Chapter 222: Artificial Organs (11)

On the next morning, news organizations around the world were turned upside down.

[Human rights violations beyond imagination.]

[Are China’s organ harvesting horror stories true?]

[48,000 organ transplants in Xinjiang alone.]

[What’s going on in the labor camps in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region?]

[Breaking news: Photos of the basement of the Xinjiang University Hospital’s affiliated laboratory.]

[Prison-like facilities where organ harvesting donors are held confirmed.]

Every news outlet covered this story, from local dailies that write about rumors to giants like the Guardian and The Washington post. Dozens of articles poured out every minute, each with shocking and disgusting facts.

Anthony’s videos and photos were released, and the videos quickly garnered ten million views on YouTube, and popularity quickly spiked. They were banging on the door, screaming for help. The windowless cells were tiny with helpless people trapped inside. The cold landscape of the operating room that led into the living quarters contrasted with the clean and cozy recovery rooms for surgical patients.

The photos were plastered all over the media.

Nature

ran the photos and videos on its front page, along with an interview, who had risked his life to cover the story.

“The Uygur victim rescued by the United States is now in psychiatric care and is resting. The victim has offered to testify about the camps and the basement, but the White House has decided to postpone it to a later date on the recommendation of her doctors.”

Campbell, the president of the United States, immediately issued a statement.

“This is a human rights catastrophe that should bever have happened in the twenty-first century.”

Even as he sent the CIA there and was briefed about the situation, Campbell understood this in a political context. Xinjiang was one of the world’s richest regions in terms of underground resources. With this operation, they could drastically reduce the Chinese government’s influence over this land, which had gas, coal, and oil flowing through it. It was the kind of scandal that, if the international community applied enough pressure and if they were lucky, could allow them to push for Xinjiang’s independence.

And if they succeeded in making Xinjiang independent? The fragile new state would need aid and developmental assistance from the international community, and the United States would jump into that business. Xinjiang, that huge chunk of underground resources, would be a new ally for the United States: an American ally under American control at the western ends of China and Russia.

But Campbell’s mind, which was full of political strategies, went blank as soon as he saw what Anthony had brought him. The situation was so serious that he forgot all about the political context.

“Can... Can a human being do this?”

They were like livestock. They were like chickens or pigs, helplessly confined in rows of cates, waiting to be slaughtered. When the day came, they would be brought out, one by one, and slaughtered on the operating table. And they all understood the situation. The way they howled in terror at Anthony was like something out of a horror movie.

Suddenly, Campbell felt more human anger and anguish than political triumph.

“The White House is deeply concerned about the human rights abuse taking place in China. The international community must come together to address this issue.”

Following Campbell’s announcement, the UN Security Council passed a resolution condemning the human rights abuse in Xinjiang.

Even Russia, China’s closest ally, was unable to speak out against the resolution.

While the world was criticizing China, there was surprisingly someone in China who was taking shots at the party.

* * *

—Governor Yang, are you insane?

The Minister of Health shouted at Yang Gunyu over the phone.

—Take back the statement you just made.

“Why? Did I say something wrong?”

—It’s an aberration of an individual at the hospital. People in our party leadership didn’t know the transplants were occurring that way...

“Do you think that makes sense?!” Yang Gunyu shouted back. “What kind of crazy hospital would leave their hospital’s operating room and build one five floors below the underground parking lot of an affiliated research institute? Do you think they would go in there and have surgery, thinking that it’s all legal? If that kind of idiot is in our party, that’s also a problem! They even killed the donor and harvested their organs right next to the operating table!”

—Um...

“I don’t know who they are, but they should all be decapitated. Those bastards are insects who are eating away at the party. It’s the only way China can weather the storm of the international community right now.”

—...

The Minister of Health was dumbfounded.

Yang Gunyu had released a statement in the morning, expressing his deep regret that this happened in China. He also called for the medical staff who performed the transplants at Xinjiang University Hospital, Mei Weisun, the director, and high-ranking officials who were recipients of the transplants, to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

The People’s Daily covered the statement, and the situation in China began to take a serious turn.

—Damn it... Governor Yang, do you know who this is connected to?

“I don’t, but I don’t want to know. I don’t care if it’s the President. Listen to me, Minister. My loyalty is to the party, not to a person,” Yang Gunyu shouted. “And if we don’t grab every single one of those insects and kill them now, they will create a big hole at the bottom of the ship, and China will sink.”

—...

“Do you know what really pisses me off? When the mosquitos swept through Guangdong, it took out fifteen percent of the foreign investment capital because it was a huge bio-disaster that paralyzed everything! I brought in Doctor Ryu to make up for it, and now everything is stable,” Yang Gunyu said. “There are still a lot of mosquitoes, but they’re less than ten percent of what they were at the peak. But after the presidential statement yesterday in the United States and all the media frenzy...”

Yang Gunyu became tense.

“We’ve lost thirty percent of our capital. Thirty percent!”

He slammed his fist down on his desk.

“Do you know what Guangdong is like? It’s the biggest economic hub in China. It’s home to all kinds of factories and companies. And do you know where most of the coal and oil they use to run all those factories comes from?” Yang Gunyu said. “It’s from Xinjiang! Xinjiang! Because that’s the treasure trove of China’s underground resources! The foreign capitalists all knew what was going on! They all knew that the Chinese government may lose control of Xinjiang because of the shenanigans of a few bastards in the party!”

—W-Wait, calm down for a moment...

“Do you think I can calm down in this situation?!” Yang Gunyu shouted. “Do you know how many petitions and lawsuits I am receiving from companies?!”

—...

“You’re the Minister of Health. You would have known this stupid situation! Where the hell have you been all this time! You’re lucky I didn’t scream about cutting your head off in yesterday’s statement!”

—U... Uh... I’m so sorry... But you shouldn’t have made that statement now...

“That statement is the only thing that saved China’s pride, so if you have nothing else to say other than your bullshit about retracting it, hang up. And if the Public Security Bureau doesn’t handle this properly, I will do everything I can do to defend Guangdong.”

Beep!

Yang Gunyu hung up the phone.

* * *

The situation had now escalated to the next step. The CIA had finally released the documents they had brought from the secure document library in the basement of the Institute of Biomedical Research. At the same time, they decoded all the encrypted code names of the donors and recipients of the surgery, revealing their real names. They also released medical records of the surgeries. People around the world were shocked as they read the names, anticipating the repercussions to come, and among them was Yang Gunyu.

“The president?”

𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Yang Gunyu gulped. He had said that he didn’t care if the president was involved when he put out the statement, but he didn’t actually expect him to be involved. But this situation was incredibly serious.

The image of the party leader was very important in China. It held more respect and prestige than the president in a democratic country like the United States.

‘How do we move beyond this?’

Yang Gunyu was worried about the situation out of pure patriotism.

And the Chinese Communist Party immediately denied it, as if they were waiting for this to be revealed.

“The heart transplant the President received was entirely legal,” announced the spokesperson for the party.

They purposely gathered foreign reporters to make this press conference a big deal.

“We believe that the documents revealed by the CIA were fabricated. It is true that the President underwent a heart transplant at Xinjiang University Hospital, but there was nothing illegal about the operation. The heart came from a person named Lee Qinqin, who was a young Han Chinese man. It is true that China has been setting up training centers and other strong measures to curb the terrorist threat in Xinjiang, but Lee Qinqin had nothing to do with that. He was in a car accident and died in the intensive care unit, and the heart transplant was based on a previously signed consent form from the patient himself,” said the spokesperson. “We have both the medical chart and Mr. Lee’s identity here, as well as the name of the surgeon who performed the heart transplant and the date of the procedure. This is the same material that was passed out. If you have any questions, please ask.”

“It says here that Mr. Lee Qinqin was born in Guangdong. But if the heart of a Han Chinese man from Guangdong is being transplanted to the president in Beijing, why is the surgery being done in Xinjiang, which is so far away?” a CNN reporter asked.

“It’s because Mr. Lee moved his residence to Xinjiang and lived there for five years. There is a record of the move in the registration system,” the spokesperson said as he referred to the document.

It had been hastily fabricated in the last two days.

Then, the reporter from Fox asked, “Leaving aside the question of the surgery, is it really true that the President had no idea of what had been going on in Xinjiang all this time?”

“If he had known, he would have punished those involved immediately. In fact, before this announcement, he had already ordered an audit of Xinjiang University Hospital and the strict enforcement of the law.”

“It has been reported that some people in the party had received a transplant. How is it possible that the President didn’t know about it?”

“Why not? The President is a very busy man, devoted to running the country. He works day and night, even getting a heart disease while working.”

“Why did Mr. Lee, a young Han Chinese man, go and live in Xinjiang?”

“As part of the policy to embrace Xinjiang as One China, the Chinese government has been supporting the relocation of Han Chinese to Xinjiang for some time now. It is confirmed that he moved there with the support of that program.”

The spokesperson answered without stopping. While many Chinese citizens nodded their heads in agreement, one man watching the broadcast broke out in a cold sweat. It was Yang Gunyu.

‘He stepped on the trap.’

The CIA had backed them up into this corner. The party had made a mistake in their haste to counterattack. They had stepped on the CIA’s trap as they backtracked.

“Doctor Ryu... What’s Doctor Ryu doing right now?” Yang Gunyu asked his secretary.

The famous biologist, who was at the top of the world and was a bioethics fanatic, had remained silent on this situation. Why? It was because he was going to be the one to put an end to the president when the party stepped on the trap.

‘Lee Qinqin...’

Yang Gunyu knew that he had heard this name before, and now he remembered.

“He’s the person I sent Doctor Ryu the data about. The record of him going missing and selling blood...”

Bzzz!

Yang Gunyu’s phone rang. He picked it up, and it was an intelligence agent from the Public Security Bureau.

—Governor Yang!

The agent shouted into the phone.

—I’m the intelligence agent who worked as Doctor Ryu’s interpreter. I’m calling you now because of the party’s announcement. I heard that Doctor Ryu asked you about the records of the Blood Tyrant Agency and about Jieyang. Is there anything you gave him?

“...”

Yang Gunyu gulped.

“I gave him everything. The missing persons list and the record of selling blood...”

—... Wait... Then, Doctor Ryu knows that what’s being announced right now is a lie? He knows that Lee Qinqin didn’t go and live in Xinjiang, but that he disappeared while selling blood?

“He does.”

—Holy shit...

“Aren’t you an official at the Public Security Bureau? If there is a possibility that Doctor Ryu knows, why didn’t you prevent the party from making an announcement like that?”

—How would I have known that they would make an announcement like that? I’m an intelligence agent at the bottom rung of the ladder. And I was in Xinjiang because I was ordered to investigate it!

“... It’s over,” Yang Gunyu said. “The party fell into the trap.”

Knock knock.

His secretary knocked on his door. Yang Gunyu hung up and opened the door.

“Sir...”

“Has Doctor Ryu started something?”

The secretary’s eyes widened.

“Yes. He is holding a press conference.”

“Is he talking about the blood-selling organization?”

“Pardon? No, he’s not.”

The secretary shook their head.

“He’s talking about the Xinjiang Region, and this disease called subacute necrotizing encephalomyelopathy. And... It’s also about the development of artificial organs.”

Yang Gunyu’s eyes narrowed.

“What happened behind the scenes of this event that I don’t understand a single thing you said right now?”