"Whether you trust me or not is your business. I'm just here to understand the situation." Shen Cong's response to Zhao Zilong's condition — the dark patches, the decay at the edges of her face — was no response at all. His tone was what it always was.

Strangely, that seemed to be exactly what she needed to hear.

"I trust Colonel Hu," she said, and got straight to it.

She laid out the Eastern Theater Command's handling of her since her arrival.

She had initially been received by Commander Zheng Shubian, but Zheng's failing health meant he passed the matter off almost immediately — handing it to Deputy Commander Major General Gu Taishan for follow-up. Gu Taishan had no apparent interest in the death-eater question. He'd managed a few cursory meetings, then stopped showing up, leaving her installed in a hospital ward. She'd tried Liu Yiwu directly, but Liu Yiwu was in a difficult position: Gu Taishan and 1st Group Army Commander Feng Weizhan belonged to the same political faction — the priority-first bloc, directly opposed to Liu Yiwu's equality policy. With Zheng Shubian having officially assigned the matter to Gu Taishan, Liu Yiwu had to keep his distance.

"The Commissar couldn't touch it. Gu Taishan was running it into the sand. I wasn't willing to accept that — so I started looking into why the Command refused to talk about the death-eaters." Her voice remained flat, roughened. "What I found was that I was the one being naive. Of course the Command hasn't left the death-eaters alone. The Command has been trading with them."

"Trading?"

"Yes. Gu Taishan is the direct handler for those transactions." A pause. "And I also found out that Gu Taishan is a death-eater himself."

Shen Cong's eyes narrowed. "How do you know?"

"First: my necrosis sickness appeared on the twenty-fourth of last month. Based on documented cases, necrosis sickness causes complete bodily collapse within five days of C1 withdrawal. Seven days have passed. My surface tissue shows necrosis, but my internal organs are actually holding. The doctors told me they were providing treatment.…