by Feng Yue
Charles did not say anything.
“Anyway, just think of it as me cheating.” The youth smiled mysteriously and grasped his ‘cane.’“Since I’m handicapped without any ‘sense,’ I need a ‘cane’ to help me, right?”
Seeing how sure Ye was, Charles’s troubled emotions ceased. He smiled helplessly and waved his hand, telling the youth to leave, “…Be careful.”
“Okay.” The youth did the button on his sleeve cuff. Just as he turned around, he heard Charles say, “Hey, Yezi, you aren’t really stupid enough to take on all of downtown, right?”
“How could I?” Ye Qingxuan pulled down his hat and chuckled, “I just want to let those people who want my head to understand how I feel. If they understand and stop chasing after me, I’ll be thankful.”
Understanding what he meant, Charles felt a headache coming. “Sounds hard. Good luck.”
“Okay.” The youth turned to leave, ““I’ll be back soon.”
—
Ten minutes later, Charles stood in the living room, gazing at the moon. Downing one cup after another, he went back into his failure state. With a bowl in his arms and a fork in his hand, he mixed a salad in the bowl, trying to find a larger cherry tomato to eat with his wine.
“That kid gives me such a headache.” Charles sighed and muttered, “He’s like a totally different person now. What provoked him? As expected, you only realize you’re old when you can’t understand the kids. Ah, I’m only eighteen…” As he cried over his youth, a thin shadow crept up behind him, sneakily going toward the door.
“Bai Xi?” Charles asked without turning, as if he had eyes on the back of his head. “Where are you going?”
The shocked girl became petrified and stammered, “Uh, I’m in a bad mood and I can’t sleep…I want to go out for a walk.”
“What a coincidence. You’re right after Yezi.” Charles looked at her out of the corner of his eye. “There’s a carnival in downtown now. It’s dangerous.”
Bai Xi instantly lost her temper, “I’ll go wherever I want to!”
“But not now,” Charles sighed and stood up, blocking her. He said seriously, “It’s midnight. Do you know how dangerous downtown can be? I know you’re worried about Yezi, but a little girl shouldn’t run around. No one will even know if a human trafficker catches you. Be good and go to sleep, alright? Otherwise, I’ll get the professor.”
“Hmph!” The girl glared at him unhappily, but Charles did not budge. The way he guarded the door, no one would be able to get past.
Bai Xi gave up in the end. Sighing, she turned for her room, but when her eyes swept past a shadow in the room, she froze, “Professor?”
“Professor?! I wasn’t drinking…” Charles denied instinctively, hiding the bottle behind his back. He nervously followed Bai Xi’s eyes, but there was nothing there.
“Ah, this…this is bad.” By the time Charles finally realized what had happened, it was too late. In the moonlight, he saw Bai Xi’s shadow raise her arms. There was something heavy in her hands, and brought it down against his head without hesitation.
Bang! Charles collapsed onto the ground.
“Ha! No matter how powerful you are, you’ll fall under the brick.” Bai Xi tossed the Anglo encyclopedia to the side. Gritting her teeth, she dragged Charles onto the sofa. After moving him into a weird position, she waved at the shadows.
“Old Phil, come on! We’ll lose him if we’re not fast enough…” Under the moonlight, the girl picked up the felt hat that Ye Qingxuan had left behind. Putting on her jacket, she walked out with a grumpy dog.
—
The moon illuminated the dark city quietly. The city was silent as if it had fallen asleep. An intoxicated man walked down a small alley in downtown, swaying as he went.
Suddenly, a burly shadow jumped before him. “Hey, you! Come here!” A cruel-looking man waved the mace in his hands as he studied the drunk, “Stand still!”
Sensing that something was wrong, the man stuck his hands in his pockets and turned around. But another figure popped out on the other side, blocking his escape route. Seeing that he was surrounded, he pulled out his dagger, his eyes fierce, “I am Dean of the Luco family. Friend, don’t do anything stupid…”
Bang! Whacked on the back of his skull, the man fell to the ground. A third figure jumped down from the wall.
“Dean? Luco family? Who are you kidding?” The man with the mace kicked him, laughing proudly, “Ha, you don’t know how long we waited here. You Eastern mutt, you think that I won’t be able to recognize you in this disguise…you even wore a wig!”
108 The Big Three of Darkness
“You even wore a wig!” The man pulled forcefully, but after a cry of pain, he came away with a handful of bloody hair. He froze before becoming furious, “Look! This Eastern kid is too much. He glued the wig to his scalp! You think that can fool Sir Levy? In your dreams!”
“In your dreams!” the two beside the man echoed in unison, waving their weapons.
Dean covered his face and curled up in pain, studying the men, “You, what do you want? Who are you?”
“You don’t know who I am?” the man with the mace roared in anger. He raised his weapon and announced fiercely, “I am Levy, the one-eyed swordsman!”
The man who had whacked Dean with the staff yelled, “I am John, wind of the dark night!”
“I am Rabbie, the bloodthirsty Excalibur!” the last one called out. All three of them struck a menacing and handsome pose, calling out in unison, “That’s right, we are the fallen morning star, the prince of evil, the infamous Big Three of Darkness!”
There was silence, a long silence. Finally, a weak voice came from the ground, “What…what are you?”
—
Dean did not know if there was something wrong with him or if he had run into three lunatics. To save himself, he forced himself to beg, “Friends, you must be mistaken, I really don’t know who you are.”
Crack!
“You can’t even think of a better lie!” Furious, Levy dealt him a backhand slap. “Everyone in downtown knows us three! Answer me! Are you that Eastern kid Luo is looking for?!”
Slapped into a daze, Dean shook his head reflexively, “No, no!”
“Oh?” One-eyed Swordsman Levy opened his eyes wide, smirking, “Seems like you’re not willing to talk! Brothers, show him!”
Bang! Bang! Crack! Crash! Clang! Clonk!
A flurry of pained cries rang through the dark alley.
Ten minutes later, Levy asked while panting, “Answer me! Are you that Eastern kid?!”
“You-you really got the wrong person,” Dean cried, but was beaten again.
Bang! Crack! Clonk! Thud!
Ten minutes passed before Dean professed, “I am! I am!” This time, Dean had finally learned his lesson. Face covered with blood, he grabbed Levy’s leg and cried, “I’m that Eastern kid! Please stop hitting me!”
“Ha, you finally admitted it!” Levy laughed proudly, “I told you that your amateur disguise wouldn’t be able to fool me!”
Beside him, John suddenly asked curiously, “But Boss, isn’t the Eastern kid’s hair white? Why is his hair reddish?”
“Huh?” Levy furrowed his brow, fury written across his features.
Dean hurriedly exclaimed, “Don’t hit me! I dyed it! I dyed it!”
Rabbi studied his face. Feeling that something was wrong, he turned and said, “Boss, his age isn’t right either. He looks like he’s thirty-something. Is he lying?”
“Huh?!” Levy’s brows furrowed even more, “You’re lying to me?”
Legs giving out, Dean fell onto his knees, “To be honest, I matured quickly.” Gritting his teeth, through the humiliation as tears welled in his eyes, he choked out, “Even though I look old, I’m only fourteen. I really am that Eastern kid. Please stop hitting me…”
“Hmph! Good!” Levy nodded in satisfaction and waved his hand, “John, tie him up and take him to Boss Luo. Show him how powerful we are!” With
that, he whacked Dean’s head, knocking him out cold. “Which one is this?” he asked.
“Seventeenth. I’ve been counting!” John answered smugly.
Levy put his hands on his hips and roared with laughter, “We found so many Eastern kids in one day, but that group of failures couldn’t find any. Seems like downtown is filled with failures! This is the day that we, the Big Three of Darkness, will rise!”
The figure eavesdropping in the darkness finally could not hold it in anymore and burst into laughter, holding onto the wall for support.
“Who’s there? Show yourself!” Furious, Levy raised his mace, “Do you know who we are?”
“Yes, yes, I know.” Trying hard not to laugh, the black shadow answered, “One-eyed Swordman Levy, Wind of the Dark Night John, and Bloodthirsty Excalibur Rabbi, You’re the Big, sorry, I can’t go on. Please excuse me, I need to laugh!” The figure covered his mouth, but sputtering laughter still made its way into Levy’s ears.
“You wanna die?” Levy slammed down his mace in fury, but it sliced through air! Air?! Stunned, he looked forward. When Levy had gone to hit him, the black shadow had rippled like water and almost dissipated.
“Friend, can you not start fighting without warning?” A hoarse voice murmured in his ears, “I think we should put down our weapons and talk nicely.”
Freaked out, Levy spun around and attempted to strike him with his staff, but he heard a cry of pain and saw that he had hit John!
“Boss, what’s wrong?” Rabbi gaped at Levy who was yelling at nothing. He felt that something was wrong.
Levy was still furious and could not be bothered with John’s pained cry. He glared at the nonexistent black shadow and danced crazily with his weapons, “Stop playing around and show yourself!” As he continued to wave his mace, the shadow continued to change. Like water, it rippled, scattering for a moment then becoming whole again.
Just as one would start seeing things after staring into the darkness for too long, the shadow felt unreal. But the supposedly nonexistent shadow was right against Levy’s back, latching onto him like an angry spirit.
Levy roared in anger. He could no longer take the infuriating feeling. Gripping his weapon, he slammed it down.
The black shadow scattered with a pained cry, but after the shadow disappeared, he saw that he had brought the mace had down on Rabbi’s face.
“Boss, why are you hitting me?” Rabbi gaped at Levy, his face bloody and his eyes full of tears and pain. He fell over.
Levy blanched. The only sound in the alley was his heavy panting. An eerie wind blew through the alley. As it blew over the raised cobblestone, there was faint laughter. He finally heard the vague melody in the wind, like a black river of despair, the sharp yet wild sound melted into the wind, becoming extremely delicate. The delicate sound echoed in his ears, pushing at his nerves, flooding his senses in the black river. The wildness, hopelessness, and sadness echoed in his brain, awakening the most traumatic memories.
“Failure! Failure! You useless piece of sh*t!” The angry roars seemed to sound again, as if the man who always got violent after getting drunk had returned. Levy cried out and spun around, but there was nothing behind him. Then the world went black and he could not see anything.
His memory became clearer in the darkness. As if he had returned to the past, the darkness in the bottom of his heart awakened. It dragged him along, forcing him to relive the cruel abuse, the scars left behind from whips and sticks, and the helpless despair…
“Go away! Go away!” Levy screamed. He waved his mace crazily, but he could not hit anything. Finally, he collapsed onto the ground. He waved his arms, trying to fight the nonexistent ghost, but the monster was in his heart, snickering.
“Who? Who are you?!” Levy yelled hoarsely. Picking up a rock, he threw it blindly, “I’m going to kill you!”
“I told you to calm down.” Beside him, the figure leaned lazily against the wall. The moon shone over the high wall, casting silver light on his upper body, but his body was shrouded in a menacing black robe. Even his face was hidden under a wide-brimmed hat. All that could be seen was his delicate and pale palm. He rested against the steel-gray cane in his hands. Under the moonlight, the cane seemed to vibrate, rippling faintly.
Not even Ye Qingxuan had thought that a simple shadow made by the rune Mirror, and the first measure of Black Friday could have controlled Levy, and made him hurt his friends, practically turning him into a lunatic.
The ease came from Jiu Xiao Huan Pei’s help. The instrument had been designed to help the musician perform precise manipulation of the aether. Ye Qingxuan could only perform the music score carved into his brain with its help. With its aid, Ye Qingxuan was able to perform complex notes. He had entirely skipped months and years of practicing, and had jumped right to the Rhythm level.
Unfortunately, Black Friday had five measures in total. Of these five effects, he only had the ability to choose one. Unlike a true musician, he could not pair the measures how he wanted to, or even use all five effects at once. The music piece influenced enemies’ senses by using the negative emotions in the melody as a medium. All Ye Qingxuan had used just then was the first measure—vision interference. If he played the whole piece, he could make someone blind, deaf, and unfeeling. Even if he stabbed them through their chest, they would not even be able to feel the pain. In the end, they would die in confusion. This strange style was darker than the Dark Musicians!
When he played this piece, Ye Qingxuan could feel himself becoming colder too. The music did not only influence others—it also affected his spirit. Ye Qingxuan really wanted to know why his father had created such a dark piece of music, but at the moment, he had more important questions to ask.
Ye Qingxuan suddenly banged the cane against the ground. The melody jumped from the first measure to the third. The tide of despair spread with the melody, rushing into Levy’s brain.
Levy’s vision suddenly brightened and he could see again, but his body was numb and he could not move at all. Someone stepped onto him and looked down at him, their face shrouded in shadows.
“Good evening, sir!” The figure’s silhouette seemed well-dressed, like an elite, but why would an elite be in the dirty downtown? The strange cuts and material of the robe had a beastly aura, mixing wildness and grace. It was inexplicably strange. “I’ll be honest with you. I need your answer about something.”
109 How May I Help You
“I’ll be honest with you, I need your answer about something.” The voice was polite, “Who is so intent on hurting an Eastern child? Can you satisfy my curiosity?”
Levy roared, “F*ck you…ack!” Before he could finish, he was cut off by the pain of his limbs being sliced by knives! There were no wounds at all, as if the knives were inside of his blood and fat, cutting him from the inside. He could not even cry out at the sharp pain. An average person would faint instantly from such pain, greater than that of broken bones, but now, he could not even faint. His limbs spasmed and he writhed uncontrollably on the ground, his eyes rolling in their sockets. The third measure of Black Friday—physical interference!
“Sir, there’s a limit to my patience.” The gentle voice sounded in his ears again, but this time, there was an undertone of anger, “Tell me who is it? Who wants the Eastern kid? Answer me!”
After minutes of pain that felt like eternity, the practically unconscious Levy finally spoke, “Sam Luo! The Pyramid King of the Pyramid Scheme! He accepted a large sum to catch that d*mned boy…”
“Who’s money?!”
“An elite. A family with a lot of money! They want the Pyramid King to use the cruelest method to get rid of the kid. That’s all I know! Really! Really!” The hallucinatory pain suddenly stopped, disappearing without warning, as if it had never existed. Levy continued writhing, his body not having recovered yet.
“Okay, next question…” the gentlemanly voice continued, “Where can I find this Mr. Sam Luo?”
Levy’s eyeballs rolled a
round as he said, “The Pyramid King doesn’t have a fixed location. He and his men keep moving…”
“Did you not understand my question?” the shadow interrupted him, pushing the cane against his forehead. The hopeless melody sounded once again. This time, the delicate pain appeared like a warning. The shadow articulated each word carefully, “I—Want—His—Location!”
“The cemetery! Highgate Cemetery near Whitechapel!” The warning pain pushed Levy to the brink of sanity, and the answer fell from his lips easily, “That’s where he takes care of traitors. Hudson wants to quit and leave the group, but he was caught. He’ll definitely be there tonight!”
“Give me the address.”
“221 B Baker Street!”
“Very good.” Under the shadow of the hunting hat, the youth curled the corner of his lips into a smrik, “Next, let’s talk about how many men he has and what weapons they use…”
—
At midnight, the fog still shrouded the city with a whiff of rot and blood. A carriage stopped on one of the downtown streets. The door opened and a little girl hopped out. The girl turned and brought a large golden dog out. The dog landed on the ground and side-eyed the owner of the carriage before lifting its leg and peeing all over the wheels. Not caring at all, the owner glanced at the dog before looking at the girl with smiling eyes, “The Pyramid Scheme’s territory is right ahead. He should be there.”
Bai Xi nodded and said ingeniously, “Thanks for the ride.”
“No problem. You just hitched a ride. Your teacher isn’t that stingy,” Hermes said, shamelessly praising himself as if stating a fact.
Bai Xi scoffed and rolled her eyes, “You knew that I was going to follow him out and was waiting outside, right?”
“Understanding a student’s mind is part of a teacher’s responsibilities. Please don’t mind.” Hermes shrugged, “And anyway, without my guidance, you never would’ve found the Pyramid Scheme’s temporary location.”
The girl rolled her eyes again, “I haven’t been wasting my time in Avalon. Even without you, I would’ve found it, alright?”