The Banker and the Dragon

Chapter 12: Jing Xi Gets the Results from the Hei Bai Virus Testing. 2nd May 2021.

Jing Xi was sitting in his office when his health minister Dr Song Bao and Jing’s security advisor Tzi Cheng entered his office. Dr Bao approached Jing, handed him a document and spoke:

-          Chairman Xi. We have conducted the requested tests on the Uighurs at the Lop County Uighur concentration camp.

Jing:

-          A bit slower than I had anticipated, but never mind. I needed to recuperate from my illness.

-          What did you find?

Dr Bao:

-          We found out that your hypothesis was correct. Selenium does trigger the virus.

Jing:

-          Lucky, I didn’t give in to my weakness and took the morphine. What exactly did you find?

Dr Bao:

-          The virus becomes active and the carrier contagious at a daily intake of 100 micrograms of selenium. At 300 micrograms, serious symptoms appear. That’s when a burning skin rash starts covering the back of the carrier. At a 500-micrograms intake of selenium, a person’s entire body is covered by the skin rash. In this instance, the individual experiences prolonged excruciating pain that often kills the carrier.

Jing:

-          Excellent. How much selenium is there in a Brazil nut?

Dr Bao:

-          About 80 micrograms, Heavenly Master.

Jing:

-          So, with this virus: Two nuts would make someone contagious; four nuts would make someone sick, and six nuts would kill someone.

Dr Bao:

-          Well, individual tolerances to the virus can differ, but on average yes.

Jing thought back on his virus episode. He tried to recall how many nuts he had eaten before that damn cabinet meeting. He thought that the number was three, which meant that his ‘cure’ consisting of laxatives and chillies had not affected his outcome. Jing didn’t want to admit that luck had saved his life, and instead, he asked:

-          So, what about antibodies towards the virus. Can someone build tolerance through gradually increasing the selenium intake?

Dr Bao:

-          Survivors do get antibodies while the virus remains dormant in the body. We haven’t tested your hypothesis about increased tolerance towards the virus yet, Chairman Xi.

Jing:

-          Well, then you should. We must learn about the virus before using it against our enemies. And see if you can figure out a way to make people eat selenium. I doubt that we can convince our enemies to eat heaps of Brazil nuts while we release the virus.

Dr Bao:

-          Understood, Heavenly Master.

Jing:

-          Dismissed, Dr Bao.

Hearing this, Dr Song Bao bowed to Jing and left the room. Jing turned towards Tzi Cheng.

-          What do you have to report, Security Advisor Cheng?

Tzi Cheng:

-          Someone leaked a video of our experiments to our enemy, Ming Shebao.

Jing:

-          Really? I hope you have Ming Shebao in custody.

Tzi Cheng:

-          Yes. We have him in a secure facility nearby.

Jing:

-          Excellent. I am coming with you. We need to find out who he has told about this!

Tzi Cheng:

-          You don’t need to come, Chairman Xi.

-          We can torture him and find out what he knows.

Jing smirked and replied:

-          I know. But when it comes to Ming Shebao, I want to see him die.

Tzi Cheng:

-          As you wish, Chairman Xi. I’ll take you to our Ministry of State Security prison now.

After saying this, Jing and Tzi Cheng left the room. They travelled to the prison where Jing’s infamous secret police kept and tortured their prisoners.

***

A while later, Jing and Tzi Cheng arrived at the interrogation room where they kept Ming Shebao. Jing studied Ming Shebao through a one-sided mirror. Ming Shebao was battered and bruised from the interrogation but worst was yet to come for him. Jing smiled. It would be a pure delight to watch his enemy die from the Hei Bai virus.

Jing looked at Tzi Cheng and said:

-          Stay here, Tzi Cheng. Watch what happens if I give him these./

Jing grabbed a bag of Brazil nuts and entered the interrogation room where Ming Shebao was chained to a chair. Jing’s appearance shocked Ming and he exclaimed.

-          Chairman Jing Xi! I would never believe that you would come here yourself. Have you come to torture me?

Jing scoffed:

-          Don’t be silly. I have others to do that for me. I just wanted to talk to my long-term critic. I would be a fool if I didn’t take the opportunity to learn from my enemies.

Ming Shebao:

-          And what do I gain from allowing you to learn from me?

Jing:

-          Ah, you’re looking after yourself. I like it. But before we discuss business, let’s chat a bit first, shall we? I brought some beer and some nuts.

Ming Shebao looked sceptically at Jing and replied:

-          What is going on? First, you sent your men to torture me, and now you are offering me beer and nuts.

Jing:

-          The torture wasn’t my intention. Some of my men are overzealous and take their own initiatives. It’s difficult to govern a nation of 1.4 billion souls after all.

Jing took one of the nuts and he chewed it slowly. According to Dr Bao, he would be infectious after two nuts. After that, he only needed to watch as the starving Ming Shebao ate the remaining nuts, and the Hei Bai virus took hold of his body.

Jing clapped his hands and shouted out:

-          Tzi Cheng, bring in a TV. We are going to watch Beijing against Shanghai in the Chinese Super League.

Ming Shebao stared at Jing in surprise as Tzi Cheng rolled in a TV on a stand and then left the room.

Jing:

-          Don’t look so surprised, Ming. What better way to bridge our differences than watching soccer together? I like Beijing and you like Shanghai. Yet we are both linked together by our love for the sport.

Ming Shebao:

-          Is this your metaphor for how we both love China despite our political differences?

Jing:

-          Exactly. But for now, just eat the nuts and drink the beer. You must be starving.

Having said this, Jing picked up his second nut and smirked. He would feel an itch but Ming Shebao would feel like he was being burnt alive.

Ming Shebao relaxed and he started eating the nuts and drinking his beer.

Jing smirked:

-          Don’t be shy. Have the rest of the nuts. I am saving myself for dinner.

Jing smiled as Ming devoured the remaining nuts, and then the two men sat silent for a while watching the game. In the halftime break, Jing turned to Ming, whose infection was taking hold of him:

-          I know that you filmed our Lop County concentration camp. You must have been wondering what happened to those prisoners that we killed. You are about to experience it firsthand.

Ming:

-          What? Have you poisoned me? How? We are eating the same nuts and drinking the same beer.

Jing:

-          Not poisoned. Infected. I am carrying the same virus that those prisoners had. The selenium in those nuts activates the virus. The two nuts that I ate is enough to make me contagious. Six nuts plus the virus is enough to kill a man. You ate a dozen nuts. Let’s just say you are in a for a world of pain. Muahaha.

Ming didn’t reply. The pain was overwhelming him and he collapsed to the floor together with the chair he was chained to.

Ming:

-          Ahh! It is so painful. Please make it stop. I’ll do anything

Jing:

-          That’s what I want to hear. Who did you show the video from the Lop County camp? Why hasn’t anyone tried uploading it on our Internet?

Ming:

-          It’s already on the Internet. I will expose your crimes against humanity, Jing.

Jing:

-          No, it’s not. Our AI would have found it.

-          The most interesting part about the Hei Bai virus is that when the rash reaches its peak it feels like you are being burned alive. That’s why our prisoners didn’t even react when our guards with flamethrowers set them alight. As a matter of fact, being burnt alive was preferable to suffering the consequences of the virus.

Ming squirmed in pain on the floor. The pain was too much for him and he passed in and out of consciousness. Ming pleaded:

-          Please make it stop. I’ll do anything.

Jing clapped his hands and Tzi Cheng entered the room. Jing:

-          Our prisoner is ready to confess his crimes. Shoot him and end his life on my signal.

Tzi Cheng nodded and he aimed his pistol towards Ming. Jing turned towards Ming:

-          Give me a name and your pain will be over.

Ming wheezed:

-          Eileen… Eileen Lu.

Tzi Cheng looked at Jing:

-          Chairman Xi?

Jing shook his head:

-          Don’t waste a bullet, Tzi. This man is a goner. We have a job to do. Find someone to abduct Eileen Lu for me.

Tzi Cheng looked at Jing in bemusement:

-          Abduct? You are the leader of China. Your word is the law. You can have the police arrest her.

Jing:

-          No. Arresting her would complicate what I have in mind for her. Abducting her would suit me better. Muahaha.

Having said this, Jing left the room where Ming was dying an excruciating death. Jing smiled to himself. He couldn’t wait to first have his way with Eileen and then send her off the same way that Ming Shebao died!