Who’s Watching You?

Luo Shuaiyu’s sudden death last year and the evidence he left behind may suggest that he was a whistleblower. His tragic fate likely points to a much larger systemic web of vested interests. (Weibo image/composite image)

[People News] In a totalitarian society, fate is not in your own hands. It depends on who's watching you.

Take 72-year-old Helen in Hong Kong, for example. She was targeted by a scammer impersonating Andy Lau, a “mysterious online friend.” She lost more than HKD 40,000 of her hard-earned money, only to end up with a disconnected WhatsApp account and the bitter consolation, “Consider it tuition.” She wasn’t stupid—she was lonely, and her trust was ruthlessly exploited. She was targeted by a scammer.

Far away in northern Myanmar, there are places called "parks," which in reality are hubs of industrialised fraud, money laundering, imprisonment, torture, and even organ trafficking. These scams are not isolated crimes; they are often backed by large structural forces. According to a man claiming to be a former Chinese national security assassin named Li Song, the intelligence system doesn’t just carry out assassinations—it also engages in "blood-making." That means using fraud, extortion, and illegal trade to generate grey-market funding for the massive spy apparatus. In such cases, the one targeting you may not be just a con artist, but an organisation operating on the fringes of a national machine. She Zhijiang, a telecom fraud kingpin arrested in Thailand, claims he was recruited by Chinese state security in the Philippines in 2016 to handle foreign affairs for the Belt and Road Initiative. Today’s fraud is no longer just a crime—it’s an act of a state apparatus.

Even if you’re just a medical intern, you may not walk away unscathed. Luo Shuaiyu, a promising young doctor, fell from the 15th floor after discovering and attempting to expose corruption at Xiangya No.2 Hospital. His death is riddled with suspicious details: an untraceable fall path, deleted whistleblowing materials, suspiciously large “labour payments,” and a hastily signed gag order. He didn’t die by accident. He was targeted by those with something to hide within the hospital. And it’s not just righteous doctors who are at risk. Ordinary patients, if their blood type or organs are “of interest,” could end up on a hospital’s “assembly line.”

Hospitals may destroy the body, but something even more terrifying lurks beyond. If you work inside the court system and uncover secrets you were never meant to know—and worse, refuse to stay silent—you may be forced into exile, branded with false criminal charges. Bai Bin, a former assistant judge at Beijing No. 3 Intermediate Court, denied accusations of fleeing abroad with 300 million yuan. He countered that he was drawn into a murky, upper-level power scheme involving illegally seized funds. He claimed his “cooperation” was only a means of survival. In the end, he wasn’t allowed to survive. He fled overseas with evidence in hand because he was targeted by corrupt officials in the judicial system.

If you’re a female teacher or student—young and attractive—you may not even have the right to choose to remain “pure.” At the Sichuan Conservatory of Music, which has produced stars like Li Yuchun and Tan Weiwei, a veterinary-trained Party secretary turned the prestigious institution into his own personal harem. Of 88 young female teachers, 87 were reportedly "claimed" by him. They did nothing wrong. Their only “mistake” was being targeted by a predator in the school system.

These are all headlines you’ve probably seen. The individuals involved come from different classes and careers, yet they all share one common thread: their lives didn’t fall apart because they made wrong choices. They fell apart because they were targeted by people of the evil regime.

In an unaccountable system, no one is truly safe. Your wealth, your body, your job, your life—even your children and loved ones—could at any moment become “necessary resources” for a system, an official, or a hidden scandal.

This is not an exaggeration. This is not a conspiracy theory. This is a brutally repressive reality.

So we must keep asking: Do you still believe you are safe? Do you believe that by being cautious, average, or obedient, you will remain untouched?

No.

In this kind of system, safety never belongs to you. It only depends on whether you’ve been targeted.

(First published by People News)