Xie Jia Hua wanted to take Lu Guang Ming back to the police station to give a statement, but Lu Guang Ming refused to go. “There’s no need for Inspector Xie to trouble himself opening a case over such a small matter. If it ends up being traced back to one of your own, wouldn’t that make the police lose face?”
Xie Jia Hua’s temper flared. Grabbing him by the back of his collar, he dragged him toward the car. “Even if it was the police who did it, I’ll still give you justice!”
“Hey, don’t pull me, hey.” Lu Guang Ming struggled in his tiger claws like a little lamb and was pushed to the car with ease. “I’m dirty. I’ll get your car dirty…”
Xie Jia Hua pulled open the passenger door and sent him inside with one push of his tiger palm. “Shut up!”
Once the door closed and the key turned, Xie Jia Hua locked him inside the car and stayed outside for about five minutes before getting into the driver’s seat. Lu Guang Ming had been unable to get out no matter how he slapped the door, and was currently leaning crookedly in the passenger seat, enduring the pain while wiping his wounds. Seeing Xie Jia Hua get in, he immediately changed into a wicked smile. “Inspector Xie, I really don’t have time to go to the police station. I have a meeting first thing tomorrow morning, and I want to hurry home and sleep. Be accommodating and let me go.”
“Where do you live?”
“Huh?”
“I’ll take you back.”
“Huh?”
…
Streetlights and neon flashed past the window one after another as the car gradually left the city center and drove toward remote, rundown roads. Lu Guang Ming rolled down the window, but still could not cover up the thick stench of garbage and rot inside the car—his whole body was filthy, and a puddle of rotten egg and several bits of broken eggshell still hung from his shoulder. He turned his eyes slightly and sneaked a glance at Xie Jia Hua. Xie Jia Hua seemed not to smell anything at all, his expression unchanged as he drove.
“Inspector Xie…”
“I don’t want to hear you talk. Shut up,” Xie Jia Hua said.
Lu Guang Ming turned his head toward the window and blinked into the blackness of dusk. He knew Xie Jia Hua hated him even more than he hated rotten eggs, but seeing him in trouble, Xie Jia Hua still forced himself to endure the disgust in his heart and the stink on Lu Guang Ming’s body to send him home.
He slumped crookedly against the seat, blinked at the pitch-black dusk, and thought: no wonder Brother Jia Qi liked this person so much.
Toward Xie Jia Hua, what he had felt at first was jealous hatred and suspicion, then teasing and curiosity. After that chaotic night confirmed Xie Jia Hua’s sincerity toward Brother Jia Qi, there was also an added trace of strange feeling that even he himself could not explain clearly.
Before falling asleep at night, he would occasionally think of Xie Jia Hua too. In a cold, dark world, if someone like this were sleeping beside him, perhaps it would be a little warmer?
…
The car stopped beneath an old and crowded residential building. The two of them walked one after another up the dark stairwell, their feet stepping on garbage spread out everywhere and making piercing creaks. Wastepaper and broken junk collected by residents were piled in the corridor, and little mice passing by let out low squeaks. Lu Guang Ming, walking in front, stepped on a banana peel and slipped, only to be caught fully in Xie Jia Hua’s arms from behind.
The two of them were awkward for a moment in the darkness. Xie Jia Hua quickly pushed him back and could not help speaking. “How do you live in a place like this? Doesn’t the ICAC pay you? Didn’t you apply for staff quarters?”
“Saves money. More freedom.” Lu Guang Ming’s expression was as usual as he took out his key and opened the door. “Anywhere else, you can’t rent a place this big for eight hundred dollars.”
He turned on the lights. Xie Jia Hua saw that the interior was more than three hundred square feet, which indeed counted as “big” in Hong Kong, where every inch of land was worth gold. Unlike the filth and crowding outside, Lu Guang Ming had tidied this little room until it was very neat and clean—but perhaps it was too clean. Aside from a bed, a square table and chair, and several cardboard boxes, there was almost nothing in the room. In the corner by the wall, cardboard had been used to construct a small darkroom, where several photographs hung inside. The curtains were tightly closed. The bedsheets, quilt cover, and curtains were all a dull gray-black.
Xie Jia Hua stood at the doorway and looked around in surprise. He had never seen such an empty, cold, lifeless “home.” Meanwhile, Lu Guang Ming had gone off on his own to the balcony to change clothes—his home did not even have a wardrobe, and the few sets of clothes he owned were all hung out to dry on the balcony. As he took off his shirt, he raised his muffled voice from inside the clothes. “Thank you for sending me back. If you’re done touring, I won’t see you off. Help me close the door.”
A short while later, the sound of the door closing was heard. Lu Guang Ming took off his shirt, kicked off his dirty shoes and socks, and walked back into the room bare-chested and barefoot, only to discover that Xie Jia Hua was still in his home—crouched on the floor, going through his cardboard boxes.
“Inspector Xie? You’re actually looking at ICAC secrets this openly?”
“What secrets?” Xie Jia Hua set down several thank-you letters from welfare homes with a cold face. “Do you have disinfectant? I’ll help you treat your wounds.”
Lu Guang Ming froze for a moment. Then his eyes turned, and he smiled. “I do. Come over here.”
Xie Jia Hua had only just come closer when Lu Guang Ming pounced and knocked him onto the bed! Lu Guang Ming lay on top of him, smug and triumphant, his bare chest burrowing into Xie Jia Hua’s arms. “Inspector Xie, you insisted on sending me right to my door and now you’re refusing to leave. Could it be that you want to do this?”
He reached out to touch Xie Jia Hua’s second brother, only for Xie Jia Hua to fling him away at once! He swung one long leg and straddled Xie Jia Hua’s waist again. Xie Jia Hua pressed his hands against Lu Guang Ming’s bare, warm skin and pushed once but failed to push him away—Lu Guang Ming was covered in bruises from the group beating just now, and Xie Jia Hua truly could not bring himself to use a heavy hand—so he could only shout in fury, “Lu Guang Ming! You’re simply unreasonable!”
Lu Guang Ming’s face was thicker than a city wall. As he peeled at Xie Jia Hua’s pants, he lowered his head and planted a big kiss on his face. “Xie Jia Hua, what’s wrong with admitting desire? Didn’t you feel pretty good that night? I know you don’t like me, and I don’t like you either, but liking each other’s bodies is enough. Why don’t we become fuck buddies?”
Xie Jia Hua was so angry his handsome face flushed bright red. Since he could not bring himself to strike him with his fists, he simply grabbed the pillow beside him and flung it into Lu Guang Ming’s face. Taking advantage of Lu Guang Ming toppling over onto the bed, he hurriedly pulled up his pants and jumped far away, then strode in large steps to flee toward the door.
When he looked back, he wanted to curse Lu Guang Ming out a few more times, but he was never good at saying vicious things in the first place. And then he saw Lu Guang Ming’s pale face, his body covered in mottled bruises and swelling, and the wound on his forehead seeping blood again—he truly did not know why this madman still had the leisure to mess with people when he was injured like this!
Afraid that if he stayed any longer, he would be unable to stop himself from beating Lu Guang Ming to death with a flurry of punches, and to avoid causing a bloody disaster, he could only slam the door with a dark face and run!
Lu Guang Ming alone was left kneeling on the bed, laughing loudly at the door. After laughing for a long while, he raised his hand and touched the blood on his forehead. Even he himself did not understand what he was doing. He only felt extremely happy, yet also felt a tiny, indescribable trace of sourness. He applied no medicine at all, casually turned off the light, curled into the quilt, hugged the pillow Xie Jia Hua had just hit him with, and fell asleep.
…
Xie Jia Hua was so angry he had nightmares all night. The next day, he went with the convoy to arrest a fugitive with two dark circles under his eyes. His subordinates had followed him for several years and knew that he was cold-faced but soft-hearted, so the group chattered in the car as they showed concern for him.
“Boss, why does your complexion look so bad? You didn’t rest well last night, did you?”
“Chief Xu was invited by those ICAC bastards to ‘drink tea,’ so all the work has been piled onto Boss. How could Boss not be tired?”
“The ICAC is too arrogant! I heard they took away Officer Wang from Team B again yesterday. Team B is in total chaos now. They don’t even know who’s leading the team for today’s operation!”
“Fuck, they’re practically lawless! I really want to throw a sack over their heads and beat them up!”
“What nonsense are you saying!” Xie Jia Hua slammed a fist against the car window. “Do you not want that police uniform you’re wearing anymore?!”
“All right, all right, I won’t say it. Boss, be gentler. If the car window breaks, those foreigners from the Political Department will come looking for trouble again. Did you forget what happened last time when you smashed two tables in the interrogation room…”
The group chattered as they got out of the car. Once they entered the area where the fugitive was hiding, they all immediately became solemn. This time, the fugitive was utterly vicious, having fled into the mountains after killing and robbing. The colleagues in charge of the case requested support from headquarters, and headquarters dispatched Xie Jia Hua to lead a team over. Also accompanying them were the men from Team B, who had just had their superior taken away by the ICAC and were currently without a leader.
Outside the encirclement, several members of Team B bent at the waist and approached Xie Jia Hua in a line. The man at the front said in a low voice, “Inspector Xie, I’m A’Huang from Team B. The higher-ups told us to follow your command for this operation.”
Xie Jia Hua glanced at him. His gaze paused on an obvious scrape on the man’s cheek, then he looked at the other brothers beside him, whose faces also bore varying degrees of injury, and said calmly, “All right. Come with me.”
…
Three hours later, the fugitive was arrested, and the mission was completed successfully. More than twenty police officers, all disheveled and dusty, escorted two fugitives as they climbed out from below the hillside. Everyone was panting while tidying their police appearance. Seeing Team B’s A’Huang wipe sweat as he passed by, Xie Jia Hua suddenly reached out and stopped him.
“What is it, Inspector Xie?”
“There’s mud on the wound on your face.” Xie Jia Hua took out a new handkerchief and personally wiped his face for him. “Good work. Go back to the car and put medicine on it. Rest for a while.”
A’Huang thanked him repeatedly and got back into the car. Xie Jia Hua remained outside the car alone and, while no one was around, took out a small evidence bag, folded that handkerchief neatly, and slipped it inside.
Futile Devices Scans 
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