Zhang Shun’s mind exploded in a dazzling display of fireworks and thunder. For a moment, he didn’t know how to react and just stared blankly at Zhou Hui.
Zhou Hui took an intimidating step closer, his eyes sharp. “I’m asking you a question. Do you know what a threesome is?” he said impatiently.
“…” Zhang Shun stammered, “I… I know. It’s when three… three people sleep together…”
Silence filled the room. Zhou Hui looked down at Zhang Shun, and after a long moment, he suddenly broke into an exceptionally friendly smile. “Good that you know. I was just checking on your physiological health knowledge on your brother’s behalf. But you’re overthinking it. We’re not having a threesome today.”
Zhang Shun nearly fell to the floor from the pat on his shoulder. When he came to his senses, he flew into a rage and was about to lunge forward to punch him. Unfortunately, the girl, Xiao Xi, quickly threw herself in the way, crying out in desperation, “Don’t fight, Second Young Master Zhang! That’s just how Boss Zhou is. You’ll get used to it!”
At that moment, her voice had surprisingly turned into a man’s, startling Zhang Shun. “What happened to you?”
“You can’t tell?” Xiao Xi batted his eyes at him. “We smoked a cigarette together back in H-City. Have you forgotten after just a few days?”
Zhou Hui had been on the side, eager for a fight, as if waiting for Zhang Shun to make the first move so he’d have an excuse to beat him up. But since Xiao Xi had quickly blocked Zhang Shun, he could only sigh. “Boring humans… ‘Diamonds’ is one of my subordinates from Team One. He’s the agent who escorted the little beauty Yan to the capital from H-City. You even gave him two cartons of Zhonghua cigarettes to get information about the little beauty. Remember now?”
“…Diamonds?” Zhang Shun’s expression crumbled instantly. “You’re Diamonds? How did you turn into a woman?!”
Xiao Xi held his forehead in resignation. “It’s a long story… This woman was originally my girlfriend. I didn’t expect her to be bought off to kill me. Luckily, Boss Zhou arrived in time and locked my three souls and seven spirits into this woman’s body. I’ve been working in her place at Heaven on Earth all this time, secretly exchanging information with Boss Zhou a few times…唉 (āi), I even had to entertain Team Leader Phoenix Four today. It’s a pity I’m not a real woman.”
Zhang Shun thought of the sharp agent from H-City and then looked at the pitiful-looking girl in the white dress before him. His face was frozen in an expression of pure shock.
“At first, I wanted to die. I didn’t even know how to use the bathroom. But I got used to it over time. It’s only temporary, anyway. And you have to love what you do. I’m just treating it as experiencing life.” Xiao Xi made a delicate, orchid-finger gesture and said, “I’m doing great now. Yesterday, two people even got into a fight over who got to have me as their drinking companion. It gave me such a sense of accomplishment.”
“…” Zhang Shun was dumbfounded. He thought, a month ago, you were a rough-and-tumble guy who smoked, picked his feet, and cursed in the streets! What on earth happened to you in the past month?!
He couldn’t help but glance at Zhou Hui and noticed that his expression was also a bit dumbfounded, probably not expecting his subordinate’s persona to take such a divine turn.
“…You… Why did someone want to kill you?” Zhang Shun stammered. “When did this happen? After you left H-City?”
Xiao Xi couldn’t help but sigh again. He found a cigarette box on the nightstand, pulled out a Zhonghua, lit it, and took a drag. This finally brought back a hint of his original gender.
“This is an even longer story… Boss Zhou and I have analyzed it, and we think the assassin was sent by Deputy Director Yu.”
·
Zhang Shun’s brain turned to mush, full of question marks. He could only look at Zhou Hui.
Zhou Hui walked over and sat on the bed, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. A man who had taken off his jacket and reeked of alcohol and a hostess from Heaven on Earth, sitting on a large hotel bed smoking—the scene looked for all the world like two parties haggling before a transaction. For a few seconds, Zhang Shun even had the illusion that in the next moment, Zhou Hui would slap a stack of cash from his pocket and say, “Two thousand! Not a penny more!”
“The question is, why would Yu Jingzhong want to kill you?” Zhou Hui mused. “Although Deputy Chief Yu and I aren’t close enough to share pants, we’ve at least never backstabbed each other. Could it be that you made a move on the little beauty while escorting him to the capital? If so, I think the logic is quite sound…”
Xiao Xi said dejectedly, “That little beauty can control corpses to kill people, okay! It’d be him pinning me down and raping me, not the other way around!”
“Hmm, that’s true.” Zhou Hui thought for a moment and asked, “Did you do anything wrong on the way?”
Xiao Xi shook his head.
“Then when was the last time you saw Deputy Chief Yu?”
Xiao Xi casually flicked his cigarette ash onto the table, took off his high heels, and scratched his foot through his stocking. This action instantly revealed his rough-man nature. Zhou Hui caught it out of the corner of his eye and was suddenly very relieved, thinking that this subordinate was probably still salvageable.
“The day Yan Lanyu arrived in the capital, Deputy Director Yu personally came to the airport to pick us up.” Xiao Xi paused and frowned. “At that time, Yan Lanyu’s body was already failing, but he was in good spirits. He seemed quite happy to hear that Deputy Chief Yu was coming personally. Then we saw Deputy Chief Yu at the airport. I’ve never seen him so excited. He rushed up to Yan Lanyu and said, ‘You’re finally back. I’ve been waiting for you for a long time.’ Then he thanked us for our hard work and said he wanted to treat us to a meal…”
“Yo, Old Yu was pretty high, huh?” Zhou Hui asked. “And then?”
“We all laughed. You know Deputy Chief Yu isn’t stuffy with us, boss. I even made a joke, saying Deputy Chief Yu was like an old man in love, like an old house on fire, so eager he couldn’t wait a second.”
“How did Old Yu react?” Zhou Hui asked.
“He was all smiles, not upset at all. He even went to hold Yan Lanyu’s hand.” Xiao Xi said dejectedly, “He wouldn’t kill me over a single joke, would he? The whole of National Security knows about those two sappy poems Deputy Chief Yu wrote after coming back from Japan. You guys always tease him about robbing the cradle, don’t you? What’s wrong with me saying a few words?”
A sharp glint suddenly flashed in Zhou Hui’s eyes. “Wait, what did you just say about Deputy Chief Yu?”
“…Robbing the cradle?” Xiao Xi said, bewildered.
“No, no, the sentence before that?”
“Deputy Chief Yu… Deputy Chief Yu wrote sappy poems.” Xiao Xi said, “Didn’t Yan Lanyu, the little beauty, save Deputy Chief Yu in Japan? After he came back, he wrote those sappy poems, ‘having seen the great ocean, it’s hard to be impressed by mere water,’ and all that. He even hid them in his diary. But last time, the leader of Team Six, the fox, sneaked it out and read it to everyone in the canteen. Hahaha, we all died laughing…”
But Zhou Hui wasn’t laughing. His eyes were frighteningly bright. “How did Yan Lanyu react at that time?”
“Huh?”
“When you guys were joking like that, what was Yan Lanyu’s reaction?”
Xiao Xi blinked in confusion, seeming to rack his brain. It wasn’t until the cigarette burned his hand that he snapped back with a yelp.
“No… no reaction, I think,” he said blankly. “What reaction could there be? He seemed quite unhappy, maybe he was just thin-skinned.”
“…” Zhou Hui didn’t speak or move. After a long while, he picked up a cigarette and took a slow drag. Zhang Shun and Xiao Xi both watched him. Several minutes passed before they heard him say in a low voice, “I know what’s going on.”
—What’s going on? Xiao Xi was completely lost. Just as he was about to ask, Zhou Hui cut him off. “Did Yan Lanyu say anything else later? Did he try to find you alone, away from Deputy Chief Yu?”
“…I… I don’t know if he went to find anyone else. Anyway, we got in the car. I don’t think he said anything. Just when we were moving the luggage, I was standing behind him, and he asked if I had your contact information…”
“Looking for me?”
“Yeah, he said thank you for saving him from the Japanese and wanted to know when you’d be back in Beijing so he could thank you in person.” Xiao Xi waved his hand. “How could I just give your contact info to someone? I said I didn’t have it, and that was that. That was the last time we saw each other. Later, I heard his body gave out and he fainted, and he never woke up again.”
Zhou Hui suddenly stubbed out his cigarette and shot to his feet, startling Xiao Xi. “Boss? What’s wrong?”
Zhou Hui’s eyes were slightly lowered, his face as still as water. In that instant, all the frivolous and slick veneers peeled away from the man. His sharp, deadly true face emerged like a jagged reef after the tide recedes.
“He didn’t want to thank me. He had figured out something crucial and wanted to pass the information to me at the last moment, but unfortunately, he failed.”
Xiao Xi stood up in alarm. “Boss?”
Zhou Hui waved his hand, signaling that now was not the time to talk. “Who else from the agents was with you at the time?”
“…The… the deputy leader of Team Five, Yangjin Pingcuo, and a team member, Bagna. We escorted Yan Lanyu off the plane together. We separated at the airport. They should have gone to report to the leader of Team Five after completing the mission…”
“I understand.” Zhou Hui cut him off. “You go back to the nightclub for now. Zhang Shun and I have to go out.”
Xiao Xi asked, surprised, “Where are you going?”
Zhang Shun asked, “Me too?”
“Your brother entrusted you to me. When I see you, it’s like I’m seeing Phoenix Four. How could I bear to let you go?” Zhou Hui said casually. “Diamonds, take a taxi back yourself. Just say Shun-zi couldn’t get it up today so it was a quickie, and I’m not keeping you overnight.”
Zhang Shun said angrily, “What did you say? Hey!”
Xiao Xi, without any psychological burden, deftly jumped up and started packing his things. Zhou Hui grabbed Zhang Shun and dragged him out the door, rushing to the elevator. He pulled out his phone and made a short call. “Hello, Xiao Liu. Help me check where Team Five’s deputy leader, Yangjin Puncog, lives. We’re going over there now!”
“What the hell is going on?” Zhang Shun asked urgently as he was stumbled into the elevator. “What did you figure out?”
“Yan Lanyu.”
“Huh?”
“Yan Lanyu’s reaction was wrong.” Zhou Hui paused and asked back, “If you were that little beauty, who waited for a man for two years, weeping in the wind and coughing up blood under the moon, even willing to die for him, and you finally saw him before you died, and someone joked that the man you were waiting for loved you like an old house on fire, how would you react?”
Zhang Shun stammered, “I… I don’t know. I only like girls. I don’t like men.”
“You’d better remember that sentence and only like girls for the rest of your life.” Zhou Hui rolled his eyes and said, “If it were me, I’d be ecstatic. I definitely wouldn’t be unhappy. Yan Lanyu’s reaction means there’s a very fatal problem with that joke.”
“—Ah, a problem?”
“The little beauty became very suspicious because of it, but he made a mistake and didn’t hide it well, and the other party noticed. Perhaps to cover up the truth, they took emergency measures, or perhaps they had intended to kill Yan Lanyu all along. After leaving the airport, Yan Lanyu was immediately targeted…”
The door opened with a ding. Zhou Hui strode out of the elevator and toward the silver Lexus parked at the hotel entrance. Zhang Shun followed closely behind, unable to stop himself from guessing, “What problem could there be with a joke? Did he not like Yu Jingzhong? Did he see that Yu Jingzhong wasn’t handsome enough and fell for someone else, wanting to find you to burn the last of his life’s passion?”
“Brother-in-law!” Zhou Hui said angrily. “I already have two kids with your brother! I only love him!”
Zhang Shun was stunned into silence by the scolding. He saw Zhou Hui get into the car and hurried to follow, wanting to ask more, but he heard Zhou Hui say to the driver, Xiao Liu, “To Yangjin Puncog’s house, immediately. We need to be there in half an hour.”
“No problem, he lives in the East City district too—why the rush?”
Zhou Hui said, “If we’re not in a rush, he won’t live through the night.”
Both Xiao Liu and Zhang Shun’s faces changed drastically, but Zhou Hui stared out the car window, his face like still water, ignoring their questioning gazes.
·
In less than half an hour, Xiao Liu parked the car at the entrance of Yangjin Puncog’s home. The deputy leader of the fifth team lived in a new residential complex in the East City district, in a duplex apartment. In this location, it would cost at least a few million.
Zhou Hui slipped two cartons of Zhonghua cigarettes to the security guard and successfully got into the complex. He walked with large, fast strides. Zhang Shun trotted to keep up, panting, “Why do you say he won’t live through the night? Is it because Yu Jingzhong will send assassins to silence him too?”
“Yan Lanyu’s strange reaction wasn’t only seen by Diamonds, but also by the other two agents from Team Five. Yangjin Puncog is a deputy leader. His status and insight are different from ordinary team members. He may have already noticed something was wrong, but due to Yu Jingzhong’s status and the vast, complex power behind him, Yangjin Puncog didn’t tell anyone about his suspicions.”
“But, that power won’t let him go,” Zhou Hui continued. “They know they made a mistake, and the best way to cover up a mistake is to silence everyone who was present. It’s better to kill a thousand by mistake than to let one slip through. Even a thick-skinned person like Diamonds didn’t escape. Deputy leader Yangjin Puncog is definitely on the assassins’ list.”
“What about the other team member, Bagna?” Zhang Shun asked.
“He was sent out on an assignment by Old Five two days ago. It’s too late to save him. If he was meant to die, he’s already dead.”
The complex had good landscaping. During the day, the trees and grass would be lush and green, a beautiful sight. But at night, it was dark and gloomy, sending a chill down one’s spine. They found Yangjin Puncog’s building, but no one answered the intercom. Zhou Hui kicked open the sturdy, ornate cast-iron gate and walked straight in, pressing the elevator button for the 23rd floor.
This was Zhang Shun’s first time breaking into someone’s home in the middle of the night. He couldn’t help but feel a little terrified. “This… just the two of us? Shouldn’t we inform that Team Five leader and call the nine-tailed fox too? What if the security guards call the police and we get arrested for attempted murder or something…”
“—Do you know where the enemy’s mistake lies?” Zhou Hui suddenly asked.
Zhang Shun shook his head blankly.
Zhou Hui smiled. It was a very sarcastic and somewhat helpless smile.
“Many people above think that Yu Jingzhong was saved by Yan Lanyu at the cost of his own life in Japan because the two had a private affair,” he said slowly. “But that’s not how it was.”
“Yu Jingzhong once told me when he was drunk that there was nothing between him and that little beauty. Those sappy poems were just something he wrote in private and never even let Yan Lanyu know about.”
“—So you can imagine, when Yan Lanyu saw this Yu Jingzhong’s attitude toward him at the airport, and the reactions of others, he would immediately realize something…” Zhou Hui paused meaningfully and said, “This matter shocked him very, very much, just like me now. He immediately realized the water behind this was very deep, but he didn’t know who he could trust, who was a liar wearing a mask…”
Looking at his expression, Zhang Shun suddenly understood the terrifying meaning behind that last sentence.
A cold sweat broke out on his skin.
“In a situation where he suspected everyone, he placed his final trust in me, but unfortunately, the information was intercepted before it could be passed on,” Zhou Hui said. “Luckily, I now have at least two people I can trust: one is you, and the other is your brother.”
The elevator doors opened. Zhou Hui strode to Yangjin Puncog’s front door, knocked twice with no response, then raised his foot and kicked the entire door open with a loud bang!
The solid wood door slammed against the wall and bounced back, only to be stopped by Zhou Hui’s hand.
Zhang Shun peeked out from behind him, his face instantly turning deathly pale.
—Under the large chandelier, Yangjin Puncog’s body hung in mid-air, emitting a foul stench. His neck bone had completely snapped due to gravity, bent at a very grotesque angle. His tongue lolled out, long and discolored, and his murky, grayish-blue eyes stared fixedly at them.
Zhou Hui walked into the living room, closed the door behind him, took out his phone, found “Wifey” in his contacts, and pressed the call button.
Three seconds later, the call connected. Chu He’s voice came through. “Hello?”
“Darling, what we suspected is basically confirmed now. Come back quickly, stop your surveillance. Your man is in a bit of trouble. Team Five’s Yangjin Puncog has been turned into a cursed corpse. I have to perform an exorcism for him within thirty minutes, otherwise…”
Chu He interrupted him. “I’m also in a bit of trouble right now. Did you know that the members of Team Five have collectively betrayed us?”
“—Huh?!”
Chu He gave the address of a military internal hospital and said, “I’m here right now, in the intensive care unit. Hurry over after you deal with the cursed corpse, or get ready to find a stepmother for our kids.”
Zhou Hui immediately panicked. “What happened? What are you doing there? What’s going on?!”
“…”
Chu He sighed and said, “The treasonous Team Five… is right in front of me now.”
·
Chu He hung up the phone and gently put it back in his pocket.
He looked up. The entire ICU monitoring hall was filled with people wearing Tibetan robes, all watching him with various expressions.
The man in the lead was in his forties, with distinct ethnic minority features. He held a pair of double sabers connected by an iron chain, his expression carrying the unique weathered look, cunning, and ferocity of a mountain dweller. He stared unblinkingly at Chu He until the call was over, then snorted. “Team Leader Phoenix Four, do you really think you can last until Boss Zhou arrives? With all the brothers of Team Five together, how many minutes do you think you have left to live?”
Chu He laughed. “Comrade Bagna, you’re looking down on me too much.”
“Whether I’m looking down on you or not, don’t take it to heart. The brothers all know you have a background, otherwise you wouldn’t be sitting in the position of Team Four’s leader. But everyone also knows you’re seriously injured, a tiger stranded on a plain. —Even taking a ten-thousand-step back, let’s say you’re still a master. Wasn’t our deputy leader Yangjin Puncog one too? Didn’t he still get turned into a cursed corpse by the brothers?”
Bagna flourished his double sabers, the blades flashing with a brilliant, cold light. “Team Leader Phoenix Four, we have no grudges, old or new. If there’s anyone to blame, it’s that we stand on opposite sides, and you just had to show up here tonight. —The sixty members of Team Five are here today to take your life!”
With a series of swishing sounds, everyone drew their weapons at once. Led by Bagna, they roared and charged forward amidst a crisscrossing wave of killing intent!
The cold glint of countless blades was reflected in the depths of Chu He’s pupils, yet he did not retreat, nor did he even show any intention of dodging.
He closed his eyes and let out an almost inaudible sigh. The next second, a hurricane rose from under his feet, a ten-thousand-foot vortex spiraling upwards, erupting with the heaven-shattering roar of an ancient divine beast, sending everyone flying!
—BOOM!
Everyone screamed and fell to the ground. Amidst the earth-shaking tremors, the Dharma-form of the Phoenix Wisdom King manifested!
Chu He took a step forward, his silhouette half-revealed in the smoke-filled air.
A sash embroidered with a nine-heavens phoenix pattern cinched his waist. His long hair flowed down as his white robes billowed. A string of glazed Buddhist beads fell from the air and was caught lightly in his hand, instantly transforming into a pure cyan ribbon.
He used the ribbon to casually tie back his flowing hair, grabbed his long spear, and pointed it at the crowd.
“You look down on me too much, all of you.” He laughed. “—Go, call your living Buddha team leader out to see me.”
