SFTD -Chapter 266 Rabies Virus (Final)

Wang Qiang thought for a moment.

“Yeah, there have been several cases like that. Quite a few kids from our village disappeared too. Most of them left near the end of last year. They supposedly left notes saying they were going to coastal cities to work, and then nobody could find them anymore.”

Xu Biao looked puzzled.

“What about their families? Didn’t they look for them?”

Wang Qiang’s face remained indifferent.

“Families?

In the countryside, families usually have a lot of children. The elderly are the ones holding the household together, and the kids mostly live at school. A lot of them quit before finishing their studies and run off to work in the cities. It’s not an isolated case—almost every household is like this.

In my family, there’s only my grandfather and my three younger siblings. If I went out to work, that’d be one less kid for him to take care of. Why would he bother looking for me? Saving on food and tuition would be even better for him.”

“What about your parents?”

Wang Qiang curled up his legs. A trace of loneliness flashed across his face, but it was quickly replaced with calm indifference.

“My mom ran away with another man after giving birth to my little sister. My dad works in the city and only comes home once every two or three years. He sends back maybe a thousand yuan a month. Even when the old house leaks, there’s no money to fix it.

My grandfather always says we’re burdens begging for food. Whenever he drinks too much, he beats us. I don’t want to go back to that kind of home. I don’t miss it at all.”

Zhou Hai and Xu Biao stopped asking questions. It seemed the local authorities would have to investigate further. Cases like this were simply too common; many families probably didn’t care much themselves.

Xu Biao stood up and rubbed Wang Qiang’s head.

“Once your body recovers, I’ll have someone take you home.”

Wang Qiang shook his head.

“I don’t want to go back. Nobody would look for me anyway, even if I disappeared or got kidnapped. I want to find my dad, earn money, and support myself.”

The determination in Wang Qiang’s voice left Zhou Hai feeling helpless.

This was the reality for many left-behind children in the country. They received no love, and therefore didn’t know how to love. All they wanted was to escape that environment.

Most of the twenty-nine victims were probably in similar situations. Otherwise, this case could never have stayed buried for so long.

After leaving the hospital, neither of them spoke much.

Old Wang drove straight to the Changhe Division headquarters. The moment they stepped upstairs, they saw Wang Man with dark circles under his eyes, messy stubble, and bloodshot eyes. Yet his spirits were unusually high.

Without even asking, they knew the interrogation had made progress.

“Looks like the interrogation went well?” Zhou Hai asked.

Wang Man grinned and dragged the two of them into the office.

“The cemetery owner, Boss Wan, and the others confessed. The man who got shot dead, Zhu Xiangyu, was the leader of their group.

He was a discharged soldier and had even worked as a military medic for several years.

The other armed man who was killed was Zhu Xiangjie, Zhu Xiangyu’s cousin. He had worked as an auxiliary police officer for two years and knew a bit about our system, so he managed to get hold of several police uniforms.

They disguised themselves as police officers from Guangdong handling a case, then lured truants from schools into their vehicle and drugged them unconscious. After that, they brought them to the cemetery, where Zhu Xiangyu removed their organs. Then they stripped off the muscles and scalp to speed up decomposition before dumping the bones into burial pits.

Finally, Zhu Xiangyu personally delivered the organs overnight to the provincial capital or Southeast City. Occasionally they even transported them across provinces, though that happened rarely.”

After hearing this, Zhou Hai pulled out a bag while Xu Biao held up the body camera recorder in front of Wang Man.

“This is the sternum saw. Zhu Xiangyu’s fingerprints are on it. We found it in his waist pouch during the autopsy last night. That should complete your evidence chain.

The body camera contains the interview recording of the boy you rescued. Basically all the victims disappeared around Mashan in Tengzhou and the northern area of Zaozhuang. That should be enough to submit to the Provincial Department. Our work here can finally come to an end.”

Wang Man looked thrilled and stood up as if he wanted to hug Zhou Hai, but Xu Biao instantly blocked him.

“Have some restraint. Stop getting handsy all the time. If you really want to thank us, give us something practical. If you get a reward bonus, split some with us. Don’t you know we’re broke?”

Wang Man nodded repeatedly.

“That’s absolutely happening!”

Zhou Hai didn’t care about that at all. He pushed Xu Biao aside.

“What’s the city bureau’s opinion on handling those Nanyang-affiliated hospitals in Southeast City and Yantai?”

“That still needs to be suppressed for now. The Provincial Department hasn’t acted yet. Taking down the headquarters first would be more effective. Besides, the Nanyang Group is considered a well-known enterprise in Guangdong. Moving against them and the entire industrial chain behind them… seems difficult.”

Zhou Hai narrowed his eyes.

“This is a society governed by law. Don’t give me that nonsense. Even the King of Heaven can’t escape punishment if he commits crimes. They treated human lives like livestock for trade—what more is there to say?”

Wang Man froze. He hadn’t expected Zhou Hai to get angry.

“Doctor Zhou, don’t get worked up. I only heard this from people at the Provincial Department. A case this big isn’t something you or I can control. I’ll organize all the case files and evidence now and send them over to the Provincial Department.”

After saying that, Wang Man practically fled the room.

Xu Biao knew Zhou Hai wasn’t angry at Wang Man personally.

Just as Zhou Hai had suspected from the start, he had been convincing himself that the killer was merely stealing organs from corpses. But as the truth surfaced, it became clear that one living person after another had simply vanished.

With forged documentation, they were packaged as life-saving organ donors and sold at exorbitant prices.

The sheer horror of it was enough to make one’s skin crawl.

“Xu Biao, send all our reports over. And don’t forget the translated ledger Doctor Nan sent us, along with the original encrypted version.

Package everything together and send it directly to Hu Nan. Since we’re transferring the case, we’ll hand it over ourselves.”

Xu Biao quickly opened his laptop and began operating it. Moments later, the email had been sent, though the other party’s profile icon was still dark.

Zhou Hai frowned slightly, stood up, and pulled out his phone to call Hu Nan. The phone rang for quite a while before she finally answered. Before she even spoke, all he could hear was heavy breathing.

Zhou Hai glanced at the clock. It wasn’t even 8:30 yet. Could she still be on the road?

“Hello, this is Zhou Hai.”

“I know. Did your side get results?”

“I heard the case is being transferred to the Provincial Department, so I packaged all the lab reports, autopsy reports, and survivor testimonies together and sent them to you. But since you weren’t online to receive them, I called to check.”

Hu Nan’s breathing finally steadied a bit.

“I just got back from the Criminal Investigation Unit and entered my office. Hold on a moment—I’ll receive it now.”

Several seconds later—

“Okay, received it. You’re incredibly fast. Performing autopsies on that many skeletons must’ve been exhausting. By the way, your tone sounds off. Did something happen?”

This time, Zhou Hai was the one caught off guard.

He hadn’t expected this academically-minded woman to be so observant.

Still, this matter had been weighing on him heavily, and he genuinely wanted to discuss it with her.

“I heard from the criminal investigator handling this case that the Provincial Department plans to take over. But apparently someone said that because the Nanyang Group is a famous enterprise in Guangdong, moving against their headquarters and the entire industrial chain would be difficult.

I want to know whether that was the Provincial Department’s official stance—or just one individual’s opinion.

If the people handling the case already have that kind of attitude, then there’s no point in transferring the case to the Provincial Department at all.”

Zhou Hai’s words were extremely blunt.

Xu Biao covered his face from the side.

Talking to someone like that? That was definitely offending people.

After all, this was only something Wang Man had casually mentioned. If anyone pursued the matter, it would put the handling officers in an awkward position.

But on the other end of the phone, Hu Nan’s reaction was even more intense than Zhou Hai’s.

“What?

Something like that actually happened?

Don’t worry. I’m personally following this case. I’d like to see exactly who’s trying to evade responsibility or protect them.

Director Yuan attaches great importance to this case. I just spoke with him, and he highly praised your team’s work.

Ignore all the nonsense they’re saying. I can promise you this—every hospital and every individual involved in this case will be dealt with. Not a single one will escape.

Alright, no more talking. Wait for my news.”

She hung up immediately.

The anger in Zhou Hai’s heart vanished instantly.

For some reason, Hu Nan gave him an inexplicable sense of reassurance. He knew that promise would definitely be fulfilled.

Seeing Zhou Hai end the call, Xu Biao spread his hands helplessly.

“Well, the case has been handed over to the Provincial Department, and the hospitals involved in Southeast can only be monitored for now. So… can we finally leave?”

Zhou Hai nodded. There was indeed no reason to stay any longer.

“Let’s go back.”

Xu Biao grabbed Zhou Hai by the clothes.

“Hey, Hai-zi, can you act a little more like a leader? The moment I opened my eyes this morning, I followed you straight to the center. It’s almost nine o’clock now, and we still haven’t eaten breakfast. Even a donkey pulling a millstone gets fed some grain. That little brat at the hospital got my stomach growling earlier. I don’t care—I want food!”

Zhou Hai burst out laughing. He truly had no way to deal with someone like Xu Biao.

“Fine, let’s go eat. You pick the place. My treat.”

Xu Biao instantly grinned from ear to ear and dragged Zhou Hai toward the door.

Who cared about Wang Man, Zhang Man, or ghost cases anymore? Right now, nothing was more important than filling his stomach.

“Alright! I want oden, Old Beijing chicken wraps, Qiaotou wontons, pig trotters from Pichai Courtyard, squid-stuffed dumplings, clay pot lobster, chopped chili sea cucumber bits, soy-braised beef, yam lamb ribs…”