The Contract That Kept Shrinking

This really happened. In 2013, in the city of Nanning in southern China.

A businessman named Tan had a problem. A rival called Mr. Wei was suing his company. The lawsuit could take years. It could cost him everything.

So Tan chose a darker way out. Mr. Wei had to disappear.

Tan found a hitman and offered him 2 million yuan. About 282,000 dollars. The hitman said yes.

But this hitman had a plan of his own. Why take the risk himself? He kept half the money and hired a second hitman to do the job for him.

The second hitman had the same idea. He kept a share and hired a third.

The third hired a fourth.

The fourth hired a fifth.

With every handoff the pay shrank. The job that started at 282,000 dollars was now worth just 14,000. The fifth hitman, a man named Ling, looked at that number and did the math. Terrible pay. Enormous risk. Prison forever if it went wrong.

So Ling did something nobody expected.

He arranged a meeting with his target. Face to face. He sat down across from Mr. Wei and told him everything. Then he made an offer.

We fake your death. We take a photo of you tied up, looking dead. I send that photo up the chain. Everyone gets paid. Nobody gets hurt.

Wei agreed to the photo.

Then he walked straight to the police.

The police pulled on that thread and the whole chain came apart. One businessman. Five hitmen. Each one had quietly sold the murder to someone cheaper. Not one of them ever planned to do it himself.

All six men went to prison. Tan, the man who started it all, got the longest sentence. Five years.

A murder was passed from hand to hand like a hot potato. In the end, the only thing they managed to kill was their own freedom.