Chapter 1

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Chapter 1: Death Row Inmate

“Criminal suspect Guo Jianjun, male, Han ethnicity, thirty-three years old, born on November 11, 1975. Suspected of organizing and leading organized crime; intentional homicide; intentional assault; intentional arson; intentional robbery; intentional trafficking and illegal possession of firearms; intentional explosion; intentional rape; intentional trafficking and illegal possession of drugs; smuggling; indecent assault on women; coercion and organization; illegal gambling; extortion; bribery; illegal detention; disrupting financial order. The above twenty-one charges have complete evidence and witness testimony. After public trial and judgment, the charges are established. After deliberation by the collegial panel, this court now pronounces sentence.”

At this point, the judge looked around and saw the audience stand up, then lowered his head to look at the verdict in his hands and read: “The criminal suspect Guo Jianjun is sentenced to death, with deprivation of political rights for life. This verdict is final and cannot be appealed, to be executed immediately. Guangdong Provincial Higher People’s Court, April 4, 2008. Court dismissed!”

In the solemn and dignified courtroom, the attending crowd immediately burst into warm applause and cheers. Someone shouted loudly: “Ridding the people of a menace!” The judges on the bench retired in order.

The defendant in the dock below, wearing prison clothes with a shaved head, was pushed out by two armed police officers carrying guns, his hands and feet bound with heavy handcuffs and shackles that clanked on the ground.

His steps were slow and heavy. Although he had been sentenced to death for immediate execution, he didn’t have the deathly pallor typical of condemned prisoners facing death. Instead, the corners of his mouth turned up, maintaining a faint smile throughout.

Walking to the door, bright sunlight shone on his bald head. Guo Jianjun stopped and took a deep breath. His heart warmed, and he suddenly had a feeling of rebirth. The cold handcuffs in his hands seemed to have gained some warmth. His gaze fell on the crowd of common people surrounding the area.

“Is this Guo Jianjun? He doesn’t look like a bad person! How did someone so young go astray?” An elderly woman with white hair, probably due to her age and poor eyesight, stared intently at Guo Jianjun, trying to see clearly what this notorious provincial criminal who committed all kinds of evil actually looked like. Others also crowded around with heads bobbing. Reporters’ camera flashes clicked incessantly. Unfortunately, the circle of armed police wouldn’t let them get close.

Guo Jianjun bowed deeply toward the elderly woman. The white-haired old lady shouted: “Child, remember to be a good person in your next life!”

Guo Jianjun smiled. The armed police behind him pushed him. He stumbled and stepped down the stairs. The prison van that had been waiting had its rear door already open. Several armed police stuffed him into the back and followed him in. The door closed, sirens wailed. Under the watchful eyes of the common people, the convoy of several vehicles roared out of the court gates.

The convoy drove toward the outskirts. A middle-aged armed police officer with two bars and one star on his uniform looked at Guo Jianjun across from him. In today’s terms, he should be considered a handsome young man. If not for his current attire, no one would be able to tell this person was an utterly evil death row inmate. What could have caused such a person to reach this point?

Looking at the street scenes flying past the car window, Guo Jianjun seemed to sense the gaze from across and turned around, smiling at the officer: “Brother! Can you give me a cigarette?”

The middle-aged officer had carried out such missions many times before, but this person’s expression and behavior didn’t seem like someone about to face death. He immediately became alert, scrutinizing the prisoner across from him. The armed police soldiers on both sides also stared at him in unison, their fingers moving to the triggers.

Guo Jianjun smiled bitterly and shook his head: “This isn’t a Hong Kong or Taiwan police action movie. Are you really afraid I’ll escape? Or that someone will come to hijack the prison van? Look at my condition – is that even possible? This is the Communist Party’s domain. In China, few people dare to do such things…”

But no matter what he said, these armed police remained silent, closely watching his every move.

“Sigh! It’s just smoking a cigarette! Why make it so tense?” Guo Jianjun’s eyes swept over the shoulder insignia and collar badges of several people, then turned to the window and sighed: “Back in the day, I was also a soldier, carried a gun, earned merit, received awards, shed blood and sweat!” After saying this, he fell silent, his eyes gazing out the window in a daze, as if remembering something.

The officer and several soldiers were all somewhat surprised to hear his words. The officer’s vigilant expression relaxed, and the soldiers unconsciously moved their fingers away from the triggers.

The officer looked Guo Jianjun up and down, paused, and finally asked: “You were also a soldier? Armed police or People’s Liberation Army?”

“The latter.” Guo Jianjun turned back and smiled. The officer hesitated slightly, then took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, pulled one out, lit it, and carefully handed it to Guo Jianjun. The latter said thank you, took the cigarette between his fingers, put it in his mouth, took a deep drag, and exhaled.

Meeting the former’s inquiring gaze, Guo Jianjun slowly said: “I enlisted in ’93, infantry, spent three years on the border. After discharge, I returned to my hometown in the countryside. At home were just my old mother and father, no siblings. But when I came back, I discovered that my father had died in my second year of service due to illness and lack of money for treatment. Because he hoped I would make something of myself in the army and didn’t want to burden my thoughts, he instructed my mother before dying not to tell me. When I returned home, father was gone, and mother was also bedridden with illness. Grief aside, the living must continue to live, and mother’s illness needed treatment. But I had less than three thousand yuan including my discharge pay and saved allowances. After taking mother to the city for various examinations and buying some medicine, the money was almost gone. With help from comrades and fellow villagers, I scraped together some money to hospitalize mother. But hospital costs were too high for us rural people to afford. I had to entrust mother to a comrade in the city and go south to work, hoping to earn money for mother’s treatment.” At this point, the cigarette he had taken two puffs of had burned down to the butt, burning his hand and falling into the car.

A foot in leather shoes reached over to stamp out the cigarette butt. The officer took out another cigarette, lit it, and handed it to Guo Jianjun: “Continue!”

“Thanks!” Guo Jianjun waved his handcuffed hands, leaned his mouth over to take a heavy drag, and continued: “After arriving in this city, a fellow villager helped me find work as a laborer at a construction site, carrying bricks up and down floors, hauling cement. Eight hundred yuan a month, with food and lodging provided, wages paid every six months. Although it was hard and tiring, for someone with infantry background like me, it really wasn’t much. You should know that eight hundred yuan a month back then was enough for a rural family’s income for half a year. Ha! After six months, the building on the site was completed. But when it came time to pay wages, the boss had disappeared. A group of workers were all from out of town working here. In this unfamiliar place, where could we go to get back our wages? We went to the local government, but they said there was nothing they could do. After going a few more times, they wouldn’t even let us through the government gates. In the end, we had to let it go. Mother’s illness still needed money, and I had no skills, so I had to find another construction site and continue selling my labor. Hey! The same thing happened again – working without getting paid.”

“Why didn’t you file a complaint?” The officer frowned. Several young armed police soldiers were also drawn in by this death row inmate’s story, all curiously staring at him, not expecting the famous Guo Jianjun to have done such work.

“File a complaint?” Guo Jianjun took a drag and laughed coldly: “Brother, you’ve been in the military too long. Back then wasn’t like now – filing complaints was useless no matter who you went to. Now there’s no choice, even the Premier runs around demanding wages for migrant workers, so there’s this thing called filing complaints. Try it back then! Let me see you try.”

The middle-aged officer’s face showed some embarrassment. He took the cigarette butt from the prisoner’s hand, threw it down and stamped it out. He lit another and handed it over, asking briefly: “What happened next?”

“Hmph! What happened next? Mother’s condition worsened, urgently needing money for surgery. My comrade, to pay for my mother’s treatment, even sold his own house. Houses were cheap back then! He only got tens of thousands for it. If it were now, it would be worth ten times that price. Finally, the money from selling the house was almost spent too. I was driven to desperation. Just then, I ran into the boss who owed me wages. I tried to collect my wages but failed, and instead got beaten up by a group of people he called. Dragging my injured body, I got angry too. I contacted some former comrades and told them what happened, wanting revenge. Ha! Truly worthy of brothers who had faced life and death together on the border. They all came. After discussing it, we kidnapped that boss and extorted one million from him. We also threatened the boss, saying if he dared report it, we’d kill his whole family. That boss was also cowardly and really didn’t report it.” Guo Jianjun laughed.

“With military background, how could you do such illegal things?” The officer shook his head.

“Unfortunately, by the time we got the money, it was too late. Mother didn’t wait for the money and passed away.” Guo Jianjun’s voice became low, then he suddenly looked at the officer excitedly: “So what if I have military background? If this were the Anti-Japanese War era, I could unhesitatingly shed my blood for the country. They say protect home and defend country, protect home and defend country, but I couldn’t even protect my own parents. What’s the point of maintaining this military faith? Look now at who’s enjoying themselves in those places of wine and debauchery – is it those ordinary soldiers who protect home and defend country, or those ordinary common people!”

“Is this your reason for betraying the motherland and harming national interests? Have you forgotten that line in your military oath… national and ethnic interests above all else?” The officer also became emotional. The armed police soldiers in the vehicle looked somewhat dumbfounded at the two men – this was their first time encountering such a situation during a mission.

“Harming national interests, perhaps! But saying I betrayed the motherland is going too far. Please take back that statement. In all these years, Guo Jianjun has dared to do anything, except betray the motherland – only traitors can do such things. I can bear any crime, but I dare not bear the crime of being a traitor. If I have to bear this crime before dying, I really would die with eyes wide open.” Guo Jianjun stared coldly at the other man.

The officer also laughed coldly: “Trading drugs with foreign countries, smuggling weapons, harming Chinese people. How is this different from treason?”

“Hey! What do you know?” Guo Jianjun threw away the cigarette butt and reached out again: “Give me another cigarette. Damn! Today in court I admitted to all crimes. I didn’t expect to have to argue with you here.”

“Guo Jianjun, I’m all ears. Let’s see what you can say!” The officer said, personally stuffing a lit cigarette forcefully into his mouth.

Guo Jianjun pulled the half-cigarette out of his mouth, glared at the officer, and said while puffing: “If I don’t do these things, others will do them anyway. But me doing them is different from others doing them. As long as I, Guo Jianjun, am in Guangdong Province for one day, this is my territory, and foreign underground forces can’t enter. Do you think those foreigners who were blown up in ‘Hualian Villa’ were really tourists? They were liaisons sent to develop China’s drug market. Since drugs can’t be banned in the short term, I’ll take over this business. Only when it’s truly controlled in my hands can I ensure drugs don’t flood Guangdong Province. Do you think the country really doesn’t know about all the bad things I’ve done? If I really did things that betrayed the country, would I have to wait until today for a death sentence? Just what you see on the surface would be enough for me to die a dozen times. What a pity! The ‘Hualian Villa’ incident was me being deceived. The international impact was too great! Now that I’m dead, some people are probably laughing secretly.”

Several armed police soldiers didn’t quite understand what Guo Jianjun meant by these words. The middle-aged officer calmed down emotionally, stared at him thoughtfully for a while, and slowly said: “Don’t you regret reaching this point today?”

“Regret?” Guo Jianjun laughed heartily: “Can life have regrets? Are regrets useful? Everyone who mixes in this line knows that if you come out to play, you’ll have to pay sooner or later. It’s just a matter of time. At worst, after eighteen years, I’ll be a good man again.”

“After eighteen years, a good man again?” The officer couldn’t help but laugh: “Have you been reading too many martial arts novels?”

“Ha! Not too many, not too few. By the way, let me recommend a place to read novels. Qidian, check it out when you have time. There are quite a few novels there.” Guo Jianjun said.

The middle-aged officer made an “oh” sound and shook his head: “Thanks! I’m not interested in reading novels.”

The prison van started bumping, obviously having reached the suburban wilderness, not far from the destination. Guo Jianjun glanced at the armed police soldier sitting in the innermost corner. That soldier had been wearing a black hood the entire time and had never taken it off. He couldn’t help but ask the officer: “Later, will that brother be the one to send me on my way?”

The officer nodded without saying anything more. But Guo Jianjun shouted to the hooded armed police soldier: “Brother! Please! Steady your hand later and give me a quick death.” But no one paid attention to him anymore, probably because they were approaching the destination.

Facing death, Guo Jianjun leaned his head against the car wall, swaying with the vehicle, filled with emotion. Yesterday’s prosperity was like a dream, with beauties in his arms, but in the blink of an eye, it was all like passing clouds. An old song came to mind, and he couldn’t help humming softly: “Last night’s, last night’s stars, have fallen, vanished in the distant Milky Way, want to remember, but have already forgotten…”

The vehicle slowed down and came to a sudden stop.

Guo Jianjun was dragged out of the car. Looking up at the sky that had become overcast with dark clouds, with faint lightning and thunder. After the public security and armed police finished their procedures, they pushed him to the designated execution site.

The executioner loaded the bullet, the dark muzzle aimed at the prisoner, finger moving toward the trigger. Just as he was about to pull it, a thunderclap exploded overhead. Guo Jianjun, who had closed his eyes, suddenly opened them to look at the sky. A purple lightning bolt struck down from above. He felt his whole body go numb and gradually lost consciousness. Before his consciousness faded, he asked himself: “Am I really so guilty that I deserve to be struck by lightning?”

The death row inmate’s body, instantly charred and smoking, fell down. All the public security officers and armed police present were stunned. After the commander came to his senses, he called the forensic doctor over to examine the body. After a while, the forensic doctor stood up and shook his head: “Already dead!”

Standing in front of the now unrecognizable corpse, the commander looked at the camera in front and thought it was good that it was filmed, otherwise it would be impossible to explain. He then took the executioner’s gun, aimed it at the corpse’s heart, “Bang!” fired a supplementary shot, and muttered: “You were executed by firing squad according to law, not struck by lightning!”

(I am purely legally ignorant. The above legal plot segments are purely fictional and should not be taken seriously. Starting from the next chapter, there are still many nauseating plot elements. Readers are advised to consider carefully before continuing to read. If any mental damage is caused, the author takes no responsibility!)