Love Me if You Dare: Pristine Darkness

This was the temporary police command centre. At the moment, Zhu Tao was occupied with leading a team to comb through all the clues linked to Bo Jinyan and Buddha’s Hand. Fang Qing was standing in front of a map, his eyebrows scrunched up in concentration, a cigarette in his left hand and a pen in his right, completely lost in thought. He had already marked the map with various scribbles.

An Yan sat in front of a few computers, and his delicate eyebrows were also furrowed. He was continuously searching for a signal, but could not do anything as the signal was too weak. He could only ascertain the approximate direction without pinpointing the precise position.

Fang Qing stared at a corner of the map for a long time before he tossed the pen to one side and turned his head to ask, “What progress are you making?”

An Yan turned the computer monitor towards him. He pointed at it and said, “I can only determine that they are in this area. There’s probably not much power left in Jinyan’s reading device, so the signal is very weak. The Internet in the surrounding area is poor and there’s too much interference. Aiya, it’s my fault for not thinking it over carefully. I should have decked him out from head to toe in signal transmitters.”

Fang Qing laughed and said, “It’s not as if we have no results at all. I have also determined that Buddha’s Hand’s stronghold is in this area, totally in accordance with the results of your monitoring.”

“How did you reach that conclusion?”

Fang Qing brought out a photocopy of the information that Zhu Tao had and said, “Jinyan told Captain Zhu that, with this information and more time, he could deduce the stronghold of Buddha’s Hand. In recent years, the routes that Buddha’s Hand has taken when committing crimes, their escape routes, the trails of their coming and going, combined with the roads and highways in the periphery, the state of the waterways and the geological features of the surroundings — I understand what Jinyan was saying, it’s like solving a complex multi-factor equation. The solution to the equation is the coordinates of Buddha’s Hand’s stronghold. This is actually a question featuring probability and logic. I’ve marked all these factors on the map. The area that has been the centre of all of Buddha’s Hand’s activities in the past few years, and has a complex network of waterways, is this area.”

An Yan said, “But this area on the map has several remote towns; Zhu Tao has already sent men to secretly survey the area by sea, land, and air, and they have even visited a few towns. However, they have not found any traces of Buddha’s Hand. That area is vast and sparsely populated. Apart from a few, easily counted, small towns and villages, there is almost no sign of human habitation. If they are hiding in the mountains, there is no way for us to detect them. If we search the area inch by inch, it would take us a good few years.”

Fang Qing said, “No, it’s not really possible that such a criminal gang would be able to hide deep in the mountains and remote forests, isolated from the rest of the world, for such a long period of time. They need to live, to go out, to womanise, to conduct their shady business. At the very least, they have to stay in a small town.”

The two of them fell silent for a while before Fang Qing said, “As Sherlock Holmes said, ‘when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth’. Hey, boy, check if there’s a small town in that area which does not appear on a map and is also almost disconnected from the outside world. This would be even more in accordance with the conditions that Buddha’s Hand considered when choosing a location for their stronghold.”

An Yan glanced at him inscrutably but started his search on the computer nevertheless.

Fang Qing leaned against the chair and exhaled slowly, while his expression turned grave. Those two were the most tenacious and upright people he knew; if anyone had to die, it should not be them. He had to bring them both safely back.

Just then, his mobile phone rang. He glanced at it, accepted the call, and whispered a few words with a smile. An Yan felt as if his ears had gone numb just hearing Fang Qing’s tender and indolent tone of voice. From Fang Qing’s matter-of-fact manner, though, it was clear he had no misgivings about courting someone while on the job.

After a while, An Yan stared at the screen and smiled.

Being in a relationship was definitely not the same as being single*. He had unexpectedly  just remembered the kisses he had shared with Gu Fangfang. In that short span of a few days, the two of them had certainly shared many kisses. His girlfriend was a cosplay champion and her ‘attack force’ was full. Once, they had been kissing for several minutes, and he was almost short of breath, but she merely opened her beautiful eyes slightly and said, “I can hold my breath for a long time. I have never lost to anyone.”

*T/N 单身狗 (dan sheng gou) – lit. single dog, used to describe a person who is neither married nor in a relationship, usually used self-deprecatingly.

Foolish girl, kissing is not a competition, but she went so far as to pit herself against him.

An Yan’s face was one big smile as his fingers tapped away at the keyboard, continuing the search he was responsible for.

However, even though he was a top hacker, it took him no less than half a day to find the answer Fang Qing wanted.

Twilight time.

“Found it!” An Yan stretched and said, “You guessed right, there really is such a place.”

Fang Qing immediately moved across but only saw the indistinct picture of a small town on the screen. Located on the top of some mountain ridge, with old-fashioned buildings that looked as if they had been built in the previous century. Yellowing slogans were still stuck to the walls, and many places were in a state of collapse.

An Yan said, “Information on this place is not available on the Internet, nor can it be found in the ordinary Ministry of Public Security systems. I hacked into an old archive library system and found scanned copies of these old photographs. This place is called Pu Luo. It was originally the location of the county seat on the Jinsha river, but in the 1950s, geologists drew attention to the danger of a major landslide, thus the entire county seat was relocated. That place became an abandoned, ghost town. Now, almost 70 years later it is said that no one lives there. It may be due to political reasons that Pu Luo has been erased from history and geography books. Thus, in our generation, even the previous generation, almost no one knows that Pu Luo exists.”

——

“You didn’t tell Captain Zhu about Zhizi Zhou?” Jian Yao asked.

Zhao Kun leaned against the sofa with a cigarette between his teeth, and said, “No. In reality, this is only my second time in Zhizi Zhou. If not for a huge shipment of goods that came in at the beginning of this year, and the plan to relocate, Song Kun would not stay in this place for long. The locals call this place Zhizi Zhou, but I can’t find the place name on maps or the Internet. It was night when I came here both times, and the waterway route is very complicated with many twists and turns; there’s no way to remember it. Moreover, Song Kun always arranged for specially assigned people to take turns steering the boat. He doesn’t trust people easily, and would not allow a subordinate to know too many secrets.”

Sitting opposite him, Bo Jinyan pondered briefly before asking, “Apart from Song Kun’s people, how many ordinary citizens are there in this small town?”

“150, 160 people,” Zhao Kun replied. “I also don’t know how this small town became like it is now, without running water, electricity, or internet access. The people here are self-sufficient and isolated from the outside world. The only waterway is controlled by Buddha’s Hand, and Buddha’s Hand also controls this small town. Both sides co-exist harmoniously, and have done so for several years. Song Kun took a lot of trouble to find this place. That you guys could accidentally float to this place, and had Ah Hong to guide you, is really good luck.”

Jian Yao smiled faintly and said, “Does that mean we shouldn’t die?” She looked at Bo Jinyan, only to find that his expression was too calm. Jian Yao was startled. She felt vaguely that she had overlooked something, but it slipped away from her.

“We have to protect the citizens on the day of the police attack,” Bo Jinyan said.

Jian Yao and Zhao Kun both agreed.

Twilight had descended upon them by then. Zhao Kun peered through a gap in the curtains and said, “I’ll go to the boss first. You guys come over a little later.”

Some time after Zhao Kun had left, Bo Jinyan leaned on his walking stick, put on his sunglasses, and made his way, with Jian Yao’s help, towards the house where Song Kun lived. It was time for dinner, as well as time for discussion. If they could glean more information, it would be easier for them to take the initiative to act.

Along the street, they once again saw a few civilians walking past with pails of water. The only drinkable water in this small town came from wells. Naturally, the two best wells were controlled by Buddha’s Hand. People had been appointed to draw and transport the water to the brothers daily. Each day, when twilight descended, that was the time when water was delivered.

“Are you thirsty?” Jian Yao asked.

Bo Jinyan shook his head.

Jian Yao said, “When we get back tonight, I’ll boil water for you to drink. Don’t be like them and drink raw water. I saw you drinking it all the time yesterday.”

Bo Jinyan laughed and said, “I will obey.”

Jian Yao laughed, too.

Unexpectedly, while they were en route, two brothers stopped them. “Snake ge, Snake sao*, something has happened! Boss asks you to go right away to Zhao Jian’s home, in front of you!”

*T/N 嫂 (sao) – older brother’s wife; sister-in-law – this term is not just for blood relations; it can be used to address the wife (or girlfriend, in a teasing manner) of an older male one is close to. For example, An Yan addresses Jian Yao in this way.

Who was Zhao Jian? He was also a courageous leader amongst Song Kun’s men; even though his status was not as high as that of the Five Luohans, he had risen rapidly in recent years. He had been with Song Kun for quite a few years, and managed not a few of their important businesses.

The minute Bo Jinyan and Jian Yao walked into Zhao Jian’s home, they saw a lot of people milling about in disarray.

And, they also smelled the strong reek of blood.

Bo Jinyan and Jian Yao entered the house and saw Song Kun sitting on the living room sofa, his face ashen, with Zhao Kun and Qin Sheng standing beside him.

“Boss, what has happened?” Bo Jinyan asked.

Song Kun said, “Go and see for yourself.”

With Jian Yao’s help, Bo Jinyan walked to the door of the inner room. Both of them froze at the same time.

The  blood had flowed all the way to the door, and it was almost dry. A man was sitting by the bed, headless. The head had been chopped off neatly at the neck, and looked as if it had been done with extreme savagery.

The head had been tossed into a corner, and it looked as if it had rolled around in a pool of blood several times. Jian Yao and Bo Jinyan had both met Zhao Jian and recognised his head.

Furthermore, on the wall behind the bed, in the dim light, hung a king’s mask. Below the mask was a sentence written in blood:

You can’t kill me.

J

It was signed by ‘J’.

In this dim, bloody, unfamiliar room, in the face of this murder like a bolt out of the blue, Jian Yao felt a chill penetrate her heart, threatening to engulf her entire being. She never expected that she would see that ‘J’ again in her lifetime, because that handwriting was exactly the same as that on the message left behind by the butterfly killer when he killed Feng Yuexi.

A jumble of thoughts flashed across her mind, chief of which was: Luo Lang did not die?

No, no, even if Luo Lang did not actually die, there is no way that he could be a member of the masked killer’s gang. He ambushed and killed the masked killer’s gang members in his frenzied attempt to rescue her. He had also warned them not to go to the animation park. He had lived his entire life fettered by his guilt and remorse, and his ethical perspective was more severe than that of an ordinary person. He definitely did not correspond to the profile of the masked killer, and it was even less possible that he had teamed up with the masked killer.

Then, why did that ‘J’ appear once again?

Jian Yao suddenly broke into cold sweat as she thought: could it be that they had gotten it wrong? That the person who killed Feng Yuexi was never Luo Lang? The butterfly killer . . . was not Luo Lang?