On a night in July 1989, Xiao Man, whose mental state was collapsing day by day due to her depression medication being secretly swapped, stabbed Azure Dragon with a knife during a marital dispute and jumped from the roof of the villa in despair.
Azure Dragon, comatose from blood loss, was rushed to the hospital. At that time, mobile phones were still not widespread. Liu Yi was wearing headphones and listening to music in the Tan Xiang Pavilion, pretending to spend a passionate night with a hostess named Xiao He. He failed to notice the frantic vibrations of his pager. That night, the first person to arrive at Azure Dragon’s hospital room was A’Ying, carrying Azure Dragon’s twin blades in both hands.
The night was still deep, and a sliver of moonlight seeped through the gap in the tightly drawn curtains. In the dimness, A’Ying approached the bed step by step. Azure Dragon woke up from the anesthesia and opened his eyes slightly. Through his blurred vision, he saw the tall figure standing by the bed and the twin blades in his hands.
Azure Dragon let out a soft sigh. He did not yet know that Xiao Man had already jumped to her death, and her desperate and painful cries still echoed in his ears.
A woman who had deeply loved him for ten years did not understand why her husband always gave her care but could never give her true love. In the end, she discovered that he was actually deeply in love with her own younger brother. She did not know that her brother harbored the same affection; she only viewed this as something perverted, deformed, and predatory—akin to the molestation and harm their biological father had inflicted upon her brother. She could hardly believe that her husband actually harbored such indecent thoughts, and she fell into utter despair and collapse—perhaps she had harmed her husband merely to protect her poor younger brother.
Azure Dragon deeply understood her and felt a profound sense of guilt toward her. He did not blame Xiao Man for the knife strike that had nearly claimed his life; he only wished to explain things to her properly and offer her a sincere apology.
He also felt guilty toward the “Liu Yi” standing by his bed. It was his own weakness that made him agree to Liu Yi’s naive and cowardly request back then. It was his own ignorance that made him believe this was the best outcome for the three of them. It was he who had abandoned his true feelings and betrayed the vows he had made before the priest when he got married. It was he who had failed to take good care of Xiao Man.
Weakly, he made a sound in the dark, “Xiao Liu, it is my fault. Do not blame yourself…”
“Xiao Liu” silently kept his head down and looked at him. Filaments of moonlight fell upon the blade, reflecting a ghastly white glare.
“You are holding a blade… have you come to kill me?” he asked softly.
The other party still did not answer.
Azure Dragon closed his eyes in remorse and sighed, “I should have taken good care of Xiao Man. I should have loved her… but I could not do it… After all these years, I have tried very hard, but I just could not do it…”
“I am wondering if I was wrong… Back then, I should not have promised you that I would marry her…”
He slowly raised his hand, reaching out with a slight tremble toward that ice-cold blade. The pain and unattainable desire suppressed for many years were like a toxic ulcer, corroding his heart day by day. A bitter atmosphere filled his heart and lungs as he recalled Xiao Man’s desperate and frenzied expression from moments ago.
Exhausting all the strength in his body and the courage of a lifetime, he confessed amid his trembling breaths, “Xiao Liu, the one I like is you… Many years ago, I already fell in love with you…”
“Is that so?” a familiar and bone-chilling voice asked. “Do you really like him?” The voice gave a couple of cold laughs. “I am so foolish. When I just walked in, I was still thinking that this was not your fault, that the kid had deceived you. Those two siblings are just a pair of little vixen spirits who have spun you around in circles. I was even thinking of secretly sneaking you out of the hospital, putting a dead body here and burning it so that no one could recognize it. Then, we could stay together every day, eating together, playing together, going out to chop rivals together, and getting chopped together, just like twenty years ago. If that were the case, maybe after a while, you would forget those two little vixen spirits, and you could change back to the Azure Dragon of the past… Ha! Hahaha! It turns out it was all my wishful thinking!”
Azure Dragon recognized that voice. He let out a hoarse gasp of shock from his throat, but before it could form into words, the blade cleaved through the cold air and slid into his chest amidst the snow-like moonlight!
Azure Dragon’s breath was instantly severed in his lungs. He widened his eyes and looked at A’Ying’s face as he leaned in close. He saw the malice, jealousy, disappointment, and madness on the face of his sworn brother.
He opened his mouth, trying desperately to say something. However, A’Ying stared into his eyes with a hideous expression and slowly sawed the other blade into his abdomen.
Both blades were pressed to their deepest point, piercing through the bedboard and penetrating into the empty space beneath the bed. Blood overflowed from the corners of Azure Dragon’s mouth. He stared at his brother, unable to die in peace. A’Ying lowered his face, leaned close to his ear, and whispered, “Rest assured. Since you truly like him, as your sworn younger brother, I ought to fulfill the wishes of my elder brother. I will soon send him down to accompany you.”
…
A’Ying let go of his hands. He stood woodenly in the dark, watching the last trace of breath gradually fade from Azure Dragon. A thick, bloody stench pervaded the air, and a black liquid dripped down along the bedsheets, soaking the soles of his shoes.
Expressionless, he lifted his foot and rubbed his shoe against the corner of Azure Dragon’s blanket. He then pulled up the quilt, covering the twin blades still plunged inside Azure Dragon’s body.
He walked out of the hospital room calmly. Turning back to close the door, he said to the subordinates waiting outside, “Go find Xia Xiao Liu. If you cannot find him, notify his underlings to look for him. Be sure to lure him to the hospital as soon as possible.”
“Yes, sir!”
…
A’Ying’s plan was half successful. Liu Yi was lured to the hospital in the early morning of the next day, and A’Ying smoothly framed him for Azure Dragon’s death. Liu Yi jumped out of a window to escape, and A’Ying issued a jianghu bounty on the streets, offering a reward of one hundred thousand for Liu Yi’s life. All at once, the lowlifes of the underworld poured out. Regardless of whether it was for loyalty or for money, the priority was to kill Xia Xiao Liu, this treacherous bastard who had murdered his Boss.
To his surprise, however, not only did Xia Xiao Liu manage to evade capture, but A’Ying was also unable to find the Dragon Head Ledger—one of the symbols of the transfer of power that recorded the transaction history of the Xiao Qi Hall over the years. The Dragon Head Staff, used for re-electing the boss, also failed to appear. He did not know which of the several elders was the staff-bearer. He suspected Elder Yuan the most, though it was also possible that the staff-bearer was the fugitive Xia Xiao Liu.
As the days passed, he increasingly felt that something was wrong. Although he was overseeing the gang’s affairs as the Acting Hall Master, he could not take any real action without the ledger or the company’s official seal. Elder Yuan, who had vowed to support his rise to power, became increasingly ambiguous in his attitude. Several elders also expressed doubt that Liu Yi, who had been raised by Azure Dragon, would murder him. They demanded that Liu Yi’s life be spared so they could hear him account for the facts personally. Golden Maitreya on the other side gave no response to his notifications either. Fat Seven and Inspector Hua, who had previously agreed to support his ascension, still maintained contact with him, but as his hands and feet were tied and he could achieve nothing, the two also began to show signs of disappointment and cold neglect.
After two weeks that felt like years, he finally received news of Liu Yi. A subordinate came to report that a student boy who had previously associated with Liu Yi had secretly attempted to throw a bag of blood-stained clothes out of the Walled City. He had been caught red-handed by patrolling Xiao Qi Hall henchmen.
A’Ying personally received this student boy. The youth had thin arms and skinny legs, with a face so lean and pale that he had not yet grown into the shape of a man at all. He shrank timidly into the corner clutching the blood-stained clothes, looking like a frightened little lamb.
“Little brother, do not be afraid,” A’Ying said to him amiably. “Tell the Big Boss, whose clothes are in this bag? You have no injuries on you, so these certainly are not yours.”
The student boy looked at him timidly and said, “I… my father has a bad stomach. This is what he threw up…”
Before he could finish his sentence, one of A’Ying’s henchmen knocked him over! “Who the hell are you kidding?! Your dad coughs up two pounds of blood in one go?! Does he have a stomach or a blood gourd?!”
The student boy picked himself up pitifully, bumping his head against the corner of a nearby table and forming a large bruise on his forehead. He was so terrified that tears pooled in his eyes, and he said tearfully, “It really is my father’s… Ah!!”
The henchman fed a fist directly into his stomach! The student boy groaned, clutched his stomach, and collapsed to the ground, instantly breaking into a cold sweat from the pain. Hissing for air as he looked up at the crowd, he heard the henchman say fiercely, “This is what a fucking bad stomach looks like! How many pounds do you want to throw up?!”
“That is enough,” A’Ying waved his hand to dismiss the henchman. He pulled out a dagger and placed it on the table. “Little brother, I am in a bad mood right now and do not have time to chat with you slowly. If you tell one more lie, I will slice open your belly and pull out your stomach to show it to you.”
…
The student boy honestly confessed everything. He said the Twin Blade Red Pole had been hiding in his home for some time and had entrusted him to throw the blood-stained clothes at a pier closest to the Walled City to fake an escape by sea. He also added that the Twin Blade Red Pole had asked him for directions this morning, appearing to look for a secluded path to sneak into the Xiao Qi Film Company inside the Walled City.
A’Ying knew in his heart that Liu Yi was definitely going there to find something important—if not the ledger, then the Dragon Head Staff. No, the Dragon Head Staff could not save his puny life; it was undoubtedly the ledger. He immediately led men to stake out the Xiao Qi Film Company personally. Sure enough, that evening, they caught Liu Yi as he snuck back there.
After a fierce argument and fight, A’Ying discovered that he had walked into an ambush. The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. It turned out Liu Yi had deliberately lured him to the film company so that the gang’s elders and brothers could see his true colors clearly. At some unknown point, his henchmen had been held at gunpoint one after another. Elder Yuan, supported by Cui Dong Dong, walked in through the door with a large group of people.
The moment A’Ying saw Elder Yuan, his heart sank violently, and he understood completely.
—Elder Yuan never intended to help him take power at all.
He had an arrogant and domineering disposition, doing things his own way. All along, no one except Azure Dragon could suppress him. How could someone as deeply calculating as Elder Yuan, who had secretly controlled Azure Dragon for years, foster such an disobedient person to be the dragon-head boss?
Elder Yuan wanted to use him to kill Azure Dragon, incite him and Liu Yi to kill each other, and sit on the sidelines to watch the tigers fight. If Liu Yi died, Elder Yuan would expose the fact that he had murdered Azure Dragon and eliminate him as well, choosing another puppet to be the boss. If Liu Yi happened to survive, Elder Yuan would still expose his murder of Azure Dragon and then support Liu Yi’s rise to power—the young, green, naive, and gullible Liu Yi was Elder Yuan’s first choice!
And even if he were to expose Elder Yuan now, everyone would only see him as a desperate mad dog turning to bite Elder Yuan. No one would believe a word he said!
It turned out that in this play, from beginning to end, he was nothing more than a jumping clown manipulated by others!
His hope was completely extinguished and his despair was absolute. His hatred also burned to the ultimate degree. He wanted to drag Liu Yi down to die with him, to serve as a stepping stone on the road to the yellow springs! Yet he met with Liu Yi’s counterattack and was shot himself instead! He was pinned to the ground by a group of people. Elder Yuan pulled out a short knife from the Dragon-Head Staff and threw it to him, demanding that the gang’s discipline be enforced and that he perform three stabs and six holes on himself to end his own life.
Three stabs and six holes—how could he accept that?!
He grabbed the short knife and struck out with all his might, aiming to kill Elder Yuan, the true culprit. However, he was kicked to the ground by Cui Dong Dong who was beside Elder Yuan. Liu Yi picked up the short knife and plunged it into his chest, pinning him firmly to the ground!
He widened his eyes and looked at Liu Yi with a ferocious expression, their eyes locking in the air with extreme hatred. He was consumed by far too much hate. He looked at this bewitching face; they both possessed extraordinary looks, and he was not inferior. Why did Azure Dragon like this kid? Why did Azure Dragon neglect him and abandon him for the sake of this kid?
He had harbored selfish motives and had been greedy for profit, but his loyalty and affection for Azure Dragon were clear enough for heaven and earth to see, and the sun and moon to witness. Sharing twenty years of trials and tribulations together—how many twenty-year periods are there in a person’s life? On what basis did Azure Dragon say that he had “too much scheming, and cannot be fully trusted”?! On what basis did he give all the trust that should have belonged entirely to him to this kid who had cut in halfway?
Clearly, it was he and Azure Dragon who had kowtowed and drank blood together before heaven and earth. Why was it this kid standing by Azure Dragon’s side, squeezing out the position that originally belonged to him?
He did not know what the bitterness, remorse, and sorrow mixed within his towering resentment at this moment were for.
He recalled the look in Azure Dragon’s eyes right before he died: shocked, pained, and filled with disbelief. Azure Dragon had never thought he would die by his saber; Azure Dragon had not expected his resentment and malice.
Had Azure Dragon really said that sentence?
Azure Dragon had expressed remorse before dying, saying he should not have married Xiao Man. That dying confession proved that he and Liu Yi had never truly connected their hearts, proving that he and Liu Yi had never engaged in a real lover’s relationship. If that was not true, then could Azure Dragon’s evaluation that “Xu Ying has too much scheming and cannot be fully trusted” also just be a lie fabricated by Elder Yuan to drive a wedge between them?
Could it be that from beginning to end, Azure Dragon actually trusted him deeply, and even if he liked Liu Yi, he still retained an affection for him that surpassed anyone else?
What exactly was the sentence that Azure Dragon had failed to voice?
He would never be able to hear it now.
He struggled to lock his hands onto Liu Yi’s throat. Liu Yi pressed down on the blood-stained hilt and twisted it fiercely! A bizarre gurgle sounded from his throat, and his trembling hands left ten bloody fingernail prints on Liu Yi’s neck, “Xia… Xiao… Liu…”
Leaning close to Liu Yi’s ear, he said fiercely, “I want you to never know… how Azure Dragon died…”
He wanted Liu Yi to know that he was not the only one who caused Azure Dragon’s death. Find the others who caused Azure Dragon’s death and kill them. On the road to the yellow springs, he would wait for them, and then carry their heads to see Azure Dragon together.
No, perhaps in the next life, the life after that, forever and for all generations, Azure Dragon would never want to see this brother of his again. After all, being brothers belongs to this life, and there is no next life. After all, he was such a lousy and despicable younger brother.
They had once agreed to be born on the same day and die on the same day. In the end, he had still arrived late.
He suddenly lunged upward, thrusting the blade held in Liu Yi’s hand entirely into his own body! A mouthful of blood sprayed a crimson mist across the air. Carrying remorse and unwillingness, he finally breathed his last.
In the very last instant before his death, he saw the silhouette of Azure Dragon running. That was the night Azure Dragon’s father was murdered. He had broken into Azure Dragon’s home alone to save him. They were blocked in a narrow and cramped alley. He blocked a knife strike for Azure Dragon, and Azure Dragon carried him on his back and ran forward. The sound of the wind, the heartbeat, and Azure Dragon’s heavy breathing—that night was so damn beautiful. He lay on Azure Dragon’s back, gently resting his face close to the back of Azure Dragon’s neck.
If his life had ended at that moment, dying on the day when Azure Dragon liked him the absolute most and felt the absolute most distressed for him, how wonderful that would have been.
…
Brothers, END.
Futile Devices Scans 
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