Cryogenic Technology

The Gotham City Tax Department building loomed like an enormous obelisk eroded by time and acid rain, weighing heavily on the edge of Civic Plaza. It stood in cruel contrast to the brilliantly lit Wayne Tower just a few steps away-the dingy stone walls seemed to swallow every scrap of light, leaving only a bureaucratic twilight.

Li Jie pushed open the heavy brass revolving door, and a complex odor of moldy old paper, cheap disinfectant, and cold coffee hit him in the face. Anna followed him in, instinctively wrinkling her nose and muttering, "God, this place smells worse than the morgue."

"Corpses don't ask you for money, after all. Keep your voice down."

The lobby's ceiling was astonishingly high, yet the stacked metal galleries made it feel oppressive. Several old-fashioned chandeliers with brass shades hung overhead, casting a weak yellow light that failed to reach every corner and left the entire space shrouded in dusk.

"Hi!"

Li Jie greeted the faded portraits hanging on the wall, depicting past tax commissioners. Unfortunately, they didn't return the greeting, merely staring blankly at the visitors passing beneath them.

After asking at the front desk where Erika Hale's workstation was, the two headed toward the back through rows of cubicles packed as tightly as a honeycomb. The partitions were so high they all but eliminated any chance of interaction. Occasionally, they caught sight of a neatly combed lock of hair or a hand slowly rising to reach for a file.

There was no shouting here, only a low, continuous drone. Hundreds of old typewriters clattered amid constantly ringing phones and flat, murmured conversations.

"It feels like we've wandered into the guts of some enormous machine that's been running for a hundred years," Anna said, watching employees in gray-blue uniforms move mechanically through the vast office maze like worker ants. She edged closer to Li Jie without realizing it. "They look... like their souls have been sucked out."

"You were lucky enough to get assigned to the East End, where everyone's good at slacking off. If you were at Central Headquarters, you wouldn't be any different from them."

Li Jie stopped to watch them too. Everyone wore a plastic ID badge, with colors marking their rank, but here every color seemed coated in gray. Most of their faces bore the numb exhaustion of people who had spent years dealing with numbers and regulations. Occasionally, someone glanced up at the two uninvited visitors, but there was no curiosity in those hollow eyes, only a trace of irritation at the interruption.

"Don't think too hard about it. Think too much and you'll become one of them."

They found Erika Hale's workstation in the most secluded corner. It sat beside an archive room that smelled of years-old dust. One of the overhead fluorescent tubes was faulty, flickering intermittently and throwing the area in and out of darkness.

Unlike the other desks, buried under files like the aftermath of a landslide, Erika's was exceptionally tidy-rigidly so, even. Her documents were stacked with their edges perfectly aligned, her pens arranged in strict parallel lines, and the single CRT monitor wiped spotless. She was bent over a thick stack of tax forms, checking them line by line with a small ruler and occasionally adding notes in the margins with an extremely fine pencil.

She looked to be in her thirties, with her hair wound into a precise round bun and rimless glasses perched on her nose. The same uniform looked crisp and professional on her.

Li Jie gently tapped the edge of the partition.

Erika Hale looked up. Her gaze swept quickly over Li Jie's and Anna's faces, settled on their uniforms and badges, then returned to Li Jie's face. She showed no surprise, merely speaking in an even tone:

"Officers, the Tax Department generally does not welcome visitors without appointments. What can I do for you?"

"Ms. Hale? Li Jie, East End precinct. This is my colleague, Anna Ramirez. We heard you're the person here least likely to turn a blind eye to 'errors,' and we need a pair of professional eyes."

"Errors? There may be too many of those. This entire city is an error." Erika Hale fixed a sword-sharp gaze on Li Jie's face. "Unfortunately, I'm only an auditor. And I don't accept gifts."

For a moment, the low drone of the office seemed to swell, like a bird of prey spreading its wings. Somewhat awkwardly, Li Jie set the box in his hands on the floor.

"This... isn't a gift. These are... financial records seized in a... child trafficking case. If we can trace the chain sooner, perhaps... we can prevent more victims."

Without a word, Erika reached into the edge of the box, pulled out several documents, and skimmed them. Her brow furrowed.

"If these are criminals' accounts, they must have hired a terrible accountant. Inventory records, incoming and outgoing payments, tax documents, and insurance paperwork are all mixed together." She returned the papers to precisely their original positions. "Their accountant's professional certification may well be forged."

"Ah... yes, yes, absolutely. They certainly can't compare to a professional like you."

Feeling rather guilty, Li Jie turned aside and rubbed his face. He hadn't paid any attention to order or categories when moving the documents. To save himself some trouble, he had simply dumped all the neatly sorted files from the cabinet into the box.

"For the children's sake, I'll handle this as quickly as possible. It should take three to five days. Leave your card, and I'll notify you if I finish early. Also..." Erika neatly wrote an account number on a sticky note and handed it over. "You do realize this extra work isn't free? One thousand dollars. Thank you for your business."

After they left the Tax Department, even the cold, noisy air of Gotham's streets seemed considerably fresher. Li Jie took a deep breath and vigorously rubbed his face, as though trying to flush every trace of that stale, moldy paper smell from his lungs.

"That was terrifying. That Ms. Hale... she looks at people like an X-ray machine. I almost thought she'd spotted the income tax I underreported last year." Anna took deep breaths beside him. "She's practically that building come to life."

"Drop the 'almost.' She definitely noticed," Li Jie replied absently. With his hands in his pockets, he rubbed the receipt between his fingertips. Fortunately, getting reimbursed wasn't difficult these days. "People like her have spent their whole lives in numbers. To her, we're two sets of bad accounts filed under the wrong category."

Their boots crunched through the half-melted black slush as they slowly followed the sidewalk toward the large municipal parking lot at the other end of the street.

"It's almost noon. What should we eat? Doughnuts again?"

"Blech."

Li Jie gagged. Those things were sickeningly sweet, with frosting piled on as though sugar cost nothing. "Let's not. How about fried noodles in Chinatown?"

"No, those are too greasy." Anna shook her head in distaste. "How about a vegetable salad? Ugh..." She sighed. "Every day it's the same mind-numbing little things. Can't we get something exciting for once... sorry, sir."

At the sight of Li Jie's exasperated expression, she gave him a perfunctory salute in apology. But less than five minutes later, they spotted a crowd gathered beneath a glass-fronted commercial building.

"Let's take a look."

Li Jie rolled his eyes in despair. He was beginning to suspect Anna was the protagonist with a jinx system. They pushed through the crowded onlookers and discovered that this wasn't some everyday incident like a restaurant owner beating up a customer who had tried to dine and dash. Instead, two businessmen in sharp suits were facing off against a middle-aged man in a white lab coat who looked like a researcher, all three shouting at one another.

"Huh? Are we doing intellectuals overthrowing capitalists today?" Li Jie clapped his hands. "GCPD! Gentlemen, calm down. You're standing on the most expensive real estate in Gotham, earning dozens of times the average person's salary. Don't throw tantrums like junkies out of their minds." He pointed at the researcher, who held a tube connected to a metal backpack. "Sir, you'd better put that down. Hitting people with a vacuum cleaner isn't a good idea."

"This is no vacuum cleaner! This is my newly completed Cryogenic Projector. Its liquid nitrogen stream can instantly turn anything into an ice sculpture. I'm going to use it to protect my research!"

The researcher shouted indignantly. Anna's expression changed at once, and she drew her gun and aimed it at him. "Drop the weapon, now! Hands on your head!"

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Everyone calm down."

Li Jie pressed his hands downward to signal Anna to lower her gun, then shook his head at the researcher. "You just said yourself how dangerous that thing is. I suggest you put it down before this gets out of hand."

The middle-aged man hesitated for a moment, then nodded and set the device on the ground.

"All right. Tell me who you are and why you're all arguing." He gestured toward the surrounding crowd. "This is turning into the Super Bowl."

"Officer, we're risk management directors at De Ligt Technology Investments. Dr. Victor Fries's research has consumed a tremendous amount of company funding over the past two years without producing any results. The company has decided to terminate funding and repossess the equipment. These are the contracts and legal documents." He waved the thick stack of papers in his hand. "When we gave Doctor Fries advance notice in accordance with procedure, he not only refused to cooperate but repeatedly insulted and even threatened us. Officer, I hope you can assist us in recovering the company's lawful assets. The company would be deeply grateful for the police's assistance."

The long stream of official language left Li Jie scratching his head. He couldn't make sense of the documents anyway, so he simply turned to the other party. Victor Fries stared coldly at him and voiced an unusually firm refusal.

"You can't do this. If you cut the power and shut down the equipment, Nora will die."

"Then take her to a hospital! Saints Hospital! Arkham Asylum! Anywhere!" The risk management director slapped the documents against his palm with sharp cracks. "Instead of keeping her frozen in your... the company's freezer! Look at this place!" He surveyed their surroundings with contempt. "Do you think you can produce some groundbreaking discovery here?"

"A hospital can't save her! Only I can!" Victor Fries's voice suddenly rose. "Cryogenic hibernation is her only hope! She's running out of time. I'm so close, I just need that last bit of stability..."

"Your 'so close' has eaten through two years of our budget! No papers, no results, just a pile of insane theories and astronomical bills! She hasn't even come back to life! I'm telling you for the last time, Fries! Your research is a bottomless pit! The company won't waste another cent on your science-fiction fantasies!" Red-faced, the two risk management directors took turns stamping their feet and shouting. "Tomorrow! Tomorrow morning, we're sending people to shut down all the equipment and recover company assets by force. Either you end this farce with dignity, or we'll do it for you!"

"A farce?" Fries's voice abruptly became dangerously cold. He bent down and snatched up the projector. "You think Nora's life is a farce?"

"Everybody shut the fuck up!"

The thunderous shout left both sides momentarily dazed. Li Jie cleared his throat and glared at them furiously.

"Are you all pretending I'm not here? First question!" He pointed at the haggard Fries. "Who is Nora, and why is she sleeping in a freezer?"

"Nora is my wife, officer." Fries was trembling from his fingers to his lips. "She has progressive cellular necrosis. Modern medicine has sentenced her to death, but I can save her! Cryogenic hibernation suspends her physiological processes until I find a cure! But for that to work..." He jabbed a finger at the two risk management directors. "The power supply to her life-support system must never be interrupted! If the equipment shuts down and the temperature goes out of control, she... she'll..."

"She'll take this backpack off."

While Fries was shouting in agitation, Li Jie lunged forward, pinned his hand with one hand, and used the other to yank the backpack from his back.

"Nicely done, officer," the two risk management directors exclaimed excitedly. "I thought you were going to side with this lunatic."

"But I never said I was siding with you, either." Li Jie snorted. "His wife is still alive, and she'll die without the cryogenic equipment, correct?"

"Well..." The two directors exchanged glances. One stepped forward and lowered his voice. "Officer, that's all wishful thinking on his part! There's no peer review, no clinical data, just a madman tinkering with high-voltage electricity and liquid nitrogen in a lab, then freezing his wife as a test subject! This is murder. He's murdering his own wife!"

"What did you say?!"

Fries suddenly began struggling, forcing Li Jie to apply more pressure to his arm to restrain him.

"Since you disagree, we'll need a professional medical institution to conduct an assessment. But until a qualified medical team determines that his wife is clinically dead..."

Li Jie pointed at the director. "Under Gotham City law and the state criminal code, if you knowingly cut off the power sustaining an incapacitated patient's life and cause their death, those involved could face charges of second-degree murder."

"I don't care about that. You can't bluff me! What do you cops know about science?"

"Sure, maybe you don't care about the charges. But what about the board's reputation and the company's stock price?" Li Jie spread a hand toward the crowd. "You've announced in front of all these witnesses that you intend to unplug an incapacitated patient's ventilator. What do you think your boss will do to you?"

"Fine..."

The two risk management directors exchanged a look, stepped aside to confer quietly, then returned. "We'll report this to the company and let the legal department handle it. In that case, Doctor Fries, we'll see you in court."

The two straightened their suit jackets and the cashmere shirts underneath, shook hands with Li Jie, Anna, and Victor Fries, then climbed into a jet-black sedan by the curb and sped away.

Li Jie glanced at the projector on the ground, its indicator lights still blinking, and released the side of Fries's body he had pinned.

"Thank you, officer... you're very strong." Fries rubbed his arm, his eyes filled with wariness, gratitude, and a lingering trace of madness. "You've bought Nora a few more days."

"We're temporarily impounding this as a hazardous device." Li Jie nudged the projector toward Anna with his foot. "Now take me inside so I can check your wife's condition, the hospital's diagnosis, and exactly what this 'life-support system' of yours is. If you've frozen a healthy person like a turkey, you're going to be in a world of trouble!"