Apartment 503, Unit 4, Building 8, Fu'an Residential Community.
Half an hour earlier, Cao Jia, the woman of the house, had received two men claiming to be police officers from the Provincial Public Security Department.
One was in his thirties, thin, with a friendly face.
The other was around twenty-seven or twenty-eight, burly and rough-featured.
The two officers first asked about the whereabouts of her husband, Dou Guozhong. Cao Jia handled their questions smoothly, professing ignorance at every turn.
She had fully expected to brush them off as easily as she had the previous visitors. But after taking a phone call, the two officers suddenly dropped their masks of benevolence and lunged at her together. One covered her mouth while the other restrained her arms, and they bound her tightly with rope and tape.
"Let's keep this short. Your husband, Dou Guozhong, is at the Provincial Public Security Department now. If you cooperate, contact him right away, and tell him to keep his mouth shut, we'll let you go. Otherwise, we'll have to rape you first, then cut off your head and hang it from your windowsill..."
Vicious grins spread across the two "officers'" faces. They drew a dagger each and ran them threateningly over her face and body. The sharp blades cut her skin, and the stinging pain, coupled with her terror of death, made her tremble uncontrollably. She nearly wet herself on the spot.
She... she really didn't want to die!
Her husband was safe now, anyway. Making this call wouldn't change anything. She would only be telling him to keep his mouth shut...
After a brief struggle with herself, she said in a shaking voice, "D-don't kill me. I'll call my husband right now!"
The two "officers" exchanged excited looks. The older one immediately brought over his