Jin Xiaoquan’s death had all but severed his links to the Heaven-Measuring Ruler. Unconfirmed intelligence placed Jin Xiuhe in Country M, and the relationship between them was more than a simple superior-subordinate arrangement.
Country M seemed to be the Heaven-Measuring Ruler’s brain. Numerous tentacles fought one another while committing their own crimes, and Jin Xiaoquan had merely been a sucker attached to one of those tentacles. With him gone, another would quickly replace him. Even cutting off the tentacle itself wouldn’t be enough. To destroy the Heaven-Measuring Ruler completely, they had to destroy its “brain.” An operation confined to Han Province, or even to Hua Country, would never accomplish that.
An operation abroad, however, meant countless reports and meetings, along with securing international cooperation. Ming Han and Zhou Jue had both recovered from their injuries, but the feedback the Mobile Unit received was discouraging. Their superiors had not approved Lu Hejing’s application.
The younger officers had been eager at first. Now the cold water poured over their hopes left everyone frustrated.
“We’ve investigated this far. How can they still say our reasons for operating abroad aren’t sufficient?” Zhou Jue complained. “Keep dragging this out, and we’ll have new drugs and more crimes on our hands. Just watch!”
“Exactly,” Wen Wu muttered.
Ming Han glanced at Chen Zheng, who was calmly drinking tea. He’d filched it from Lu Hejing’s office, and the way he sipped it was every inch the seasoned, unflappable old official.
Ming Han couldn’t help laughing. Chen Zheng heard him and shot him a glance. Ming Han cleared his throat and sat properly upright.
Unlike the restless younger officers, the senior officers were calmer even than Chen Zheng, as though they’d expected the higher-ups not to agree so easily. Nor did they intend to give up.
Tang Xiaoli offered a few words of reassurance. They were still looking for ways to make it happen, hoping to join forces with other provinces and cities harmed by Black Mark. Because an operation might be approved at any moment, the Mobile Unit had to remain ready throughout this period.
After the meeting, Chen Zheng stayed behind. “Have you heard anything from Han Qu lately?”
Ming Han had been reaching for his jacket, but he turned toward Chen Zheng and Lu Hejing. Lu shook his head. “Judging by the clues he sent back about Hutian Hotel, he’s already gotten close to the Heaven-Measuring Ruler’s ‘brain.’ But then we lost contact again. My guess is that he may have made it to Southeast Asia ahead of us.”
Chen Zheng frowned. “He’s going it alone?”
From what Chen Zheng knew of Han Qu, he was perfectly capable of doing just that. The trouble was that they couldn’t leave the country to support him. Han Qu might already have allied himself with one of the Heaven-Measuring Ruler’s factions, but that was a double-edged sword. In tearing the organization open, he could scarcely avoid being wounded by the blade’s other edge.
“I was the one who put him on the board. However he chooses to make his moves, all I can do is trust him.” Lu Hejing sighed. “Go home. I’ll inform you the moment there’s news.”
Spring had settled over Luocheng. Rain had fallen that morning, and once the sun came out, the air filled with the scent of grass wet by rain and warmed by the breeze. Outside the Provincial Department, the landscaping was a cloud of pink blossoms, vibrant against the brilliant blue sky.
Ming Han went into a convenience store to buy batteries because the gas meter at home had gone flat. Chen Zheng waited by the road, watching petals drift through the air and letting his mind go blank. Suddenly someone caught his finger. Before he could turn, a whole hand closed around his. Ming Han claimed it possessively, pushing between Chen Zheng’s fingers until theirs were interlaced, then swinging their joined hands twice for good measure.
“What’s gotten into you?” Chen Zheng asked.
“Bro, isn’t Han Qu kind of your white moonlight?”
Chen Zheng froze. Then he pulled his hand away and thumped Ming Han on the back. “Have you got water in your brain?”
Ming Han winced and began counting on his fingers. “Han Qu, white moonlight number one. The former captain of your Luocheng Major Crimes Team, number two. Forensic Doctor Xu, number three. And then there’s your childhood friend and Little Uncle…”
Before he could get any more outrageous, Chen Zheng put him in a headlock. “Will you ever stop?”
“But people really do love you easily, and you’re good at giving love back. I haven’t said anything wrong.” Ming Han was so tall, yet he quietly submitted to Chen Zheng’s hold, almost like a man wearing a collar.
Chen Zheng studied him. Catching the fleeting unease in his eyes, his expression softened. He let go and cupped Ming Han’s face in both hands.
“White moonlight number one was in my year. A teammate I admired. Number two was my most dependable subordinate, but he has a boyfriend, and that boyfriend happens to be a hacker. Keep talking nonsense and his jealous boyfriend might hack your bank card.” Chen Zheng started laughing at himself. Ming Han was being absurd out of jealousy, and here he was joining in. “Number three is married. As for numbers four and five… I can’t believe you even said that.”
Ming Han raised an eyebrow. “So when you put it that way, number one is still the biggest threat.”
Chen Zheng understood. Ming Han had been joking about the others, but when he brought up Han Qu, the jealousy had been very real.
“What do you propose, then?” Chen Zheng said. “Catch him and give him a beating?”
Ming Han suddenly hugged him. “Bro, I’ll do everything I can to bring Han Qu back. I’ll make him apologize to you properly. I won’t let him die.”
Chen Zheng was startled. He wanted to say that he didn’t need Han Qu’s apology, but Ming Han looked so earnest that he didn’t know how to argue.
“Because if your white moonlight dies, he’ll truly become a white moonlight.” Ming Han’s lips curved. “I won’t let that happen.” Then he strode away with a flourish.
Chen Zheng stood stunned for two seconds before dropping his head with a smile and quickly following.
By the end of March, the Heaven-Measuring Ruler seemed to have vanished without a trace. Following Jin Xiaoquan’s death, a number of Azure Sky Cult followers had been arrested. They were pitiful people at the very bottom of the Heaven-Measuring Ruler’s food chain, and the police had obtained no important intelligence from them.
On April 1, two emails were simultaneously sent to Liang Yueze and Lu Hejing, almost like an April Fools’ joke.
The seemingly quiet sea of hidden currents erupted into towering waves.
Ming Han watched the man appearing in the video, his pupils gradually contracting. “Bu Yangyun?”
The sender was indeed Bu Yangyun. His hair had gone mostly gray, but he looked in good spirits, certainly not as downtrodden as the police had once imagined. Wherever he was, the weather seemed warm. He wore a navy-blue patterned short-sleeved shirt, shorts, and slippers, looking utterly at ease, as though on a seaside holiday.
At the beginning of the video, he smiled at the camera. “Officers of Han Province, and my dear son Shenghan, hello. I know you’ve been looking for me for some time.”
Ming Han clenched his fists. Beside him, Chen Zheng repeatedly stroked his arm.
Bu Yangyun had made his living from his looks when he was young, and even now his appearance and bearing were outstanding for his age. After a few pleasantries, he dropped the smile and revealed his purpose. “I know you’re investigating me. My relationship with the Heaven-Measuring Ruler and with the Liang family. You’ve surely already worked out why I gave up my thriving business in Hua Country, moved to Country G, and started over.”
He narrowed his eyes. “When I was young, I thought I could do anything. I was easily seduced by the Heaven-Measuring Ruler and became one of its countless tentacles. I’ll admit I benefited immensely, just like Huo Xiling, whom you’ve already investigated. Incidentally, she was an ally of mine back then and is now a fellow sufferer.”
As though to demonstrate his “sincerity,” Bu Yangyun recounted how he’d been recruited as one of the Heaven-Measuring Ruler’s branches, gained access to its money, and risen step by step. His handler had been Jin Chiya, a name Huo Xiling had already mentioned. Jin Chiya was naturally not his real name either. But compared with Jin Xiaoquan and Jin Xiuhe at the time, Jin Chiya’s faction had been vastly more powerful. It was a direct faction under Jin Wu, the true master of the Heaven-Measuring Ruler.
That was why Jin Chiya could mobilize more resources than anyone else. Back in those years, whatever Bu Yangyun wanted, whoever he wanted dead, Jin Chiya could arrange it.
“Including arranging for Yunquan Group’s current head and next heir to die overseas,” Bu Yangyun said with the air of a man who’d seen it all.
He was at pains to explain that he hadn’t been the main instigator of the Jinsi Island case. Yunquan Group had been planning to expand into technology, but it was an enormous field, and at least at the time the expansion hadn’t threatened the particular projects he’d been developing. The most frightened person had been Huo Xiling. If Yunquan Group gained a foothold in the industry, it could crush Weihai Technology with a single step.
Huo Xiling wanted Yunquan Group ruined more than anyone. But she couldn’t determine the Heaven-Measuring Ruler’s decisions by herself. The reason Jin Chiya wanted the Liang family dead had more to do with the organization’s future expansion in Hua Country. The Heaven-Measuring Ruler needed entrepreneurs like himself and Huo Xiling, people who profited from it, the more the better. Yunquan Group, however, was a giant it couldn’t control.
“So we little foot soldiers were unfairly caught up in it all, really. We benefited when the Liang family fell, certainly, but the Heaven-Measuring Ruler itself wanted it done. We were simply swept along.” Bu Yangyun spread his hands helplessly, as though he truly were innocent.
After that, Bu Yangyun had grown increasingly wary of Jin Chiya and wanted to free himself from the Heaven-Measuring Ruler’s control, but it was already too late. He’d seen Jin Chiya shoot an insubordinate subordinate in person. It had been a warning to everyone else.
Still, he had one possible way out. The Heaven-Measuring Ruler’s power was concentrated in East and Southeast Asia. Rumor had it that the organization had a thin presence in Country A in North America too, but it had gained no foothold in Europe. Having witnessed its brutality, he gritted his teeth, abandoned the business he’d worked so hard to build, and left for Country G.
The change of environment had altered his outlook somewhat. Success no longer obsessed him as it once had. He still did business, but his assets had shrunk considerably. Meanwhile, the Heaven-Measuring Ruler had been transformed by infighting between its tentacles. Jin Chiya’s faction fell. The group gradually gaining the upper hand in Hua Country was the one led by Jin Xiaoquan and Jin Xiuhe. They had come from Country A, and their drug and weapons operations were exceptionally profitable. It seemed Jin Wu thought highly of them.
As Chen Zheng listened, the furrow between his brows deepened.
“Whatever the Heaven-Measuring Ruler has become, it has nothing to do with me anymore. I planned to spend my remaining years in peace. But I never expected the boomerang from Jinsi Island to come back and strike me…” Bu Yangyun paused. “My son.”
Ming Han drew in a sharp breath, fury gathering in his eyes.
“That Liang boy’s gotten capable. He’s begun taking revenge. Jin Chiya must have died at his hands long ago. Next will be the people who acted as Jin Chiya’s puppets, people like us. But I never thought the Liang boy could be so vicious. Rather than come after us directly, he’s targeting the next generation.”
Bu Yangyun tilted his head toward the sky. “So I’ve no choice but to come back and settle it. If it can be settled, so be it. If it can’t… I’ll repay the debt myself.”
“What does that mean?” Ming Han’s question, of course, couldn’t reach the man in the recording. Yet Bu Yangyun seemed to have anticipated it. “I’ll wait for the Liang boy in Country M. Let the one with the grievance seek out the one responsible. Tell him to come to me.”
At the end of the video, Bu Yangyun said lightly, “I doubt you’ll be so obedient. But never mind. By the time you receive this email, the Liang boy will already have received the one I prepared especially for him.”
Spring thunder rolled across the sky with an explosive crash. In the top-floor office of Yunquan Group, Liang Yueze stood at the floor-to-ceiling window with his back to the computer, hands clasped behind him. Heavy clouds outside promised gentle spring rain. His reflection mingled with the city buildings on the glass, blurred and indistinct. He seemed thinner than before, and his back was no longer quite straight.
After a while, he turned toward the computer with its frozen video image and tapped a key. Bu Yangyun began moving again.
“Well? Come to Country M and make a deal with me.”
A police car raced toward Yunquan Group through a sudden downpour. Chen Zheng sat in the passenger seat, gripping his phone. If Bu Yangyun had sent the email to more than the Mobile Unit, Liang Yueze was certain to act.
Officers had been keeping Liang Yueze under surveillance lately, but they couldn’t watch him every second of every day. Chen Zheng had just spoken to the officer in charge, who said Liang Yueze had gone to Yunquan Group that morning and hadn’t left since.
“Don’t worry. We’ll make it in time,” Ming Han said.
The rain made traffic worse. Yunquan Group stood in one of Luocheng’s main commercial districts, and the surrounding roads were now completely jammed. Detectives who’d arrived ahead of them had sealed every entrance and exit. When Chen Zheng realized their car was barely moving, he and Ming Han got out, leaving Wen Wu to bring the vehicle along.
At Yunquan Group, many employees watched the police with uneasy expressions. Officers had come to investigate from time to time lately, but nothing on today’s scale had ever happened.
“Where’s Liang Yueze?” Chen Zheng asked.
“He’s been upstairs the whole time,” the surveillance officer replied. “He hasn’t come down.”
Liang Yueze’s secretary, Xiao Wen, had come downstairs, though. He asked nervously, “Officer Chen, what’s happened this time? You keep coming every few days to watch us. It’s been hard on us too.”
Chen Zheng glanced at him. “President Liang is here, isn’t he?”
“H-here. He’s in his office. He had meetings scheduled, but he didn’t even attend them.”
Was that because of Bu Yangyun’s email? Chen Zheng wondered. He turned to Ming Han. “I’ll go upstairs. You stay here and watch things.”
Ming Han frowned. “I’m coming with you.”
Chen Zheng looked surprised. Ming Han leaned close to his ear and spoke softly enough that only Chen Zheng could hear. “Liang Yueze must be thinking about how to get out of our cordon. He’s only got one chance: take a hostage important enough to matter. Bro, you might be his ideal target. Don’t forget he has someone as capable as Killer A on his side.”
Chen Zheng parted his lips slightly. He couldn’t deny that was possible. Liang Yueze’s complete lack of response after the email was suspicious in itself. This was a critical moment. More caution was better.
As the elevator rose, Ming Han stood in front of Chen Zheng. Xiao Wen glanced sideways at them twice. The higher the numbers climbed, the more nervous he became.
Ding. The elevator doors opened. Xiao Wen stepped out first, with Ming Han close behind. The floor was so quiet it seemed deserted. Ming Han spotted a closed door at the end of the corridor: Liang Yueze’s office.
“Bro,” Ming Han murmured.
Chen Zheng followed him, carefully studying their surroundings without detecting any danger.
“Please, follow me,” Xiao Wen said, walking toward the office.
Over that short stretch of ten-odd meters, a strange feeling rose in Chen Zheng. Was Liang Yueze’s final move going to involve taking him hostage? And if not, what was he planning? Yunquan Group was completely surrounded. What could even Killer A do in such circumstances? The last time Killer A had killed Jin Xiaoquan, it was because neither Jin nor the police had been prepared. Things were entirely different now. Liang Yueze couldn’t possibly be that overconfident.
Xiao Wen knocked. There was no response. “President Liang, Officer Chen is here. We’re coming in.”
He pushed the door open.
Liang Yueze’s office was enormous. Directly opposite the door stretched a broad wall of floor-to-ceiling windows; his desk stood off to the right.
Ming Han stepped inside and saw Liang Yueze standing with his back to them at another floor-to-ceiling window. The room wasn’t quiet. A familiar voice was coming from the computer speakers. Bu Yangyun’s voice!
Xiao Wen stood awkwardly near the door, seemingly eager to leave. Chen Zheng had inspected this office on an earlier visit. There was nowhere to hide another person. Killer A wasn’t here. Only Liang Yueze.
“President Liang,” Chen Zheng called, walking toward him. Liang Yueze didn’t turn or speak. Even the way he stood seemed wrong, unnaturally rigid.
Chen Zheng frowned and quickened his steps. He put his right hand on Liang Yueze’s shoulder. A tremor traveled into his palm. The man was actually shaking. Chen Zheng’s gaze darkened. He spun him around sharply. The man staggered and slammed against the window, hunching his shoulders and desperately lowering his head.
But Chen Zheng had already seen that face, which bore a certain resemblance to Liang Yueze. He seized the man’s chin and forced his head up. “Xie Yiliang?”
Xie Yiliang had no choice but to raise his head, though he dared not meet Chen Zheng’s eyes. His legs shook so violently he could scarcely stand. “B-Brother Chen, I’m… I’m sorry…”
“Where’s Liang Yueze?” Chen Zheng demanded. “Why are you here?”
Xie Yiliang looked close to tears. “I-I don’t know! My mom told me to come here and pretend to be… to be my cousin. I d-don’t know…”
Chen Zheng shoved him away and questioned Xiao Wen instead. Xiao Wen replied calmly that he didn’t know where Liang Yueze had gone.
“But we were watching Liang Yueze the whole time!” the surveillance officer cried in shock. “When did they switch places?”
Chen Zheng stared at Xie Yiliang, now huddled in a chair, and felt anger simmering. When they were children, Xie Yiliang and Liang Yueze had looked practically like brothers. Their resemblance had lessened as they grew up, but dressed as Liang Yueze, Xie Yiliang could still fool strangers. Their profiles were almost indistinguishable.
Xie Yiliang and Xiao Wen were taken back to the Mobile Unit for questioning. Liang Huiting was asked to come in too. Tang Xiaoli had already dispatched officers to all the places Liang Yueze might have gone, with reinforcements sent to airports, high-speed rail stations, and expressway toll booths.
“Where is Liang Yueze?” Chen Zheng asked sharply.
Xie Yiliang shrank into himself. “Brother Chen, I really don’t know! I didn’t want to impersonate my cousin, but I couldn’t refuse!”
“When did you start pretending to be Liang Yueze?”
“This afternoon. My mom suddenly called me,” Xie Yiliang said. He’d rushed to Yunquan Group and, as instructed, dressed as an electrical maintenance worker. The wiring in the president’s office was supposedly broken. After entering, he’d seen Xiao Wen, who handed him Liang Yueze’s clothes. By the time he came back out, he’d become “Liang Yueze.”
“You didn’t see Liang Yueze himself?”
Xie Yiliang clawed at his hair. “No. Maybe he put on my clothes and left.”
Surveillance footage did indeed show someone resembling an electrician carrying a toolbox into the elevator, his face completely obscured by his cap. He was very likely Liang Yueze. The time stamp read 1:20 p.m., much earlier than the arrival of Bu Yangyun’s email.
Chen Zheng was puzzled. Had Liang Yueze somehow foreseen the email? No. Having Xie Yiliang replace him was probably a plan prepared long in advance, unrelated to Bu Yangyun’s message. Liang Yueze had already intended to slip out from under police surveillance. What was he going to do?
Xie Yiliang looked uneasy. “I-I saw that email. Is what that man said true? Is my cousin going to be in danger?”
Chen Zheng now strongly suspected that Liang Yueze and Bu Yangyun had already joined forces to set a trap. The police were being pushed into an increasingly passive position.
After reaching the Mobile Unit, Xiao Wen was much calmer than he’d been at Yunquan Group. He admitted helping Liang Yueze escape but insisted he didn’t know where his boss had gone.
“President Liang is my employer. I do what he tells me to do,” Xiao Wen said evenly. “If my boss doesn’t tell me something, I don’t ask.”
“You’re his most trusted secretary,” Ming Han said.
Xiao Wen frowned but didn’t answer.
“Liang Yueze takes you with him wherever he goes. But the time he had that car accident, there was an assistant beside him instead,” Ming Han said. “He knew the person in that seat might be killed, so he didn’t bring you.”
Xiao Wen lowered his head, saying nothing.
Ming Han laughed coldly. “The assistant didn’t survive. So that crash really was staged by the two of you.”
Liang Huiting ran into Xie Yiliang in the corridor. He behaved as though he’d suffered a terrible injustice, bursting into tears as soon as he saw her. She merely told him to cooperate with the police and stop causing trouble.
“Xie Yiliang has already caused quite enough trouble,” Chen Zheng said with a trace of sarcasm. “Apparently on your instructions.”
Liang Huiting looked at him and sighed softly after a few seconds. Chen Zheng’s memories of her had grown rather indistinct. The Xie family, whom she’d married into, was also involved in business. When Yunquan Group fell on hard times, she hadn’t been able to help much, and Liang Yueze had rarely mentioned her over the years. Still, she was Liang Yueze’s only paternal aunt. When Chen Zheng went to play with Liang Yueze as a child, she’d often covered for both boys.
“Yueze so rarely asks anything of me,” Liang Huiting said, sitting with impeccable posture. Age had left its marks on her once-beautiful face. “I’ve done so little for him as his aunt all these years. I couldn’t disappoint him again this time. Especially when he isn’t doing this for himself.”
“He told you about Jinsi Island?”
She pressed her lips together. After a long time, she said, “Even if he hadn’t, I could have guessed most of it. Xiao Bin, Xiao Qing, and Yinfan were all murdered. Xiao Zheng, you’re a police officer. Couldn’t you guess that?”
“Liang Yueze is in danger.”
Liang Huiting frowned. “I know. I tried to talk him out of it, more than once. But he said, how could revenge ever come without danger?”
Tears rose in her eyes. She hurriedly wiped them away. “Yueze said Yunquan Group had risen again. He’d fulfilled his promise to the old master. All that remained was his promise to Xiao Bin, Xiao Qing, and Yinfan.”
Chen Zheng got to his feet. Liang Huiting looked up at him. “I’m sorry. I can’t tell you where Yueze is now. I don’t know myself. But I’m grateful to him, because our Liang family needs someone who remembers the hatred. He asked me to go back to Yunquan Group and hold the fort. That’s all I can do for him.”
Elio’s Notes: A white moonlight (白月光) is an idealized, often unattainable person someone holds in their heart. Ming Han is teasing Chen Zheng about his imagined rivals, then twists the phrase into something darker when he mentions Han Qu dying.