The Hunt for the Forbidden Substance

"My name is Qiang, and I am a detective."

I have recently been assigned to investigate a series of strange deaths. The victims have all been people of influence, or at least of interest. Officials, merchants, scholars, and also some commoners. They have one thing in common: each of them has died under mysterious circumstances, for example by falling from a high location, or apparently committing suicide by poison.

But in fact, the poison was not poison at all. It was a new drug, developed in the Labs of the Ministry of Science. The scientists had been ordered to develop an effective painkiller, and they had done so. The drug was of course highly addictive, and the scientists had kept it secret, trying to get approval to market it. However, they were unable to convince their superiors, who were afraid that the drug might be used to dull the senses of soldiers in battle, and who ordered the scientists to destroy their work. Instead, the scientists decided to steal the formula and market it on the black market.

The scientists were caught, but they took the secret to their graves, for they had all committed suicide once their crime was discovered.

I have put the pieces together, and now I know the names of the criminals, who are hiding in a secluded valley, just outside the city. I plan to ride out there tonight, arrest them, and bring them back for trial.

As I set out, I see a figure approaching me. He calls out my name.

"I am Zhao Qiang. I am a detective. Who are you?"

"I am also a detective," he replies, "but I am no longer among the living. My name was Shi Jingjing. I was a detective, too, but I committed suicide after being framed for crimes I did not commit. These are the people who framed me, and they are the same ones who are selling this drug on the black market."

I look at him in astonishment. I had suspected that there was something wrong with the suicides, but I never imagined anything like this!

He tells me that he was working undercover as a member of the gang, to try to catch them in the act of selling the new drug. However, he was discovered. They had found out that he was a detective, and they had decided to kill him rather than risk their illegal enterprise being uncovered. So they made it appear as if he had committed suicide, by pushing him off a tall building. But he survived, and managed to escape. But he knew that he could not stay alive for long, for his enemies would surely find him. So he had taken a massive dose of the drug, hoping that it might grant him the courage to face them. But it had not. Instead, it had sent him into a reverie, in which he imagined his ideal world, in which he had not died. In the end, however, he was brought back to reality, and now he was here to tell me what he knew.

"What happened to you?" I ask.

"I don't know," he says. "I remember being pushed off the roof, and then I was flying. I looked down, and saw my body laying on the ground. I was only vaguely aware of what was happening, but somehow I was able to put it all together. I realised that I must be dead, but somehow I was still alive. I tried to make sense of it, but I couldn't. I tried to ask for help, but no one heard me. I couldn't make myself understood. And so I just floated away, until I ended up here. And now I have no way of getting back."

"I can find a way to help you," I say. "I will bring these people to justice, and save many lives. But I need your help. Can you tell me where they are? Where is this valley?"

"Of course I will help you," he says. "It's not far; they are not hiding very well. But I'm afraid that you won't be able to save many lives."

"Why not?" I ask. "You said that you saw many people die. Surely if we stop the drug from spreading, we can save many lives."

"That's true," he says. "But you won't be able to save mine. If you go after these people, you will be walking into a trap. They will ambush you, and try to kill you. They are desperate. They know that they cannot keep their operation going forever, and they will do whatever it takes to destroy any evidence of their crimes. And so you will die, just like me."

"Then I will have to make sure that doesn't happen," I say. "I will go to this valley tonight, and I will bring them to justice. And you will help me."

"Of course," he says. "I am glad that I am able to help."

We exchange farewells, and he disappears into the night. I turn around, and return to the city.

I know that I may not survive the night, but no matter what happens, I will bring those guilty to justice, and save countless lives.