The Red Dress of Northern Myanmar: The Fiercest Woman, No. 07

This story draws on the testimony of a woman who escaped northern Myanmar, nearly driven insane. Her thoughts were confused, but her will to survive was clear.

The most beautiful words tell the most tragic story.

In a northern Myanmar scam compound, all the women wear gray, except Lin Jiao.

They force her into a red dress, assign her number 07, and make her the “high-priority charge” of guard Chen Ye. He grips her chin to record her vital signs; she bites his neck and leaves a bloody mark. Everyone thinks this is what it means to tame her, until a typhoon knocks out the electric fences and she steals the compound's most lethal list, filled with the real names of the missing.

Chen Ye points his gun at her retreating figure. An order crackles over the radio: “Find 07. Dead or alive.” But he presses the talk button and says, “She ran east.”

In truth, she's curled up inside the ventilation duct he inspected just last night, holding the list. On its final page is his sister's name.

The typhoon is coming, and the red dress burns like fire. She intends to send three hundred names home, and for the first time, his gun is aimed at his employer.