“Brother Chu San?!” Kevin’s voice rang out as he pounded on the door outside.
“I’m fine!” He Chu San forced the proxy off him, struggling to his feet before going to open the door.
The fighting in the lobby had already come to an end. Four bodyguards lay pinned to the ground, their hands cuffed behind their backs. Inside the room, it was no longer just Kevin and the three sham “managers”—there were five more plainclothes officers from the ICAC. Their team leader, who had been playing one of the “managers,” stepped forward with He Chu San. Together, they shackled the proxy and forced him down into a chair.
Blood and sweat mingled upon the team leader’s face, a wound marking his brow. He clasped He Chu San’s hand firmly.
“Mr. He, you’ve worked hard. Thank you for your support of the ICAC’s operations!”
“You’ve all labored just as much.” He Chu San handed him a handkerchief. “Staying here invites trouble—let’s withdraw at once.”
……
Xia Liu Yi burst out from the stairwell, drenched in sweat.
The office building’s elevators were packed to bursting—he had no patience to wait for them to crawl floor by floor. From over twenty stories up, he had charged down the stairs in a single breath, without pause.
He did not stop.
He sprinted straight toward He Chu San’s office building, weaving through pedestrians, vaulting over railings, dashing through red lights, leaping into the street—brushing past a speeding car by a hair’s breadth!
“Beep—! Beep—!” Horns blared as vehicles slammed their brakes in warning behind him.
Unheeding, Xia Liu Yi ran on like a madman until at last he reached the building. Just in time, he saw several figures turning the corner toward the parking lot—one silhouette uncannily resembling He Chu San.
He quickened his pace, then slipped into a nearby alley and scaled the wall in a single bound. From his vantage point above, he looked down—
He Chu San and Kevin stood with several others, stuffing a group of hooded captives—hands cuffed behind their backs—into a van.
Aside from disheveled hair and rumpled clothes, He Chu San appeared entirely unharmed.
Xia Liu Yi collapsed atop the wall, letting out a long breath of relief. He watched in a daze as He Chu San’s figure vanished into the van. Moments later, the vehicle rumbled out of the parking lot.
Straightening, Xia Liu Yi stared after it, yet for some reason, his eyelids twitched incessantly—an ill omen gnawing at his heart.
Without hesitation, he vaulted down from the wall and strode to a roadside convenience store, where a motorcycle stood parked outside. He swung onto it, kicked off the brake—
—and collided head-on with the owner, who had just emerged wearing a helmet and carrying a bag of bread.
“What the hell are you doing?! Stealing my bike?!!” the man shouted.
Xia Liu Yi twisted the throttle and shot past him like a gust of wind! Snatching the helmet clean off the man’s head, he slammed it onto his own. With one hand, he dug into his pocket and flung a fistful of cash behind him!
“Buying your bike!”
Banknotes bearing the Queen’s face fluttered through the air.
The owner stood there, mouth agape, staring at the departing figure of Xia Liu Yi—too stunned to utter a sound.
……
Within the grounds of Long Gang University.
Xie Ying Jie returned indoors, exchanged a few words with the principal who had come to greet him, then departed the venue in haste. As Deputy Commissioner of Police, he was ever burdened with affairs—there was no time for idle courtesies. He was due back at headquarters for a meeting.
Surrounded by security, he boarded the descending lift.
The buildings of Long Gang University clung to the mountainside, layered one upon another. Each platform connected by towering open-air escalators, rising and falling dozens—sometimes hundreds—of meters. On one side, students laughed and chatted as they ascended toward the heavens; on the other, Xie Ying Jie descended from the drifting clouds and treetop heights into the shadowed depths below.
Suddenly, the assistant’s brick phone rang.
Xie Ying Jie took it. The moment he heard the first hurried sentence from the other end, his expression darkened in an instant.
“Damned bastard!! Worthless trash!! FUCK!! FUCK!!” he roared, smashing a fist against the railing. The entire escalator shuddered with a metallic hum!
Students on the adjacent lift turned in shock—only to recoil at the murderous fury in his eyes.
The voice on the phone continued. Xie Ying Jie responded with a low, venomous grunt before hanging up. He pried out the SIM card and flung it into the vast mountain wilderness below.
Tossing the phone back to his assistant, he snarled, “Tell the driver—no main entrance! Wait in the back alley of the parking lot!”
Then he strode swiftly down the escalator. His security detail hurried after him, their heavy steps thundering down the metal steps, drawing curious glances from nearby students.
The driver did not answer his phone.
The assistant, lagging behind, rushed down to report—but collided into the back of a security officer. Only then did he realize—
They had all stopped.
Around the platform, from every direction, men and women in plain clothes had appeared, hands resting at their waists where firearms lay concealed.
Ahead of Xie Ying Jie stood Chief Investigator Xu and Lu Guang Ming, dressed in suits. Past the barrier of two security men, they flashed their credentials.
“ICAC. We request that you come with us to assist in an investigation,” Lu Guang Ming said coolly.
“What are you?!” Xie Ying Jie snapped. “You dare investigate me?! I am on my way to a police conference—‘First Brother’ will be in attendance! Can you bear the consequences of delaying state affairs?!”
Note:‘一哥’ — the head of the police force, the Commissioner of Police.
“Deputy Commissioner Xie, I believe you misunderstand,” Chief Investigator Xu replied calmly. “In Hong Kong, whether government official or industry elite—before the ICAC, all are but ordinary citizens. You are obligated to assist in our inquiry.”
“Deputy Commissioner Xie knows the rules,” Lu Guang Ming added with a faint, insincere smile. “This is a university. Should you refuse us, I fear the students may be treated to quite a spectacle.”
Xie Ying Jie swept his gaze outward. Indeed, students in the distance had begun to gather, watching curiously.
His brows drew tight.
With a silent gesture, he ordered his security to stand aside.
……
Inside the swaying van.
The proxy slowly opened his eyes. Swollen lids blurred his vision, but faintly—he caught the glint of something shining. It was the ring pendant at He Chu San’s neck.
Gradually, the man before him came into focus.
“You… are with the ICAC?” he rasped.
“No.”
“Then… why do this…?”
He Chu San idly turned the ring between his fingers. “For my husband. No—” he paused softly, “—for myself.”
The agent shook his head faintly. “Then the accounts you ‘made’… the money you poured into the stock market… all fake? How did you manage it?”
“Your dirty money was never ‘laundered.’ The funds sent to your offshore accounts were my own.” His voice was calm. “My money is clean—so naturally, your books appeared spotless. As for the market, I invested only forty million. The rest was rumor, momentum, illusion. All I needed was to hold until your capital entered the market. Once you were taken, my traders would withdraw and stabilize things. By the afternoon close, the Hang Seng Index would return to normal—and the evening papers would carry the refutations.”
“But your personal loss…” the agent croaked, disbelief in his voice, “must be tens of millions… Where did you get such money? Why go this far?”
“I earned it. Borrowed against my company.” A faint smile touched He Chu San’s lips. “And some… from my husband.”
Elio’s Notes: Chu San used the term 先生 (Mandarin: xiansheng, Cantonese: sin saang) in this conversation to mention his husband and this term can be vague because it can also mean teacher, mister, gentleman, etc. It’s a title of respect.
“So there truly are people like you… who treat wealth as filth…”
“Money is nothing more than a tool,” He Chu San replied lightly. “The cheapest thing in this world. What I spend—I can earn back.”
The proxy coughed violently, swallowing blood. His voice grew weaker, more hoarse.
“The first time I saw you… I found you strange. Every word, every movement—calculated, rehearsed… flawless.” He gave a faint, bitter laugh. “In my youth, I was a failed actor. I could tell—you were acting. That night in the rain, when you fired… there was hesitation in your eyes. I knew you were not truly evil. I thought you had simply risked everything for money…”
“You only truly deceived me… after that meeting in the fishing village—with him.” His breathing grew ragged. “You are so young… yet you carry such killing intent. The same… demonic aura as him. I did not wish for another like him to appear in this world… so I warned you…”
He closed his eyes, as though burdened beyond endurance.
“I am old… Two weeks ago, I was diagnosed with brain cancer. The doctors say I have little time left…” His voice trembled faintly. “Twenty years… serving him. No wife, no children. No life like an ordinary man. Always underground… like a rat in the sewers. He gave me wealth—but what use is wealth without life… without freedom to spend it?”
“I have not seen sunlight… in a very long time…”
He coughed again, blood spilling from his lips—some droplets landing upon He Chu San’s clothes. With great effort, he raised his head and looked toward the narrow slit of a window above.
A single thread of sunlight slipped through the curtain.
He smiled bitterly.
“You were right… ‘Better to have that one moment… than to live a lifetime without ever having it.’ You… are better off than me.”
Suddenly—
A blinding flood of light burst through the window!
His eyes went white with it!
In that instant, he lunged forward, crashing into He Chu San—
“Stay alive! Don’t let him escape!” he hissed urgently into his ear!
Outside, the screech of brakes tore through the air—
“SCREECH—!!”
Then—
“BOOM—!!!”
The entire van flipped violently, the world turning upside down in a thunderous roar!
Futile Devices Scans 
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