Chapter One: Seventy-Three People
The first time Chen Yaoting heard the words “Legal Killing System” was in the company break room.
It was 12:40 p.m. Most of the people in the office had gone out for lunch, leaving only a few employees rushing to finish reports at their desks. The break room television was on, and a news channel was broadcasting the Executive Yuan press conference live.
On-screen, an official in a dark suit stood at the podium, with a whole row of national flags and government insignia behind him.
The anchor’s captions scrolled quickly.
“The National Major Violence Risk Regulation Act has officially passed its third reading today.”
“Adult citizens may apply once in their lifetime for a Special Execution Authorization.”
“The designated target must receive notice seven days in advance.”
“The execution window runs from midnight to midnight on the approval date.”
Chen Yaoting stood beside the water dispenser with a cup of instant noodles in his hands and stared at the screen for two seconds.
His first thought was that the news had to be fake.
“Fuck, it actually passed?”
The coworker beside him, Wang Zhihao, was still holding a convenience-store rice ball. His mouth hung wide open.
“Hasn’t this been argued over for half a year?” someone else said. “I always thought it would get blocked in the end.”
“There’s no way they’d really let people kill someone without going to prison, right?”
“It’s not without going to prison. You have to apply.”
“How is that any different?”
Several people began talking over one another.
The official on the news spoke calmly, as if they were discussing a new recycling policy instead of murder.
The system’s official name was a mouthful.
“One-Time Special Life Termination Authorization.”
Nobody called it that in everyday conversation.
The internet had already given it a more direct name.
Legal killing.
Applicants had to be at least twenty years old, have no record of major mental illness, and have no intentional violent-crime record within the past five years. During the application, they had to designate one target, pay the application fee, complete a psychological evaluation, and go through a review period.
If the application was approved, they would receive a date.
On that day, they could kill the designated target within the prescribed limits and not be criminally liable.
But there were a lot of restrictions.
They could not harm any third party.
They could not use a high-risk weapon in a crowded public place.
They could not apply to designate a minor.
They could not designate the current president, vice president, foreign heads of state, or a small number of people holding special offices.
The execution target would receive a government notice seven days in advance.
In other words, the target of an application had a full seven days to go into hiding.
Some people said the system was completely insane.
Others said it was fairer this way.
You could hide, hire security, retreat to a protected zone, or even leave the country.
The government never promised that the applicant would definitely be able to kill you.
It only promised this—
If they could kill you, they wouldn’t go to prison.
“I’d kill our manager first.”
Wang Zhihao took a bite of his rice ball.
Several people immediately burst out laughing.
Chen Yaoting laughed too.
Their manager was Zhao Mingyuan, forty-six years old, engineering manager.
He was famous for being a jerk.
A report was five minutes late? He’d yell.
There was a problem on the production line? He’d yell.
A client changed the requirements on their own? He’d still yell at the people under him.
The most classic example was a new hire who took bereavement leave after a family member died. On his first day back, Zhao Mingyuan asked him in front of the entire office:
“Someone died in your family, so does that mean the company doesn’t have to get any work done?”
That new hire quit in less than a month.
So when Wang Zhihao said he wanted to kill Zhao Mingyuan, nobody found it surprising.
“You actually dare to apply?” someone joked.
“Why wouldn’t I? It’s legal.”
“You’d still have to keep working after killing him, right?”
“Then I’ll kill him and become manager.”
The break room erupted in laughter.
Chen Yaoting didn’t stick around for long.
He still had a supplier-issue report due that afternoon.
When he returned to his desk, Zhao Mingyuan happened to be coming out of the conference room.
“Chen Yaoting.”
“Yes?”
“What the hell did you write in yesterday’s failure analysis?”
Chen Yaoting stopped.
Zhao Mingyuan was holding a stack of documents.
“The client asked for the root cause, and you wrote ‘suspected operator error.’ What does ‘suspected’ mean? You couldn’t verify it?”
“We haven’t been able to confirm with one hundred percent certainty that it was operator—”
“Then go confirm it.”
Zhao Mingyuan threw the documents onto the desk.
The papers scattered.
Several people nearby fell silent.
“You dump something on me without confirming anything. Did I hire you to help, or did I hire you to create more work?”
Chen Yaoting lowered his head and gathered the papers.
“I’ll finish it this afternoon.”
“This afternoon?”
Zhao Mingyuan glanced at his watch.
“Before two.”
It was 1:27 p.m.
Chen Yaoting looked up.
“Thirty-three minutes?”
“Is there a problem?”
“I still need to get the records from the production line.”
“So?”
Zhao Mingyuan raised an eyebrow.
“If you’re not capable, don’t make excuses.”
With that, he turned and went back into his office.
Chen Yaoting gripped the stack of papers in his hand and said nothing.
Wang Zhihao peeked over from the next desk and whispered:
“Apply.”
Chen Yaoting smiled.
“You apply.”
“I don’t want to waste the only slot I’ll ever get on someone like him.”
“Then why are you telling me to apply?”
“Your life’s worth less.”
“Fuck.”
They laughed a few times, and that was the end of it.
At least, that was what Chen Yaoting thought at the time.
Applications for the Legal Killing System officially opened three weeks later.
The government website crashed on its first day.
The news reported that more than 270,000 people had logged in during the first six hours.
But the government did not announce how many people had actually submitted applications.
All kinds of videos began appearing online.
“Who would I save my one legal-kill slot for?”
“Ten people most deserving of being legally killed.”
“What happens if a couple puts each other’s names down?”
Some influencers even went into the streets to interview passersby.
“If you could legally kill one person today, who would you kill?”
The answers ranged from exes, bosses, and scam rings to politicians.
At first, Chen Yaoting had no interest in it at all.
Until one Wednesday night.
He didn’t leave work until 10:30 p.m. after working overtime.
That day, Zhao Mingyuan had dumped all the blame for a client’s delayed shipment on him. He had even called him out by name during a cross-department meeting.
“This happened because Yaoting didn’t follow up properly.”
The real delay had clearly been caused by Procurement.
Chen Yaoting returned to his rented apartment, took a shower, and sat on the edge of his bed eating the cold noodles he’d bought at a convenience store.
His phone happened to display an advertisement.
“The One-Time Special Life Termination Authorization application portal is now fully open.”
He stared at the words.
For some reason, he clicked on it.
The first page of the website began with a long string of legal statements.
Chen Yaoting scrolled all the way down.
Log in with your Personal Digital Certificate.
Identity verification.
Self-assessment of mental state.
Do you understand the potential legal and social consequences of applying?
Have you ever suffered violence at the hands of the designated target?
Do you have any financial disputes with the designated target?
The form looked like a bank-loan application.
There was none of the terrifying atmosphere he had imagined.
Not until the final page.
“Please enter the name of the designated execution target.”
Chen Yaoting leaned back against the headboard.
He smiled.
Then he typed three characters.
Zhao Mingyuan.
The system immediately displayed a list of people with the same name.
Age.
Registered county or city.
The last few digits of the national ID number.
Company name.
He found the right entry.
Zhao Mingyuan, forty-six years old.
Taoyuan City.
Employed by Shinrui Electronics Co., Ltd.
His manager.
Chen Yaoting clicked on it.
The next page displayed:
“Do you confirm that this person is the designated execution target?”
Below it was a huge red button.
Submit application.
He stared at it for a long time.
The meeting from earlier that day flashed through his mind.
The way Zhao Mingyuan had pushed the blame onto him.
The words, “If you’re not capable, don’t make excuses.”
He even truly imagined it for a moment.
What if one day he walked into the office and everyone knew he could legally kill Zhao Mingyuan?
Would Zhao Mingyuan be afraid?
Would he grovel?
Would he apologize to him for the first time?
Just imagining the scene made him feel pretty damn good.
But only for a few seconds.
In the end, he smiled and locked his phone.
“Freak.”
He threw the leftover cold noodles into the trash.
It was fine to fantasize about something like this.
Actually submitting it was another matter.
After waking up the next day, he had practically forgotten about it.
The company continued operating as usual for the next week.
Meetings.
Getting yelled at.
Overtime.
Clients demanding updates.
Nothing was different.
Until 9:03 a.m. Friday.
Chen Yaoting had just clocked in and stepped into the office when he heard a wave of phone notifications.
Not one phone.
Dozens of phones went off almost simultaneously.
Ding.
Ding.
Ding.
The sounds came from different corners one after another.
Someone had been chatting, then suddenly stopped.
Someone else lowered their head to look at their phone.
Then a strange silence settled over the entire office.
Wang Zhihao sat beside him, the smile slowly fading from his face.
“Damn.”
“What is it?”
Wang Zhihao didn’t answer.
He turned his phone around.
A government notice was displayed on the screen.
“Important Notice Regarding Special Execution Authorization.”
Below it was a line of red text.
“You have been designated as the execution target of a One-Time Special Life Termination Authorization.”
Chen Yaoting froze.
“You got an application?”
Wang Zhihao’s mouth hung half open.
“Fuck, I have no idea.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know. It doesn’t say directly in the notice.”
People nearby began talking.
“I got one too.”
“What?”
“I got the same thing.”
“Fuck, me too!”
More and more voices joined in.
In less than a minute, more than a dozen people in the department had stood up.
Some people laughed.
But it was obvious they weren’t really amused.
“Is this a system test?”
“Today isn’t April Fools’ Day, is it?”
“Would the government joke about something like this?”
“Who’s the applicant?”
“You have to log in to see.”
Chen Yaoting stood beside his desk when he suddenly felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.
He took it out.
At the top of the notification center was an icon for a government app.
He had never downloaded that app.
Yet the icon had appeared there.
“Special Execution Authorization System Notification.”
He tapped it.
Fingerprint recognition.
The screen turned white.
Only a few lines of text appeared in the center.
“Hello, Mr. Chen Yaoting.”
“You have been listed as an approved execution target.”
“Execution date: September 4, 2026.”
“Seven days remain before the authorization takes effect.”
His breath caught for a moment.
His first thought wasn’t fear.
It was absurdity.
Someone had really applied to kill him?
Who?
Zhao Mingyuan?
A coworker he’d offended in the past?
His ex-girlfriend?
He tapped “View detailed information.”
The screen loaded for several seconds.
Then a number appeared.
“Number of approved applicants: 73.”
Chen Yaoting stared at the screen.
He didn’t understand.
He even thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.
Seventy-three.
Not one.
Not seven.
Seventy-three people.
“Zhihao.”
He called out.
Wang Zhihao was busy logging into his own system.
“What?”
“Come here for a second.”
“Hang on, I’m checking who wants to kill me.”
“Come here first.”
Something in his tone was off.
Wang Zhihao turned and walked over.
Chen Yaoting handed him the phone.
Wang Zhihao was still frowning.
The next second, the expression on his entire face stopped.
“…Seventy-three?”
Chen Yaoting said nothing.
Wang Zhihao looked again.
“What is this?”
“How would I know?”
“Did you piss off seventy-three people?”
“I can’t even think of seventy-three people who’d want to kill me.”
“Damn.”
Wang Zhihao looked at him.
This time, he couldn’t laugh at all.
“Are you in a lot of debt?”
“No.”
“Relationship trouble?”
“No.”
“Were you in a gang?”
“I fucking majored in information management in college.”
“Then what the hell is this?”
Chen Yaoting took his phone back.
There was an option at the bottom of the screen.
“View applicant information.”
He tapped it.
For security reasons, the government would not display complete personal information.
Only names, age ranges, and categories for the application reasons were shown.
The first one.
Lin Jianhong.
Male.
Thirty to thirty-nine years old.
Application reason: Other.
Chen Yaoting had no memory of him at all.
The second one.
Zhou Yating.
Female.
Forty to forty-nine years old.
Application reason: Personal harm.
He didn’t know her.
The third one.
Zhang Guoxian.
Male.
Sixty to sixty-nine years old.
Application reason: Financial harm.
He didn’t know him either.
He scrolled down.
One name after another.
Men and women.
People in their twenties all the way to their seventies.
There was no discernible pattern.
Only two of the names seemed vaguely familiar to him.
But he couldn’t remember where he’d seen them.
“Do you know them?” Wang Zhihao asked.
“No.”
“Not a single one?”
“I don’t know most of them.”
“Then how could—”
A scream suddenly came from the other side of the office.
A female coworker stood beside her desk, her face pale.
“Manager!”
Everyone turned.
Zhao Mingyuan had just walked out of his office.
“What’s all the noise?”
The female coworker pointed at her phone.
“You…you got one too?”
Zhao Mingyuan looked awful.
He had clearly received one too.
Wang Zhihao whispered:
“Fuck, he must have a lot.”
Someone nearby, apparently looking at information from somewhere, suddenly shouted:
“Manager has 427!”
The entire office fell silent.
Zhao Mingyuan whipped around.
“Who said that?”
No one dared make a sound.
Chen Yaoting didn’t notice Zhao Mingyuan, though.
His phone had just displayed the final page of the applicant list.
The seventy-third name.
Xu Wenshu.
Male.
Age: Seventy to seventy-nine years old.
Application status: Approved.
Chen Yaoting frowned.
The name seemed familiar.
Not because he knew the person.
It was because, a long time ago, he thought he had seen it in the company’s internal accident records.
He immediately opened a browser and searched:
“Xu Wenshu Shinrui Electronics.”
The first result was a local news story from two years ago.
The headline was short.
“Retired Employee Suspected of Taking His Own Life After Long Illness at Taoyuan Home.”
The photo showed an old man with graying hair.
Name.
Xu Wenshu.
Date of death.
November 16, 2024.
Chen Yaoting stared at the date.
Wang Zhihao had seen it too.
Neither of them spoke for a long time.
Finally, Wang Zhihao was the first to say:
“Yaoting.”
“Yeah.”
“This person…”
He pointed at the phone.
“Isn’t he already dead?”
Chen Yaoting didn’t answer.
Because at that exact moment, a line of red text that hadn’t been there before suddenly appeared at the bottom of his government notification page.
“All approved applications have completed identity verification by the applicants themselves.”
“The application procedures are legal and valid.”
And that man who had been dead for two years.
Was one of the seventy-three.