In a village within Wangcheng County, the bloodstains beneath the old locust tree at the village entrance have yet to dry. The screams of a ten-year-old girl still seem trapped in the cracks between the bricks. Four children from the same village, the oldest no more than fourteen and the youngest just nine, dragged her into an abandoned brick kiln and abused her for seven hours. She remained conscious throughout and survived with 47 injuries.
Because they were below the age of criminal responsibility, the perpetrators were merely ordered to submit to their parents’ discipline. But as the ruling was written, the victim’s parent, a pharmacist, set out on a path of revenge. In the process, an international drug-manufacturing syndicate gradually came to light, revealing a horrifying truth. The methods used to make the drugs were even more appalling...
