Taoist priest goes to America

"Okay, Mr. Li, are these the two bodies you need to handle?"

Nigel asked, neither humble nor arrogant. Her breathing, amplified by the gas mask, was very steady, showing neither fear nor disgust, like a professional waitress confirming service details with a customer.

"Yes, just these two. Thank you for your help." Li An nodded and slowly withdrew his hand.

"I am the person in charge of this area," Nigel said respectfully. "It's a pleasure to serve you."

"We need to assess the condition of the body before we can provide you with a quote; this is standard procedure."

At this moment, two cleaners in protective suits stepped forward. One opened the black body bag on the stretcher, while the other squatted down and began to examine the body.

They examined the eyelids, felt the muscles, measured the diameter of the hole in the chest, and inspected the swollen, blackened, mutilated arm. Their movements were practiced and highly professional, without any unnecessary steps, as if they were quality inspecting a product to determine its quality.

Nigel did not participate in the inspection. She stood opposite Ang Lee and explained the procedures and rules for selling a corpse to him.

"We, the cleaners, adhere to the 'two no's principle: we don't ask about the relationship between the customer and the corpse, nor do we inquire about the origin of the corpse, in order to bring you the best service experience..."

Just then, one of the scavengers who was squatting down walked over and made a gesture to Nigel, making a circle with his thumb and forefinger while clenching the other three fingers.

Upon seeing this special code, Nigel's steady breathing quickened slightly.

"Excuse me, I'll be right back for a moment." She bowed slightly to Li An, then followed her companion away.

The scavenger in charge of the inspection stood beside her, his right hand pressed against his face to cover his mouth as he whispered something to Nigel.

It seems they don't want him, their client, to hear the value of the corpse, lest he try to raise the price... Li An thought to himself.

Unfortunately, after being "influenced" by the fantasy world, Ang Lee's hearing became very good. Even though they were about 10 meters apart, he could still hear their whispers clearly.

"A large amount of toxin spread from the left arm to the whole body, and the toxin was injected through biting..."

"This guy looks like he was bitten by a python whose teeth secrete fentanyl." The man's tone was very confused as he looked at the corpse with bewilderment.

"Could it be that they let wild animals bite them first, then injected them with toxins to fake it?" Nigel asked, half believing and half doubting.

"Aside from animal bite marks, we found no injection holes..."

……

While eavesdropping, Ang Lee opened the iPhone he had retrieved from the black man to look up the market price of corpses and figured out how much to ask for.

The cleaners' conversation lasted only two or three minutes before Nigel ended it and turned to walk toward Ang Lee.

"Confirmed," Nigel said. "Both bodies showed signs of violent death, and were largely intact with no severe decomposition. One of them also appears to have overdosed on enhancement agents..."

Nigel paused, seemingly considering the price. "The base price is six hundred dollars, seven hundred dollars for the one that died with a hole in its chest, and nine hundred and fifty dollars for the one that was missing its left hand and had overdosed on the enhancer."

Ang Lee smiled and shook his head, slowly uttering a sentence:

"The one that absorbs the enhancer costs two thousand dollars."

A soft hiss came from inside Nigel's gas mask, probably from taking a deep breath.

"Mr. Li, this price seems a bit unreasonable." Nigel gave a dry laugh. "Two thousand? Our buyer will bear legal risks. Plus, they'll need specialized equipment and technicians—those are all costs."

"That's too cheap," Ang Lee interrupted her. "This corpse is very rare, and I don't want to sell it for just this little bit."

"How about 1,200?" Nigel tried to bargain.

"How about this, 1,800?" Li An conceded a step.

"Thirteen hundred, is that alright?" Nigel pressed, refusing to budge.

The two people faced each other, staring at each other less than half a meter apart. One had a calm expression, while the other's face was covered by a gas mask, so his expression could not be seen.

"Sixteen hundred." Li An wasn't afraid of the negotiations falling apart. Judging from their conversation just now, the corpse was of great research value to them.

"Five thousand five hundred. That's the highest price we can offer." Nigel remained unmoved and insisted on lowering the price.

"Okay, deal." Li An's lips curled up, and he placed the order immediately.

"A wise decision." Nigel picked up the silver metal box containing the money, intending to take out the cash to pay the bill.

"But there's one condition," Ang Lee suddenly added.

"What are the conditions?" Nigel stopped taking out his money and looked up to ask him.

"I also need to buy a corpse," Li An said slowly, looking at the puzzled Nigel.

"I'll get my bodies from you whenever I need them in the future. Price is negotiable, but you have to let me know first if you have any."

Nigel was silent for a moment, as if he was thinking about what Ang Lee meant.

"What do you need a corpse for?" she asked.

"Don't worry about the reason," Ang Lee said. "You sell, I pay, it's just business. But I have requirements for the corpse; not just any corpse will do."

Nigel's gaze swept over Li An from head to toe, as if he were reassessing the man before him.

"What are your requirements?"

Ang Lee held up three fingers.

First, they must be adults; I don't want minors.

"Second, it must be intact. There cannot be large-area trauma, no missing major organs, no severed limbs, and the remains must appear to be from a natural death with no serious damage to the body structure."

"Third, it must be a special profession."

Ang Lee continued, "Soldiers, programmers, writers, scientists, and it would be even better if there were some assassins or explosives experts."

Nigel spoke first, tentatively asking, "Mr. Li, your request is strange. What difference does it make to you if the corpses are from different professions?"

"The difference isn't in the corpse," Ang Lee said, "but in my intended use. You don't need to know the specifics of how I'll use it; just tell me if it meets the requirements."

“It can be done,” Nigel replied, “but it won’t be cheap.”

"A relatively intact adult corpse without major injuries is hard to find on the street. You have to get it from the gray channels of hospitals or funeral homes. The cost price is at least six to eight hundred. If you resell it, you'll have to pay at least nine hundred."

"Furthermore, because you require different professions, I cannot purchase in bulk. It will take time to screen and investigate, which will take a long time."

"I understand, I get it." Li An stared at the lenses of Nigel's gas mask. "I'll pay for this deal, you just need to supply the goods. Don't investigate, don't track me down, we'll go our separate ways."

Nigel nodded slightly. "Okay, I completely agree."

She then took out a stack of money wrapped in a gray waterproof cloth from the metal box containing the money, counted out twenty-one hundred-dollar bills, and handed them to Ang Lee.

"One body costs 700 yuan, and the other costs 1,400 yuan, for a total of 2,100 yuan. Please keep this."

Nigel's attitude returned to what it was at the beginning, as respectful as a waiter.

She then pulled out a pure white name card from another compartment in her black cardholder. It had no fancy gold foil stamping, just a name and two numbers.

The business card had "Nigel" written in black, and one of the two numbers was the one Ang Lee had dialed before, while the other looked like an ID number.

"This number is answered 24 hours a day." Nigel pointed to the first number with his index finger.

"The second one is my Signal (a foreign social media platform) business account ID. Please add me and wait for my notification."

"I will specify the corpse's occupation and condition at that time. You can reply within three to five days whether you want it. The price will fluctuate depending on the difficulty of obtaining it, with a base price of nine hundred."

"Do you understand?" Nigel finished explaining, then tucked the business card between his fingers and handed it to Ang Lee.

"Understood." Li An took the business card and memorized the number on it.

"Pleasure doing business with you." A very short laugh came from beneath Nigel's mask.

"It's a pleasure working with you," Ang Lee replied with a smile.