Futile Devices Scans

Xie Jia Hua sped toward Lu Guang Ming’s residence. There were clear signs that the door had been pried open. Holding his gun, he pushed the door open soundlessly. The lights inside were on, and the entire place had been ransacked—whoever arrived before him had been in such a hurry that they hadn’t bothered to cover their tracks at all.

He searched carefully through every corner but found no one. Dust had settled thickly on the table and pillows—Lu Guang Ming had clearly not been living here for quite some time. In the corner of the bedroom wall was a hidden compartment; the box inside had already been pulled out, its contents scattered chaotically across the floor. Xie Jia Hua knelt down and sifted through it carefully, but found no useful clues. Like the others from the ICAC, Lu Guang Ming had vanished. His home had been forcibly broken into and searched—he must have uncovered something extremely secret.

A sharp pain pierced Xie Jia Hua’s heart. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he fell into deep thought. He forced himself to set aside his worry for Lu Guang Ming, arranging everything that had happened today in his mind like pieces on a chessboard: Xia Liu Yi’s high-speed escape and murder case, the car explosion cases, the ICAC murder and arson case…

Xia Liu Yi had left his seclusion on Lamma Island and committed major crimes in the city, including car explosions with numerous deaths. If, as Superintendent Huang suspected, this was a gang firefight, then it was very likely connected to He Chu San, who had infiltrated He Yi Society. Could it be that He Chu San had encountered danger while seeking revenge for Xia Liu Yi? Had he been harmed by He Yi Society?

But what did gang warfare have to do with the ICAC’s murder and arson case? Group fighting fell under police jurisdiction, not the ICAC. The only connection lay in the revenge He Chu San sought for Xia Liu Yi—the cases of Hao Wei and Azure Dragon both covered up by Chief Inspector Hua. Chief Inspector Hua was already dead, yet behind him stood the Old Shopkeeper, the one who controlled the underworld’s balance of power. And Lu Guang Ming, as an ICAC officer, had been investigating precisely this man’s identity…

Xie Jia Hua frowned deeply and made a call.

“Hello? It’s me, A’Hua. Help me check my father’s official schedule today… He gave a lecture at Long Gang University this afternoon? …Alright, thank you.”

He hung up and rushed downstairs. Pulling out a map of Hong Kong in his car, he illuminated it with a flashlight. His finger traced a line from He Chu San’s office building to the burned ICAC office—sure enough, along the way lay the site of the first car explosion. That was the first line. Then he drew another line from Long Gang University, where his father had lectured, to the ICAC—along that path lay the mountain road where the second explosion occurred!

The entire ICAC office had gone missing, and over twenty unidentified charred bodies had already been found in the explosion cases. If those corpses were not gang members killed in a firefight, but instead ICAC personnel sent to investigate He Chu San and his father…

A chill ran down Xie Jia Hua’s spine. He threw aside the map, started the car, and sped toward the Hong Kong Island Regional Police Headquarters.

Because of the large number of bodies from the explosion cases, they had all been temporarily stored in a mortuary near the station. After flashing his credentials, Xie Jia Hua rushed into the cold storage room. With a loud clang, he switched on the lights and began pulling out drawer after drawer of bodies from the walls.

Dozens of charred corpses surrounded him like black petals of the otherworldly shore flower, the air thick with the stench of decay and a deathly chill. He examined them one by one under his flashlight. On the occasional patches of remaining skin, there were none of the tattoos commonly seen on gang members—these were not triad thugs.

Nor did he find the spirit tablet necklace he recognized. Tang Jia Qi, if his spirit still lingered, must be protecting Lu Guang Ming. And the cold wind whispering in his ears now seemed like the unwilling cries of those who had died in the line of duty, their grievances unheard.

He pushed the bodies back into their drawers, his heart heavy with thought. The operatives involved had been killed, smeared as gang casualties, the ICAC office burned, Lu Guang Ming’s home searched—every witness and piece of evidence appeared to have been destroyed. But Lu Guang Ming was clever and resourceful; he would never fail to back up the most critical information, nor would he hide it so carelessly at home. That day he had shown up drenched in seawater and carrying blood bags—and afterward had stayed at my place for so long…

Xie Jia Hua suddenly sprang to his feet again, rushed back to his car, switched on the siren, and sped toward his own home.

Twenty minutes later, he burst through his front door with a bang, strode inside, and flung open every cabinet, sweeping everything out in a chaotic scatter!

His movements halted at the small drawer where he kept his underwear. Beneath it was a slight bulge. He pulled the entire drawer out, flipped it onto the bed, and found a folder taped underneath.

On the cover of the folder, Lu Guang Ming had written a message by hand:

“Brother Jia Hua: I never intended for you to see what’s inside. But since you’ve found this spot, I suppose I can no longer apologize to you in person. Since we met, I’ve done nothing but hurt you. I’m truly sorry. —Lu Guang Ming.”

Xie Jia Hua’s trembling hands tore open the folder. A stack of documents and several cassette tapes spilled out.

……

On Xia Liu Yi’s side, they split into two groups. He sent Tiger Head to escort Kevin and Qin Hao to a private doctor. He himself took Xiao Ma and the others to a secluded hideout—a standalone village house belonging to Black Chicken near Tolo Harbour in Sha Tin.

Inside the house, Black Chicken had already brought He Chu San’s father and family there. Bodyguards stood in layers of protection inside and out. The moment Xia Liu Yi stepped through the door, Xin Xin, dressed in a white dress, rushed toward him like a startled dove.

“Sister-in-law! Did something happen to my brother? Why were we brought here?!”

“What ‘sister-in-law’?!” Mr. He, sitting on the sofa, turned livid. “You brat! What’s going on?! Why can’t I get through to A’San’s phone?!” Beside him, Mrs. Wu hurriedly patted his chest to calm him, equally anxious as she looked toward Xia Liu Yi.

Xia Liu Yi gently patted Xin Xin’s shoulder in reassurance, then respectfully said to Mr. He and Mrs. Wu, “Mr. He, Aunt Wu, A’San is currently carrying out a confidential mission with the ICAC. He was worried that the other side might retaliate against you, so he asked me to bring you here to stay for a few days.”

“A’San is fine—such a good boy, even helping the ICAC,” Mrs. Wu soothed Mr. He. “Don’t worry so much.”

“What ICAC?! How would A’San get mixed up with them?!” Mr. He grew even angrier at the sight of Xia Liu Yi, refusing to believe a word he said.

Xin Xin helped calm her father, and the mother and daughter coaxed him upstairs to rest in a guest room. Black Chicken walked to a corner of the hall, lifted a carpet, and opened a hidden door. Xia Liu Yi hurried down into the basement.

On the table below were two bulging duffel bags filled with firearms and ammunition. Cui Dong Dong leaned back in a chair, her military boots propped on the table, assembling and disassembling an AK-47 with crisp clicks. Seeing Xia Liu Yi, she stood, weapon in hand.

“Why are you here?!” Xia Liu Yi demanded urgently.

Cui Dong Dong raised the rifle and sighted him through the scope. “My Boss is going to save Sister-in-Law—how could I not come?”

“No. It’s too dangerous! Go back and guard Xiao Luo!”

“I’m here too,” Xiao Luo said from the corner, where she was pouring red wine. Dressed in a black jacket and leather skirt, she spun lightly over with a glass in hand. Lifting her skirt hem, she gave an elegant curtsy and offered the wine. Just as Xia Liu Yi reached to take it, she suddenly drew a pistol from the holster on her thigh and pressed it against his chest.

“Bang,” she said, winking. “Don’t underestimate the Lady Boss’s woman.”

Xiao Ma, A’Nan, and A’Mao rushed downstairs together. “Wow, the Lady Boss and Sister Luo all dressed up so nicely—going to start a fight?” Xiao Ma called out. “Take me along!”

“Boss, Mr. He is a good man—he’ll be blessed by heaven. Don’t worry, we’ll definitely save him,” A’Nan said earnestly. A’Mao nodded vigorously in agreement.

“Well said!” Cui Dong Dong shouted. “That damned Old Shopkeeper dares bully our Sammy boy! We brothers and sisters stand united—we’ll show him the might of Xiao Qi Hall!”

“Yeah!!” everyone responded.

Xia Liu Yi looked at their youthful, passionate faces, his eyes welling with tears. “Alright,” he choked out, “thank you all. I, Xia Liu Yi, will remember these words and this bond for the rest of my life. If there is a next life, we’ll still be brothers and sisters.”

Xiao Ma was the first to rush forward and hug him, bursting into tears. “Boss! In the next life I still want to be your underling!” Xiao Luo tossed aside her wine glass and joined the embrace, but upon seeing Xiao Ma’s snot bubble, she couldn’t help laughing. “Next life I—pfft—I’ll still sleep with Big Sis!” A’Nan and A’Mao also rushed in. “Boss!”

The five of them clung together, deeply moved. Only Cui Dong Dong stood aside, shuddering in disgust. Everyone turned to look at her.

“What?” she stepped back. “No way. That’s too mushy.”

“Come on, Boss, join in!”

“Yeah, Boss, join the fun!”

“No.”

“Let’s go hug her!” Xiao Ma shouted. The group immediately swarmed toward her, and chaos erupted in the basement.

“Get away! Get away!” Cui Dong Dong shrieked as she ran around the table. “Are you trying to take advantage of me?! Xiao Luo, don’t pinch my butt!”

Xia Liu Yi stood there, watching them with a smile.

“Hey!” he suddenly called out. “Going to a fight m and drinking red wine? I’ll go get a crate of beer! We’ll drink up before we head out!”

“Alright!!”

Xia Liu Yi ran out of the basement alone. Black Chicken, standing guard in the hall, stepped forward, but Xia Liu Yi waved him off and went straight into the kitchen. Closing the door, he pulled out a crate of beer from a cabinet—then suddenly stopped.

Slowly, he crouched down, removed the jade Buddha pendant He Chu San had given him from his neck, and pressed it to his lips in a kiss. A single tear slid down his cheek, falling onto the crate.

He had once watched Xiao Ma fall off a cliff. He had seen the ruins after Cui Dong Dong’s villa exploded. That cold despair of losing loved ones was etched deep into his heart—how could he let his brothers and sisters risk their lives again?

If he saved A’San, only to lose the others… he did not know how he could bear such guilt.

Everything had begun because of him.

This was something he alone should face—and bring to an end.

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