The executive kept us waiting in his office for a few minutes. He returned with a list of drugs, which I glanced over and didn’t find what I was looking for at all.

“You’re the director of the R & D department, aren’t you?” I asked. “Are you involved in the development of each new drug?”

Director Wang shook his head and explained, “Only in the paperworks.”

“Do you know of any drugs in development that could cause fake death-like symptoms?”

Director Wang frowned and fell silent for a while, then answered, “None that I know of, no. What do you mean fake death-like symptoms? Can you describe it more specifically?”

I told him of the symptoms I observed on the victims. Director Wang listened intently and shook his head in confusion. Then he added, “I’m not sure if it had anything to do with this, but I do remember the president personally supervising the development of a drug which began last year. That’s all...