Chapter 17: Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17: THE MEMORY THIEF

The black light from Jiang Chen's staff sent Madam Lan flying across the warehouse. She crashed into a stack of wooden crates, splintering them like matchsticks. Dust and debris filled the air.

Jiang Chen stood over her, breathing hard. His hands wouldn't stop shaking. "You think you can manipulate me?"

She coughed, pulling herself upright. Her borrowed body was broken—arm bent at the wrong angle, blood trickling from her mouth. But her soul remained intact, a dark silhouette flickering beneath the skin. "I'm not manipulating you, boy. I'm giving you a gift."

"A gift." He laughed, but there was no humor in it. "You tried to possess me."

"To show you the truth." She spat blood. "You think I wanted your body? Please. You're a dead man walking. Literally. I was looking for a better vessel." She gestured at her broken form. "This one was getting old anyway."

Jiang Chen tightened his grip on the staff. The runes along its length pulsed with cold light. One strike—that's all it would take. One clean strike through her chest, and her soul would be bound. He could drag her back to Diyu and be done with it.

But the names. The truth.

"Tell me," he said. "Who framed me?"

"Take me to Diyu."

"Tell me first."

She laughed again, blood bubbling at her lips. "You really think I'd tell you without insurance? You're a Soul Reaper now. You work for the Judges. They find out I know something about a corrupt execution, what do you think happens to me?"

"They'll wipe your memory anyway."

"Exactly." She pulled herself to her feet, wincing as her broken arm dangled uselessly. "So I need a deal. Official. Written. Signed by Judge Zhao himself."

"You're insane."

"I'm realistic." She took a step toward him. Her soul flickered, and for a moment he saw her true face—a woman in her forties, sharp features, eyes like blades. "I've been possessing people for seventeen years. I know how the system works. The Judges aren't gods. They're bureaucrats. And bureaucrats can be bought."

Jiang Chen's blood ran cold. "You're saying the Judges are corrupt?"

"I'm saying everyone is corrupt. The only question is price." She stopped a few feet away, her eyes locked on his. "Your execution was illegal. Someone paid to have you killed. And whoever paid, paid a lot. That kind of money doesn't come from nowhere."

"Who?"

"I don't know yet."

"You said—"

"I said I could find out." She smiled through bloody teeth. "I've been possessing people for seventeen years. I've seen every secret, every crime, every hidden truth. But I haven't seen yours. I don't know who paid for your death. But I know how to find out."

"How?"

"Give me a body. Let me possess someone. Let me walk the mortal realm for seven days. I'll find your answers."

Jiang Chen stared at her. She was asking him to release a convicted soul back into the world. She was asking him to betray his oath as a Soul Reaper. She was asking him to trust a woman who'd killed two of his predecessors.

"No."

"Then you'll never know."

"I'll find out another way."

"There is no other way." Her voice dropped, soft and dangerous. "Your case is closed. Filed. Forgotten. The Judges have moved on. They don't care about one wrongfully executed accountant. They have millions of souls to process. You're nothing to them."

"I'm their Reaper."

"You're their apprentice. You've been on the job three weeks. You don't know the first thing about how Diyu really works." She tilted her head. "How do you think they found you? There are thousands of executed criminals every year. Why did they pick you?"

Jiang Chen's throat tightened.

"Think about it, boy. They chose a man who was framed for murder. A man who was killed by a corrupt system. A man who would have every reason to want justice." She smiled. "They chose you because you're angry. Because they can use your anger."

"You're lying."

"I'm a con woman. Of course I'm lying." She spread her hands. "But I'm also right. You know I'm right."

He did know. He'd felt it from the beginning—the way Judge Zhao had looked at him during the recruitment. The way the old man had smiled when Jiang Chen accepted the staff. The way he'd said "good" when Jiang Chen agreed to hunt souls.

They'd chosen him because he was desperate. Because he had nothing left to lose.

And now this woman was offering him everything.

"Seven days," he said slowly. "One possession. You find the names."

"And you don't drag me back to Diyu until I do."

"Deal."

She smiled. "Good. Now help me find a new body. This one's broken."

---

They found a body in the alley behind a nightclub. A man in his thirties, slumped against a dumpster, dead of an overdose. Needle still in his arm. Empty wallet in his pocket.

Madam Lan studied him like a tailor studying fabric. "Thin. Drug habit. Weak will." She shrugged. "It'll do."

"You can just... take anyone?"

"I can take anyone whose soul has left their body." She crouched beside the corpse. "The freshly dead are easiest. No resistance. No fight." She glanced up at him. "You're dead too, you know. I could take you if I wanted."

"You tried."

"I wasn't trying." She smiled. "I was testing."

She pressed her hand to the dead man's chest. Her soul rippled, dark smoke pouring from her borrowed vessel into the new one. The old body crumpled, empty. The new one twitched, gasped, opened eyes that weren't quite human.

Madam Lan sat up, examined her new hands. "Younger. Stronger." She flexed her fingers. "Not bad for a junkie."

"Where do we start?"

"We start with your execution record. Someone forged documents, paid witnesses, corrupted a judge. Those things leave trails." She stood, stretching her new limbs. "Money trails. Document trails. Memory trails."

"You can read memories?"

"I can read minds when I possess them." She tapped her temple. "I told you. Seventeen years. I've been inside prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, cops, gangsters, politicians. I've seen how the system works from the inside."

"Then you already know—"

"I know pieces." She cut him off. "I know a lot of pieces. But I don't know how they fit together." She walked past him, out of the alley. "Come on. First stop: the courthouse where you were sentenced."

---

The courthouse was a concrete block in the center of the city, all gray stone and dark windows. The night watchman was asleep at his desk, snoring softly.

Madam Lan walked right past him.

"Wait," Jiang Chen hissed. "He'll see us."

"He'll see me." She gestured at her borrowed body. "I'm alive. You're not. He won't see you unless you want him to."

Jiang Chen looked down at himself. He'd forgotten—he was a soul wrapped in spirit-stuff, visible only to the dead and those with supernatural sight. To living humans, he was invisible.

He followed her through the building, past empty hallways and locked doors, until they reached the records room. File cabinets stretched to the ceiling, row after row of metal drawers.

"It'll take hours to find—"

Madam Lan wasn't listening. She walked to the third row, fifth cabinet, opened the third drawer, and pulled out a file.

"How did you—"

"I've been here before." She opened the file. "Three years ago. I possessed the head clerk. I know exactly where everything is."

She flipped through the pages, her eyes scanning fast. Faster than human. Her soul-enhanced senses processing information at supernatural speed.

"Here." She pulled out a document. "Your indictment. Signed by Prosecutor Chen Wei."

Jiang Chen took it. His hands were shaking again. The name at the bottom—Chen Wei—meant nothing to him. He'd never met the man.

"The evidence list," Madam Lan continued, pulling out another sheet. "Fingerprints. DNA. Witness testimony." She frowned. "The fingerprints are yours. They matched your apartment."

"But I never—"

"Someone planted them. The question is who had access to your apartment." She pulled out another file. "Your case was assigned to Detective Liu Feng. He collected the evidence."

"I've never heard of him."

"Of course not. He was hired for the job." She smiled. "But here's the interesting part." She pulled out a financial record. "Detective Liu Feng deposited fifty thousand yuan into his personal account three days after your arrest."

"Someone paid him."

"Someone paid everyone." She pulled out more records. "Prosecutor Chen Wei received a promotion two weeks after your conviction. Judge Zhang received a new car." She looked up at him. "Someone spent a lot of money to make sure you were convicted."

"Who?"

"That's the question." She closed the file. "The money came from a shell company. The shell company was owned by another shell company. I'll need to follow the trail."

"How long?"

"A few days. Maybe a week." She tucked the file under her arm. "But there's someone I need to talk to first."

"Who?"

"Detective Liu Feng." She smiled. "He's still alive. And I know exactly where he lives."

---

Detective Liu Feng lived in a nice apartment in the eastern district. Nice furniture. Nice view. Nice life, paid for by Jiang Chen's execution.

Madam Lan rang the doorbell. When Liu Feng opened the door, she smiled and said, "Hello, Detective. I'm here about the Chen case."

Liu Feng's face went pale. "Who are you?"

"Someone who knows what you did." She pushed past him into the apartment. "Close the door. We need to talk."

Jiang Chen followed, invisible, watching. Liu Feng looked around nervously, as if sensing something wrong, but he couldn't see the dead man standing in his living room.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Liu Feng said.

"You planted evidence in the Jiang Chen murder case. You took fifty thousand yuan for your trouble." Madam Lan sat down on his couch, crossing her legs. "I have the records."

Liu Feng's hand drifted toward his waistband. Toward a gun.

"I wouldn't," Madam Lan said. "I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to ask questions."

"Who are you?"

"I'm a friend of Jiang Chen's." She smiled. "He wants to know who paid you."

Liu Feng's eyes went wide. "He's dead."

"He's very persistent." She leaned forward. "Tell me who paid you, and I'll leave. Refuse, and I'll make sure those records reach the right people."

Liu Feng's hand was shaking. "I don't know. I never met him. It was all done through intermediaries."

"Names."

"A man named Wang. I don't know his full name. He was just a messenger."

"Where can I find him?"

"He's dead." Liu Feng swallowed. "Killed six months ago. Car accident."

Madam Lan's eyes narrowed. "Convenient."

"That's all I know. I swear." Liu Feng was sweating now. "I took the money, planted the evidence, and moved on. I didn't ask questions."