Futile Devices Scans

“Who else are you planning to kill?” an elderly voice said.

Xu Ying jerked his head up in shock. At some point, his underlings had all been pinned at gunpoint. Xiao Qi Hall’s chief elder, Uncle Yuan, leaned on the Dragon Head Staff as Cui Dong Dong supported him, leading a group of men in through the doorway.

The other elders of Xiao Qi Hall—Elder Ge, Prince Duan, and Uncle Qiu—had all arrived as well. Elder Ge had personally accepted Xu Ying into the brotherhood over twenty years ago and later recommended him to Azure Dragon as Deputy Hall Master. In gang affairs, he had always stood on Xu Ying’s side. Even now, all he could do was shake his head in disappointment.

Xu Ying breathed heavily twice, jamming the gun hard against Xia Liu Yi’s head as he laughed in fury. “You deliberately had that student brat lure me here, then invited people over to watch the show?!”

With his cheek pressed to the floor, Xia Liu Yi let out a low sneer. “Top university student, gold-medal screenwriter, first-class movie king—does my new underling have enough guts for you, Boss Xu?”

Watching from the sidelines, He Chu San was frantic and speechless—could you stop taking advantage of me for one second? There’s still a gun pointed at your head!

“Xu Ying, put down the gun and you might still be left with an intact corpse,” Uncle Yuan said.

Xu Ying burst into loud laughter. “Anyone who walks this road already expects this day! What’s the use of an intact corpse anyway?!”

“Xia Xiao Liu,” he snarled as he bent down, “on the road to the underworld, I’m dragging you down with me!”

He suddenly pulled the trigger, but Xia Liu Yi had already been prepared the moment he started speaking. He violently drove his elbow upward toward him! After two terrifying gunshots rang out, the pistol flew far away, Xu Ying was flipped onto the ground with a bullet in his abdomen, while Xia Liu Yi lay sprawled on the floor with a huge hole blown through his shoulder, blood spraying everywhere!

He Chu San’s heart dropped. He instinctively rushed forward, only to be casually shoved aside by Xiao Ma from behind, smashing him into the nearby wall!

Xiao Ma, blatantly stealing the protagonist’s spotlight, leapt over He Chu San with several underlings and threw himself onto Xia Liu Yi to stop the bleeding. The others swarmed in, several guns trained directly on Xu Ying. Xu Ying was forced to the ground, both knees pressed down in submission.

“Boss Liu Yi! Boss Liu Yi!” Xiao Ma knelt there wailing to the heavens until Xia Liu Yi slowly opened his eyes and frowned at him in annoyance before finally letting out a sigh of relief.

Blocked outside the crowd, He Chu San stood on tiptoe several times and still couldn’t see anything. In the end, he simply used his oversized schoolbag as a step stool and climbed onto a nearby scaffold while bracing himself against the wall.

From there, he saw Xia Liu Yi surrounded by several underlings while others restrained Xu Ying. Uncle Yuan leaned on the Dragon Head Staff as he slowly walked up to Xu Ying.

He pulled off the head of the Dragon Head Staff, drew out the Dragon Head Dagger hidden inside, and tossed it beside Xu Ying’s knees.

“Xu Ying, you betrayed the gang and murdered the boss,” Uncle Yuan said coldly. “According to the rules, three blades and six holes. Considering your years of service to the gang, I’ll give you the chance to end yourself. Do you have anything left to say?”

Xu Ying clutched his heavily bleeding abdomen and sneered at him with twisted brows. Uncle Yuan remained expressionless beneath that glare, his face still cold as iron. Suddenly, Xu Ying erupted into eerie laughter. He barked out “Good!” three times before rasping, “What do I have to say? I spent my whole damn life risking myself for Azure Dragon and for you old bastards, and in the end all the benefits went to this brat! If you wouldn’t give it to me, then I’d take it myself! What did I do wrong?! Three blades and six holes… I refuse to accept it!”

He snatched up the Dragon Head Dagger and lunged to his feet, driving the blade straight toward Uncle Yuan! Cui Dong Dong suddenly moved, spinning around to kick the dagger from his hand before planting another kick that sent Xu Ying crashing back onto the ground!

Before she could step forward to add another kick, Xia Liu Yi—covered in blood—suddenly shoved Xiao Ma aside, grabbed the Dragon Head Blade from the floor, and with a furious roar charged forward, driving the blade into Xu Ying’s heart with thunderous force and pinning him firmly to the ground!

Blood dripped from Xia Liu Yi’s shoulder onto Xu Ying’s face. Xu Ying stared up at him with bulging eyes and a savage expression. The two men’s hatred clashed like blades in the air as Xu Ying struggled to claw both hands toward Xia Liu Yi’s throat.

Gripping the blood-soaked hilt, Xia Liu Yi viciously twisted the blade!

A strange gargling sound escaped Xu Ying’s throat. His trembling hands left ten bloody finger marks around Xia Liu Yi’s neck. “Xia… Xiao… Liu…”

Struggling upward, he leaned close to Xia Liu Yi’s ear, grinning viciously as he whispered several words.

“……”

No one around them heard what he said, but Xia Liu Yi’s eyes suddenly widened. Just as he tried to pull back, Xu Ying violently thrust upward, driving the blade fully into his own body!

The ambitious man spat out a spray of blood-red mist, his copper-bell eyes wide open before finally breathing his last.

Xia Liu Yi stared in shock as he yanked the blade free.

He shook Xu Ying once, but the man gave no response. Blood merely poured faster from the wounds with every movement. Bathed in crimson, Xia Liu Yi silently stared at Xu Ying’s lifeless body as the hatred in his eyes deepened layer upon layer until it became bone-piercingly cold. As if possessed, he raised the blade and stabbed down again! Pulled it out and stabbed again! Pulled it out and stabbed again!

Shhk! Shhk! Shhk! Shhk!

The sound of steel plunging into flesh echoed repeatedly through the silent room. Chunks of flesh mixed with blood splattered across the floor. Perched atop the scaffold, He Chu San turned his deathly pale face away, unable to keep watching.

“He’s already dead. Enough.” Cui Dong Dong finally spoke.

She grabbed Xia Liu Yi’s tense arm and squeezed hard, signaling for him to come back to his senses. Expressionless, Xia Liu Yi slowly turned toward her. After a long while, it was as though his soul finally returned to him. He closed his eyes and let out a long breath.

Then he dropped the blood-soaked Dragon Head Dagger and collapsed weakly against Cui Dong Dong’s shoulder.

Xiao Ma hurriedly organized the underlings into making a simple stretcher from a tabletop and lifted Xia Liu Yi onto it. Uncle Yuan and the other elders approached to check on him. Xia Liu Yi smiled weakly, his pale face completely different from the savage madness moments ago, looking gentle and exhausted instead.

“Thank you for arriving in time, elders.”

“Xiao Liu, you’ve suffered enough. Rest first,” Uncle Yuan said, waving for the underlings to hurry and take him to a private hospital.

Cui Dong Dong followed the stretcher for several steps before Xia Liu Yi shook his head at her. She turned back and supported Uncle Yuan instead. “Uncle Yuan, you’ve come from far away and must be tired. Should we send you home first?”

“No need, girl,” Uncle Yuan said, patting her hand. “I know you’re filial. I’m not in a hurry to go back. Business comes first. Elder Ge, Uncle Qiu, Prince Duan—the election meeting for the new Dragon Head will be held directly in Liu Yi’s hospital room. We’ll escort him there together.”

A crowd surrounded the stretcher as they squeezed out through the film company doors. The remaining underlings dragged Xu Ying’s corpse away, wrapping it in a sack. Only He Chu San remained forgotten atop the scaffold; his presence was so weak that no one noticed him.

Long after everyone had left, he finally climbed down unsteadily and bent to pick up his heavy schoolbag. Blankly, he stared at the fresh bloodstains in the distance, his mind completely empty except for the roaring buzz inside his ears.

That underworld boss called Xu Ying had schemed and murdered his way to power, only to end up dead without an intact corpse. Xia Liu Yi had suffered such severe injuries—moments ago he’d looked possessed by some war god, yet now he was being carried out half-dead… Would he really be alright?

Dazed and worried with nowhere to go, He Chu San stood in the empty film studio for a while before clutching his schoolbag tightly and leaving with uneven steps.

……

Near dawn, he arrived home. Yellow funeral paper littered the alley, and the smell of cheap incense hung heavily in the air. Upstairs, Auntie Liu cried and wailed among a crowd of relatives, kneeling and kowtowing toward the sky, begging for her son—whose stomach had been ripped open in a horrific death—to be returned to her. She knew nothing about what had happened on the rooftop and only beat the ground while cursing those damned gangsters for dying horrible deaths.

No one noticed He Chu San walking silently past in a black jacket, staring blankly at the yellow paper before lowering his head and continuing onward.

Dentist He welcomed his son back into the clinic with endless sighing and quickly shut the door behind them.

“Wasn’t her son a gangster too? What a sin, honestly… Tsk tsk… Where did you disappear to all yesterday?! Did that Xia Liu Yi leave yet?!”

Within barely twenty-something hours, He Chu San had learned about the tangled love affairs of gang bosses, been hunted down, jumped from buildings, carried a grown man across several streets, escaped the Walled City, ran miles to find a gang boss lady, returned to act like a movie king, and witnessed a bloody gang vendetta…

The sheer violence and intensity of it all had violently shaken his innocent young soul.

His mind was still blank. Numbly, he set down the schoolbag he had been clutching and removed the black prop jacket he had stolen from the film studio.

Dentist He sucked in a sharp breath.

His son’s bare upper body was covered in blood!

“Yee! Yee!” Dentist He screamed.

“Dad, I’m fine,” He Chu San said quietly. “The blood isn’t mine. Can you help me get a basin of water so I can wash up?”

After washing up, university student He collapsed into bed with a raging fever and spent three full days drifting between life and death. In his feverish dreams, he felt as though a stick were stirring through his brain, his subconscious desperately trying to mash together all those grudges and bloody memories before throwing them out of his mind.

His father went to school for him, returned the library books, and applied for delayed makeup exams due to serious illness.

……

While He Chu San drifted through feverish nightmares atop his damp little bed, Xia Liu Yi lay wrapped like a high-class mummy in a luxury private hospital room, equally trapped in dreams.

The anesthetic had not fully worn off. His mind wandered through endless darkness while Xu Ying’s sinister laughter echoed beside his ears, along with those malicious final words.

“Xia Xiao Liu… you filthy little thing… I want you to never know… how Azure Dragon died…”

How Azure Dragon died? Wasn’t he killed by you?! Who else could it have been?! Bullshit!

He suddenly clenched his fists and jerked awake.

The elders around his bedside were all focused on listening to the will and didn’t notice.

Uncle Yuan had brought a thin, sharp-eyed lawyer, introducing him as Azure Dragon’s private attorney. Azure Dragon had once instructed Uncle Yuan that if anything happened to him, the Dragon Head Staff and the lawyer were to be summoned together to present the will.

“Mr. Hao Cheng Qing’s will is divided into two sections,” the lawyer explained. “First, all personal assets are to be inherited by Madam Xia Xiao Men. Second, Xia Liu Yi is recommended as the next Dragon Head.”

Xia Liu Yi kept his eyes closed as his uninjured hand tightened around the blanket.

The elders exchanged glances.

“Azure Dragon has already cast his vote,” Uncle Yuan said. “What are your opinions?”

“I support Azure Dragon’s decision,” Uncle Qiu said. “Xiao Liu is clever and courageous. He’s capable of taking on great responsibility.”

“But Xiao Liu lacks seniority,” Elder Ge argued. “And he’s never even served as Deputy Hall Master before directly becoming Mountain Master. That breaks the rules.”

“Rules are made by people,” Uncle Qiu replied. “Xiao Liu has served as Red Pole for years and earned plenty for the company. He has both merit and qualifications.”

“He’s still too young,” Elder Ge said. “If he becomes Dragon Head, I’m worried the people below won’t accept it.”

After several rounds of argument, Prince Duan finally spoke.

“Azure Dragon became Dragon Head at twenty-five. Back then, there were also people who refused to accept him. What happened to them afterward?”

Elder Ge immediately fell silent.

The bloody memories of Azure Dragon ruthlessly purging traitors surfaced in everyone’s minds. Though he appeared refined and gentle, the man had ruled as Dragon Head for ten years through sheer ruthlessness.

“And besides,” Prince Duan added quietly, “wasn’t Xu Ying the one most unwilling to accept it? He’s already dead. Who else remains?”

Elder Ge’s face darkened and he said no more.

“I vote for Xia Liu Yi,” Prince Duan said.

Uncle Yuan nodded. “I naturally respect Azure Dragon’s wishes. Since only Old Ge objects, then it’s settled. We’re still within Azure Dragon’s mourning period, so everything will remain simple. Three days from now, we’ll hold a simple Ascending Dragon Ceremony at headquarters and formally induct the new Dragon Head into the hall.”

Hearing this, Xia Liu Yi silently released a breath.

Only he could continue expanding Xiao Qi Hall.

Only he could uncover Azure Dragon’s true cause of death.

……

After the elders finished discussing business and departed, Xiao Ma scampered into the room.

“Boss Liu Yi! Stop pretending to sleep!”

“Scram,” Xia Liu Yi said. “Water.”

Xiao Ma hurried over with water, raised the hospital bed, and carefully inserted a straw.

“Boss Liu Yi, it’s great that you’re okay! If there’s anything involving shitting or pissing that your little brother can help with, just say the word!”

“Fuck off. Looking at your ugly face, do you think I’d even be able to piss?” Xia Liu Yi sneered. “I heard you ran pretty damn fast back then?”

“Of course!” Xiao Ma puffed up proudly. “Trained by Boss Liu Yi himself! I somersaulted ten thousand eight thousand li straight to Boss Dong Dong’s place! Her little singer girl hid me immediately! What kind of person am I? Boss Liu Yi’s top capable underling! If that bastard Xu had caught me, think how much trouble that would’ve caused Boss Liu Yi!”

“Damn rat,” Xia Liu Yi laughed. “Were you the one who swapped the safe?”

“I swapped it immediately! The moment Boss Dong Dong came back, I reported everything to her. You said that box was important and had to be replaced if anything happened. She swapped it that same night! Boss Liu Yi, this time my brain wasn’t growing out of my ass, right? No need for a beating?”

“You still deserve one! Want the Red Pole to do it?”

“The Red Pole hitting me would hurt like hell…” Xiao Ma muttered, before suddenly jumping back in shock. “B-Boss Liu Yi… what did you just say?!”

“Brave and resourceful, vicious-looking enough to intimidate the hall,” Xia Liu Yi said lazily. “Tomorrow I’ll recommend you as the new Red Pole.”

Xiao Ma immediately burst into shrill wailing.

“Boss Liu Yi, you just got a little injured! There’s no need to retire! I was born to be a lackey! How could I possibly handle your work?! Please do it yourself!”

“Fuck,” Xia Liu Yi cursed. “Stop cursing me with retirement! What retirement?! Call me ‘Big Boss!’”

“Yee? Yee yee yee?!” Xiao Ma screeched.

“Shut up,” Xia Liu Yi said with a headache. “After taking office, investigate something for me…”

“After taking office, investigate something for me,” Xia Liu Yi said, jerking his chin for Xiao Ma to come closer. “Before Azure Dragon died, who exactly did Xu Ying come into contact with? Grab all his trusted men and interrogate them one by one.”

Xiao Ma’s expression stiffened. “But Xu Ying’s trusted subordinates were all fed to the sea last night. Not a single one was left alive.”

“What?!” Xia Liu Yi’s brows furrowed sharply. “Who gave that order?”

“They said it was decided by the elders. Something about ‘wolves with ambition aren’t worth keeping alive.’”

Xia Liu Yi fell silent for a long moment before saying coldly, “Keep investigating. There’ll always be traces left behind. Stay discreet. Don’t let anyone notice.”

“Yes.”

Xia Liu Yi wanted to promote Cui Dong Dong into the position of Deputy Hall Master. It was a position countless people begged for and still couldn’t obtain, yet Cui Dong Dong refused outright, saying she didn’t want to manage people and only liked managing accounts, so he should stop giving her extra trouble.

Wrapped up like a mummy in the hospital bed, Boss Xia glared at her.

“If you don’t take the position, the elders will shove their own people in there! Are you even my sister or not?! Are you doing it or not?!”

After long and serious consideration, Cui Dong Dong declared that in order to protect her brother from being “shoved into,” she could reluctantly accept the role—but he would have to give her double red-envelope bonuses every year.

Boss Xia immediately hurled a pillow at her.

“In your dreams!”

And so Xia Liu Yi officially began his life as a mummy boss—known in the underworld as the Twin Blade Boss. However, after leaving the hospital, this boss never drew blades again and instead completely switched over to guns.

Meanwhile, He Chu San finally recovered from his fever, dragging himself back to life to study for his makeup exams. One week later, he took every exam and naturally passed all of them with high scores.

As a highly intelligent person skilled at self-reflection, He Chu San possessed extremely strong mental filtering abilities. During his fever, he had burned away both the virus and those black memories together. Once the fever fully broke, it was already summer vacation.

Before school closed, he lugged back several huge sacks of books from the library. During the day he worked at Hua Café, and at night he studied furiously by candlelight at home. Every morning he changed locations and walked through several alleys to Lung Jeun Free School within the Walled City—a school site left behind from the Qing Dynasty. There, in the little square before the school, he continued practicing Yang-style Tai Chi.

Uncle Hua had gained a disciple late in life and considered the boy highly teachable, so he enthusiastically trained him—two hours of palm techniques today, three hours of sweeping kicks tomorrow!

Every day, Uncle Hua tortured him half to death with training. He became so busy that he somehow never once thought about that gangster boss who had constantly cursed and beaten him.

Until one dawn, when he woke abruptly from a dream.

He instantly forgot the contents of the dream, yet his right shoulder suddenly began aching faintly.

Clutching his shoulder, he sat blankly upon the bed where someone had once lain for more than ten nights. In the end, he could no longer stop himself from remembering that starlit night.

He remembered the glittering tears on that cold and merciless gangster boss’s face.

Remembered his exhausted sleeping expression tinged with hidden sorrow.

Remembered the hoarse grunt he made when pierced by the bamboo pole.

Remembered the furious yet powerless slap that came swinging from behind him.

Remembered the teasing chuckle he gave even while someone held a gun to his head.

That evil gangster had saved him twice, and he had repaid him twice. Their debt should have been settled long ago.

He believed they should never have anything to do with one another again.

Yet unlike those oppressive and bloody memories, he could not tear that dark figure completely out of his mind.

What Xia Liu Yi left behind inside him was not darkness, but something hot-blooded, vivid, unyielding, and alive.

Like rising tides crashing violently against his heart again and again, leaving behind deep scars.

No matter how hard he tried smoothing them over, the moment he remembered that name, he could hear roaring ocean waves pounding within his ears.

Clutching his shoulder, he lay back down and buried his face in the blanket.

Toward this helpless version of himself, he let out a long sigh.

……

Peaceful life lasted for two months.

School was about to begin again in just a few days.

That morning, after practicing cutting kicks until his entire body ached, He Chu San staggered away from Lung Jeun Free School toward Hua Café.

Then, in the alley near his home—the alley that had already become dark territory in his mind—he encountered a villain blocking the road.

Xia Liu Yi stood there in a black suit, leaning lazily against the alley wall while smoking. His hands rested casually inside his pockets while one long leg braced against the opposite wall, effortlessly blocking the path.

At once, roaring ocean tides filled He Chu San’s ears again.

After blanking out for a moment, he obediently greeted him.

“Brother Liu Yi.”

“I came to buy beef offal,” Xia Liu Yi said casually, removing the cigarette from his lips with his left hand and blowing out a perfect smoke ring. “And to pick up my blade while I’m at it.”

Forgot to mention—the Azure Dragon Blade he had once used against He Chu San’s neck was still wrapped up and hidden inside the He family stove.

He Chu San nodded. “Dad kept it. Come upstairs and get it.”

Xia Liu Yi flicked ash arrogantly. “Bring it down.”

“You’ll have to dig it out of the stove ash and clean it first. Just come upstairs and wait,” He Chu San patiently persuaded. “Don’t worry. Dad won’t pull your teeth again.”

Huff! Xia Liu Yi got caught off guard and choked on his cigarette smoke!

“Cough cough cough…” Before he even finished coughing, the cigarette butt burned him too.

“Fuck! Who’s afraid of your dad?!”

He awkwardly lowered his leg, threw away the cigarette, and slapped several times at the ash scattered across his clothes. When he looked up again, he saw the brat lowering his head silently, shoulders trembling.

Xia Liu Yi immediately grabbed him by the neck and yanked him over.

“You dare mess with your boss? You sick of living?!”

Laughing while dodging, He Chu San coughed from being choked.

Xia Liu Yi dragged him into his arms and ruthlessly roughed him up, repeatedly smacking the back of his head.

“Go back and kowtow into the hall for me! Then I’ll decide whether I’m in the mood to spare you!”

“I’m not becoming your underling,” He Chu San said, his hair a complete mess and his voice full of laughter. “How are your injuries? Fully healed?”

Xia Liu Yi answered lightly, “The tendons in my right hand got severed. I’ve only got enough strength left to hold chopsticks.”

He Chu San immediately stiffened.

Seeing that reaction, Xia Liu Yi laughed.

“What are you scared of? Boss Liu Yi doesn’t need compensation from you. Even with one hand I can still beat your teeth all over the ground.”

He Chu San remained silent, making the atmosphere suddenly awkward.

Irritated, Xia Liu Yi shoved him.

“Enough with the funeral face. Go upstairs and get the blade.”

Stumbling from the push, He Chu San slowly walked several steps away when Xia Liu Yi suddenly called out behind him.

“Hey! Kid, know how to play billiards?”

He Chu San immediately turned around, opening his mouth before finally admitting, “No.”

“I opened several billiard halls in Kowloon. There’s one right outside your school. From now on, come over after class. Doesn’t matter if you can’t play—Boss Liu Yi will personally teach you.”

After hesitating briefly, He Chu San asked, “You’re not selling white powder in there, right?”

“Fuck! Why the hell would a billiard hall sell white powder?! There’s powder for your hands though! Want me to give you a few jin of it?!”

He Chu San nodded again and quietly replied in the darkness,

“Then I’ll go.”

And thus began his endless entanglement with a gangster boss.

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