In
San Francisco's
Chinatown, a
Chinese immigrant, Johnny Lo, makes his way to an
apartment building, where he finds the
Hanzi characters for hongza (凶宅) freshly written in white paint. Touching the paint, Lo appears confused and looks around behind him, but still enters. Inside, he is confronted by someone with a flashlight telling him to "pay the price" in Cantonese. Lo states, in Cantonese, that he wanted out, before attacking the man with a
switchblade. After stabbing the man, he turns around to find three figures wearing
shigong masks. Later, a
security guard at Bayside Funeral Home finds the three figures near a
crematory oven. The three disappear into the darkness, and the guard peers into the crematory oven to see Lo being burned alive.
Fox Mulder and
Dana Scully are called in to investigate Lo's death, which Mulder explains is the latest in a series of fatal incinerations of recent Chinese immigrants in Chinatowns in San Francisco,
Seattle,
Los Angeles, and
Boston. The detective suggests it may be related to increased gang activity due to an influx of immigrants from
Hong Kong before
1997, but can't tie the evidence to anyone. Scully notices Lo had a
glass eye while examining the body. When they find a Chinese character written inside the oven, the agents collaborate with Glen Chao (
BD Wong), a
Chinese-American detective with the
SFPD. Chao translates it as gui meaning "ghost." Mulder also finds a scrap of burned paper in the ashes, which Chao identifies as "
hell money", a symbolic offering to deceased spirits for good luck, and mentions the
Festival of the Hungry Ghosts. Chao claims there aren't a lot of places in Chinatown that sells hell money, so the agents use this information to locate Lo's apartment. Outside, the agents discuss their theories; Mulder believes that
ghost activity is behind the deaths, while Scully suspects a
cult. At the front door, the agents and Chao notice the hongza symbol on the door, but Chao claims not to recognize it. Inside the apartment, they find the kitchen had been cleaned out, and a new carpet in another room. They then find Lo's collection of herbal medicine and charms, as well as bloodstains underneath the recently installed carpet. Meanwhile, another immigrant, Hsin Shuyang, tends to his
leukemia-stricken daughter, Kim (
Lucy Liu). To pay for her treatments, Hsin attends an
underground lottery in which participants either win money or
lose an organ, depending on tiles chosen from a pair of
jade vases. Another man, Li Oi-Huan, wins the lottery but selects a red-edged tile. They announce his title, and the crowd acts with pity, and he is escorted away. The agents and Chao are in a herbalist shop, looking at displays of exotic ingredients for
traditional Chinese medicine. Chao asks the clerk about the medicine found in Lo's apartment, and she says they were used as a
painkiller. The clerk also says she knew Johnny Lo, and explains the significance of the symbols on the front door of Lo's apartment, however Chao translates it as "haunted house", which piques Mulders interest. Chao explains the Festival of the Hungry Ghosts as a voiceover as the scene switches to Li Oi-Huan sitting alone, drinking from a bowl. After drinking, Li sees several ghosts; which Chao's voiceover explains are the type most feared by the Chinese. Li watches as one of the ghosts removes Li's heart. After he slumps over dead, we see the Hard Faced Man (
James Hong) in surgical scrubs, examining him. That night, the three Shi Gong masked figures are discovered around an empty grave in Highland Park Cemetery by a night patrolman, but they disappear again into the darkness. The agents are called in, and Mulder realizes the grave is too shallow, and finds the body of Li under the dirt. Back at the Central Precinct, Scully performs an autopsy and finds that he had been selling body parts, noticing his numerous surgical scars and glass eye, to which she connects to Johnny Lo's glass eye. While examining, Scully remarks on the price of the human body, before finding a live frog escaping the chest cavity. Back in the location of the underground lottery, Hsin's name is drawn from the first jade vase. He draws from the vase and is taken away like Li was. Meanwhile, the agents question Chao about the frog they found in Li's body. Chao postulates it may be related to organized crime, but when pressed further on the
black market selling of body parts, he claims to be unaware. When Scully accuses him of a protectiveness towards the community, Chao claims that the local community maintains a code of silence and does not reveal anything, even to him, as he is a police officer and American-born. However, Chao provides the name of the company that installed the carpet at Lo's apartment, which leads them to Hsin. Hsin has a bandage over his eye, claiming it was an accident at work with carpet tack. When questioned about Johnny Lo, Hsin claims his boss doesn't give names, just addresses; but Scully informs him that his boss had no record of the work order. At this time, Mulder finds the red-edged lottery piece on top of Hsin's
television, and takes it. While Scully continues to question Hsin, Chao finds Hsin's daughter in her room, and assures her that her father was still there and that he was only asking questions. As Hsin begins to shut down, not answering Scully's questions, Mulder makes for an exit with Scully. Chao remains to speak with Hsin in Cantonese. When Mulder asks Chao about this, Chao says he was warning Hsin about his back window as a fire danger. Showing Chao the lottery piece he found, Chao claims not to recognize it, but that the hanzi character is for "wood". Scully and Mulder express their disbelief at Hsin's claim of an accident at work, and suggest monitoring Hsin. As they leave, Kim confronts her father and notices his bandaged eye. She also does not believe his story of an accident at work, having already seen him after work the previous night, but he deflects. He laments over his misfortune, and wonders if his ancestors scorn them for
leaving China, even wondering if it's why Kim is sick. Kim reassures him it is not his fault, but Hsin refuses to accept this. Returning to his home, Chao finds the same message on his door, written in dripping red. Inside, he is confronted by the three masked figures, but fades to black. Elsewhere, Scully meets Mulder who was monitoring Hsin's apartment, and tells him about the attack and says Chao was badly cut. Meanwhile, Hsin is visited by the Hard Faced Man, one of the proprietors of the lottery. Hsin tells the man that he wants to end his participation, to which the man says the lottery is now two million dollars, and that the money could help save Kim's life. When Hsin asks what happens if he's not lucky and Kim loses her father, the man only replies that the rules cannot be broken and warns him that the ghostly fire will consume him if he leaves the lottery. The conversation is overheard by Kim, who returns to her room. The agents attempt to visit Chao at
St. Francis's Hospital but find him missing. Mulder matches Chao's blood type on the carpet in Lo's apartment with Chao. Realizing Chao likely hired Hsin to install the carpet, they return to Hsin's home, but find only his daughter at his apartment. The agents question Kim, who tells them about her father's conversation with the man, but doesn't know what it was in reference to. Mulder asks about the "wood" lottery piece, and she tells him that it can also correspond to the eye, like fire to the heart or earth to the flesh. Scully also finds paperwork showing Hsin was rejected as a
bone marrow donor. The same document also shows he had his other organs measured, and Mulder concludes they are playing some kind of game. Mulder and Scully quickly go to the Organ Procurement Organization, and asks about Shin. The employee mentions a high number of Asian men coming for workups, but disappear once a compatible recipient is found. The agents go to where the
organ transplant doctor's phone is registered, and see Chao enter the building. Back in the underground lottery, Hsin's name is called again, but selects the fire tile representing his
heart and is taken away. The agents pick the lock to the building, and find their way through the kitchen. In the freezers, they find various organs. Upstairs, Chao tries to persuade one of the lottery's organizers to let Hsin live, but to no avail. It is also revealed the organizers pay Chao to protect the game from outsiders, causing Chao to knock over the table with the vases, which reveals the lottery to be fixed, having all the same tiles inside. The agents hear the chaos that erupts, and go upstairs. The Hard Faced Man has Hsin preped for surgery, and Hsin sees the image of his daughter, whom he begs her for forgiveness. Chao then storms in the room where the surgery on Hsin is about to be carried out. The Hard Face Man says Chao is too late, and tells him not to be a fool, but Chao fires at the Hard Faced Man, hitting his shoulder. After which, the agents come in and arrest them all, including Chao. They
interrogate the Hard Faced Man, who claims his culture does not fear death; but fears life without hope. Scully tells him he's going to be put away for a very long time. Mulder tells Scully that Hsin was brought to intensive care and his daughter has been placed on an
organ donor list. However, the detective tells the agents that because no one who participated will testify against him, it is unlikely the Hard Faced Man will be prosecuted. Chao mysteriously disappeared, having not shown up to a grand jury. Chao awakens in a crematory oven just before he is burned alive. == Production ==