A Shan and the others had scarcely received any proper education. As far back as they could remember, their lives had been spent fleeing war or fighting in it, where it was kill or be killed. Their view of the world had long since become twisted: whoever was stronger was in the right.
A Shan scratched his head irritably, at a loss for words.
“Do you know who you’re working for?” Chen Zheng asked. “Have you met Liang Yueze?”
“Boss Liang? He’s Brother Sui’s boss, so of course he’s ours too.”
“Then do you know Boss Liang wasn’t even traveling with you?”
A Shan froze. His expression told Chen Zheng that he knew, but had been pretending otherwise.
“Where is Liang Yueze?”
“I really don’t know!” A Shan protested. “We work for Brother Sui. Whatever job he does, we do. Whether we’re escorting Boss Liang or not is none of our business. If Brother Sui says it’s him, then it’s him.”
The other criminals told much the same story as A Shan, and their circumstances were similar. Only two had legal identities; the rest were undocumented people from Southeast Asia. Like the security guards at Nanfeng Pharmaceuticals, they’d relied on Jin Xiaoquan to enter Hua Country.
A Shan also disclosed another detail. Suizi had apparently worked for Jin Xiaoquan in the past, which meant they’d effectively been Jin Xiaoquan’s men too. But for some reason Suizi had later gone over to Liang Yueze, and the rest of them had followed, changing bosses without really knowing what had happened.
After a few hours’ rest, Lin Dong had calmed down. He faced Chen Zheng without makeup. “Officer Chen, I’ve caused you trouble again.”
“No need to be so polite,” Chen Zheng replied. “If you were really that sorry, you wouldn’t have helped Liang Yueze work against us.”
Lin Dong lowered his head. His shoulders trembled faintly.
“Why?” Chen Zheng asked.
“They forced me!” Lin Dong suddenly looked up, tears glittering in his eyes. “Officer Chen, I was in their hands. There was nothing I could do. I’ve played a police officer. I thought I was Yufeng, but I’m not. I’m just an ordinary person!”
After Lin Dong had disappeared and reappeared, the Mobile Unit had kept him under surveillance for a while. He was living in temporary accommodation. He’d come back from the Heaven-Measuring Ruler unharmed, carrying news that Han Qu had been executed. That had disrupted the Mobile Unit’s plans and made any later intelligence supposedly from Han Qu impossible to trust. Lin Dong was like a bone inexplicably stuck in the Unit’s throat, impossible to swallow or spit out.
As the Heaven-Measuring Ruler and Azure Sky Cult gradually began making their moves, the Mobile Unit had to redeploy its officers, and Lin Dong was no longer watched. It was after Jin Xiaoquan died that Liang Yueze’s people abducted him.
This time, he wasn’t as terrified as on the first occasion. He looked calmly at Suizi as Suizi seized his hair and ordered him to imitate Liang Yueze. Their manner and bearing were completely different, but they were almost identical in height and build. As long as no one saw his face, Lin Dong really could serve as Liang Yueze’s double.
“We don’t look alike,” he said nervously.
“You won’t have to show your face.” Suizi opened a video of Liang Yueze. “Aren’t you an actor? Isn’t imitating people what you do best? You’ve got three days to become ‘Mr. Liang.’”
His first instinct was to refuse. The idea repelled him. But Suizi drew his gun and aimed directly at his heart. “I’ll make you die in the most painful way imaginable.”
Too frightened to move, he reluctantly agreed. Yet he was so unsettled that he couldn’t imitate Liang Yueze at all.
A day later, Suizi came back. Without bothering to speak, he tossed Lin Dong a phone. It couldn’t send messages out, but it could play a video. Liang Yueze was on the screen, and he was addressing Lin Dong.
“I’m sorry to drag you into this mess, but after thinking it through, you’re the only person who can help me with this,” Liang Yueze said with a gentle smile. “Xiao Sui will protect you on this trip. Not only will you come to no harm, you’ll receive a ‘gift’ you weren’t expecting.”
“Han Qu is still alive.”
Lin Dong jerked and gripped the phone tightly. Beside him, Suizi gave a mocking laugh.
Liang Yueze said that if Lin Dong could impersonate him and successfully draw the police away, Han Qu would be safe. There would be a day when the two could meet again.
“Where is Han Qu? Are you holding him?” Lin Dong shouted at the phone.
But the video had already ended. Suizi took the phone back and looked down at him with amusement. “Whether Han Qu gets saved is up to you.”
“I had no choice.” Tears rolled down Lin Dong’s face, washing every other emotion from his eyes. “If I didn’t pretend to be Liang Yueze, they’d kill me. If I did what Liang Yueze wanted, maybe Han Qu would have a chance to live. Even if he was lying, I could only do what he told me.”
With that, Lin Dong buried his face in his hands and wept silently.
Chen Zheng studied him for a moment before pushing a box of tissues toward him. “You and Suizi left Luocheng before April?”
Lin Dong nodded. “I-I don’t know what happened outside.”
Chen Zheng did. Bu Yangyun’s emails hadn’t even arrived by then. Liang Yueze had planned this escape from his old skin long before.
The questioning was almost over when Lin Dong’s expression changed slightly. Chen Zheng noticed him glancing repeatedly at the surveillance camera, stood, and switched it off. “Is there something you’d rather tell me privately?”
“Actually…” Lin Dong fidgeted. “Last time, before I lost consciousness, Han Qu said something else to me.”
Chen Zheng frowned. “What?”
“He said not to resist Liang Yueze.” Lin Dong kept moving his fingers restlessly. “I didn’t understand what he meant, and I didn’t dare tell anyone. When Liang Yueze’s people caught me this time, those words were the first thing I remembered.”
Chen Zheng’s thoughts raced. Why would Han Qu have said that? Had he anticipated Liang Yueze’s move? But why would Han Qu help Liang Yueze?
The situation suddenly seemed incomprehensible. Lin Dong was even more confused. He sometimes wondered whether Han Qu had actually spoken those words at all, or whether he’d imagined them after losing consciousness.
That afternoon, with the preliminary interrogations and investigation complete, the Mobile Unit brought Lin Dong, A Shan, and the others back to Luocheng. As soon as the plane landed, Chen Zheng received a call from Ming Han. “Bro, we’ve identified Suizi! Guess who he is?”
Before Chen Zheng could speak, Ming Han said, “Remember Sui Ning, the man we uncovered during the Nanshan City investigation? Suizi is his son. The DNA matches. His real name is Sui Zi. ‘Suizi’ was just a similar-sounding nickname!”
Ever since discovering that Suizi had lived in Country A and later become utterly loyal to Liang Yueze, Chen Zheng had felt he might be connected to one of their earlier cases. His odd nickname had only strengthened the association. He wasn’t surprised by the result and hurried back to the Mobile Unit.
Ming Han handed Chen Zheng the DNA report. “No wonder Zhao Zhi wouldn’t finish telling us everything at the end of his interrogation. He never managed to wipe out Sui Ning’s entire family.”
“Luo Yingqiang sent Zhao Zhi to kill Sui Ning’s family, but Zhao Zhi missed Sui Zi. Sui Zi hid and fled across Country A, living without legal status, until he encountered Jin Xiaoquan, who belonged to the Heaven-Measuring Ruler’s Country A branch.” Chen Zheng rapidly pieced together a possible account of what had happened. “Jin Xiaoquan gave Sui Zi a way to survive, and Sui Zi joined the organization. Later he traveled with Jin Xiaoquan to Hua Country. When Jin Xiaoquan and Liang Yueze began cooperating, Sui Zi gradually shifted from working for Jin Xiaoquan to working for Liang Yueze. He carried out several of the crimes Liang Yueze orchestrated.”
“In the end, he even killed Jin Xiaoquan himself,” Ming Han added.
Word came from the hospital that Sui Zi had regained consciousness and was extremely agitated.
“What’s he got to be agitated about?” Zhou Jue snapped. “I’m a hell of a lot more agitated than he is!”
Chen Zheng understood his anger. Sui Zi had targeted Ming Han and come perilously close to succeeding.
“I’ll interrogate him!” Zhou Jue volunteered, only to hear Ming Han laugh.
“I’ll go,” Chen Zheng said. “I’m the one who shot him, so I ought to be the one to talk to him.” He brewed a cup of coffee and drank it in one gulp.
It was already the evening of the sixth. The Mobile Unit had spent the previous day traveling and the night carrying out the operation. Today, they’d had only three hours’ rest on the plane. Still, an interrogation was best conducted sooner rather than later. Now that Sui Zi was awake, there was no reason to leave him alone.
Zhou Jue wanted to accompany them, but Ming Han stopped him. “Brother Jue, how long has it been since you spent time with your car? Why not go see it before Old Tang gives you another assignment?”
Only after Ming Han and Chen Zheng had gone downstairs, leaving him listening to the engine, did Zhou Jue finally realize something. “Was Bird just making fun of me because I can’t interrogate suspects?”
Wen Wu replied, “With a reaction time like yours, Bird Bro was right not to let you come.”
Armed special police guarded the door of Sui Zi’s hospital room. When Chen Zheng entered, the patient had just received a sedative. At the sight of Chen Zheng, he struggled, fury and resentment blazing in his eyes.
“Sui Zi, you should thank Ming Han.” Chen Zheng tossed the DNA report onto the bed. “If it weren’t for him, the man who murdered your family would still be walking free.”
Sui Zi glared at him. After a moment, his gaze slowly fell to the report.
“And all you’ve thought about is obeying Liang Yueze’s orders and killing Ming Han,” Chen Zheng continued. “What were you doing while we were arresting Zhao Zhi?”
Sui Zi gripped the report and retorted, “And what were you doing when my entire family was slaughtered?”
“So that’s why you became Liang Yueze’s weapon?”
Sui Zi was silent for a few seconds. “I wanted to.”
“Where is Liang Yueze now?”
Sui Zi turned toward the window. He had no intention of telling Chen Zheng.
“Fine. We can talk about something else. Let’s discuss your family. Why did everyone else die while you survived?”
The color drained from Sui Zi’s face until he looked like a corpse. He bore almost no resemblance to Sui Ning, who’d been gentle and modest, whereas his son had the face of a hardened outlaw.
“Luo Yingqiang wasn’t a randomly chosen target,” Chen Zheng said. “Liang Yueze handed him to you as a personal favor.”
At last Sui Zi smiled, but there was no warmth in it. He resembled a crocodile crawling through a swamp, opening its vicious jaws.
“Evil gets its punishment, good gets its reward. Luo Yingqiang got what he deserved.” As though this was something to boast about, Sui Zi gradually began speaking about the living hell he’d endured in Country A.
He’d grown up in comfort. His parents loved each other, and their lives had already been complete, so they’d never forced their expectations on him. He didn’t like studying. As a little boy, he’d gone into the mountains to learn martial arts, performing for his parents and little sister whenever he came home.
Then one year, his mother suddenly appeared at the martial-arts school and hurriedly took him away. Bewildered, he left his homeland with his parents. He’d never imagined that when he finally returned, he’d have lost not only his family but his very name.
He knew who Luo Yingqiang was. His father had helped that man, and he’d once admired Luo Yingqiang, imagining that one day he’d accomplish great things himself. He’d never dreamed that Luo Yingqiang would be responsible for his family’s exile and suffering.
At first he asked his parents why they’d abruptly moved to Country A, but they evaded his questions. He finally learned from his sobbing sister that Luo Yingqiang was furious with their father for interfering in Yingqiang Group and might strike at their family. Their father reassured him that they ought to make the best of their circumstances. Country A wasn’t so bad; they could learn a foreign language.
With Zhao Zhi’s help, they settled down. His parents were deeply grateful to Zhao Zhi, and his sister grew close to him too. But Sui Zi had always sensed something wrong with him. How good could someone be if he willingly ran errands for Luo Yingqiang? He warned his parents not to trust Zhao Zhi too readily. For once, his father spoke sternly to him, insisting that Zhao Zhi was on their side and that without his warning, something terrible might already have happened to them back home.
He and his father fell out. He rarely stayed home, instead throwing himself into the company of local gangs. His martial-arts skills were popular among the white and Black men there. He came home less and less often, until one day, while he was out of town, a friend suddenly shoved him into a car and told him to run. Whatever he did, he mustn’t go home. Someone was hunting him!
In the photographs his friend sent, he saw the burned-out skeleton of his home and the blackened bodies being carried out. His worst fear had come true. Zhao Zhi had wanted his entire family dead.
He fled from place to place across Country A. Zhao Zhi had only three bodies and couldn’t report the job done, so he paid gangs to hunt Sui Zi down. At the end of his rope, Sui Zi encountered Jin Xiaoquan. The same yellow skin, the same Asian features. Jin Xiaoquan smiled and extended an olive branch. “Would you like to work for me?”
He had no other choice.
Zhao Zhi hunted him for years. Only later did Sui Zi discover that Zhao Zhi had fabricated a corpse to satisfy Luo Yingqiang. After several more years without Sui Zi appearing before him, Zhao Zhi finally gave up, assuming he was dead.
“But you killed Jin Xiaoquan,” Chen Zheng said.
Sui Zi shook his head indifferently. “Because he wasn’t worthy of my loyalty. Boss Liang was.”
When Sui Zi first found shelter with Jin Xiaoquan, Jin Xiaoquan’s branch of the Heaven-Measuring Ruler was still weak. Desperate to recruit men willing to risk their lives, Jin Xiaoquan hadn’t saved him out of kindness. He’d simply valued Sui Zi’s fighting skills, and perhaps the hatred born of his family’s massacre.
Not long after taking him in, Jin Xiaoquan sent him to Southeast Asia for specialized mercenary training. At the time, Country M and several neighboring countries were in turmoil. Both the wealthy and the military needed mercenaries. Becoming one seemed the best option for an adult man. Those who succeeded could become immensely rich; those who failed could bleed to death, unnoticed and unnamed.
Jin Xiaoquan had connections and arranged for Sui Zi to join a powerful mercenary organization. During his first year, Sui Zi endured hellish training and emerged transformed. He was no longer the useless boy with martial-arts skills who hadn’t even been able to protect his family.
In his second year, he began taking part in combat. At first he was assigned reconnaissance, little better than cannon fodder among mercenaries. Yet he survived. Not only did he survive, but the battle lines fell back again and again, and he eventually became a sniper who almost never missed.
The leader of the organization admired him and offered him a high salary to stay. But Jin Xiaoquan returned wearing his false smile and took Sui Zi back. His training with the mercenaries was over; he’d become one of Jin Xiaoquan’s dogs. Jin Xiaoquan had never admired him. From beginning to end, he’d only wanted to use him.
When he returned to Country A from Southeast Asia, Sui Zi discovered something he couldn’t accept. Jin Xiaoquan was involved with a woman named Du Fangfei.
Chen Zheng was startled too. “Du Fangfei?”
Du Fangfei was the wife of Luo Yingqiang, the former richest man in Nanshan City. More than a decade earlier, Luo Yingqiang had sent her and their daughter, Du Yuelin, to Country A, and they’d never been heard from again. While investigating in Nanshan City the previous year, Chen Zheng and Ming Han had tried to contact Du Fangfei without success. Zhao Zhi denied killing the two women, but their very existence seemed to have been erased.
No one could have expected Du Fangfei’s name to emerge from Sui Zi’s mouth.
Sui Zi sneered. “Surprised? There’s more. Like Jin Xiaoquan, Du Fangfei was a member of the Heaven-Measuring Ruler. Her daughter Du Yuelin is now even higher-ranking than he was.”
Chen Zheng immediately thought of Jin Xiuhe, the figure Liu Xun had mentioned. The police had never laid eyes on that person.
Sui Zi let out a long sigh and narrowed his eyes as he continued. After Du Fangfei and her daughter were sent to Country A, they had money but lived under surveillance and suffered terribly. For reasons unknown, a powerful benefactor helped them establish contact with Jin Xiaoquan. Jin Xiaoquan needed funding, while money was all Du Fangfei had. The two sides began using each other.
Sui Zi had been young. He knew Du Fangfei hated Luo Yingqiang too, but she was still that man’s wife, and Du Yuelin was his daughter. He couldn’t bear to live alongside his enemy’s family. To train his obedience, Jin Xiaoquan repeatedly assigned him to protect the women, forcing him to serve them.
When he resisted, Jin Xiaoquan imprisoned him and subjected him to the punishments mercenaries inflicted on captives and traitors. He was too deeply entangled with the Heaven-Measuring Ruler to leave Jin Xiaoquan. Reduced to begging like an animal, he finally submitted and worked himself to the bone for Du Fangfei and her daughter.
Once Sui Zi was obedient, Jin Xiaoquan donned his hypocritical mask and had a heart-to-heart with him. “I know you hate Luo Yingqiang, but that’s in the past. You’re no longer Sui Ning’s son who knows martial arts. You’re an assassin for my Heaven-Measuring Ruler now. You have everything to look forward to. Why cling to the past? Besides, aren’t Fangfei and Yuelin victims too? Haven’t you seen that Luo Yingqiang is still searching for them?”
“Then why not kill Luo Yingqiang?” Sui Zi asked.
Jin Xiaoquan stared at him for a long time before giving a contemptuous laugh. “With us so far apart, what good would killing him do me?”
“Doesn’t Du Fangfei want him dead either?” Sui Zi demanded indignantly.
“A day as husband and wife means a hundred days of affection,” Jin Xiaoquan replied.
Elio’s Notes: Jin Xiaoquan quotes the saying 一日夫妻百日恩, literally that even a single day as spouses creates a hundred days’ worth of affection. Here he uses it to dismiss Sui Zi’s demand for revenge, which makes the line rather chilling.
From that moment, Sui Zi was utterly disillusioned with Jin Xiaoquan. But later an unexpected turning point came, when a genuine benefactor entered his life. That person was Liang Yueze.
The Jinsi Island case had been engineered by the Heaven-Measuring Ruler, with the leading role played by the branch operating in Hua Country. Jin Xiaoquan’s branch had watched from the sidelines and taken no part. After Liang Yueze lost those closest to him and Yunquan Group was nearly devoured, Jin Xiaoquan, himself a member of the Heaven-Measuring Ruler, reached out to help.
Liang Yueze wanted revenge. Jin Xiaoquan wanted to replace Jin Chiya, perhaps even seize control of the entire Heaven-Measuring Ruler. Their interests aligned immediately.
At the time, Liang Yueze had nothing and relied entirely on Jin Xiaoquan. Jin Xiaoquan even “gave” him the mercenary he was so proud of to protect him.
And so Sui Zi went from serving Jin Xiaoquan to serving Liang Yueze. At first he despised Liang Yueze. The coward was throwing himself into his enemy’s arms. Revenge? Impossible. In the end, Jin Xiaoquan would surely devour what was left of Yunquan Group. Liang Yueze had done nothing but invite a wolf into his home.
But one afternoon, when Liang Yueze was on a business trip to Nanshan City and had a little free time, he suddenly addressed Sui Zi by his real name. Sui Zi stiffened and stared at him.
“I once had a younger sister too. She was lively, far too lively, always getting into trouble. She loved drinking as well.” Sitting in a teahouse and looking out the window, Liang Yueze wore a faint smile, but his eyes were deeply sad. “I imagined so many times what kind of boyfriend she’d have when she grew up. What man would put up with her temper? Would he bully her? If he did, how would I deal with her husband? But before any of those things could happen, she was gone.”
Sui Zi lowered his head, remembering his sister’s charred remains, and clenched his fists.
“My younger sister and brother were the people closest to me. My second uncle sheltered me from every storm and let me spend years living as recklessly as I pleased. Now they’re gone, and the reason I stay alive is to avenge them.” Liang Yueze turned to look at Sui Zi. “That’s why I understand you.”
Anger surged through Sui Zi. “Understand me? What good does understanding do?”
“I have to thank Mr. Jin for sending you to me. I’ve seen everything you’ve done for me and remember it all. When the time is right, I’ll avenge you. You won’t have to lift a finger.”
Sui Zi stared. “What did you say?”
Liang Yueze approached. “I said I’ll avenge you, in whatever way I can.”
All the emotions Sui Zi had suppressed for so long broke free. His eyes reddened. “What gives you the right? What do you gain by avenging me?”
Liang Yueze’s expression reminded him of his father when he was young: tolerant and understanding. Tears suddenly overwhelmed him. “Even Jin Xiaoquan wouldn’t…”
“Mr. Jin is Mr. Jin, and I’m me.” Liang Yueze embraced him and gently patted his back. “Mr. Jin has his own considerations. Mine are about you. We’ve been through something similar. You work for me, and I’m willing to do what little I can for you.”
Sui Zi’s life changed again in that moment. Liang Yueze had only made him a promise that might never be fulfilled, but somehow Sui Zi believed he would keep it one day.
He grew increasingly distant from Jin Xiaoquan and became Liang Yueze’s most devoted subordinate. Years later, Jin Xiaoquan regretted giving him to Liang Yueze, but by then Yunquan Group had emerged from its crisis and Liang Yueze held the upper hand in their dark partnership. Jin Xiaoquan could no longer reclaim him.
Remembering those years, Sui Zi smiled. Liang Yueze had breathed new life into him. He watched Liang Yueze and Jin Xiaoquan gradually drive Jin Chiya’s once-powerful faction to ruin. The merchants in Hua Country who followed Jin Chiya vanished, Jin Xiaoquan became the Heaven-Measuring Ruler’s new representative there, and under Liang Yueze, Yunquan Group returned to its peak.
Last year, Liang Yueze finally fulfilled his promise. Without Sui Zi lifting a finger, Luo Yingqiang died in a scheme devised by the Heaven-Measuring Ruler. The police had already discovered that his death might be linked to Sui Ning, but they had no evidence.
That resolved the final mystery of Luo Yingqiang’s case: why, when the Heaven-Measuring Ruler was testing Zhan Fuhai and Han Qu, was Luo Yingqiang the man selected to die?
The motive had been planted long ago, when Sui Ning was killed.