Under the bright lights, the scene was chilling. Beside Lin Yi, Fei Zhuzai charged in with a gun. Catching Su Mali off guard, he snatched her pistol, then ran over and kicked Jing Shu twice. "She's out cold. Must be the hypoxia from before. This nasty woman made me hurt all over."
Jing Shu thought, "Wait till I wake up and see what I do to you."
She finally understood why Lin Yi's build had changed so drastically. He was literally wearing real skins. Each piece fit him so closely there was almost no visible difference.
Lin Yi peeled off strips of bloody flesh and tossed them to the floor. They were real human skin. If Uncle Gou had not betrayed them, everything would now make sense. Lin Yi had planned far in advance, luring Su Mali here for an "auction," then trapping her in this building for reasons unknown.
Which raised another issue. Was Jing Shu nothing but collateral? She had told herself never to get tangled with Su Mali, or trouble would come from every direction.
"You are not my Uncle Gou. Who are you? What did you do to him?" Su Mali shouted, voice tearing.
"Is this skin not your Uncle Gou's?" Lin Yi smiled, bright as the day Grandma Jing fainted and he shoved his hands into his pockets while casually giving advice, as if mentioning a trivial errand.
"Do you know how much work it took to become your Uncle Gou completely? To make his skin look natural on a living body, I used a lot of medicine. I even brewed special decoctions to prolong his life, so that when I cut off each section of skin while he was still alive, it stayed fresh and would not rot. Only then would a human-skin suit keep the correct shape.
To create a parasite shell, you must use a living person. Your Uncle Gou died after half his skin was removed. No other young man could hold out as long. Once I learned all his secrets, I was glad to move up my plan by six months. Otherwise there would have been no suitable candidate.
Oh, and I should thank those people who arrested me back then. I never gave them proper thanks. Last year they forced me to make human skins so they could infiltrate America. They played a fine hand. Pity no one knew I was the one crafting the skins. I will return that favor someday.
So yes, making human skin takes a great deal of effort. For this plan, I had to take off my own 'air' every day and put on the human skin again."
Su Mali clapped a hand over her mouth and retched. That was Uncle Gou's body, the man who had been with her for nine years. And now he appeared to her like this. Worse, for two months she had lived with someone who was not Uncle Gou at all, and she had never noticed.
Uncle Gou had died like this, flayed piece by piece, turned into a human suit and worn on another man. She had not even seen him one last time. How much pain had he endured?
Cold crept over Jing Shu. She finally understood why Lin Yi had carried a medicine bag home every day two months ago. She had wondered then why he needed so many herbs.
Yes. It was him. In her previous life, he was the storm behind the storms, a hidden boss whose death rumor only surfaced years later. Reports said he was captured several times and escaped several times. What baffled everyone was how he slipped free while still under guard. Even the police never figured it out.
She wondered what trump cards he still held. He was brilliant, learned fast, turned knowledge across fields, almost omnitalented, and most terrifying of all, he understood how to move human hearts.
Terrifying enough that Grandma Jing liked him at first sight. Terrifying enough to stir turmoil across several countries.
It seemed there was a story behind Yang Yang's mission in America and the disguises made to look like Americans. Very likely Lin Yi had been captured and forced to craft human-skin masks for Yang Yang's team.
But how did he escape afterward? Those brutes had tied him down. How did they let him slip away? He must carry an even bigger secret.
Jing Shu had to admit she was curious.
Wiping her tears, Su Mali slumped onto the wet floor, pointing at Lin Yi through hiccuping sobs. "Uncle Gou trained through level-twelve pain conditioning. No interrogation could succeed on him, let alone make him divulge everything. He could bite his tongue to die. He could even force a mental collapse by sheer will. How did you do it?"
Lin Yi sneered. "Aren't you the least bit curious why I pretended to be your Uncle Gou?"
"Isn't it to kidnap me? People have tried since I was a child. No one ever truly succeeded. As long as I do not want it."
Her voice rose, razor-bright with the particular edge she carried. She had grown up with an unbroken confidence. If she did not want something to happen, it would not. She was the goddess of her own fate.
"Tsk tsk, you're so narcissistic," Lin Yi said, shaking his head. "Kidnapping you could have been done on day one. That would have been boring and meaningless."
"Then what do you want? Do you intend to kill my father?" Su Mali gasped.
"You should have just stayed asleep in that private room," Lin Yi said thoughtfully, advancing step by step with palpable pressure. "I didn't plan to trouble you. You were merely a small instigator."
Su Mali inched back, fear finally taking hold.
Jing Shu frowned, turning his words over. So he had set an enormous board in motion. What, exactly, was his aim? And what about her? Was she just a dispensable pawn? If so, how could she save herself and get away from this muddy pool? He was playing with fire. It was dangerous.
Everything he did was dangerous. He could inflame crowds, stir unrest, and reach for something larger.
"You should take a nap. When you wake, you might witness quite a show." Lin Yi pressed a towel over Su Mali's mouth. She slumped into unconsciousness.
Then he walked toward Jing Shu, one measured step at a time.
Her heartbeat quickened.
He had returned to a lean, tall frame, but the clean lines of his muscles showed relentless discipline. A man that harsh with himself would be harsher with others.
What was he going to do?