Trust is a thing you don't have. You mean, Si Fei is the last thing you can trust. Yeah, just let me rock up to the local cyst of capital and pus and trust everything that drops out of his mouth. Something hot and red blooms above you. An overpressure wave. Flakes of glass fall down with the snow. The Pagoda is crumbling. Go Lei Beihong, you've done it.
Hey, this means that you've technically did the job the Iron Guanyin wanted you to, you thought as you watched the tower slowly crumble. The facade exploded, chips of LCD display flaking off into the street as the patrons screamed and ran faster. They wanted the tower gone. Hey, presto, tower's gone. Si Fei's probably still alive, no one of your calibre, let alone his, dies when the building they're in blows up.
Smoke trails you as you amble over to the garage, an island of uncanny relaxation in a sea of chaos. Mercedes and BMWs whip by you as you whistle a tune. Target one sleek black coffin of wealth, one oily trust fund kid yelling at the driver to scroll up the windows, get him out of there. "Yo, bro." You reach out and grab the rim of the window, which strains to press upward. Spiderwebs stretch out from where your fingers touch the glass. The smell of rich leather is palpable, and so is the sight of abject terror in the rich second-gen's face. "Take a walk, eh?"
Taxi's driver all too happy to comply, and after a brief staring contest the trust fund in the back grudgingly clambers out. You speed off in the night, the slow destruction of the Pagoda lighting up the rear view mirrors, to the junkyard, one thumb skipping through the driver's playlist. Nothing good, all cantopop.
The drive's too short. You expected to get in a jam, but you shut the door in the junkyard's driveway, smoothing out your suit vest as you march into the shrine, where the two twins are drinking tea. The monks are nowhere to be gone. "I've come to bargain," you say grandly, spirits absurdly lifted. "Tower's boomed. Now, gimmie my deets."
Twin No.1 takes a long, long sip, while Twin No.2 takes you in. Jasmine tea again. Those little fucks are definetly doing this to screw with you. "Well?" you ask.
"Is Si Fei dead?" One or the other. There is an air of coolness around them, the milk of human kindness curdled into the sort of irritation you got when the delivery guy shows up thirty minutes behind schedule.
"The Pagoda's gone," you say, dragging a chair to sit at their table, in the empty space that their congregation once prayed to. "So, them's the breaks. My end? Done."
"As long as Si Fei-"
"Yes, yes, it's all very sad, I tried my best but it didn't work, but look, no more Pagoda."
God damn the first to drink tea on social occasions. They're dragging it out, taking your measure. Your leg jitters like hell. The mirrored face of the Iron Guanyin, beyond mortal worries and yet so enmeshed in it that she stayed in this hell, reflects you three. "So," Twin No.2 asks, "did Si Fei tell you everything?"
You rub your lips. Need a cig. "Why?"
"We think-" "-You know."
You shrug. "Yeah, more or less. I don't trust him. Not at all. It's feels almost too neat. I'm not-"
"-Maybe it feels like it fits because it does," Twin No.1 points out. "There's no trick, sometimes. Just the truth."
"Yeah, yeah. I am a Snakehead, aren't I?"
They shrug as one. "Yep. Off and on, though."
"What was the thing in Gansu?" Your mouth is dry.
The twins look at each other. "We'll give you that. You burned down an apartment block to get at this family that was holed inside."
You lean back. "Wow. I bet they were named Ma, right?" When they nodded, you heaved a sigh. Guess there's no weaselling out of this one. You stand up and look over yourself. No, you're not going to walk to this shit looking like an escort. "Well, thanks. I don't suppose you know where Yuexia or Ma Yuyue is?"
"The Beijing Palace Museum," Twin No2 says. "Do you really need to do this?"
You shrugged and left, feeling the cold night air on your skin. Half hour later you stopped by a roadside street vendor and got a tracksuit. Then it was the Forbidden City. This late in the night it was empty, washed out in moonlight and halogen lamps.
Face up, Li Shao Peng. This is your dance.
You parked the car outside of the city and hopped over the walls. The thump of your feet draws attention, thirty Zhenyan sec troopers and there, in her white jacket and a sword at her waist, Yuexia.
They rush forward to surround you, a ring of black. You walk forward. "Well?" you ask. "Let's get this over with."
"Li Peng," Yuexia says. And it is says. There is no emotion in her voice, she doesn't growl or choke. Her thumb flicks an inch of swordblade out in the chilly night, the white courtyard covered with the last snowfalls, then flicks it back into the scabbard again. "I didn't expect you."
"Can't say anyone does. Look, I killed your family. My surname is the Li of jasmine's flower. Let's get this show on the road."
"I guess." She scratches her head, looks at the ground, the walls, the floor. "You don't have a weapon."
That's fair. You're pretty confident in your empty hand skills but there's a limit. One of the Zhenyan goons has a spear. "Gimmie that." You march over and snatch it from his hands before he can protest. It's around six feet, the spearpoint's a little tacticool, but it works. Good balance, solid carbon fibre construction. You try out some moves with it. Smooth as butter. This thing won't break.
"Spear's up to the task?"
You point at Yuexia. "Yo this kid just called your armorers shit." This gets no reaction from anyone. "I feel like you don't want to fight." You begin pacing a circle around her. "What gives? That's not the Yuexia I know. Why do I get the special treatment? You should have that sword out and calling me an incomparable villain amongst villains."
"Yeah, well, today's an off day."
"We-" she flinches, is that it?- "just stormed the Colored Wolf Pagoda. Call off these goobers and let's have a proper fight. Think of this as payback for all the times I called you a rich kid. Besides, hey, these guys are gonna take me in anyway, ain't that right?"
There's that Zhenyan captain, fry face from weeks before. "Yes," comes the electronic buzzsaw growl from the voice box.
"See? Look, come on, take me in. It'll look good on your resume. She is your intern, right? Why's she even here?"
"Just leave, Grand Abbot Tut," Yuexia cuts in. "I don't want to fight you. Just… just get arrested, break out, I don't even care."
She's wavering. It must be hard for her. You were, sort of, comrades for a while. You got tortured together. (You did and she watched). You defeated the Japanese imperialists together. Yeah, that's why. So maybe…
No. You couldn't, you realize. It's not fair to her, watching her family's killer leave. No child could live under the same heaven as their father's murderer. She needs this more than you. There just needs to be one push.
Last Push:
[1.4] {Harmonious Society} "Do you want to know how they died?"
[1.2] {Wrathful Manifestation} "I hated you. I've always hated you since the moment we met."
[1.1] {Chase the Red Sun} "You're an idiot. You won't solve anything. You'll never be Batman."
[1.1] {Pain is a Teacher} "If you don't, then who'll stop me? Murdering and killing. You want that?"
