by Mi Lei
Fang Mu slept into the afternoon. When he woke, his throat was parched and his head pounding. After a few minutes, he pushed himself up and looked for his phone. The display alerted him to a dozen missed calls from Bian Ping. Fang Mu turned it off and removed the SIM card. He packed his things.
He was only taking a small backpack, but it still took him a good few hours to sort it all out. There was so much that needed to stay and so many things that he had to take. Just when he thought he was finally ready, he realized that he had done it all wrong. In and out, out and in; he was going in circles. Finally, he lost patience with himself and dumped everything that was not absolutely vital onto the floor.
He was going to leave the city, go somewhere where no one knew his name and start a new life.
No memories, no evil, no sacrifices, no betrayals.
No more rampant cruelty, no more overpowering despair.
I admit it. I give up. Humiliated and beaten, I surrender.
Anything to escape the silent waters below.
Everything packed, Fang Mu sat down to write his letter of resignation. Over and over, he fought to find the words, but they never came. In the end, he had nothing but a pile of crumpled and torn pages. It didn't really matter; if he missed work for 15 days in a row, they would automatically dismiss him.
It was done and he felt himself swallowed by a vast emptiness. It manifested in his stomach as fierce hunger. He looked at his watch. It was late, but the wonton place around the corner should still be open.
Realizing that this would be his last meal in Changhong City, Fang Mu wholeheartedly dedicated himself to the soup. He would chew up his sorrows and swallow his memories.
Engrossed in his food, Fang Mu didn't notice the woman.
The woman ordered a bowl of shrimp wonton. As she waited for her food to arrive, she listlessly looked about the restaurant. The moment her eyes reached Fang Mu, a jolt shot through her body. After a moment of hesitation, she summoned the courage to call out to him.
"Fang Mu."
Fang Mu looked up, and his mouth froze in mid-chew.
It was Deng Linyue.
Deng Linyue was Fang Mu's one and only ex. During his time at Jiangbin City University, he had rescued her from a crazed hammer murderer and somehow that had led to a budding romance. But then, the killer returned and after that she had been too afraid to stay with him. After leaving Jiangbin City, Fang Mu had never seen her again.
She was the last person Fang Mu expected to meet on his last day in Changhong City.
When she saw that Fang Mu was merely surprised and not angry, Deng Linyue relaxed just a little.
"It's been a long time," she said.
"It has." Fang Mu was stammering. "You… How are you?"
"Fine. I work for the Tourism Administration." She tilted her head. "I hear you're still working for the police. Still a master sleuth?"
Looking at her face, he saw the happy, vivacious girl of days past. "Eh, yeah." As he nodded, he glanced down at her hands. There was a faint mark on her ring finger, but no ring. "What happened?"
"Oh?" Confused, she followed his gaze down to her hand. Looking at her finger, she laughed softly. "You obviously still have those cruel eyes of yours." She rubbed the mark. "Don't get the wrong idea; I'm happily married. I just took the ring off because my fingers are swollen." She leaned back to show Fang Mu the small bulge of her belly. "I'll be a mom soon." She sounded somewhat embarrassed, but mostly proud.
"Oh, congratulations." Fang Mu's brow relaxed, then almost immediately furrowed again. "It's late. Why are you out alone?"
"It's a bit weird. Ever since becoming pregnant, I've gotten very picky about what I eat." She gave him an awkward smile. "Tonight it had to be shrimp wontons, so I snuck out."
He looked to the empty street outside the window. "I'll take you back home."
In the frosty night air, the joy of their reunion too seemed to cool. Much weighed on their minds, but neither of them spoke.
The weight of the years had left parts of their past like wontons in a forgotten bowl—thoroughly cold and rather unappetizing.
When they reached the small housing estate where she lived, Deng Linyue stopped and turned to him. "This is me. Thank you."
Fang Mu smiled. "Next time, don't go out alone at night. It's not safe."
"I'm not worried. If we have master sleuths like you watching over us, what do we have to fear?" She lowered her head and gently stroked her belly. "What do you think, precious?"
A few moments later, she was waving Fang Mu goodbye as she walked onto the estate.
He watched her disappear into one of the buildings. He turned and walked away. After just a few steps, he stopped and turned back to look at the building. A few windows were still lit; obviously not everyone had gone to bed yet. The haphazard pattern of lights playing across the dark building was strangely pleasing to the eye. Maybe it was a mess, but it was warm.
He had no idea what was happening behind those windows, but there was light there, and light meant life, and life meant hope.
Old Xing, Ding Shucheng, Zheng Lin, Young Hai and Little Zhan…
Had they not sacrificed themselves to bring light to the darkness?
And what about me? Will I just surrender?
The minutes were ticking down to midnight. Standing in the city's empty streets, Fang Mu finally made his decision.
For all the mothers.
For all the children.
For all the lights in the darkness.
For all the quiet, peaceful nights.
CHAPTER
24
The Wheels Are Set In Motion
Faced with his current difficulties, Liang Sihai had decided to suspend all operations for the time being. It had left Liang Zehao seething with frustration. After getting rid of the old cop, he had hoped to try his hands at bigger things. What he had not expected, was that his very first duty as Eldest Brother would be to play errand boy. His father had sent him to transfer money to Lu Tianchang.
Five-hundred-thousand yuan. For Liang Sihai it was just a drop from his bucket, but his son still thought it was much too much. Lu Tianchang had already screwed up more than enough; the village head should have been happy that they didn't make him pay for his mistakes. Any courtesy was certainly too much.
But Liang Sihai would not be swayed. As always, he was considering the long-term. According to him, their first priority was to stabilize the situation. Even though there was no way for their cooperation with Lu Tianchang to continue, Liang Sihai was still worried about the bridges the village head might burn if he wasn't placated. His solution was a little money. It would keep Lu Tianchang happy and compensate him for the loss of his son's hand.
Liang Zehao remained unconvinced. He took the paper with the account number and flipped it a few times. Finally, he said, "How about instead of giving it to that old fart, you let me take it?" He sounded almost serious.
Liang Sihai answered his question with stony silence. It was enough to shut the young man up.
Without another word or complaint, Liang Zehao turned and left, stopping only to grab hold of the waiting Pei Lan on the way out of the office.
Xing Zhisen was dead, and all reason to keep the investigation going had died with him. The Political and Legal Affairs Committee convened a meeting to wrap up the entire affair and debrief the team. A subdued atmosphere hung over the meeting as a short parade of speakers offered their perfunctory accounts. Everyone in the room seemed all too eager to leave it all behind. Some of the external officers had even brought their luggage to the meeting.
Fang Mu was present, but he spent the entire proceedings staring out the window and smoking cigarette after cigarette. He didn't say a single word and even avoided all eye contact.
The other people in the room might as well have not existed for him.
Xiao Wang's eyes never once left Fang Mu's face. To the rest of the room, the young traitor looked calm, even bored. Inside, however, he felt a
surge of vying emotions pulling at his soul.
After the meeting, the officers all returned to their various units. For Xiao Wang it meant that his transfer to the Changhong City Municipal Bureau became official, but before he and his new colleagues could even say their hellos, they received a new assignment.
No one was given any details. All they knew was that they were to stay on stand-by and await further instructions. It was past 10 in the evening when Xiao Wang and his fellow officers received orders to ready weapons and body armor.
Xiao Wang didn't like where this was going. He did his best to quietly learn what was about to happen, but he was met with a wall of silence.
At 1:15 a.m., they were all asked to hand in their cell phones, and then they dispatched into the vans. On the road, the officers were finally told their target: Wanbao Street on the outskirts of town.
Xiao Wang immediately knew who they were after; they were being sent to arrest Jin Yongyu and Peng Zhongcai.
He racked his brain, but he could think of no way to delay the operation now. Pretending to rest his eyes, he reached into a secret pocket in his jacket. Inside, he kept a cell phone hidden for situations just like this. He quickly keyed in a text. Then he hit send.
"Jin. Peng. Run."
Old Xing's case was done, but the Juyuan Steel Mill case was far from over. The commissioner and Bian Ping would never let the death of three officers go unpunished. When Fang Mu had reported to them where Jin Yongyu and Peng Zhongcai were hiding, they didn't hesitate to immediately organize a raid.
Somewhat to Bian Ping's surprise, Fang Mu had seemed anything but eager. In fact, he hadn't even asked to participate in the operation. Seeing his reluctance, Bian Ping had leaned in close to Fang Mu's now hollow cheeks and whispered, "Where did you get the information?"
"Found it myself," Fang Mu had answered with a shrug. "I followed the men from Sprint Logistics for four days. They take supplies to Jin Yongyu and Peng Zhongcai every other day."
Wanbao Street was located on the outskirts of town where the city bled over into the countryside. Almost the entire area was a shanty town, just waiting to be demolished. It was just about the worst type of environment to stage a raid.
The hideout itself was located at 117 Wanbao Street, right in the heart of a tangled web of narrow streets and alleys. According to Fang Mu's information, there would be three or four men present. All were likely to be armed.
The plan was to split the arresting officers into teams. These teams would spread out, take positions at designated staging points and then move in from all directions.
But before the teams could even gather at their staging points, the officers keeping the target under surveillance reported unusual activity at 117 Wanbao Street. Apparently, the suspects were getting ready to make a run for it. The commissioner, who was personally overseeing the operation from the command center, ordered the officers to abandon the staging phase. All but three teams were ordered to immediately approach the target and attempt to make the arrests. The remaining teams were instructed to hold back and block the surrounding streets.
The orders had just been given when gunfire was heard in Wanbao Street.
Jin Yongyu dashed down the dark, twisting streets, running for his life. One of the hideout's guards was right by his side. They had no idea where they were going; all they knew was that they had to run. Again and again they blindly fired behind them in a futile attempt to shake the police officers in hot pursuit.
For Peng Zhongcai, it was the end of the road. He had been dragging his wounded leg as best he could; but no more. With a wild howl, he opened fire. The answer came in a hail of bullets, riddling his body with deadly holes.
The screaming sirens and flashing lights seemed to come from every direction at once. Jin Yongyu was surrounded, but he ran on. There had to be some way out. There had to be.
And then he was out of bullets. It took only moments for the cops to realize this and speed up their pursuit. At the end of his rope, Jin Yongyu threw the empty gun. It did nothing to stop the terrible sound of footsteps now right behind him. Another hundred feet and he could feel his legs grow heavy. His throat burnt like fire and lights were flashing before his eyes. Surrender or fight?
Before he even finished the thought, the silhouette of a man leapt out from an alley and straight into his path. In the dim moonlight, Jin Yongyu saw only a hooded face and a gun, pointing right at him.
It was too late to stop. His heart and mind froze. This was it.
Fire flared from the gun. Once, twice. As its thunder died, Jin Yongyu was shocked to discover that his body still felt whole. The cops, however, were scrambling for cover.
"Finally got you. Over here." The hooded man pointed down an alley with his bandaged right hand.
Even in the dark, Jin Yongyu could see that it was covered in white gauze.
Boss Liang's men were there. Jin Yongyu felt his heart jump as he sprinted into the alley.
His guard was about to follow, but the man with the bandaged hand stopped him with a wave of his pistol. The guard was too slow to react and before he even understood what had happened, the man with the bandaged hand sent him sprawling to the ground with a powerful kick.
For a moment the guard lay on the street in shock, and then scrambled to get up. Before he was even on his feet, he felt himself dragged back to the ground. It was the cops.
Desperately struggling against his inevitable arrest, he shot one last look down the alley. The man with the bandaged hand and Jin Yongyu had long disappeared into the darkness.
The heavens had sent reinforcements. Hope gave strength to Jin Yongyu's body and he ran to end of the alley. Suddenly, his newfound confidence turned to bewildered shock. The alley ended in a wall. He had been led into a dead-end.
As Jin Yongyu stared in confusion, the man with the bandaged hand wordlessly ran past him and opened one of the doors in the wall. He motioned Jin Yongyu to follow him. Without hesitation, Jin Yongyu rushed inside.
Behind the door lay an abandoned house, full of old and broken furniture. The man went straight for cupboards and opened it. Inside, Jin Yongyu could see a large hole leading down into the ground.
The man with the bandaged hand pointed at the hole. Clenching his teeth, Jin Yongyu leapt into the dark.
He understood the moment he hit the bottom—it had to be one of the old air-raid shelters. Before him, a narrow, cramped corridor led farther into the darkness and the unknown. The man soon followed him down the hole and flicked on a flashlight behind him. Jin Yongyu felt a push against his back. Left with no choice, he pressed on.
After about 10 minutes, the man suddenly grabbed him from behind and pointed the beam of the flashlight upward. Following the light up, Jin Yongyu saw that they were standing right below a shaft. A rusty metal ladder led up to the faint glow of moonlight above.
Wanting to get a good look at his rescuer, Jin Yongyu turned around. Before he could see the man's face, he turned off the flashlight, leaving them both hidden in the darkness.
With a quick "Thank you", Jin Yongyu climbed up the ladder. As he reached the top, the cast iron grate blocking the exit lifted with a clanging sound.
Bright, glaring light shed in.
From all around, flashlight beams were aimed at his eyes, sending Jin Yongyu's head spinning.
Then he felt hands grab his shoulders and drag him out of the shaft. Before he could see what was going on, everything turned dark.
Jin Yongyu felt himself stuffed head first into a sack.
Had it not been for his face, Lu Dajiang would have looked flawlessly urbane. The man from Lu Village was dressed in a classy, well-pressed suit and wore perfectly polished shoes. Nothing, however, could hide the vacuous look in his eyes or the almost willfully crude expression on his face.
Lu Dajiang cleared his throat as he looked up at his reflection in the spotless glass door of the Changhong City Commercial Bank. He smoothed down his hair one last time, then pushed the door open and s
tiffly walked inside.
The lobby was bustling with people. It was the day pensions were paid out and long queues of all too serene elderly men and women stretched across the bank floor. For a moment, Lu Dajiang looked around nervously. Clutching the bank card to his chest like a talisman, he squeezed into line.
The bank's security guard had been keeping an eye on this strange customer for a while and now decided to approach him. "Sir, may I ask, what brings you to us today?"
Lu Dajiang gulped and then quickly stammered, "Get… Withdraw money."
"How much, sir?" the guard asked.
"Five-hundred-thousand." Just saying it out loud stirred something deep within Lu Dajiang Filled with newfound confidence, he stood proudly straight and squared his shoulders.
"May I ask, did you make an appointment, sir?" If he was impressed, the guard didn't show it.
"What?" For a moment Lu Dajiang stared blankly at the guard. "Oh, yes, yes."
The guard took him directly up to the VIP counter. With a smile on his face, Lu Dajiang handed the card to the teller. He was already contemplating what he would do first: Food or girls?
The man behind the counter shattered all his dreams. "Excuse me, sir, but with this card I'll be able to withdraw a maximum of ten yuan for you."
"Say what?" Lu Dajiang was still smiling stupidly, his eyes, however, had already begun to bulge. "That cannot… Check again!"
The teller tried again. While he remained unfailingly polite, an ever so slight chill crept into his voice as he repeated that the card would be maxed-out at 10 yuan.
Lu Dajiang stared straight ahead. Then, his jaw dropped. Without another word, he turned and walked out of the bank. He stood on the sidewalk for a long time, lost in a daze. The impact of someone bumping into his shoulder finally shook him out of his stupor. Lu Dajiang hurried to the nearest phone booth. He needed to call Lu Tianchang.