Ghost Employee（4）
2012 Words
11
It was half past nine at night. All the night-shift workers at the factory had gone into the workshop. The back of the compound was deadly quiet, with only a few dim yellow street lamps swaying in the cold wind. Warehouse No. 2 stood in the most remote corner of the factory, used for storing scrap machinery — not a soul ever went there.
Carrying the bag, I stumbled over the weedy muddy ground and pushed open the rusty iron door. The warehouse reeked of pungent engine oil and mildew. By the faint glow of my phone’s flashlight, I saw Li Na standing behind a pile of scrap metal shelves. She was clutching the black plastic bag tightly, looking nervous yet excited.
When she saw me walking in alone, she visibly relaxed, but still glanced cautiously behind me.
“Where’s Zhao Xuming? Why isn’t he here?”
Li Na walked over in her high heels, her eyes greedily fixed on the travel bag in my hand. I pretended to tremble with fear and set the bag on the ground.
“Director Zhao said… he didn’t want to see you. He was afraid he’d lose his temper.”
“There’s one million in cash inside. He told you to count it, and the rest will be transferred to your card tomorrow.”
At the words “one million in cash”, Li Na’s eyes lit up instantly. She squatted down impatiently and yanked open the zipper. Stacks of red banknotes came into view under the phone light. Li Na breathed rapidly, grabbed the top stack, and flipped through it skillfully.
But her expression changed in the next second.
She slammed the money onto the ground and frantically flipped through the rest inside the bag.
“Fake! All f*****g fake!” Li Na screamed. Her voice echoed sharply in the empty warehouse.
Except for a thin layer of real notes on top, everything underneath was just white paper cut to the same size! That miserly tightwad Zhao Xuming wouldn’t even use real money as hush money.
“That bastard Zhao Xuming! How dare he trick me!”
Li Na stood up furiously, grabbed the plastic bag with the bloodstained clothes, and snapped:
“Shen Yu, go back and tell him — not a penny less than five million! If the money isn’t here by tomorrow morning, I’m going to the Public Security Bureau!”
With that, she turned to walk out of the warehouse.
At that moment, the rusty iron door crashed shut — slammed closed violently from the outside!
12
“Where are you off to report the police, Supervisor Li?”
A cold, slimy voice came from the dark corner.
Zhao Xuming was holding a half‑meter‑long rusty heavy wrench upside down, creeping out of the shadows like a ghost. His face twisted, his eyes blazing with undisguised murderous intent.
Li Na stumbled back in terror, nearly dropping the plastic bag.
“Di… Director Zhao… don’t… don’t come near me!”
Her voice trembled as she still tried to threaten him with the evidence.
“I have the things you used to kill Zhou Qiang right here!”
“Oh, really?” Zhao Xuming sneered, looking at her like she was an i***t.
“If both of you die here tonight, who will ever know?”
He tapped the metal shelf beside him lightly with the wrench, making a creepy clanging sound.
“Li Na, you can throw your weight around in the office all you want, but how dare you extort me?
That degenerate gambler Zhou Qiang demanded five million from me, so I stuffed him into the meat grinder.
And now you want five million too?”
Li Na finally realized she had provoked a devil. Her legs went weak and she collapsed to the ground.
“No… I don’t want it anymore! I don’t want the money!”
She pushed the black plastic bag forward, tears streaming down her face.
“I’ll give it back to you! Director Zhao, let me go! I promise I won’t say a word!”
“Too late.”
Zhao Xuming suddenly raised the wrench high and slammed it down toward Li Na’s head!
“Ah——”
She let out a horrific scream and instinctively lifted her arm to block.
A crisp crack echoed. Li Na’s arm was crushed out of shape. She rolled on the ground screaming in agony.
I huddled in the corner’s shadow, biting my lip so hard I made no sound.
The tiny camera on my chest recorded everything silently.
Zhao Xuming breathed heavily, his eyes red with rage. He kicked the plastic bag aside, raised the wrench again, and prepared to strike her head.
“Zhao Xuming! If you kill me, you won’t get away either!” Li Na shrieked in despair. “Shen Yu knows everything! She helped you find someone to pretend to be the family — you’re all murderers!”
Zhao Xuming froze. He spun around, his sinister gaze locking onto me in the corner.
“Don’t worry. She’s not going anywhere. Neither of you is leaving this warehouse tonight.”
He walked toward me with the blood‑dripping wrench.
“Shen Yu, you were actually quite useful. Too bad you know too much.”
I trembled against the cold wall and glanced at my watch: 9:58.
The police must already be on their way. I had to stall longer, making him confess every crime.
“Director Zhao…” I whimpered loudly on purpose. “Zhou Qiang was your brother‑in‑law. How could you be so cruel as to throw him alive into the machine?”
Something in Zhao Xuming snapped. He burst into mad laughter.
“Cruel? He forced me!
That leech kept begging me for money every few days! I built this factory with my own blood and sweat — why should I let him drain it dry?!
That night he got drunk, came to the workshop to demand money, and attacked me. In a fit of anger, I smashed his head in with a fire extinguisher!
Once he was dead, I had no choice! I stripped his clothes off and dumped him in the meat grinder.”
Zhao Xuming laughed triumphantly, as if describing a perfect masterpiece.
“And luckily, your fake Wang Dashan was there to take the blame. 1.2 million for a life — what a steal!”
He stood before me and raised the wrench high.
“Alright, enough talking. Shen Yu, time to die!”
Just as the heavy wrench was about to come crashing down —
BANG!
The warehouse’s iron door was violently rammed open from outside!
Several blinding high‑powered flashlights tore through the darkness, shining directly into Zhao Xuming’s face.
“POLICE! DROP THE WEAPON! HANDS ON YOUR HEAD AND KNEEL DOWN!”
Deafening shouts mixed with rapid footsteps. Over a dozen fully armed police officers charged into the warehouse like heavenly soldiers.
13
Zhao Xuming was stunned senseless by the sudden ambush. The wrench clattered to the ground, and he collapsed like a pile of mud. Two officers rushed over, pinned him down, and snapped cold handcuffs around his wrists.
Nearby, Li Na, whose arm had been broken, fainted from pain and was quickly carried away on a stretcher by medics.
I leaned against the wall, my legs giving out completely. I slid to the ground, gasping for cold air.
I had survived.
The captain of the criminal police walked up to me, glanced at the fake money and the plastic bag on the ground, and frowned.
“Did you call the police?”
I shook my head, pretending to be utterly terrified, tears streaming down.
“Officer… I don’t know who called. I’m just an HR clerk.
The director forced me to come here to deliver money to Supervisor Li… he said if I refused, he’d throw me into the machine too.”
Trembling, I unzipped my coat and revealed the tiny camera.
“I was scared… so I bought recording equipment myself. He just admitted in person that he killed Zhou Qiang.”
The officer took the device, looked at me with a complicated expression, and patted my shoulder.
“You’re smart. And lucky. Get up. Come back to the station to give a statement.”
Late that night, the food factory was fully sealed off.
Confronted with irrefutable audio and video evidence, along with the bloodstained clothes and Rolex watch, Zhao Xuming’s psychological defenses completely collapsed. He confessed to killing Zhou Qiang in a dispute over profits and using the night‑shift meat grinder to destroy the body.
As for the sudden “family member of Wang Dashan”, Zhao Xuming was completely confused during interrogation. He insisted he had never met the woman and claimed she was hired by Li Na or me.
In my statement, I held firmly to my story:
“Officer, I’m just a low‑level employee. Director Zhao called me in for overtime that night, saying something had happened to Wang Dashan.
The family member showed up at the gate the next morning crying. Director Zhao was eager to settle privately and immediately agreed to 1.2 million in compensation.
I couldn’t possibly scam that much money. It was transferred directly into the family member’s bank card.”
Police investigated the card. My cousin, experienced in shady dealings, had used a purchased account. The money was transferred and laundered immediately, leaving no traceable destination.
To make matters worse for Zhao Xuming, Li Na, trying to reduce her own guilt, insisted from her hospital bed that he had hired the actress to launder the 1.2 million into his own pocket.
Everyone believed the country woman was Zhao Xuming’s fake mourner. And he could never explain where the money went — no one would believe a notoriously stingy boss could be scammed out of a million yuan by a small HR clerk.
14
A month later, the case was officially closed.
Zhao Xuming was convicted of intentional homicide and desecration of a corpse. Combined, he was sentenced to death in the first instance.
Li Na was charged with attempted extortion. Despite suffering severe injuries, she was sentenced to three years in prison.
As for me:
During their investigation of factory records, police did discover I had created the fake “Wang Dashan” to collect salaries fraudulently. Under questioning, I admitted my actions over three years — but claimed the fake profile was set up on Zhao Xuming’s orders to embezzle company funds. With no witnesses left to contradict me, plus my key audio and video evidence that solved a murder case (constituting major meritorious service), and my prompt return of illicit gains, the court ultimately convicted me of occupational embezzlement and sentenced me to one year’s probation.
I would not serve jail time, only report to the community regularly.
The day I walked out of the courthouse, the sky was brilliantly clear. Sunlight warmed my body. I breathed deeply of free air, took out my phone, and checked a WeChat message from my cousin.
It was a video. Beibei, in her hospital gown, sat in the hospital’s small garden basking in the sun. Her cheeks were rosy, and she smiled like a little angel.
“The surgery went perfectly. The doctor says she can be discharged next week.”
Watching my daughter’s smile, I covered my mouth and laughed through tears on the courthouse steps.
For three years, I had walked on thin ice for that nonexistent “Wang Dashan”, nearly losing my life.
But now the nightmare was finally over.
The blood‑soaked factory had been sealed and auctioned. Zhao Xuming and Li Na had received their just deserts.
I pressed my phone to my chest, faced the sun, and walked briskly toward the hospital.
I had played out the worst hand life had dealt me.
From today onward, my daughter and I would live clean — and live well.
- Writer
