fingernails." Opening my eyes, I announced to the group.

"How did you come to those conclusions?" Mary looked at me with pure suspicion.

"Imagination." I smiled and added, "I've examined the woman's stomach wound. The skin around the wound isn't smooth so it wasn't made by a sharp tool. If I have to guess, the killer used his own fingernail to tear open the woman's stomach. And then he used his own hands to pull the internal organs. Finally, he also used his hands to pluck her eyeballs out." After a pause, I continued, "And I believed that was probably the best dinner he has ever had in a long time. He is a drifter so he doesn't have much chance to taste meat. This would have been a scrumptious dinner for him."

At this point, all the police officers grew green with disgust. Indeed, the picture was quite revolting. In the dark of the night, someone was kneeling on the ground and used his own sharp nails to tear open a woman's stomach. When lightning flashed and lit up his face, he was shovelling human organs into his mouth.

Captain Zhao patted me on my shoulders and told the rest. "Send out a BOLO for this drifter within the city. If he is really the killer, he won't have the means to leave this city so soon!"

"A possibly cannibalistic drifter." Captain Zhao shook his head. "The rain has washed away almost all of the evidence or else we wouldn't have gone to get you. Seeing as you've been stuck in the mental hospital for quite some time already, I'll offer you this olive branch. If you can help us solve this case, I'll spring you out of there, deal?"

"Yes sir!" I quickly saluted. The mental hospital was really not a place I would like to call home. Even though my illness did not make me aggressive, which meant that I was allowed free time to wander the grounds but the people I interacted with were either grumpy nurses or incommunicable patients…. Of course, there were murderers kept at the facility as well but I was not dangerous enough to meet them.

"Then again." I sighed. "Until now I cannot determine where is the first crime scene and there is no telling how the murderer managed to escape from this place."

"After we capture the drifter, everything will be explained." Captain Zhao consoled. While we spoke, a train whistle came down the distance. The people dispersed from the tracks. Soon a train rolled by. Captain Zhao stared at the train. An iron fence, a broken electric wire, disappearing footprints, a cannibalistic drifter, this case was indeed interesting.

"The coroner's report is out!" Suddenly someone announced.

"Get it over here!" Captain Zhao ordered.

A phone was passed to Captain Zhao. As he read the report, the frown between his brows deepened. Eventually he said, "This is indeed the first crime scene, the woman has been dead for more or less 2 hours. We took one hour to get here and the workers were running for about 30 minutes before they called the police. This can only mean that…"

"When they discovered the body," I finished the sentence for him. "The killer was still at the crime scene!"

"Quick!" Captain Zhao ordered, "Search along the tracks on both sides, he might still be around!"

"Hmm, so this is really the first crime scene." Mary considered, "In that case, how did the killer manage to kill the victim, dig out her internal organ, and both eyes and leave the scene without leaving behind any footprints when the crime scene is practically a mud plot?" Even though I hadn't been to the police academy and hadn't learned any theoretical knowledge but I grew up inside a prison and I was taught many criminal skills and the most important one was, a good criminal knows how to see things from the other perspective. The same could be applied for the police. Professionally, this was called crime scene simulation.

After I gave the suggestion, some of the officers were already itching to try it out. There were 2 keys to this simulation, 1, how was one able to traverse the muddy ground back and forth without leaving any trace; 2, how was one supposed to disembowel the body without leaving behind any trace. Blood could be washed away by the rain but not pieces of the internal organs.

Some of the officers started the simulations while the rest of us stood to the side to observe. The first to take the stage was a young police man. He gripped the fence by latching his fingers into the holes between the iron fence links and using his feet to find purchase along the same webbing. This meant that he had to put all of his weight onto the fence. This was harder than expected. The gaps between the iron links were small and applying force on them would cut painfully into one's finger. And that was without carrying a human dead weight on the back. Furthermore, the gaps were also too small to allow any shoe to fit in. This was impossible for a normal person.

Furthermore, that did not explain how the culprit managed to disembowel the victim without leaving behind a mess. A second officer tried to lay the road with pebbles but that would leave the pebbles embedded in the mud. Others suggested that perhaps the disembowelment was done before the body was staged but that brought up further questions… In any case, the simulations were going nowhere.

"Stop trying." I told them. "When we find the drifter, we'll know how he did it."

"Do you have an idea in mind?" Captain Zhao asked me.

"We wait." I answered. Early the next morning, after breakfast, there was still no clue about the drifter. The police had spent the night scouring the area around the crime scene in their cruisers to find the drifter in the raining night but it was difficult because these people were creatures of darkness.

"Come, I'll bring you to a place!" I announced.

"Where are we going?" Captain Zhao asked.

"The train station." I said, "But I can only bring one person with me, preferably someone who knows how to fight." In less than half an hour, Captain Zhao found me a partner. He was the same age as I was, about 20 plus. He was definitely muscular based on the muscles that bulged through his uniform. He saluted everyone present before turning towards me. "Reserved officer, Gu Chen reporting for duty, sir! What can I do for you, sir?"

I quickly waved my hands. "I'm not your sir, I'm just a mental patient... But you'll do, we'll depart immediately." Birds of a feather flocks together, people of certain calibre would naturally gather together. Just like how people on the upper rung of society would mingle and socialize at high-end clubs, the bottomfeeders of the society had their usual haunts as well. And if there was a common haunt for drifters in a city, that would be the train stations. In a vast country like China, people travelled mostly through trains between districts and train stations had less security than airports. People from different walks of life could be found at this place, doctors, professors, businessmen, beggars, thieves and stray kids…

Standing in the middle of the station, the crowds passed me by. Most just ignored me and went on with their daily business. Suddenly, a child pulled on the corner of my shirt. I turned to smile at him and he smiled innocently back at me. I examined him further and realized that one of his elbows was twisted. He was handicapped.

"Please, sir, pity me and spare me some…" Before he could finish, I grabbed him harshly, "You're the one!" The child was startled and then he started to scream. That instantly gathered the attention of the people around us. However, most of the normal people hurried away lest they got embroiled in our conflict. Instead, a few of the adults in tattered clothes turned inquisitively towards us. They cursed under their breath. "Someone help me!" I shouted, "I recognize this child as a missing person. I need help to call the police."

As expected, no one came to my aid. Instead, the group of individuals in dirty clothes started to drag me away to prevent me from causing even more of a commotion. At most cities, of the 10 children who were begging on the streets, 8 of them were controlled by a crime ring, of the 8 of them, 6 would be handicapped. None of the 6 would be locals, they were instead shuttled there by human traffickers. This boy whom I had accosted was clearly an experienced beggar, his eyes belied a numbness that was beyond his age. Perhaps his arm was already snapped when he was 5 or younger. The beggar industry was no different from the modelling industry, they knew how to make use of their image to their biggest advantage. Clearly a child with a handicap would garner more pity than an adult, and for them, pity was money.

After many shoves and pushes, I was led into a small alley. The boy about 8 spat at me and ordered, "Motherfucker, how dare you ruin our business?! Get him!" There might be honor among thieves but rarely any empathy among the victims of tragedy. They wished to drag others down into the hellhole with them so that they could feel better about themselves. Human nature was always selfish.

Just as they were about to pounce on me, I lifted a finger. "New fish to the forest, forgive my impunity." This was the language of the underworld. I learned this when I was growing up. While I studied Chinese, I also picked up this unique system of language. It was codes used by members of underworld. In this case, it meant that it was my fault for accidentally crossing into your territory.

The beggar who appeared to be the leader responded, "The birds have their forest and the fish have their water, each mind their own." He meant, since you know this is not your territory, why create trouble in the first place? Since he knew the underworld language, this was not a common beggar, this was a beggar organization, one with a system. They might not look the party but this kind of professional beggars existed in every city and sometimes they might earn more than a normal working class.

"Get him." This time it was me who spoke. Instantly a figure jumped out from the mouth of the alley. The well-trained officer took down the small group of beggars quite easily. Gu Chen held the lead beggar up by the back of his collar. "The rest of them got away before I could get them. This is the only haul I got. Is that okay?"

…

After drinking 3 glasses of water inside the interrogation room, the lead beggar couldn't have looked more surprised. "Wait, so I suffered such a beating simply because you are looking for a drifter?" The beggar clearly thought we've made a mountain out of a molehill. I nodded. One's worldview differed depending on one's perspective. A piece of biscuit fallen to the ground would be trash for a wealthy kid but for a beggar child, that could be their lunch for the day. Similarly, now we needed someone who could see a forest not for a forest but for its individual trees to locate the drifter.

That afternoon itself, we found out about the drifter's location. I was not ashamed to say that I was quite right. The drifter had one memorable property about him, he had very long and sharp fingernails. Furthermore, unlike most drifters, there was not much grime underneath his nails because they would have all gone into his mouth. Therefore, to be a good criminal, one had to have a commonplace face, you couldn't be too ugly or too handsome, the worst would be the kind who would stand out in a crowd. Secondly you couldn't be too unique, you mustn't have a signature motion or slogan or else you'd be remembered too easily.

When we found this drifter, he was sleeping ***** in a makeshift cardboard house. The man stink horribly. He had long hair, and unknown bugs crawled all over his body. He was like a living dumpster. The lower part of the man's body suffered severe burns. He had wooden legs and his genital organ was shriveled.

"He's not the killer." Both Captain Zhao and myself announced at the same time. We looked at each other while Mary looked on in confusion. I explained, "He fits my description of the killer but there is one key difference."

Captain Zhao added, "From the details, we can glean many things. His hair is still wet and his artificial legs have traces of mud so it is most likely that he has been to the crime scene yesterday night. He was ***** because the clothes he wore were too wet and he had left them out to dry. However, the main reason why he's not the killer is…" Captain Zhao pointed at the man's lower body, "According to the coroner's report, the victim has been sexually violated before she was killed, do you think he can manage that?"

Mary stared quite directly at the man's sensitive parts, that interested me quite a bit. Mary seemed to notice my eyes on her so she chided, "I was already in the special crime unit when I was your age. I've seen crazier things than this. Also, mind I remind you that you got us the wrong killer?"

I shrugged. "What if I said that I still found you a killer who was simply too late to the scene? The only reason he isn't the killer is because the woman was already killed before he arrived. Even though he is not the killer, he should be the one who desecrated the body. Also do you need to keep staring at that spot? What else are you checking for anyway?"

Mary gestured at my crotch and mocked, "Is someone feeling a little bit insecure there?"

Captain Zhao sighed helplessly. "Stop bickering, and focus on the case. We'll bring him back for interrogation for now. If the actual killer murdered the woman and it was only after then that this man arrived to disembowel the body, wouldn't that be too much of a coincidence? Furthermore, how did the killer and this drifter escape the crime scene without leaving behind any footprints?"

Next the officers shook the sleeping drifter awake.

The first thing the drifter said was, "Yes, you got me. I had the bitch."

5 years ago, deep inside a mountain village. This was the poorest place one could find in China, the percentage of single male at this place was as high as 70 percent and most of the females came from outside. There was a constant emigration of female villagers because the place was too poor and they felt like they could find better chances at life in the city. According to rumor, the villagers once encountered a creature in the back mountain which had the body of a pig but the head of a human. Thus the rumors began that it was because some of the bachelors got too desperate of company that they were forced to turn to their bred pigs. In reality though, due to the different structure of the two species' reproductive systems, that would have been impossible. However, this was a backwards village and they were definitely not privy to that knowledge.

Once the rumors started to gain a life of its own, the village head had to do something about it because some of the male villagers were caught with their pants down in the pigsty. The village head came up with a solution. Each of the family would pool some money to buy women from the human traffickers. The traffickers told them that they would only supply the villagers with the most qualified women. They were university students from the big cities. After you had finished your husbandry duties with them, you could even get them to provide you with free education. The village head was very happy about this. "That is perfect, they'll fit the roles of teachers for the children they shall bear."

50000 RMB to trade for 3 young university female students, meaning around 16000 RMB each. These hapless young women were walking down the streets when they were pulled into idling vans. They were out shopping or going to meet with their friends when they were captured and brought to this village. The 3 girls cried for mercy, they said that they would give each of the villagers 50000 RMB as long as the villagers let them go. That way they could go and purchase more women for the village.

Some of the villagers believed them while the others did not. In the end, they went to the village head and the latter said, "They're clearly bluffing. We have 13 single men at the village and if they're going to pay each of them 50000 RMB, how much money that'll be?! Even the richest man in the country can only earn 50000 RMB in a month. These girls have gone to university so how can they be so dumb?" The villagers were instantly persuaded by the village head. After all, they had cleared every savings they had just to compile that 50000 RMB for the human traffickers.

Just like that, the 3 girls were forced to be the wives of every man in the village. They did not need to work because it was their job to be worked over. They had tried to escape but it was futile. There were 13 men lining up to have a go with them, so how could they have escaped? Several months later, one of the girls couldn't suffer this humiliating life anymore. While no one was paying attention, she rammed her head into the wall and died. This life was worth 16000 RMB for the village. Furthermore, this dead girl had not even given them a single child. Thus, the security on the remaining two girls tightened even further. They were kept with the pigs because the pigsty had mud walls and running into them wouldn't cause fatal injury.

Lee Chunzhuang was an honest, hardworking farmer. Every villager had contributed their part to purchase the girls and he was no exception. Therefore, these 2 remaining girls were technically his wives as well. Lee Chunzhuang spent most of his time watching over the 2 girls, to prevent them from escaping or committing suicide. Of the two, he favored one of them. Her name was Zhang Xutong. Zhang Xutong told Lee Chunzhuang that the world beyond the village was magical, there were many impressive things. For example, there was a rectangular object that you could use to talk to someone at the eastern end of the village while you were at the western end of the village. Lee Chunzhuang laughed. He countered, "My voice is loud enough that no matter where I am, everyone in the village can hear me!"

Not long after that, Zhang Xutong became pregnant. Zhang Xutong told Lee Chunzhuang that it was his child. Lee Chunzhuang chuckled blithely but then Zhang Xutong told him, if he did not bring her to safety, the other men would eventually cause the baby to die in her stomach. Lee Chunzhuang believed him because it had happened before. The other girl, Zhang Hui was raped when she was pregnant and it caused a stillbirth. Zhang Xutong pledged her undying love to Lee Chunzhuang, she would not live with any other man. She persuaded Lee Chunzhuang to go to the city with her. She had a house there, they could stay there together. Lee Chunzhuang was slowly convinced, after all, having a wife and sharing a wife were two completely different experiences.

Lee Chunzhuang eventually made his move. On the day he was tasked to guard over the girls, Lee Chunzhuang told Zhang Xutong that it was time for them to escape. Zhang Hui who was there pleaded for them to take her as well. Zhang Xutong considered it for a while and then told Lee Chunzhuang, "We mustn't take her, it's already too dangerous for us to leave on our own. Having another person will only increase our risk of being spotted. Furthermore, if two of the wives escaped, who would stay to serve the rest of the village men?"

Lee Chunzhuang agreed with Zhang Xutong. His wife was thinking of him and the village. Lee Chunzhuang used a towel to tie up Zhang Hui's mouth and to bind her limbs so that she could not foil their escape. The last thing Zhang Hui ever said was, "Zhang Xutong, curse you. You'll have a horrible death!"

No one expected that the honest and hardworking Lee Chunzhuang would be audacious enough to escape with Zhang Xutong. When they discovered the bound Zhang Hui, the couple had already escaped from the village. They travelled by taking rides from kind strangers.

This was the first time Lee Chunzhuang had been to the city. It was his first time taking the train. On the train, Zhang Xutong bought a packet of instant noodle for Lee Chunzhuang. Then she excused herself to use the toilet. That was Lee Chunzhuang's first time having instant noodles and he wanted to eat that for the rest of his life. And then he realized Zhang Xutong did not return. And he spent the next 3 years not encountering Zhang Xutong anymore.

…

Lee Chunzhuang did not hide anything from us. Whenever we pushed, he would reveal everything. Lee Chunzhuang stayed for 3 days at the city, waiting for Zhang Xutong but she was nowhere to be found. He eked out a living by rummaging through the garbage cans and sleeping by the roadside. That was how he got initiated into the homeless lifestyle. In a strange stroke of luck, he realized the trash thrown out by city dwellers was much more delicious than the food he had back at the village.

After he failed to locate Zhang Xutong, and after emptying all the available garbage cans, Lee Chunzhuang sought his way back to the village. When he returned, he was instantly brought to the village tribunal. Everyone scolded and berated him. For his own greed, he had been fooled by Zhang Xutong. Now he had lost them another communal wife. There was only one wife left, how could she alone service all the men?

Lee Chunzhuang cried, it was the first time for him to have shed a tear. However, the villagers refused to forgive Lee Chunzhuang unless he could buy them another wife. But of course, Lee Chunzhuang did not have that money. Therefore, they decided to take punishment on Lee Chunzhuang. Since he had deprived the other village men from enjoying bedroom pleasure then they would take them away from him as well. They tied Lee Chunzhuang up and aimed to cut off his thing.

It was then that Zhang Hui stepped out to stop the mob. Lee Chunzhuang looked at his wife with appreciation. Then Zhang Hui told the crowd, "Let me teach you all something, even if you cut off the *****, the two dangling organs can still produce sperms. To fully take away his manliness, you'll have to remove everything. Hand me a brand, I'll sear off everything that he has!" Hate was a strong emotion. Even until the end of time, it would still hang strong. Thus Lee Chunzhuang ended his life as a real man. He was chased out from the village. When he left the mountain, he tripped and broke his legs. Eventually, he replaced one of them with a wooden one. With no skills to support him at the city, he became a real drifter.

"Is Zhang Hui still at the village?" Captain Zhao was silent for a long time before asking the first question he had since he started the interview.

Lee Chunzhuang nodded. He smiled naively. "I believe she is still there. I haven't been back there for a long time already. I wonder if they have forgiven me."

Captain Zhao turned around to say, "Mary, arrange a team to head to the village and find Zhang Hui. If she is willing, bring her back home."

Lee Chunzhuang continued his story. After milling his way around the city for 3 years, he finally came across Zhang Xutong. The chance of that was extremely small. Lee Chunzhuang wanted to reunite with his wife but she moved too fast for a man with a wooden leg to follow. Since that chance encounter, he started to squat around that spot where Zhang Xutong appeared. It was not until yesterday night that he found Zhang Xutong again. This time, he would not let his wife leave him anymore.

Lee Chunzhuang had no idea where Zhang Xutong was going on this late, stormy night. The drifter resisted the pain from his fake limb and tailed his wife. The wind snapped the electric wire and the streetlights snuffed out immediately. He could only rely on the lightning to trace his wife's movement. However, the rain was too heavy that night. A blinding flash later, Lee Chunzhuang was shocked to discover that Zhang Xutong had disappeared. In that few seconds, she had vanished. How could that be?

He slowly edged ahead. Finally he found Zhang Xutong, or more precisely, he found Zhang Xutong's body. Zhang Xutong's body was strung on the iron fence and underneath her body was a wooden board. Atop the board was a chair. Therefore, he stood on the chair to take a better look at Zhang Xutong. The more he looked at her, the angrier he got. It was this woman who had fooled him. His mother taught him that lying was the biggest sin a person could commit, he, Lee Chunzhuang had never lied in his life.

Lee Chunzhuang used his sharp and long nail to slowly cut open the body's stomach. Zhang Chunzhuang said that she carried his child and he wanted to rescue the child. Lee Chunzhuang was furious to realize that he had been lied to again. There was nothing inside the woman's stomach. The baby was not there.

Lee Chunzhuang learned from the other drifters that eating a woman's flesh was very good for a man's body, the yin to even out the yang. Perhaps by consuming Zhang Xutong, he would become a man again. Therefore, Lee Chunzhuang started to stuff himself with everything he could dig out from his wife's body. This was all for the sake that he would regain his manliness. The internal organs splattered onto the wooden board. He ate until he could not eat anymore. Of course, there was always space for desserts.

Lee Chunzhuang always heard from the health-conscious city dwellers that you are what you eat. Unfortunately, Lee Chunzhuang took that a bit too literally. He was also taught not to waste anything. He gouged out Zhang Xutong's eyes and popped them into his mouth.

After the feast, Lee Chunzhuang felt quite empty. He spent most of his life searching for Zhang Xutong but now that he had found her, he couldn't find anything within his heart to feel for the woman after the hate had left him. He couldn't care less how Zhang Xutong died and who killed her. Actually he just wanted to know whether Zhang Xutong was lying or not when she said she loved him…

He retraced his steps and returned to his makeshift home. He was soaked so he removed his clothes and went to sleep. Before he woke up, we already found him.

According to Lee Chunzhuang, he had tasted many things in his life. You could find many half-eaten delicacies in trash cans around the city. He had had chicken, duck, fish, pork, beef, rabbit, mutton, venison, he had even tasted abalone and shark fin. These were leftovers that he had fished out from the dumpsters. But the man said that the tastiest thing he ever had in his life was Zhang Xutong's meat. The woman's flesh was supple and soft. Especially her pair of eyes, they were rather salty, they reminded him of pickled pig's brain, a local delicacy from his village.