Xie Jia Hua’s body was thrown against the wall with the gunshot. He collapsed to the floor and stared down at his own chest in shock. A bullet hole had torn through his suit, while a bullet was embedded in the body armor beneath it. He could hardly believe his own father had actually fired at him. With difficulty, he lifted his head and stared at Xie Ying Jie.
Xie Ying Jie approached with the gun in hand and said coldly, “Don’t look at me like that. I knew you were wearing body armor. You stopped trusting me a long time ago. Does your chest hurt? This is what it feels like to be betrayed and hurt by the person closest to you. I wanted you to taste it too.”
The point-blank shot had broken Xie Jia Hua’s ribs. Fighting through the pain, he gasped, “You betrayed and hurt me long ago—ten years ago, when you murdered Jia Qi; twenty years ago, when you robbed and killed people… You’re unworthy of being a father. You’re unworthy of being a police officer…”
“You’re not much of a son either,” Xie Ying Jie said coldly. “You think I didn’t know you were filthy with Tang Jia Qi, and then with that Lu brat too? That spirit tablet around the boy’s neck belonged to Tang Jia Qi. You gave it to him, didn’t you? You filthy thing who fucks men in the ass!”
“I love the person I love. It’s only right and natural… You’re the one whose blood is rotten all the way to the bone…”
Xie Ying Jie kicked him hard directly in his injury. Xie Jia Hua grunted and collapsed onto the floor. Two security guards immediately rushed in, hauled him upright between them, cuffed his hands, and stuffed cloth into his mouth. Xie Ying Jie accepted a brick phone from one of the guards and dialed while saying, “Don’t worry. I can’t bear to kill you. After raising you for more than thirty years, even a dog should have learned obedience by now. I’ll drug your brain until you’re stupid and take you overseas. From then on, you’ll stay beside me and be my obedient son.”
Into the phone he ordered, “Throw that Lu brat into the freezer! Put the He brat in there with him!”
The moment Xie Jia Hua heard this, he began struggling and roaring through the gag with all his strength, desperately trying to ram himself into his father. One of the guards smashed a gun butt into his head and knocked him unconscious.
Several voices on the other end of the phone asked rapid questions. Xie Ying Jie frowned and cast a cold look at Xie Jia Hua’s hanging head. “Everyone withdraw. We leave tonight!” As soon as he finished speaking, he tossed the brick phone into the air and fired. The shot blasted it apart.
…
Xie Ying Jie did not even have time to change out of his robe. His group hurried downstairs, dragging Xie Jia Hua with them. Auntie Liang, who was in the living room, and Uncle Liang, who had rushed over after hearing the gunshot, both stared at them in terrified confusion. “Master! What are you doing?!” Auntie Liang cried. “What did Young Master do wrong?!”
She rushed forward to stop them, but a guard’s cold gun barrel immediately pointed at her forehead. She trembled with fear. Uncle Liang, having understood what was happening, dropped to his knees with a thud and begged Xie Ying Jie through tears. “Master! We don’t know anything! We won’t say anything! Please let us go back to the countryside! Or we can go with you! We can still serve you! We—” Bang—!
Blood blossomed from the middle of his forehead, and his corpse crashed heavily to the floor. Auntie Liang screamed in horror. Another gunshot followed immediately, and her body collapsed at Xie Ying Jie’s feet as well. Without any expression, Xie Ying Jie stepped over her and strode toward the front door. Several guards opened it and raised umbrellas. The group dragged Xie Jia Hua toward the van outside.
But after walking only a few steps, Xie Ying Jie suddenly stopped. A red targeting dot had appeared on his chest.
Startled, Xie Ying Jie shoved away the guard holding the umbrella over him. Torrential rain poured over his head and face—and allowed him to see everything around him. Every security guard outside the courtyard had vanished. The entire property was surrounded by police officers carrying sniper rifles from the Special Duties Unit. Red targeting dots covered not only him, but every person standing behind him.
Elio’s Notes: The Hong Kong Police Force’s Special Duties Unit, or SDU, is popularly known as the “Flying Tigers.” It is an elite tactical unit trained for high-risk armed operations.
The iron gate to the courtyard opened. Behind a ballistic shield, a police officer raised an umbrella. The blond, blue-eyed “Number One” stuck his head out and lifted a loudhailer. His awkward Cantonese immediately echoed through the courtyard.
“John! You have nowhere left to run. Surrender!”
Xie Ying Jie turned in shock toward Xie Jia Hua. At that moment, the pouring rain also roused Xie Jia Hua from unconsciousness. With difficulty, he raised his head. Xie Ying Jie glared at him with hatred and shouted back toward “Number One,” “Sir! On what charge are you arresting me?! On what grounds did you sign an arrest warrant?! Those account records and recording tapes my son gave you? That photograph?! They’re all fabricated! The photograph only proves that I knew those two men years ago. What else does it prove?! My son has gone insane! Everything he says is nonsense! He has no evidence! No witnesses!”
“He does!” A cold, forceful voice suddenly came through the loudhailer. “He has Xiao Qi Hall’s Dragon Head Ledger covering the past twenty years. Hidden inside the ledger is the original of that photograph. The ledger records not only the truth behind the 1974 bank robbery, but also the amounts paid in bribes to you over the past twenty years by successive Dragon Heads of Xiao Qi Hall, through Inspector Hua, Qiao Chun An, and others. Most importantly, he has me as a tainted witness. For years I dealt with you personally and paid you enormous bribes in exchange for your protection while I expanded the society. As the current Dragon Head of Xiao Qi Hall, I identify you as the very ‘Old Shopkeeper’ who has controlled Hong Kong’s underworld all these years!”
Elio’s Notes: “Tainted witness” is a term used in Hong Kong anti-corruption and criminal proceedings for a witness who was personally implicated in wrongdoing but gives evidence against other offenders.
Xie Ying Jie looked toward the source of the voice in shock. Beyond the layers of rain, beside “Number One,” Xia Liu Yi slowly stepped into view. His fierce, wolf-like gaze pierced through the night and drove straight into Xie Ying Jie’s eyes.
Xia Liu Yi walked out from behind the shield one step at a time. A pair of handcuffs was locked around his wrists. Although Xia Liu Yi was the one physically restrained, the invisible net seemed instead to be tightening around Xie Ying Jie’s throat with every step Xia Liu Yi took.
“You can’t escape, Shopkeeper!” Xia Liu Yi shouted. “Tell us where He Chu San is, and you can still receive leniency!”
Xie Ying Jie reacted as though he had heard the greatest joke in the world and began chuckling. “Leniency? Do you think I’m a three-year-old child? You think I’m like a stupid, pathetic gangster like you? I am the Deputy Commissioner of Police!! Whoever I want alive lives. Whoever I want dead dies. Those who obey me prosper; those who defy me perish! I can do anything! Hahahahaha!!”
He laughed madly, then his face twisted viciously. “I will never go to prison! He Chu San means that much to you? So much that you would turn yourself in just to help my idiot son? To help him find his Lu Guang Ming too? Fine! Then I’ll make sure none of you ever see either of them again!”
His gun hand suddenly rose—but instead of aiming at Xia Liu Yi, he pressed the barrel against his own temple. Xia Liu Yi instantly lunged toward him. Bang—!
After the gunshot, Xia Liu Yi opened his eyes from where he had fallen. Xie Ying Jie lay in the mud, black blood flowing down from the top of his head and dissolving into the rain. Reality and hallucination overlapped in a horrifying instant, and Xia Liu Yi’s heart nearly stopped from terror. He threw himself forward, grabbed Xie Ying Jie by the collar, and screamed, “You’re not allowed to die!! Where is A’San?! Tell me!! Where is A’San?!”
A weak groan suddenly came from Xie Ying Jie’s throat. Xia Liu Yi jolted and realized that his tackle had knocked the shot off course. The bullet had only wounded the top of Xie Ying Jie’s head. Xia Liu Yi seized the gun and shoved the barrel against Xie Ying Jie’s throat. “Where is A’San?!”
Xie Ying Jie was too dazed by the injury to answer. Xia Liu Yi shifted the muzzle and shot him in one arm. Flesh burst apart in an instant, and Xie Ying Jie let out a piercing scream.
“Xia Liu Yi! Stop!” “Number One’s” warning rang from the loudhailer. The red targeting dots moved away from Xie Ying Jie and settled across Xia Liu Yi instead.
But Xia Liu Yi ignored them completely. He aimed at Xie Ying Jie’s other arm and screamed himself hoarse. “WHERE IS A’SAN?!!”
Xie Jia Hua staggered over from behind and placed himself in front of his father. Xia Liu Yi pressed the gun against Xie Jia Hua’s chest. His eyes were blood-red; rage had completely stripped away his reason. Xie Jia Hua shook his head frantically with muffled mmph, mmph sounds before forcing the gag from his mouth. “Calm down! Listen to me! They’re at the cold storage! At the cold storage!”
“Which cold storage?!!”
“I know! Sam Wah Cold Storage! It’s where he killed Jia Qi! He wants the two of them to suffer the same way!”
Xia Liu Yi threw the gun aside and strode away. Xie Jia Hua looked once at his father, who was still groaning on the ground. Irredeemable grief and hatred filled his eyes. Then he turned and hurried after Xia Liu Yi.