#*transl

The flames cooked the air until it was boiling hot, and the tips of her hair were even beginning to curl. Situ Weilian pointed at the inferno that blocked the path, and hollered, “The fire has been burning here for so long, this means that the air is sufficient, there must definitely be an air vent here.”

Mi Lan shook her head at him.

Situ Weilian said angrily, “Stop giving me trouble! If you’re afraid of fire, I can protect you. This little fire won’t kill us, we can charge through!”

Mi Lan opened her mouth and said, “I want to go and find Mr. Shen.”

“Why do you want to find him? He’s already dead!”

Mi Lan suddenly shouted, her voice sharp, “Then I’ll die too!”

“You–are you crazy? Or have you fallen in love with him?”

“Love?” Mi Lan seemed as if she had suddenly become confused by his question. “Love?”

“Now that it’s still not too late, you’d better stop dreaming! How old are you, how can you know what love is? Besides, you’re immortal now, as long as you’re willing to escape with me, there’s a whole world of men out there, you can love whomever you want! You can even fucking love someone random for a few hundred years! Do you understand?!”

Mi Lan seemed as if she had just awoken from a long dream. “Oh…”

Situ Weilian thought that she had come through, and was about to pull her forward to dash through the flames. He did not expect her to pull her hand out of his. She took a step back, and as if she had suddenly gained enlightenment, she nodded at him.

Then, she turned around and ran back.

Situ Weilian chased after her and caught her hair, forcing her to turn around and look him in the eye. However, Mi Lan had been prepared for this. The moment she turned her head around, she spread out her five fingers and clawed at his face. Caught off guard, he let go and shrunk back, hearing Mi Lan say loudly at the same time, “Don’t stop me, I only love one man, and that is Mr. Shen!”

Then, she spread her long legs, and just like a fawn, she dashed into the darkness that they had come from.

Situ Weilian took two steps to chase after her, and then stopped. He stood on the spot in a daze, before finally gritting his teeth and turning around to dash into the fire. If he had known earlier than Mi Lan would be so useless, he would have saved his efforts and carried Shen Zhiheng to escape. If he had managed to escape from the dungeon before Shen Zhiheng took his last breath, his living expenses for the next few decades would have been covered.

However, it was too late for regret now. It was better for him to escape first, and then think of what to do next. In any case, no matter what happened, he would always have a way to continue living on.

The same moment that Situ Weilian and Mi Lan were parting ways, Li Yingliang was still waiting to die together with Shen Zhiheng.

He did not really have a peace of mind, for Shen Zhiheng had suddenly become silent. When he touched his head and face, he realised that his face still bore some warmth, but line after line of blood vessels had swelled up on the surface of his skin, forming a web that spread up from his neck. He could not see what Shen Zhiheng looked like, but based on what he felt, he concluded that he must look very terrifying now.

At this moment, he suddenly heard a voice talking.

That voice was very low. It was a woman’s voice that sounded familiar, and she was speaking Japanese. It was Kuroki Rika.

Over the phone call, Li Yingliang had already inferred Kuroki Rika’s intentions. To her, he most definitely belonged to Yokoyama’s group, and even death was too easy a way out for him. However, this was a huge misunderstanding. The one he was loyal to was the commissioner, he did not care whether the word after “Commissioner” was Yokoyama or Kuroki, he would be equally loyal to them. How could Kuroki Rika not understand such a simple logic? Moreover, besides his loyalty, he also had his own men under him. He was not surrendering to the Japanese as a freeloader; he had his own power and could do things!

He slowly turned his head to look at Shen Zhiheng beside him, and thought that he now possessed an even more extraordinary piece of news about Shen Zhiheng, Mi Lan, and Situ Weilian. Could it be that Kuroki Rika was truly not the least bit interested?

Kuroki Rika’s voice rang out again, and it was even drawing closer.

Li Yingliang said softly, “Wait here, I’ll go and take a look.”

Then, without waiting for Shen Zhiheng to reply, he crawled forward, until he reached the dim flickering light at the end of the corridor. The air grew hotter, and he was not only exhausted but also thirsty. If he really died here, then the moments before his death would definitely be extremely painful. He extended his head out beyond the corner at the end of the corridor, and a shiver ran through him.

A group of armed soldiers walked out from the junction ahead, led by Kuroki Rika. Li Yingliang knew that she wanted to kill him, but as if he had been possessed by a ghost, he slowly crawled out, until he entered her line of sight.

Then, he knelt down and raised his hands in a picture of surrender. “Section Head Kuroki, it’s me, Li Yingliang. I’ve caught Shen Zhiheng. I’ve been waiting for you to come over so that I can present him to you, to atone for my past mistakes.”

Kuroki Rika was already lost in this dungeon, and just when her inner thoughts were growing increasingly tumultuous, she had suddenly seen Li Yingliang. She had very nearly raised her gun and emptied her clip at him. It was only upon hearing Li Yingliang out when she first froze, and then became ecstatic.

“Where is he?”

Li Yingliang wanted to stand up, but his legs were soft and could not support his weight. He could only turn around on his knees.

“Please follow me. He’s heavily injured, and no longer has the strength to fight back.”

Li Yingliang walked like an animal, crawling to Shen Zhiheng’s side.

A few flashlights shone through this half of the corridor, allowing Kuroki Rika to clearly see Shen Zhiheng, who was sprawled on the ground.

Li Yingliang lowered his head and knelt beside Shen Zhiheng, mumbling softly as if to himself, “I’m sorry. But you’re about to die anyway, and instead of dying for nothing, you can save me this once.”

He then lifted his head, and noticed that Shen Zhiheng was still conscious, and was even using his one unharmed eye to look at him. The raised black blood vessels formed a web, enveloping his face. His appearance was no longer that of a human, and only that one eye still hid the slightest human emotion.

This emotion very nearly caused Li Yingliang to puke out blood.

After confirming Shen Zhiheng’s identity, Kuroki Rika raised a gun to his head and said, “Chairman Li, this time, you’ve made a great contribution.”

Li Yingliang moved backwards slowly, not wanting to see Shen Zhiheng’s head be blown apart, as he mumbled, “You flatter me, you flatter me, as long as you’re aware of my loyalty, I’m satisfied.”

Kuroki Rika took a deep breath and hooked her finger onto the trigger. She was about to pull it, when a sharp pain suddenly burst at her neck.

One second later, she heard the startled cries of her subordinates.

She raised her hand to touch the point where it hurt, but what she felt was a solid and hard metal rod. That metal rod had already pierced through her neck, and its other end was sharp and dyed with blood. She slowly turned her head and saw a young girl standing at the end of the corridor, who was panting heavily as she stared at them. Li Yingliang recognised her; it was Mi Lan.

That metal rod that had pierced through Kuroki Rika’s neck was the walking cane she had used to search for a path not too long ago.

No one had noticed when she had run over, and no one had noticed where she had picked up that thin metal rod from, and least of all, no one knew that she actually had so much strength, that she could actually throw that iron rod like a javelin and pierce it through Kuroki Rika’s neck.

After a short period of silence, the soldiers started firing at Mi Lan in unison. Mi Lan immediately dodged and hid from the bullets, while Kuroki Rika took a step forward, the expression on her face still one of shock. She did not know if she was about to die, because even at this point, she did not feel that much pain. She thought that she had to leave and immediately go to a hospital, perhaps, the doctors would find a way to remove this metal rod.

However, she soon also realised that she could not leave.

Li Yingliang’s broken sobs came from behind her. That sound was trapped in his throat, and it sounded bizarre and weak at the same time. At the same time, her subordinates looked around to find the source of the sound, before suddenly shouting and dispersing.

A large hand fell onto the top of her head, its five fingers drawing together and catching hold of her skull tightly, before twisting violently to the back. Kuroki Rika’s head was instantaneously twisted one hundred and eighty degrees, and in that last moment of her life, she saw Shen Zhiheng. Shen Zhiheng seemed strangely tall and imposing, as if he were levitating in mid-air. The blackness in his pupil spread out like a smear, turning his pupil into a piece of obsidian: cold and hard, shining with light, but without any emotion.

His five fingers opened, and Kuroki Rika fell to the floor.

And the massacre began.

No longer seeking any protection, Li Yingliang crawled forward along the wall. His two legs no longer had any strength left in them, and he could only frantically drag himself forward with his two elbows. Wave after wave of blood-curdling screams echoed from behind him, and like rivers, fresh blood flowed across the floor at an even faster speed than him. At this moment, he had neither thoughts nor schemes, he no longer had anything, and only had the slightest desire to live driving him and making him crawl forward.

At the end of the corridor, a pair of bright red legs appeared before his eyes. These legs were skinny and nimble, and wearing a pair of white canvas shoes. They had once been white, but were now already stained red with blood. Following this pair of legs and looking up, he saw Mi Lan.

He wanted to beg her to spare him, but his lips were trembling and he could not speak a single word. The two legs before his eyes suddenly moved away as Mi Lan cleared the path for him.

Mi Lan did not bear him any personal grudges, and also still remembered that winter night, when he took pity on her, a young girl walking on the street against the wind and snow, fetching her home in his car. His only problem was that he always wanted to harm Mr. Shen, and this made him detestable. However, at this moment, she did not want to take revenge on him, and since she was not in the mood to do so, he could go as he pleased!

She was currently obsessed with Shen Zhiheng who was before her.

The world before her was one where blood and pieces of flesh were splattering everywhere, but in her eyes, the difference between splattering blood and fresh and bright sunshine, was that one world had blood and flesh, while the other had sunshine.

When the last soldier fell, the only two people left alive in the corridor were her and Shen Zhiheng. Shen Zhiheng walked towards her, soaked in blood, and she knew that at this moment, he had lost his mind. Yet, she had completely no thoughts of escaping.

She would not escape. She had returned specifically for him, and now that they had finally met again, even if she were struck by lightning, she would not escape. If he attacked her, then she would return the attack. She had to take him away. It would be best if they could live together, but if they could not, then dying together was fine as well.

Because she loved him!

However, Shen Zhiheng walked halfway through the corridor, and suddenly fell down into a seated position. Casually pulling a corpse towards him, he bent down and took one bite, and started sucking its blood.

Following that, he fell forwards head first and lost consciousness. 

Mi Lan carried Shen Zhiheng and walked through the corridor. Since Shen Zhiheng was too tall, his two legs dragged along the ground, leaving long, bloody trails. And about ten metres behind them, Li Yingliang chased after these trails of blood, crawling arduously.

Mi Lan paid no attention to the pursuer behind them. Simply based on her memory, she walked along the path that Situ Weilian had gone. The air rapidly became burning hot, and she once again saw that familiar fire. The flames had weakened considerably. Stopping, she shifted Shen Zhiheng further up her back.

“We’re going!” she let loose a holler of self-amusement.

Then, carrying Shen Zhiheng, she rushed into the inferno, rushed through it, and rushed out of it.

After crossing the inferno, she walked through an unfinished passageway, and detected the smells of the wilderness.

She held her head high, her body brimming with immeasurable strength. Most of her long hair had been burned to a crisp, and her calves were decorated with blisters. Amidst her pain, she walked forward fiercely and in exhilaration. She was a schoolgirl, she was a young bride. Saving him was precisely what she liked; she had saved his body, and he had saved her soul.

She did not know which path Situ Weilian had taken, and she could not be bothered to care. The end of the corridor was before her, and a metal ladder was lined along the wall. She walked to the ladder and looked up, noticing the metal points lying messily all over the place above her, and above them the shining stars.

Mi Lan did not find any rope, and so she removed the pants of that Mr. Shen of hers. His pants were fairly sturdy and were enough to tie her and Shen Zhiheng tightly together as one. Stretching out her two hands, she grabbed onto the ladder and started climbing up one rung at a time.

When she climbed to the surface, she looked around, feeling that this place looked a little familiar. Suddenly, with an “aiya”, she saw a messy, shallow ditch not too far from her. If she remembered correctly, that should have been the mouth of a vertical shaft, which she had first fallen into. Shortly after they had fallen into it, the Japanese soldiers had exploded the shaft.

Mi Lan was on the verge of laughing: her luck was too good. The paths ahead were all ones she had walked before, and whatever path she had walked even once, she could remember completely!

A moan came from behind her, and this made her quicken her pace. Mr. Shen was always worried about not losing face, and she thought that he definitely would not be happy to find himself running around the wilderness with her, while his buttocks were bare. She definitely had to leave this place before he became clear-headed.

While Mi Lan was running wildly with Shen Zhiheng on her back, Li Yingliang also saw the sky.

He had chased Mi Lan until he could no longer keep up, and had no choice but to crawl blindly based on feeling, before finally actually finding a way out. Before finding his way out, he had bumped into Kuroki Rika’s remaining troops. They were two Japanese soldiers who were on the verge of insanity, and upon seeing Li Yingliang, they had wildly fired at him, prompting Li Yingliang to shoot back at them. His pistol had only two bullets left, and this time round, he had used them both completely.

It was only in such a situation when he finally dared to kill the Japanese.

The Japanese soldiers were dead, while he had been shot twice. Besides these two gunshots, he had earlier crawled through a fire, which had probably already burned through most of its fuel, and had only been left as a few weak tongues of flame. However, tongues of flame were still fire, and they were enough to scorch his exposed face and hands.

However, he was still breathing, and he could still crawl. After crawling through a long flight of stairs, his head had bumped into a set of metal grilles, which had then come loose after that bump. He had bumped into it a few more times, before knocking out a small hole, allowing him to extend his head through.

The outside was a patch of wild grass, and just like a snake, he had continued crawling out, twisting his body in all sorts of bizarre shapes and his joints cracking continuously in pain. Without a single care, as if he had been possessed by a devil, he had continued squeezing himself out. Even if he had squeezed himself into broken pieces, it was still better than dying in that dungeon.

After squeezing himself towards the outside for some time, he finally depleted all of his strength, and was stuck in that hole, unable to move.

He closed his eyes and waited to die, but someone walked by, lowered his body, and asked, “Is this Mr. Li?”

Li Yingliang’s eyelids moved. He could hear that it was Situ Weilian.

Situ Weilian’s voice was light and a little weak. “Have you seen Mi Lan?” He hit Li Yingliang’s head with force. “Are you also about to die?”

Then, he straightened his back and stuffed both of his hands into his pants pockets, mumbling to himself, “Why are all of you dying one by one? Can’t someone alive come out? I’m still waiting for someone to show me the way home. Just where is this place?!”

After saying this, he squatted down again, and noticed the gunshot wounds on Li Yingliang’s shoulders. He extended his hand and rubbed those wounds once, then pulled it back and sucked on the taste of fresh blood. Seemingly thinking that it was not too bad, he stuffed his hands under Li Yingliang’s armpits, and without caring if he was dead or alive, he stubbornly pulled him out from that small hole. Then, he crossed his legs and sat down. Hugging Li Yingliang, he bent over and bit down straight into the artery at the side of his neck.

At this moment, Li Yingliang used the last breath left in him and opened his mouth, “Turn me into the kind of person that Shen Zhiheng is…”

Situ Weilian froze. “What?”

“I’ll repay you… I’ll be your dog, listen to your orders… I’ll sell my life to you… forever repay you…”

There were still tens of thousands of things that he wanted to promise, but the warmth in his four limbs was rapidly draining. A single teardrop slid out from the corner of his eye. His death was not one of peace.

He was lying on his back on the grass and looking up at the sky, while Mi Lan was kneeling across his chest. Her skirt, which had first been completely drenched in fresh blood which had then dried on it, was now stiff and heavy. With her hair loose and in a mess, she was currently fixing his buttons for him with her head lowered.

He was awake, but he still had not come to his senses, and did not know where he was or when it was. Raising her eyes, Mi Lan exchanged glances with him, but she did not say anything, only staring straight at him, as if she could not get enough of a look.

Shen Zhiheng slowly turned his head and saw the green grass beside his face, and even saw the moon and stars in the night sky. Above the green grass and beneath the moon and stars was a young girl in clothes stained with blood, Mi Lan.

“Did we escape?” he asked softly.

Mi Lan nodded her head. “Mm.”

“Were you the one who saved me?”

Mi Lan replied, “Of course it was me.”

Shen Zhiheng smiled. “You always save me.”

Mi Lan opened her mouth, “I…”

It was not that she was hesitant to speak, she simply had not thought of what to say next after “I”. She would save him forever, accompany him forever. If he died, she would go and die too. There were so many things to say, which should she start with? And then which one next? She had always been taciturn, and if words could not properly express her meaning, then from where should she start speaking again?

So, she might as well say nothing. She wouldn’t say anything now, and when she thought of it properly in the future, she would say it then.

Mi Lan helped Shen Zhiheng up, and it was then when he noticed that he had changed into a clean set of clothes. It was just that the measurements were wrong. A section of his ankles and wrists were exposed, and the shoes were too small. He took one step, holding on to Mi Lan, and felt that he had some strength, and belatedly asked, “Mi Lan, did I… kill a lot of people?”

“Yes.”

Shen Zhiheng changed the topic, “Where did you get these clothes from?”

“The chauffeur.”

“The chauffeur?”

“That day, to find you, I hired a car and tailed Li-shushu, but the chauffeur wasn’t willing to wait here for me, so I sucked all of his blood.” She raised her hand and pointed to one side, “The corpse is there. When I found him just now, his flesh had not gone bad yet, so I removed his clothes and gave them to you to wear. The car is behind that big tree, you know how to drive, let’s go home!”

Shen Zhiheng was finding it hard to believe her. “You killed someone?”

Mi Lan looked at him calmly and quietly, with no intention to explain any further. She had long completely accepted her identity as something that was not human. She killed people, just like how a human would kill chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, dogs, or cats. There was no important goal behind it; it was simply to satisfy a craving to have a bite of meat, or to have a piece of pelt.

Shen Zhiheng did not criticise her; he had neither the position nor right to do so. When he was famished, he would go on a killing spree, and would be even more uncontrolled and violent than her. He suddenly thought, he had lived so difficultly for more than a hundred years, was it now time that he acknowledged his fate?

Shen Zhiheng got into the car, where he found a towel and a bottle of water. Dipping the towel with water, he meticulously cleaned the specks of blood and dirt on his face, and then washed the towel and tore it into strips that he wrapped around one half of his face. If passers-by happened to look at him, they would assume that he was simply a patient with a head injury.

Mi Lan was curled up in the drunk, as her bloodied clothes simply could not be hidden, and whoever saw her would be given quite a huge fright.

As the sun was about to rise, rays of sunlight shone faintly along the edges of the sky. Shen Zhiheng started the car. Now, he no longer cared about Situ Weilian or Li Yingliang. Situ Weilian should still be alive, but he no longer had anything to do with him, and he had not even asked Mi Lan where he had gone. Li Yingliang was probably dead. The last memory he had of this little brat was of him kneeling before Kuroki Rika, selling him out.

This last memory made him thoroughly disappointed in Li Yingliang. It was not hatred or fury, just disappointment. If Li Yingliang had followed Situ Weilian then and escaped together, he probably would not have been as disappointed.

On the way back to the city, Shen Zhiheng’s luck was not that bad. They only met a few checkpoints of the Japanese army, and the inspections were also quite relaxed. The certificates of this car were also in order, and it had originated from a large car company in the city, so it was easy to muddle through the inspections.

 Seeing the streets full of people and cars, he was quite disoriented, up until when he drove back into the concession zone and returned home. He got out of the car and stepped through the doors, and saw Zhang Youwen before him.

Zhang Youwen had not seen Young Miss Niece for three days and nights in a row. He was so anxious that he had been about to slit his own neck, and he had become considerably thinner. Suddenly seeing Shen Zhiheng return, and in such a dishevelled state at that, he was startled, delighted, and afraid at the same time.

“Mr. Shen, you’re back? You’re fine? Are you injured? Do you want to go to the hospital?”

Shen Zhiheng replied, “There’s no need. I’m fine. They’re just flesh wounds.”

Zhang Youwen then said, “Mr. Shen, there’s one more thing, that is, Young Miss Niece. Young Miss Niece has gone missing!”

Shen Zhiheng was nonchalant and relaxed as always. “She is not missing, she will be able to return in a moment. Go out and buy some fruits and ice cream first, she can eat it when she returns.”

At once, a smile appeared on Zhang Youwen’s face, and he delightedly ran out. Shen Zhiheng hurriedly took the chance to open the trunk to let Mi Lan out. Without needing him to say anything further, she rapidly ran into the house to shower and change.

Half an hour later, Zhang Youwen returned with fruits in his hands, and really saw a brand new Young Miss Niece. Over these three days and three nights, Young Miss Niece had evidently suffered much. First of all, her once long hair had become short, reaching until her ears, with the hair at her temples tucked behind her ears. Dressed in a sports attire, it gave her the aura of a boy. Upon seeing Zhang Youwen, she was like a mute, not caring to explain where she had run off to these few days. Not wanting to lower himself to her level, Zhang Youwen turned his head and looked back again at Mr. Shen, and saw that Mr. Shen had also recovered his old appearance. The clothes on his body were layered and neat, and he did not seem to feel bothered by the heat. Snow white bandages were wrapped diagonally, covering half of his forehead and one eye, as well as a part of his face.

Sitting on the sofa, Mr. Shen seemed extremely tired, and he asked, “What is today’s date?”

“The twenty-fifth.”

Shen Zhiheng raised his head and looked at Mi Lan. “How fortunate, we can still make it for the ship tomorrow at dawn.”

Mi Lan stood in a corner of the parlour. “I’ve already packed all my luggage.”

Shen Zhiheng suddenly turned to face Zhang Youwen. “The situation in the north is too messy now, and I’m an enemy of the Japanese, so we now intend to head south to lie low. If you’re willing, you can stay behind and look after the house for me.”

Zhang Youwen immediately nodded. “I’m willing, I’m willing, as long as the boss trusts me.”

Shen Zhiheng continued, “I’ll leave a cheque behind for your living expenses, and you can continue staying here. I’ll occasionally make a long-distance phone call back to ask about the situation here.”

Upon hearing this, Zhang Youwen was delighted again. For no reason at all, he now had money to spend, and a Western house in the concession zone to live in. Besides, he did not have to work or put in any effort. Was there a better task than this on earth?

Shen Zhiheng then stood up and said to Mi Lan, “Go back to your room and rest. We have to wake up early tomorrow morning for a long journey, which will be another tiring one.”

Mi Lan did not say anything to Zhang Youwen, and quietly returned to her room to sleep.

She slept for a very, very long time, and when she woke up again, the sky outside the window was faintly light. It was already the dawn of the second day. While she had been fast asleep, Shen Zhiheng had consolidated their luggage and taken care of the car. When Mi Lan had washed up and walked out of her room, Zhang Youwen had already started the car and was waiting outside.

The atmosphere in the concession zone was still one of peace, and they smoothly reached the pier and boarded the passenger ship. There were too many passengers on the ship, and although Mi Lan was in a first class cabin, she still thought that it was very noisy, and that noise could last for an entire day.

At night, she lay down on the small bed, wanting to sleep but unable to fall asleep. Suddenly, Shen Zhiheng, who was on the bed opposite hers, sat up.

She asked in a small voice, “Do you also have insomnia?”

Shen Zhiheng answered, “The bed is too small, it’s uncomfortable if I lie on it for too long. I might as well go out and walk a bit.”

She got up as well. “I’ll walk with you.”

The two of them left the cabin and headed for the deck. Night had just fallen, and the gentle wind was quite chilly. Leaning against the railing on the deck, Shen Zhiheng lowered his head and looked at the waves below him, and so did Mi Lan. There was no one around them at all, it was just the two of them, standing in the middle of the winds of the vast ocean.

Blown completely awake by the wind, Mi Lan turned her head to gaze at Shen Zhiheng, and suddenly felt that now that fortune was smiling upon her, she could think properly. At this moment, the contents behind the word “I” that she had been unable to express clearly, were now clear to her.

She extended her hand and patted Shen Zhiheng’s arm. This time, she did not call him Mr. Shen, only calling him with a single “eh”.

Shen Zhiheng turned his head to look at her.

She was quite nervous, and with her fingers clutching his sleeve, she said, “I love you.”

The second those words left her lips, they were blown away by the ocean winds. Shen Zhiheng raised his eyebrows at her in confusion, and then shifted his ear closer to her lips, asking loudly, “What?”

Mi Lan pulled onto his ear, nearly pressing her lips onto them, and shouted loudly, “I like you!”

Shen Zhiheng was startled by her, moving slightly away. Raising his hand to cover his ear, he looked at Mi Lan and replied, “I know.”

Mi Lan stared at him, curling her hands around her mouth to form a trumpet, and she shouted against the ocean winds, “You don’t know! I love you! I want to marry you in the future!”

This time, Shen Zhiheng was truly surprised, so much so that he looked at Mi Lan, unable to say anything for a moment.

One midnight a few days later, Shen Zhiheng and Mi Lan arrived safely in Shanghai.

At the same time, thousands of miles away in Tianjin, Jin Jingxue, who was returning for the night, got out of the car in front of her mansion.

She had yet to call back the servants on leave, and the two maidservants she had left at home had not known to step out and welcome her home. She entered the house alone and was about to go upstairs to rest, when she heard someone knocking at the front door behind her. At first, she was startled, but nearly at once, her face lit up with joy. She turned around and ran over to open the door.

“Liang-gege?”

Outside was the dark, endless night. Immaculately dressed, Li Yingliang stood beneath the lamp at the door, and gave her a slight bow.

“I’m back.”

Full of joy, she was about to extend her hand and pull him in, but halfway through, she slowly stopped, for another tall and large figure had walked out from the darkness. It was Situ Weilian.

And yet, he was not dead.

Li Yingliang did not even think about that bullet that had shot through his chest. Although that bullet had missed his heart, it had shot through his lungs, and that was more than enough to kill him. Situ Weilian looked like he was indeed in much agony. His expression was one of agony, and the sounds he was making were of agony. His condition was very much one of agony, but he completely did not look like he was going to die.

Li Yingliang did not know what was going on. Actually, he vaguely knew, it was just that he was not willing to face reality and would rather not know.

Shen Zhiheng stood in the darkness. He knew that he must definitely look very terrible now, which made him quite ashamed of himself, and this humiliation also made him quite furious. The only one he could vent this frustration on was Li Yingliang, who was truly his predestined doom. After living so many years with no real danger, he had originally thought that was already sufficiently knowledgeable, and that there was no longer any obstacle in the world that could daunt him. Little had he known that that was only because his personal devil had not yet been born. His personal devil was the one and only Li Yingliang, who had disguised himself as a mortal human to try different methods to bring harm upon him, and with his bizarre and strange moves, he had been left unable to defend himself against him. He no longer wanted to continue fighting, after a few days, he would leave Tianjin far behind him, and yet this personal devil was still unwilling to let go of him, wanting to harm him once again through Situ Weilian.

He looked at Li Yingliang without saying a word, but as if Li Yingliang could read his mind, his eyes were sparkling and brimming with tears. He stammered something to him, but his voice was too soft, and Shen Zhiheng could only read his lips to understand the contents of what he said.

Li Yingliang had said, “I’m sorry, please don’t blame me. I’m sorry.”

Shen Zhiheng looked elsewhere. He was in so much pain that his whole head and whole face were burning. Fortunately, he was still clear-headed, and had not reached the point of going insane. He simply did not want to see that gaudy but insubstantial little face of Li Yingliang’s any longer. This person now seemed like an extremely unlucky opera actor. Perhaps it was because he normally put on too many shows, and that he always acted as the villain, that no matter how people looked at him, they were always unable to pity and feel sympathy for him.

Li Guisheng pressed against his kneecap and stood up. “I only remember this much.”

Then, he squatted back down again. Shen Zhiheng and Situ Weilian both walked closer, and just like Li Yingliang, Li Guisheng’s heart was full of terror and he did not dare to raise his hand. With his finger, he pointed at the route he had drawn on the floor.

Pointing at one point with his fingernail, he said, “We should be here, The door that we closed is this door. I remember this very clearly, just now, when I was looking at the map, I was quite puzzled and was wondering why such large iron doors had to be built in this corridor. If we walk forward along this corridor, there will be two paths ahead of us, and each of them will fork out into many paths. However, it doesn’t matter which path we take, because all of them haven’t been built properly yet. It’s just that some of them end at something like a well and lead up to the surface, while some of them are just dead ends. I think that we just have to decide on a direction and not walk around in circles here, and we’ll definitely be able to walk out.” 

“The remaining air vents?” Shen Zhiheng asked.

Li Guisheng still did not dare to raise his head. “That, I don’t know. We can walk and search for them at the same time. If our eyes are sharp, we can definitely find them. If there aren’t any air vents, wouldn’t everyone here suffocate to death? There are definitely air vents.”

“You only remember this much? Nothing else?” Situ Weilian asked.

“Nothing–oh, right, I still remember that the path ahead seems to have quite a few taps, as if they intend to build barracks here. We have water and electricity. But I don’t know just where the electricity is coming from. There seems to be an electric generator here.”

Li Yingliang said, “Then let’s go. Hang on, Doctor Situ. Everything will be alright when we escape.”

Situ Weilian hummed once. He first leaned onto Shen Zhiheng, but when he twisted his head and saw Shen Zhiheng’s face, he withdrew his head at once.

“Mi Lan, come and support me.”

Mi Lan lowered her head and walked over, holding onto the crook of his elbow. Just like how he could not think of why Situ Weilian was not dead, Li Yingliang could not think of how this blind little girl had followed him. However, now was not the time to ask this. The important task now was to survive.

Besides surviving, he could not afford to think about anything else, not even his own future. Once he started thinking about it, he wanted to cry. The Japanese were too heartless; he was so loyal to the Japanese, but Kuroki Rika wanted to kill him so readily. Yokoyama Akira had offended her, but he had not! Even if a new emperor chose his own new officials [1], she could simply send him away, and not necessarily take his life!

Li Yingliang walked after Li Guisheng, but before he could walk far, Shen Zhiheng suddenly grabbed his wrist. He was startled, but he heard Shen Zhiheng’s voice nearly at once.

“Don’t be afraid. I’m just worried you'll start playing tricks again.”

He laughed bitterly. “It would be good if I still had tricks to play.”

“There’s nothing good about it, I’m already scared of you.”

Li Yingliang twisted his head to look at him. “You’re scared of me?” He laughed twice. “You’re actually scared of me?”

Then, he changed the topic. “Can I walk on your other side?”

Shen Zhiheng looked to the front, the burned half of his face facing him. “Why?”

“Your other side is slightly nicer to look at.”

“You dare to commit murder and arson, but now you don’t dare to look at my face?”

Li Yingliang did not know how to answer this question. He dared to commit murder and arson, because those whom he had killed and those whom he had burned were not his match and were all dead.

And Shen Zhiheng could not die.

While Li Guisheng led the way, Situ Weilian and Mi Lan had overtaken them without him noticing, following closely behind Li Guisheng. Situ Weilian was panting continuously as he swayed around, and the light bulbs hanging from the ceiling grew sparse. The corridor grew darker and Li Guisheng grew more careful. He started to walk hesitantly, testing out which way to go. Then, another set of two large iron doors appeared ahead of him, and he perked up.

“I’ve walked here before. I remember this door.”

Then, he heard Situ Weilian’s voice, so close to him it seemed like it was pressed against the back of his head.

“This pain is killing me.”

He quickened his footsteps, firstly because he was truly anxious, secondly because he wanted to hide from Situ Weilian’s hot exhalations. But just at this moment, he heard the sound of footsteps.

This sound was dull and messy, quite a distance away from them, but it was approaching them rapidly. Without any need for reminders, Li Guisheng dashed forward, even without a single care for his chairman, and turned right at the first junction.

And at the junction behind them, a few fully armoured Japanese soldiers had already revealed themselves.

They were attempting to escape to the outside, while the Japanese soldiers on the outside were attempting to enter. Kuroki Rika had issued a death order, that no matter what, they could not let Shen Zhiheng escape alive. Unable to break through the lock on the iron doors, and without a blueprint of the dungeons, they had wasted a lot of time before finally finding an air vent big enough for people to walk through. Following the air vent down, they had realised that they could go past the iron doors, however they had no idea what the situation behind the iron doors would be. The soldiers were clueless, and so was Kuroki Rika. Without Yokoyama, the Yokoyama mansion still had many troublesome matters left that she had to follow up on, and she could not waste all of her time in this wilderness. Putting it this way, Yokoyama’s crimes couldn’t even be washed away with his death; if he had not lured a vampire that was a recipe for endless disasters into this dungeon, why would she have to waste her time and effort over this matter now?

She knew how strong Shen Zhiheng was, and so she had continuously sent people down into the air vent. If Shen Zhiheng wanted to kill them, then he could kill as many of them as he pleased. In any case, she had many people, and there was bound to be a time when he grew tired from killing.

In this underground world which had yet to be completed, chaos once again erupted.

Firing a gun in such an enclosed space surrounded by cement walls was the most dangerous, as the ricochet would cause indiscriminate damage. The Japanese had no choice but to hurl hand grenades at their enemies’ backs, and then find a place to hide and wait for the explosions. Shen Zhiheng and company rolled and crawled to escape. Their earlier plan to follow the route was now in complete tatters, and they did not know which corridor they had escaped into. Situ Weilian was running and groaning at the same time, and crushed under him, Mi Lan could only stagger. But because Situ Weilian was her lifesaver, she summoned all of her strength and was determined to support Situ Weilian until the end. It was fortunate that her body was now ridiculously healthy, and she was full of strength. As they ran, she turned her head to look back. The air behind them was filled with gunpowder smoke, and that acrid smell of smoke suffocated her so much that she wanted to cough and cry at the same time.

An idea suddenly hit her and she raised a hand, pointing at the light bulbs. 

“Turn off the lights!”

Li Yingliang “ah”-ed, not understanding her. Shen Zhiheng was also started, but he understood at once. He snatched Li Yingliang’s pistol, pointed it at the light bulbs hanging from the ceiling, and fired. After two gunshots, the entire corridor plunged into darkness.

The Japanese soldiers behind them stopped chasing them immediately, and they took the opportunity to pull ahead and escape. A loud sound exploded a few corridors away, causing the ground where they were to shake. Bits of cement fell all over their heads and the darkness became heavier still, as the dim lights in the corridor beside theirs had also been extinguished. Perhaps, the light bulbs had shattered, or perhaps, the electric lines had been damaged.

Shen Zhiheng squatted down, closing his eyes and resting for a while, before the ringing in his ears finally faded. Then, he opened his eyes, and noticed the line of light ahead of him. It was just the slightest bit brighter than the previous darkness of the moonlight night. To someone whose sense of sight was just a little weaker than his, it would be no different from pitch blackness.

Li Yingliang’s voice came from beside him, “Are you all… still here?”

Shen Zhiheng replied, “Yes.”

Li Yingliang called out again, “Guisheng?”

Earlier, a patch of skin on the back of Li Guisheng’s hand had been rubbed off against the wall. He now inhaled the cold air, replying as he endured the pain, “I’m here too. Sir, are you alright?”

Li Yingliang did not reply Li Guisheng’s question. His eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, and he saw Mi Lan beside Situ Weilian. Situ Weilian was seated on the floor while Mi Lan was hiding beside him. Earlier, she had pointed accurately at the light bulbs, and it raised his suspicions that she was not blind. But whether she was blind or not was something he had already long known!

Situ Weilian mumbled dejectedly, “Are there any Japanese devils near us now?”

Mi Lan replied, “I don’t hear any.”

Situ Weilian pulled a lighter out from his pants pocket and flicked it open with a click. With this little bit of light, as small as a bean, from the little flame, he frowned and narrowed his eyes, his gaze sweeping past everyone who was present. He then bent his waist and squeezed over to Li Guisheng’s back. Li Guisheng was originally kneeling down on the ground, and he now shuffled forward a little, leaving some space for him.

Seeing this, Shen Zhiheng asked, “Weilian, what are you doing?”

Situ Weilian ignored him, slowly moving over to be behind Li Guisheng. With the lighter in one hand, he wrapped his other arm around Li Guisheng’s neck. And under the small dancing flame, he twisted his head, opened his mouth, and bit into Li Guisheng’s carotid artery.

This all happened without any warning, and even Li Guisheng himself did not react in time. It was Li Yingliang who pounced forward and caught Li Guisheng’s hand. However, after catching it, he did not dare to move, for the expression on Li Guisheng’s face remained as one of surprise. He neither fought back nor struggled, and simply stared at him in a daze.

The sound of swallowing filled the cramped space as Situ Weilian buried his head beside Li Guisheng’s ear, his Adam’s apple sliding up and down quite happily. Those usually hidden fangs were at this moment buried deep in his flesh, and as they pierced into his blood vessels, they also released venom, which anaesthetised Li Guisheng into painlessness, leaving him at his mercy to be slaughtered. Situ Weilian, who had lost too much blood, was hungry and urgently needed a filling meal to restore his energy, and Li Guisheng was younger and stronger than Li Yingliang. Situ Weilian also well understood his own excellent physique; one Li Guisheng should be enough to sustain him far enough to escape out of the dungeons alive.

Not daring to move forward, Li Yingliang said softly, “Doctor Situ, don’t… Please leave a little for him…” 

He suddenly let go of Li Guisheng and turned towards Shen Zhiheng, grabbing Shen Zhiheng’s arm. “Mr. Shen, please say something, don’t take Guisheng’s life. I’m begging you. If it’s really not possible, I’ll give him a little more. It hasn’t been easy for Guisheng to follow me, and he was also the one who led the way for us earlier. He has performed merits, I’m begging you, please don’t let him die just like this…”

Shen Zhiheng stood up and took one step forward. “Weilian, let him live.”

Situ Weilian’s eyes were half-closed as held the lighter incredibly steadily in his hand. The flame was not moving at all, like it was already frozen, as Situ Weilian who was currently sucking fresh blood had stopped breathing, and Li Guisheng’s nerves and muscles were paralysed, and he had already entered a state of asphyxiation.

Shen Zhiheng took another step closer. “Weilian!”

Situ Weilian opened his eyes and looked at him. In the dim light, Shen Zhiheng saw his irises. They were bright red, inhuman. 

As if it was the first time he had realised that he was not human, Shen Zhiheng seemed as if he was in complete shock, and was actually frozen in his spot. Meanwhile, Li Yingliang witnessed Li Guisheng shrivel up in front of him at a speed visible to the naked eye. As if death could be spread, Li Yingliang’s mouth hung open as if he was dying and he let out a wail. The immense sorrow made his heart sink. Li Guisheng, his loyal subordinate and brother he cherished more than life, had died just like that, in confusion, unable to feel even pain, unable to utter a single cry; he had just stepped onto the path of death just like an ant.

And he was going to be next.

“Shen Zhiheng,” he called him directly by his name, no longer calling him “Mr. Shen”. “How many live people are there here? I’m one, what about Young Mistress Mi? Is Young Mistress Mi still human?”

Shen Zhiheng was about to reply, when Mi Lan spoke, “Not anymore.”

Li Yingliang looked at Li Guisheng and asked her, “You can see now, can’t you?”

“Yes.”

Li Yingliang continued staring at Li Guisheng. The sockets of Li Guisheng’s eyes were sunken in, and his eyeballs had popped out. He had become nothing but a layer of skin wrapped around bones. Situ Weilian raised his head and casually pushed Li Guisheng aside, using his sleeve to wipe his mouth. Li Guisheng’s body fell towards Mi Lan, who agilely hid from it. 

Situ Weilian swept a glance across her, and then asked, “Is there water? I need to rinse my mouth after eating.”

Mi Lan shook her head.

Situ Weilian burped, letting out a large sickly sweet gust of air.

Extinguishing the lighter, he said in the darkness, “I’ve had enough. The two of you can have Chairman Li.”

Shen Zhiheng’s voice then rang out, “Scarcity makes things valuable. I’m actually a bit reluctant to kill him now.”

“Aiya, what value is there? The outside is full of humans. Isn’t it, Mi Lan?”

Mi Lan did not make any sound. Be it human or ghost, valuable or cheap, she simply did not care about it all. She had come for Shen Zhiheng, and she wanted to survive together with Shen Zhiheng, it was that simple.

After his filling meal, Situ Weilian was a little dizzy, but it was not too strong, and he could still move slowly. At this moment, he noticed that Mi Lan was actually the slave he needed. She was just like him: out of her element being a human, she was born to be someone who was not a member of the human race. On the other hand, Shen Zhiheng had lived for more than a hundred years, but he was still so unnatural about it, still living a life sandwiched in a war between heaven and earth, insisting adamantly on being human, insisting adamantly on refusing to accept reality. As a result, he had always had to waste his effort to coax and lie to him in order to control him. It was too troublesome.

“Let’s continue walking,” he said. “But where do we walk? It’s dark and we’re lost.”

Mi Lan stood up, holding something new in her hands. Feeling it, this thing felt like a metal bar. It was only as thick as half her thumb and it was placed tightly along the wall. Its function was unknown, and it was strangely long.

She said, “Doctor Situ, now that you have strength, please help me break it.”

Situ Weilian pinched it and bent it back and forth, breaking off a portion that was as high as half a person. Holding onto it, Mi Lan waved it in front. This thing was sufficiently sturdy, and she managed to wave out the sound of wind.

Then, she closed her eyes, and instantly returned to that dark world of old.

“Let me lead the way.”

------------------------------------------------------------

dumping this here in case the subtitles were too tricky to follow please watch the actual video (18:21) with sound on and all it takes me out all the damn time

[1] Cheng Yi’s cards: Ultraman who went on a blind date and got stung by a bee and got sausage lips Cai Wenjing: (in terrible Cantonese accent) A man and a woman - what do their parents arrange for them to do together?

[2] CY: processing CWJ: When two people meet for the first time, a man and a woman He Jiong the host: already dying

[3] CY: still processing CWJ: If they get together, they are lovers HJ: still dying

[4] CY: (itCa) Sei… Sei… Sei… CWJ: anticipation CY: (itCa) How many characters are there?

[5] CWJ: (itCa) Two characters! CY: (itCa) Lovers. CWJ: (itCa) The step they have to take before becoming lovers

[6] CY: (itCa and with absolute fucking confidence) Friends! CWJ: literally hanging on by a thread at this point (itCa) They started as friends HJ: (in Mandarin) A verb. They go to a place to do what?

[7] CY: PROCESSING aha! (itCa and still with absolute fucking confidence) A park! CWJ: (itCa) Ok let’s not talk about that anymore HJ: cackling in absolute sadistic glee CWJ: (itCa) There’s a small kind of animal in the garden

[8] CWJ: (itCa) Like that. It’s a… Its body is like what you’re wearing. It’s yellow. Yellow, black, black, and it has a pair of wings

[9] CY: got it! (itCa and with the most fucking confidence known to mankind) Cow! (lit: yellow cow) CWJ: (itCa) There’s a tiny bug CY: still processing (itCa) Little yellow bug

[10] HJ: spits CWJ: (itCa) Not a little yellow bug. There’s a bug that might sting you and you will swell up CY: (itCa) Bee! HJ: (iM) That’s right! There’s progress, friends! “Bee.” There’s progress!

[11] Tan Jianci: completely enjoying this circus CY: secretly pleased CWJ: (itCa) Then what will the bee do to you? CY: (itCa) Sting me HJ: (iM) Ah that’s right, that’s right, that’s right

[12] CWJ: (itCa) It stings your mouth–oh no, no! Game rule: can’t say the character that appears on the card CWJ: (itCa) This area will… ooOOOOOoooo Show effects: kissing sounds CY: (itCa) A bee stings my mouth du du du

[13] TJC: having the absolute fucking time of his life HJ: (iM) Yes, yes, yes, what do you call lips that go “du du du”? CY: (itCa) Du du lips. Bee du du lips

[14] CY: rapid fire beings (itCa) Bee sausage. Bun! I think I got it (itCa) Bee sausage ah! Oh! A bee stings the lips of a sausage?

[15] HJ: what the fuck is going on CWJ: what the fuck is going on x2 (itCa) Bee… gives up TJC: (iM) The lips of a sausage?!

[16] HJ: (iM) Your lips, your lips CY: (itCa) Oh! A bee stings the lips of a sausage and causes me to have du du lips? CWJ: K.O.

[17] Wang Hedi: losing his shit CWJ: (itCa) Then you will look very sexy lor! CY: embarrassed send help

[18] CY: (itCa) It’s too difficult, let’s change to another one CWJ: (itCa) We’ll guess this (card in his left hand). This is easy to guess. Pew pew pew! Pew pew pew! CY: (itCa) Ultraman! HJ: (iM) That’s right! Good!

[19] HJ: (iM) Now we’re just missing a verb. The verb in the front CWJ: (itCa) Just missing a word. Your daddy and mummy tell you to go and meet a girl today. With me… what do you call this action?

[20] CY: (itCa) Ultraman’s action? CWJ: (itCa) Not Ultraman!!!!!! HJ: dies in background CWJ: (itCa) Nothing to do with Ultraman anymore!!!!!! Yang Di: Aaahhhhhhh!!!!!! WHD: SHOOK

[21] TJC: (iM) Oh my god! I can watch a whole season of them playing this! CY: god save me CWJ: (itCa) There’s no more Ultraman now!

[22] TJC: can’t even sit in his fucking seat anymore CWJ: (itCa) Now it’s me and you. Then Daddy and Mummy tell me you are a handsome boy, that you are going to be my boyfriend CY: (itCa) Date? HJ: (iM) Before a date

[23] HJ: (iM) The first date CY: (itCa) Strangers? eyes sparkling with hope HJ: (iM) AhhHH yes–yes… The two strangers go to the park for a first date that was arrange by their parents. That’s called… CWJ: anticipation TJC: does he finally get it

[24] Show effects: tense piano music CY: (itCa and once more with ABSOLUTE fucking confidence) Park. HJ: K.O. of the century

[25] HJ: (iM) Can we get Cheng Yi to be a regular? Just to play this CY: SHY TJC: in proper Cantonese The second word is… Show effects: kissing sounds

[26] CY: (itCa) Kissing ah? They’re meeting for the first time and they’re already kissing ah? TJC, WHD: ABSOLUTELY FUCKING GONE HJ: choking goose INTENSIFIES

The soldiers she had sent down into the air vents were currently in the middle of running amok in the dungeon. A large majority of them were injured, as not only were they unfamiliar with the place, they also had not gotten used to the darkness. They had not dared to rashly turn on the lights, but had dared to throw hand grenades at the area in front of them that they could not see. In the end, the explosions had destroyed a few corridors and they had been injured by flying pieces of brick and stone.

Kuroki Rika was in a rush to return to the city to take over the Yokoyama mansion, but with Shen Zhiheng still here, and without a capable subordinate below her, how could she go? When her anxiety reached a breaking point, she changed into an army uniform, tied up her hair, and decided to descend into the dungeons herself.

She would descend into the dungeons herself, dispose of the remnants from the Yokoyama era, and then build a new secret service agency that belonged to her. She had long had enough of Yokoyama Akira’s stupidity, and had long looked forward to this day. With the blessing of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu, she had met the wise and farsighted General Aikawa, who had a keen eye and had noticed her outstanding abilities.

Kuroki Rika had undergone sufficient army training, and especially impressive was her calm and steady character that enabled her to be fearless in the face of unforeseen dangers. Taking a few soldiers with her and walking through the dark corridors, she realised that the corridors were now no different from the passageways in a tomb, and the only things that could light the path were a few torches. She held a pistol in each of her hands, walking forward one step at a time. At this moment, she felt like a demon-slaying warrior.

Meanwhile, quite a distance away, Mi Lan had already grown completely used to the paths and environment of this place.

Without light, and without the need for light, she closed her eyes, extending the thin metal rod that served as a walking cane. Its pointy end repeatedly brushed across the area before her, and with one sweep, she was able to understand the condition of the ground. Three sets of breathing rang out behind her. The one who was breathing the hardest was Li Yingliang, while the most stable breathing belonged to Situ Weilian. She remembered Shen Zhiheng telling her that Situ Weilian was different from them. He had a relatively purer bloodline, his physical fitness was much better, and he had much fewer physiological defects. Even after getting so heavily injured, he could still regain his strength and spirits after one full meal.

If the soldiers weren’t chasing them in this dungeon, to her, it wouldn’t be such a terrifying place, as the thing she was the least scared of was darkness. It was only a pity that there were soldiers chasing after them, and that they were surrounding them from all corners. She frequently did not know which direction they should go, as every direction did not seem safe. Those soldiers seemed to be walking randomly in all the corridors, forcing her to take their cue and also escape randomly. What was worse, was that there was the smell of smoke in the air; it was clear that there was a large fire burning nearby.

After walking for a while, she stopped.

The dull sound of footsteps rang out haphazardly behind them, while a boiling hot gust of wind blew from the front. This was clearly a game of hide and seek which was a matter of life or death, and they were about to lose because of their small numbers. After leading the rest to escape for quite a while, they had managed to evade many Japanese soldiers, but in the end, they still had nowhere to run.

“Mr. Shen,” she said. “Come over.”

She had not thought about the meaning of death before, and she even had no time to feel terror. She only knew that she could not escape, that she would die here. Death was a grand affair, and so she had to bring along with her Mr. Shen, who was the most important thing in her life.

Shen Zhiheng took a few steps forward to stand beside her. “Is there a fire up ahead?”

“Yes.”

A faint light flashed before Shen Zhiheng’s eyes. This was the reflection of the light from the fire, after who knew how many turns. At this point, the inferno seemed a little more merciful than the Japanese soldiers.

He said, “If the fire isn’t big, we can rush past it.”

Gunshots echoing from behind them interrupted Mi Lan’s reply, flying closely above Shen Zhiheng’s head. Li Yingliang gave a shout and collapsed onto the floor, while Situ Weilian violently turned to one side and pressed his body against the wall. Mi Lan pushed Shen Zhiheng without any hesitation, wanting to push him to the wall, but a thundering sound suddenly erupted as the Japanese soldiers behind them started firing their heavy machine guns.

Mi Lan was kicked aside by Shen Zhiheng.

She knocked against the wall, and at the same time, in the middle of gunshots and fire, she saw Shen Zhiheng’s entire body fly up, a gigantic flower of blood bursting out and blossoming on his back. At the same time, a strange rumbling sound came from the ceiling, and a whole stretch of the ceiling, starting from the area above the soldiers with the heavy machine guns, crashed down.

At first, the Japanese soldiers exclaimed. After exclaiming, they could not escape in time as they were crushed into meat pies by the heavy cement slabs. Hugging his head, Li Yingliang had decided to wait for death, but after waiting for a while, he turned his head around and noticed that the collapse of the ceiling had stopped at the area just above the back of his foot. Large slabs of cement blocked the path behind them, and only half of the once long corridor now remained.

He hurriedly looked ahead. He first saw Mi Lan, and then he saw Situ Weilian, who had walked to Mi Lan’s side. Frantically, he climbed up and moved towards them, and borrowing the increasingly bright light of the fire, he saw Shen Zhiheng who was on the floor, and he was stunned.

Shen Zhiheng lay collapsed on the floor. The incredibly powerful heavy machine guns had blasted his back into a pit of blood, and he had been very nearly strafed into two halves. Li Yingliang did not know if they were particularly afraid of losing blood. In any case, Shen Zhiheng now lay on the ground with his face turned to one side. He had no expression and did not seem to be breathing, besides the occasional twitch.

Mi Lan placed a hand on his head, and looked up at Situ Weilian.

“Will he die?”

Kneeling down, Situ Weilian looked at Shen Zhiheng attentively, before raising his hand and mussing his curly hair and standing up.

“We shouldn’t stay here for too long. Now that there’s no one chasing us, we should hurry up and leave.”

Mi Lan immediately stood up and said, “Then you carry Mr. Shen. I will continue to lead the way.”

Pulling one of Shen Zhiheng’s hands, Situ Weilian tried to carry him onto his own back. However, halfway through, he gently put Shen Zhiheng down again.

He then raised his head and said, “It won’t work. His injuries are too serious.”

Mi Lan looked at Situ Weilian, and then looked at the equally stunned Li Yingliang. Then, she continued to look at Situ Weilian.

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve been heavily injured. If I carry him now, I won’t be able to run.”

Mi Lan glared at Situ Weilian. “You’re not caring about him?”

Situ Weilian did not reply. Sensing something amiss, Li Yingliang mumbled, “The two of us can take turns to carry him, so it… won’t be too tiring.”

Situ Weilian shook his head. “You can’t. You don’t have any strength at all. If I weren’t injured, I could have saved him. But I’m also injured.”

He swept his gaze across Mi Lan and Li Yingliang. “We are running for our lives, we need speed.”

Mi Lan said, “Then you go. I’ll stay behind and accompany him.”

Situ Weilian’s face fell. “That’s not possible, you’re my person. You have to follow me.”

Mi Lan replied, “I am my own person.”

Situ Weilian took one step closer to her. This little lass simply did not know that in that moment earlier, just how difficult and painful it was for him to make a decision. Under such circumstances, he really did not have any strength to escape and also carry Shen Zhiheng, who was heavier than a corpse. If not, how could he bear to abandon his own biological older brother?

He was helpless and had no other ideas. If he now had to choose one person to take away between Mi Lan and Shen Zhiheng, he could only choose Mi Lan. 

Besides, Mi Lan was still young, she was talented, and she was mouldable. Perhaps, in time, she would become his most loyal servant. Catching her wrist, he glared angrily at her. She was too disobedient, did she not know that he was the one who had given her this new life?

Without knowing why, MI Lan cast a glance backwards, and then, she started trembling uncontrollably.

Situ Weilian’s glare struck her with terror, and his eyes seemed to be able to completely swallow her. Yes, she thought, she was supposed to die a long time ago. He was the one who had saved her, who had given her a pair of eyes, who had given her a new world and a new life. He was the one who had given it all to her, everything that she had, all came from him.

Then, as if she was frozen, she could no longer move.

Situ Weilian turned his face and looked at Li Yingliang. “Follow us.”

Unexpectedly, Li Yingliang shook his head. “No, I won’t follow you. I’ll stay.”

Situ Weilian frowned in confusion, and Li Yingliang took a step backwards in fright. However, Situ Weilian no longer had the time to argue with him. Holding on tight to a now dispirited Mi Lan, he ran away.

Li Yingliang watched them disappear into the faint glow at the end of the corridor. Then, he slowly moved himself to stand before Shen Zhiheng, and with a thump, he knelt down.

With his two hands braced against the ground, he bent down, and moved closer to take a closer look at Shen Zhiheng. Shen Zhiheng was not dead. His one perfectly good eye was still wide open, and faint breaths still came from the tip of his nose.

Li Yingliang and he stared at each other for quite some time. Finally, Li Yingliang sighed, turning his body and lying down in the pool of blood.

Shen Zhiheng’s voice was weak, whispering like a venomous snake, “Why haven’t you escaped?”

Li Yingliang lay facing upwards. His voice was naturally low and hoarse, but now, it had become even more like a broken gong. It was not bright, and his reply came brokenly in fits and spurts.

“Follow them? And be their ration? Instead of dying like Guisheng, I would rather stay behind and accompany you.”

Shen Zhiheng smiled silently. “I can’t save you.”

Li Yingliang lay beside him, their shoulders touching, and replied, “I know.”

Hot air currents washed faintly in the air. Perhaps, that fire would burn over to where they were sooner or later, but Li Yingliang was quite comfortable where he lay, and he no longer had any motivation to escape. Where would he run? There was nowhere to run. To Kuroki Rika, he was an insignificant sacrificial object. To Mi Lan and Situ Weilian, he was a walking food ration. So, he wouldn’t run.

“Shen Zhiheng,” He spoke. “Little did I know that I would die together with you.”

He did not wait for Shen Zhiheng’s reply. It didn’t matter, he simply wanted to say it himself, and did not require a reply. “At the beginning of last year, we met for the first time at the Imperial Restaurant. You looked down on me.”

Shen Zhiheng did not remember that he had met Li Yingliang at the Imperial Restaurant at the beginning of last year.

“At that time, I raised a glass to you from across the table, but you ignored me.” He laughed aloud. “I was infuriated to death.”

Shen Zhiheng also laughed once. “You’re insane. I didn’t even see you that day.”

“If you had seen me that day, I wouldn’t have hated you so much, and all of these trifling matters wouldn’t have happened after that.” 

“If I had known earlier that the future held all of these trifling matters, I would have definitely killed you that day. By killing you, I wouldn’t have died, and Mi Lan wouldn’t have died.”

“Mi Lan didn’t die.”

“That night, your shot hit her. She died, and Weilian saved her.”

Li Yingliang suddenly looked at Shen Zhiheng. “Situ Weilian is like you?”

Shen Zhiheng’s right eye was shadowed in darkness. “Situ Weilian is the biological younger brother I’ve always been looking for. We are not alike. He’s the illness, I’m the patient.”

At this point, he suddenly closed his eyes. All of the fresh blood in his body was about to leak out, and the remaining drops of blood seemed to have a soul of themselves, rushing into his brain and causing the blood vessels in his brain to throb in pain. He did not know if he was too weak or if he was too excited, in any case, it felt like a person on their deathbed seeing their life flash by before their eyes, unwilling to wait for death.

He was afraid that before dying, he would lose his reason, and so he tried his best to move to one side, wanting to be farther away from Li Yingliang. Li Yingliang had not mended his ways and was still an evil person, but now that he was about to die, and that all of the people he loved and wanted to protect had already abandoned him and escaped, only this evil person had remained, accompanying him to wait for his death.

Li Yingliang noticed his movements, flipping around and facing him. “What are you doing? Trying to hide from me?”

Shen Zhiheng had no strength to reply to him. Li Yingliang touched the floor and only felt that wherever he touched was wet and muddy; the fresh blood had mixed together with the dirt. This was too filthy, what difference was there between dying here and dying in a dirt pit?

So, he climbed up, and searched around on all fours. At the foot of the wall, he found a slightly cleaner place.

Like an animal, he crawled back to Shen Zhiheng and said, “It’s clean there. We can go there and die.”

Then, he stretched out his hand to touch Shen Zhiheng, but he hurriedly withdrew his hand after one touch, as it felt like he had touched his intestines. He took two steps back and caught Shen Zhiheng’s ankles, intending to drag him by his legs. However, after dragging for a short moment, Shen Zhiheng moaned once.

He frantically let go. “What’s wrong? Is your waist broken?”

He moved over and steeling himself, touched him again. Fortunately, he had not separated Shen Zhiheng into two parts. However, he no longer dared to pull him, and only dared to push Shen Zhiheng’s shoulders. Bit by bit, he slowly pushed him from the pool of blood to the foot of the wall. He sat down, leaning against the wall and panting, and suddenly laughed.

“It’s good here, better than that place just now. Dying at that place feels like dying in the middle of a street. It’s too pathetic.”

He stretched out his hand and patted Shen Zhiheng’s head. “Dying together with you, isn’t too bad either.”

The cell was square-shaped, and the walls were made of smooth cement, and were even a little stylish. The surface of the walls bore no traces of dirt, and the air no smell of blood. The door of the cell was barred, and those bars were welded together by thick and sturdy reinforced steel. Opposite the door was a bed, which was made of black bricks and cement. It was cold and hard, and whether for sleeping or for keeping a corpse, it was very suitable.

After entering, Shen Zhiheng first removed the outer jacket of his Western suit, holding it by the collar and placing it at the head of the bed. Then, he removed his necktie and placed it on top of the jacket.

Unbuttoning the buttons at his collar, he twisted his neck and shook his shoulders.

“This place is quite cooling.”

He turned his head and looked at Situ Weilian, and noticed that he was staring at him, his face full of fear. 

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Situ Weilian replied, “This prison is really not a good place, I’m afraid you’ll get angry.”

Shen Zhiheng raised his eyebrows. “You’re afraid I’ll get angry, and yet you still lied to me for three years?”

Situ Weilian walked to his side and sat down. “Look at you bringing this up again. As an older brother, can you not be so petty?”

“You’re acknowledging me as your older brother? I’m really no longer your servant?”

“I’ve long acknowledged you, I just didn’t tell you.”

“Is there anything else you haven’t told me?”

“No.”

Shen Zhiheng twisted his head and examined Situ Weilian.

Situ Weilian spread his hands. “There really isn’t.”

Shen Zhiheng raised his hand and pointed at the tip of his nose. “I’ll trust you one last time.”

Situ Weilian wordlessly pursed his lips and smiled. While both his lips and eyes pressed into curves, small wrinkles gathered on top of the bridge of his nose, turning his smiling face into that of a sweet cat. Looking at him, Shen Zhiheng could not help but also smile, and as he smiled, he turned towards the front. The feeling of reconciliation was really good. Weilian had long acknowledged him as an older brother, and wasn’t it that he had also long acknowledged him as a younger brother? It was no wonder that he always felt that Weilian was very close and loveable, it was because they were a pair of biological brothers.

The sound of pounding footsteps came from outside the door, as the wide-toed leather shoes of the Japanese soldiers trod across the cement floor. Li Yingliang suddenly ran over there from the door, and then sped past after a moment. Shen Zhiheng watched him running back and forth with mild interest. He felt that he was like a free but trapped beast. No one had trapped him, he was the one who had trapped himself. The world was so large, and yet he only ran around in this underground world of cement.

Then, he thought of himself. Wasn’t he also the same trapped beast?

However, he was trapped by ties of kinship. He was also a trapped beast, but he seemed to be of a higher level than Li Yingliang. Although he was trapped, it was of a higher value.

Li Yingliang’s heart was pounding nervously while his blood was gushing in his veins, even affecting his hearing and sight. Shen Zhiheng was very obedient today, obedient to the point of suspicion, perhaps in the next second, he would suddenly rush out of the steel door and go on a killing spree. However, an arrow that had left the bow could not return, and even if there was an arrow that could return, he could not really turn back, because he had to make a comeback, he had to take this risk.

“Don’t tell me that Situ Weilian has colluded with him? They have other intentions?” he suddenly thought.

This thought made the hairs on his back stand, but he suppressed his palpitations at once. An arrow that had left the bow could not return, even if they really had other intentions, it was too late to discover them now.

So, after making all the arrangements, he ran up to the ground level and got into the car to go and see Yokoyama Akira once again.

Yokoyama Akira had long noticed Li Yingliang’s talents, and now that he had returned bearing good news, he was even more convinced that he had a good eye. Now that he was confident, he brought Li Yingliang straight back to the Yokoyama mansion.

Kuroki Rika had become increasingly arrogant recently, and he all but wanted to publicly kick her out. After harbouring this hatred for so long, Yokoyama Akira now made his grand return, and naturally did so with a fierce air of aggression. Meanwhile, after fighting for power with him for so long, Kuroki Rika had originally thought that she had gained the upper hand and would replace him very soon. Little did she know that he was so scheming, and had actually plotted in the dark to launch a counterattack.

Kuroki Rika thought that be it in public or in private, she could no longer let Yokoyama Akira run amok and commit atrocities. Someone of Yokoyama Akira’s calibre and abilities was simply not suited to lead such an important agency, and to let him continue with his nonsense would endanger their country. As for whether that Li Yingliang was really a traitor or simply wronged, that was a small matter. Whether Li Yingliang was alive or dead, that was also a small matter. The pleasant and affable Kuroki Rika actually was not big on treating people as people, whether they were her own Japanese brethren, or whether they were her Chinese slaves. Investigating Li Yingliang’s identity was a very troublesome matter, and so she felt that it was just better to not investigate him, and just execute him directly.

    Although she was still a section chief in name, she dared to order for Li Yingliang’s arrest in front of Yokoyama Akira. 

Yokoyama Akira’s face changed colours suddenly. “I’ve already investigated and found out the truth. These days, he was kidnapped by Shen Zhiheng, and so those documents that were leaked out had been stolen by Shen Zhiheng.”

Before Kuroki Rika could refute, he tossed out a bombshell, “Shen Zhiheng has already fallen into my hands. This time, I’ll prove to the army that I have not gone crazy in China!”

Kuroki Rika’s eyes were wide. “Not possible, that’s too dangerous!”

Yokoyama Akira sneered, “Not possible?”

Too lazy to entangle himself with his woman, he automatically brought Li Yingliang and went to his office. Kuroki Rika’s eyes were fixed on his back. Her first thought was that he wanted to seek death, and he was bringing the entire agency to their death together with him. Soon after, she had an even larger fear - that he sought death but did not die.

If he did not die, then she no longer had any foothold in Tianjin.

Kuroki Rika stood there, stunned, for quite some time.

In the end, she turned around and walked towards her own office, picking up the phone and making a call to the General Staff Headquarters of the army. Wherever there were people, there would be infighting, and this time, she fought particularly confidently and self-righteously, because she was not just getting rid of dissidents, but also saving the Yokoyama mansion.

For their empire, she could not let Yokoyama Akira run around crazily. The Yokoyama mansion was the secret service, not Yokoyama Akira’s personal demon-hunting dojo.

Besides, was that Shen Zhiheng really someone Yokoyama Akira could subdue?

Ever since becoming Yokoyama Akira’s subordinate, Kuroki Rika had to face that towering stupidity of his all day long, to the point that she could have gotten internal injuries. After enduring it for so long, she could finally no longer tolerate it.

While Kuroki Rika was making a phone call downstairs, Yokoyama Akira was making a phone call upstairs. He spoke in Japanese to the receiver. Li Yingliang did not understand it, and so he sat obediently at one side.

After a moment, Yokoyama Akira put down the telephone and asked Li Yingliang, “How long do you think you can control Shen Zhiheng?”

Li Yingliang replied, “Sir, I really don’t dare to say. After seeing us today, Shen Zhiheng actually did not really put up much of a fight, this is very strange. I can’t say for sure that he’s really afraid that we’ll harm Situ Weilian, or if he has ulterior motives. However, the new prison is very well guarded, and I have already ordered the guards to immediately seal the main doors shut if anything happens, so I think that for the next two or three days, it should still be safe.”

Yokoyama Akira nodded his head. “Two or three days, good, that should be about enough.”

This time, they could skip the steps of interrogation and examination, and no longer had to escort him over such a long distance to Harbin. This time, he just had to keep Shen Zhiheng locked there, because General Inaba, the only one in the headquarters who still believed that he was sane, would arrive in Tianjin in three or four days. Then, he would lead the way and let the general personally see Shen Zhiheng. And in these three days…

He ordered Li Yingliang, “Don’t give him anything to eat. We must starve him terribly and make him go crazy.”

General Inaba must see Shen Zhiheng at his most savage and terrifying, in order to prove that Yokoyama Akira’s own words were not false. As long as he had just this little acknowledgement, he would not fight to take any other credit. He could not fight for it, and so he might as well not fight for it, and just pass it all to General Inaba and let him take care of that bloodthirsty monster!

Li Yingliang asked again, “Do you want to go and see Shen Zhiheng for yourself?”

Yokoyama Akira shook his head at once. If Shen Zhiheng was bearing his fangs like a terrifying monster, he would not actually be afraid of him. However, if Shen Zhiheng looked gentle and refined, with an air of one who was exceptionally talented, this made him convinced that Shen Zhiheng was a demon. And as long as one cast even one glance at inauspicious things such as demons, disaster would easily follow.

He told Li Yingliang, “There’s no need, I trust you.”

Li Yingliang still lowered his head. “Sir, you treat me so kindly and with so much support, I am really ashamed to accept this.”

“Ashamed? Why?”

“Matters concerning Shen Zhiheng… this humble one has never dealt with them properly, and have even implicated you.”

Yokoyama Akira sighed, thinking that it went without saying that such matters were difficult to deal with.

However, it was not convenient for him to show Li Yingliang any sympathy, for it was better to be safe than sorry. Just in case the worst case scenario happened and he failed again, then Li Yingliang would be the only scapegoat he could find. If he treated a scapegoat too kindly now, he feared that this goat would not be able to understand the situation in the future and would really believe that he had worked hard, and would not obediently take the fall.

The atmosphere in the Yokoyama mansion was very tense.

The mansion had been split into two camps: the one upstairs belonged to Commissioner Yokoyama Akira, while the one downstairs belonged to Section Chief Kuroki. Meanwhile, Li Yingliang had perfectly completed this scene, and after confirming that he had temporarily washed himself clean of being a traitor, he brazenly left and returned to being a jailer.

Now, his only task was to watch Shen Zhiheng, or at least in Yokoyama Akira’s eyes, this was currently his only task. The first scene of the grand show was complete, and when he arrived at the newly constructed secret prison in the suburbs, he drew the curtains open on the second scene.

The secret prison belonged to the North China Garrison Secret Service of the Japanese Army. On the surface, it consisted of a few cement buildings surrounded by courtyard walls. Because it was not yet officially in use, it could be said that its surroundings were not strongly fortified, and since the best resources should be used in the most important areas, the soldiers stationed here were mostly gathered inside and outside the dungeon. The entrance to the dungeon was situated in an empty building made of black bricks, which would be used as a torture room in the future. Now, it was still empty, and there were only a few rows of iron hoops nailed to the walls.

When he entered, Li Yingliang first saw the two youths in plainclothes standing in the room. They were his subordinates. 

He asked them, “Where’s Guisheng?”

The youth replied, “Li-ge has just left. He said he left on your orders.”

Li Yingliang nodded. Li Guisheng had gone to meet the sniper. It was difficult to find an expert sharpshooter, let alone one that was not known, had no connections with both the Chinese and the Japanese, and could also keep a secret. It was good that he had his connections, and no matter how difficult it was to find someone, he could still find him. A door was open in the wall, and beyond that door was a black hole, seemingly breathing out cold air, as if it were the large mouth of a giant monster. Li Yingliang walked towards this large mouth, and the youths behind him hurriedly followed after him.

Inside the mouth was a flight of stairs that led downwards, and from the ceiling dangled a light bulb after every few metres. The lampshades had yet to be installed, and whenever a gust of cold wind occasionally blew through the stairs, the light bulbs would sway gently, causing the shadows along the walls and floor to suddenly morph unstably from long to short.

Walking to Shen Zhiheng’s prison cell, Li Yingliang ordered someone to bring a chair over, then he dismissed the soldiers and his subordinates around him, and sat down alone.

Beyond that barred door, he could see Shen Zhiheng clearly and completely, within arm’s reach. However, he completely did not feel any victorious pleasure, but was still filled with mixed feelings. Shen Zhiheng was seated properly beside the bed and looking at him. Behind him, Situ Weilian lay curled up on the bed, sleeping.

After exchanging stares for a while, Li Yingliang spoke first, “It’s not that I want to make an enemy out of you, I have no other choice but to do this. If not, I wouldn’t be able to wash away my crimes. Not only would I not be able to regain my property and assets, I wouldn’t even be able to keep my own life. Please forgive me.”

Shen Zhiheng answered, “I apologise, based on my current circumstances, I find it very hard to forgive you. On this point, please also forgive me.”

“I dare not disobey the Japanese, and so I came up with a plan to catch you. But neither do I dare to offend you. So, please do not worry, after this, I will do everything in my power to protect and help you.”

Shen Zhiheng said, “Let’s see what your next moves are.”

“Okay, we’ll see what my next moves are.”

The two of them became silent, and after a moment, Li Yingliang stood up.

“Is there anything you need? If there is, tell me. For now, I’m managing this place and I call the shots.”

Shen Zhiheng replied, “Weilian is very cold.”

Li Yingliang now realised that not only was Situ Weilian dressed very properly, he was also covered with Shen Zhiheng’s jacket.

“Okay, I’ll get someone to bring a blanket.”

Upon saying this, he thought that he saw a small smile flash across Shen Zhiheng’s face. This smile was not a good one, because Shen Zhiheng said at once, “I’m hungry.”

“Later, I’ll think of a way to get you some food. Because there’s an order from the top to let you starve. They… they hope that you’ll be a little weaker.”

Shen Zhiheng nodded, without saying anything.

Li Yingliang felt that he had spoken as much as he could. The more he spoke, the easier it was to mess things up. On the contrary, it was not beneficial for him to express his own feelings so openly. Besides, the dungeon was an empty space, and the sound of low voices could easily be heard faraway. For safety, it was not appropriate for him to talk too much.

He turned around and left, and not long after, someone really brought a blanket down. Shen Zhiheng got up and spread the blanket on top of Situ Weilian. At this moment, Situ Weilian opened his eyes, yawning as he faced Shen Zhiheng.

“Sigh, you’re really a good Da-ge.”

Situ Weilian rustled under the blanket, and then passed Shen Zhiheng’s jacket out to him. “Two or three days? Three or four days? In any case, it wasn’t too long. Besides me and that bratty little girl, who else would be willing to be together with you? Those who are afraid of you are too afraid to come, and others have been scared to death.”

Shen Zhiheng gave him a slap. “Then why are you still sticking so close to me and haven’t scrammed yet? Move in!”

Situ Weilian moved in, so that Shen Zhiheng could also lie down and stretch his waist and legs. He pulled the blanket up, wordlessly closing his eyes and continuing to sleep.

Shen Zhiheng did not expect that he could actually still fall asleep in prison.

When he woke up, he opened his eyes and saw Li Yingliang again. Li Yingliang was still sitting outside the door. He did not know how long he had been there, looking expressionlessly at him. He sat up, and a shiver ran through Li Yingliang, as if he had been scared by him.

“You’re awake?” Li Yingliang asked.

He “mm”-ed, suspecting that after kidnapping this fellow, he had been scared to the point that he had become mentally ill. Otherwise, he should not be revealing such a half-crazed look.

Li Yingliang revealed a brown paper envelope from behind him.

“This is a confession letter. It details how you kidnapped me and stole the secret documents of the Development Committee. I’ve written it all as it has happened, you just have to sign on it.”

“Why do I have to do as you say?”

 Li Yingliang bent his waist deeply, pulling out a glass bottle from below the chair. The bottle was filled with a dark red liquid; thick blood. He did not use the glass bottle to tempt Shen Zhiheng, but passed it through the bars and placed it directly beyond the door.

Then, he straightened his back, and murmured lowly, his voice full of sorrow, “I’m begging you. I need to wash my crimes off me as quickly as possible, if not, the commissioner will not trust me completely, and I will not have enough power to help you.”

“Should I trust you?”

“There’s no need for you to trust me. Because unless I kill you, you have ten thousand different ways to take revenge on me. Besides, I can’t kill you.”

Shen Zhiheng got off the bed and walked to the door, extending a hand through the bars. Li Yingliang passed that brown paper envelope to him.

“Thank you.”

Shen Zhiheng sat down on the floor, pulling a few pieces of paper and a fountain pen out from the envelope. He swept through the words on the papers a few times, and then he twisted the fountain pen open and signed his name on the last piece of paper. Then, he put the papers and pen back into the envelope, and sent them back out as they had entered.

Li Yingliang took the envelope, turned around, and left.

When Li Yingliang left, Situ Weilian woke up.

Hugging the blanket, his eyes were half-open in a daze. Shen Zhiheng sat leaning against the wall, slowly drinking half the bottle of blood. This was fresh blood, and even bore a little warmth. Shen Zhiheng did not want to think of where it had come from. He raised his head and looked at Situ Weilian, raising the glass bottle to him.

“I’ve left half of it for you.”

Situ Weilian shook his head. “I’m not hungry.”

Shen Zhiheng smiled for a moment. “How strange, you’re a pureblood vampire, but you’re not so bloodthirsty.”

“Like this, it’s easier to survive, if not, we would have gone extinct a long time ago.”

Shen Zhiheng pulled his arm and the glass bottle back. “Going extinct is good, then generation after generation of people wouldn’t be harmed.”

Situ Weilian suddenly thought of a good thing. He jumped off the bed and ran to Shen Zhiheng, sitting down beside him.

“Say, do you think Jingxue and I can have children?”

“Of course, if not, how can you exist in this world?”

“If we can really have children, I’ll let you adopt our second child.”

“I don’t want it.”

“Why?”

“One Mi Lan is enough, I don’t have a hobby of raising children.”

“That’s not the same thing. You’re not biologically related to her at all, perhaps after two years, she’ll leave you.”

Shen Zhiheng frowned. “Do you want me to raise your entire family?”

“No, I’m just afraid that you’ll be lonely.”

“Stop playing tricks with me. I just have one younger brother that is you, even if you don’t beg me, I will still be responsible for you.”

Situ Weilian laughed, raising his hand and pointing at the glass bottle in Shen Zhiheng’s hands.

“Leave one mouthful for me. Not too much, just one mouthful.”

Shen Zhiheng was very busy today, and completely did not have any time to go and pay Li Yingliang a visit, because Situ Weilian had shown up at his doorstep in the middle of the night, making an unexpected comeback.

He familiarly strode through the front door, and saw Mi Lan in the parlour. Mi Lan was standing alone, with her head lowered as she looked at the wound on her knee. And just as he said hello to Mi Lan, Shen Zhiheng also entered, with a bottle of medicine in his hand.

Situ Weilian temporarily did not bother about Shen Zhiheng, first questioning Mi Lan, “Mi Lan, you’re really capable, I saved your life, and not only did you not repay me, you even beat my girlfriend.”

Mi Lan lowered her head, evidently quite guilty, “I’m sorry.”

Shen Zhiheng walked over, handing that bottle of medicine over to her as he made a hand gesture for her to leave. After she lowered her head and left, he finally turned to Situ Weilian, “Why are you here? To collect your promissory note?”

Situ Weilian pointed at the tip of his nose, “Shen Zhiheng, you’ve really got guts as well, beating your biological younger brother so viciously.”

Shen Zhiheng had just washed his face, but had not yet changed into a new set of clothes, and so flecks of blood still dotted the collar of his shirt. Turning around, he walked to the sofa and sat down, saying, “I don’t acknowledge you as my younger brother.”

“After looking for me for so many years, you don’t want me now?”

Shen Zhiheng raised his eyes and gazed at him, “So you do know too, that I’ve been looking for you for so many years.”

Situ Weilian sighed, raising his voice, “Stop going on and on about this!”

Shen Zhiheng shifted his gaze, scoffing.

Situ Weilian frowned and glared at him, annoyance growing in his heart. This older brother of his viewed himself too highly, always thinking of himself as a giant among men. Alas, fate did not favour him, and he was dirtied by the word “vampire”. Actually, in his opinion, this older brother was just so-so, and was pretty much just a wealthy man who was disgruntled and complained all the time. If he had a better brother - or servant - whom he could depend on, then he wouldn’t have to keep shamelessly returning to coax him.

He had come carrying a canvas satchel. He stretched his hand into the satchel, pulling out a large glass bottle that he slowly handed over to Shen Zhiheng. Dark red blood rippled in the glass bottle, and Shen Zhiheng’s eyes flashed, his gaze instantly glued onto that glass bottle.

Situ Weilian laughed to himself, yet his tone was earnest, “A gift for you, you don’t need to pay for it. I just request that you help me out, of course, whether you help or not is up to you, I won’t force you.”

Shen Zhiheng was a little annoyed, not at Situ Weilian, but at himself. He realised that he was becoming increasingly like an animal, and the most urgent thing in his life was eating. This glass of bottle before his eyes was enough to fill his mouth with saliva, and he actually had to focus on keeping his mouth shut to prevent his saliva from flowing out from the corners of his lips.

What an unbecoming sight!

He wanted to kick Situ Weilian out, but, instead, he opened his mouth, mumbling, “Speak.”

“Can you let Li Yingliang go? Don’t hide from me. Although Jin Jingxue has a bad temper, she is not muddleheaded. That she is willing to come and find you proves that she has evidence. I guess, is Li Yingliang locked in that empty warehouse at the pier? Actually, I’m all for killing Li Yingliang or cutting off his flesh, I’m all for it, after all, he has kidnapped me before. But Jin Jingxue simply cares too much about him, and if she doesn’t find him soon, she might fall in love with him.”

Shen Zhiheng swallowed his saliva, “What logic is that?”

Situ Weilian laughed, “I say, have you lived for so many years without once falling in love before?”

Shen Zhiheng did not answer.

“If Li Yingliang is safe and sound, then Jin Jingxue won’t know how much she cares about him. If she doesn’t know, then her heart won’t be moved by him. But now that Li Yingliang is missing, Jin Jingxue worries about him all day long. Over time, she will realise her feelings for him, and as a person who dares to love and dares to hate, once she realises that, it’s unavoidable that she might even seek death for Li Yingliang, and an admirer like me will be completely out of the game.”

“Then aren’t you deceiving yourself?” 

“It’s alright, I don’t mind.”

Shen Zhiheng suddenly smiled, “There’s a simpler solution. You turn her into a vampire, and she naturally won’t leave you. Aren’t you always trying to make me your servant? Second Young Mistress Jin is exceptionally beautiful and is the person you love, with her to wait on you for your entire life, you no longer have to bother me.”

“I said you’ve never fallen in love before, you’re truly inexperienced. I only love her, what do you mean my entire life?”

Shen Zhiheng raised an eyebrow at him, his expression one of surprise.

Situ Weilian felt that Shen Zhiheng’s line of thinking was simply ridiculous. “There are times that I love her, naturally, there will also be times in the future that I don’t love her. If I no longer love her, and yet we still have to be together day and night, wouldn’t that make me uncomfortable, and also make her uncomfortable? Wouldn’t that be harming others and myself? I wouldn’t do such an immoral thing.”

Shen Zhiheng said, “I still thought you had really fallen in love with her…”

“You still don’t understand. I’ve truly fallen in love with her. A true love, stemming from my soul, with a history, with a path, with growth, with maturity, with withering, with an end. True love is not necessarily staying together until the end, for an entire lifetime. To follow one’s heart and to treat each other with sincerity, that, is true love. Love is not something that can be measured with time.”

Shen Zhiheng nodded, “Thank you for your teachings.”

“Ultimately, you’re still unable to escape from the worldliness of humans, unlike me, pure and innocent.”

Shen Zhiheng continued nodding, “So you’re pure and innocent, pardon, I’ve disrespected you.”

Situ Weilian extended his arm, forcefully pulling out the rubber stopper at the mouth of the glass bottle. “Then are you willing to help me and let Li Yingliang go or not?”

The cold scent of blood wafted out, making Shen Zhiheng’s nostrils quiver. After improvising for so many days, he had yet to have a full meal. Animal blood always made him feel dirty, besides, even if it was dirty fresh blood, he still had to share some of it with Mi Lan. His head had yet to make up its mind, but his hand had already extended forward.

His palm wrapped around both the bottle and Situ Weilian’s hand, and with a light shining in his gaze, he said in a trembling voice, “Let go.”

Situ Weilian stumbled forward, as his hand and the glass bottle were raised up together by Shen Zhiheng to his lips. Shen Zhiheng raised his head, drinking quickly and in large, audible gulps. Watching him, Situ Weilian found it a little funny. Shen Zhiheng was an addict, while he was an opium merchant. How could Shen Zhiheng not realise such an obvious reality?

When Shen Zhiheng finished the glass bottle, he drew his hand back, patting the canvas satchel beside him, “There’s another one, you can put it in your refrigerator and drink it slowly. You’ll let Li Yingliang go tomorrow, okay?”

Shen Zhiheng sprawled onto the sofa, his eyes half shut. “Mm.”

Situ Weilian sent him a British army salute. “Thank you.”

Shen Zhiheng spat out a sigh, “Get lost.”

Shen Zhiheng was not a man of his word; he did not leave the house at all the next day. Meanwhile, neither did Situ Weilian come over again to create more trouble for him. In the afternoon, Situ Weilian brought a huge bag of medicine to visit Jin Jingxue, however, the main doors of the Jin mansion were shut tight, and a maidservant told him from behind the gate that the second young mistress had rushed to board a train that morning to return to her family home in Chahar [1] .

Upon hearing this, Situ Weilian felt as if he had been dropped into an ice cellar. When he asked the maidservant for the address of the Jin family home, that maidservant shook her head, replying “I don’t know” to all of his questions.

Situ Weilian was heartbroken, disappearing from then on. He no longer went to the hospital nor cared about anything else, and no one looked for him.

Shen Zhiheng spent the next two weeks in peace, safe and sound in his home, but war was raging in the city outside. The citizens, while angry and anxious on one hand, always thought that the flames of war would not burn into the bustling city on the other. Mi Lan listened to the radio broadcast daily and knew the matters of the war like the back of her hand, but she also always felt that the war was something faraway, and had nothing to do with her bright and shining world. Weren’t the restaurants and foreign firms in the English and French concession zones still open for business as usual? Weren’t people coming and going on the little street behind the Shen mansion as usual?

However, early one morning, she heard a piece of bad news: the Japanese army had started to attack Beiping [2] .

She wanted to tell Shen Zhiheng this piece of news, and Shen Zhiheng so happened to return home from outside.

As the warehouse rental was about to expire, he had left the house at dawn, intending to take care of Li Yingliang’s body. He really did not want to go, he didn’t know how to describe the feelings he had for this person. In any case, he neither wanted to see him alive, nor did he want to see him dead. This man was diabolical and harboured a deep hatred, and it seemed as if he was always bothered by affairs that filled his entire body with heart-wrenching pain. Whenever Shen Zhiheng thought of him, he would frown as if he was suffering in silence. If he was not even willing to think of him, what more see him? And so he kept on dragging it, and upon seeing the calendar this morning, he had realised that he could no longer drag it on, and had bitten the bullet and headed to the warehouse. Li Yingliang had been dead for so long, and his body should long have gone smelly; how was he supposed to take care of a heap of rotten meat? Even thinking about it had made his head hurt.

However, when he had held his breath and entered the warehouse, he had realised that Li Yingliang had long escaped.

He had stared at the small hole at the base of the wall, unable to imagine how Li Yingliang had squeezed out. This menace had quite the ability, and was even more capable than a typical rat at digging holes. If he had known earlier, he should have taken care of him on the spot. However, time cannot flow backwards, and since he had already escaped, Shen Zhiheng had no other choice.

As the saying went, “disasters live for thousands of years”; this was really accurate.

As if nothing had happened, he had locked the main gate and left the warehouse, returning home in his car. On the way, he had seen large numbers of citizens dragging their family and belongings with them as they headed for the concession zone.

It was only when he had entered the house and listened to Mi Lan’s report, when he became a little nervous, “The concession zone should be safe. Is there still rice in the kitchen?”

Mi Lan immediately jumped to check on the rice.

This panic lasted until the evening, when news came from the outside, that the Japanese army was about to send planes to bomb Tianjin. Once bombing really started, since bombs did not kill discriminately, who cared whether they were in the concession zone or not? So, all the lights in the surrounding area were turned off, and every house only dared to turn on a small dim lamp to light up the darkness. And right at this moment when everyone was panicky, Situ Weilian, who had disappeared for half a month, returned. 

Holding his canvas satchel, he boldly told Shen Zhiheng, “I’m here to seek refuge.”

Shen Zhiheng was quite surprised, “I was still under the impression that at a moment like this, you would be accompanying Jin Jingxue.”

Upon hearing this, Situ Weilian looked like he was about to cry. “Jingxue has returned to her family home and has gone back for a while. When she left, she didn’t inform me at all, she definitely doesn’t want me anymore! Da-ge, can you help me look for her? Without her, I can’t continue living, I’m even thinking of killing myself.”

Shen Zhiheng replied, “Our country is in crisis, and I don’t even have the time to take care of myself, how will I have any strength left to help you find your girlfriend?”

“What do you mean our country is in crisis, we’re not even human, what does the country in crisis have got to do with us?”

“I am human, so is Mi Lan.”

“Stubborn bastard [3] ,” Situ Weilian mumbled, but could not think of any other idea for the time being. Now, the outside was in chaos, and he had neither power nor connections; how could he look for Jin Jingxue all by himself?

Therefore, he realised that he truly still could not be apart from Shen Zhiheng. He only wanted to indulge as much as he could, only wanted to play and love to his heart’s content. As for every single matter apart from this, these were detestable, worldly affairs that he should leave to Shen Zhiheng to take care of.

The three of them made do in the parlour for a night.

Situ Weilian missed Jin Jingxue terribly and did not sleep for the entire night; Shen Zhiheng feared terribly that the Japanese army would bomb Tianjin and did not sleep for the entire night; Mi Lan hugged her knees and curled up in one corner of the sofa, terribly calm, and although she too did not sleep for the entire night, this was because she was full of energy and simply not sleepy.

At the same time, two other people who did not sleep were Jin Jingxue and Li Yingliang.

Jin Jingxue had claimed half a month ago that she was going home and had given her servants leave, only leaving behind her two closest maidservants. When everyone else had left, she had told the two maidservants the truth: Young Master Liang had offended a powerful figure, and had come to her mansion last night to seek refuge. In order to protect Young Master Liang, they had to make the house seem as if it had no master for the next few days, in case his enemies chased him all the way there.

And then, she had closed and locked up her door, tending to her wounds and recuperating together with Li Yingliang. Li Yingliang had been mentally deranged, startled by every little thing, for the first few days, and it was only after nearly a week, when he had been finally able to sleep deeply at night. And another week later, he had pretty much regained the reason and appearance of a person.

Just like any normal person, he was also worried about the bombs, and would let Jin Jingxue and the two maidservants sleep at night, while he stayed up to keep watch with a small lamp. Jin Jingxue did not sleep, sitting in a corner as she knitted a sweater with two long bamboo needles. Everything she did in her life was for fun, and even this sweater was knitted perfunctorily.

Sitting by the desk, Li Yingliang folded a piece of cardboard into a lampshade, and he placed it over the lightbulb. 

Then, he said to Jin Jingxue who was beside the table, “Stop knitting, it’s too dark. Your eyes will get tired.”

Jin Jingxue looked at him in surprise. He was sitting with his waist and back ramrod straight, and when the light shone up at him from below, it strongly accentuated his face. His dark eyebrows were slanted diagonally and the corners of his eyes lifted up along the same path, like a famous actor in a photograph.

After looking at him, she displayed that small product in her hands, “Make a guess, what am I knitting?”

“I don’t know.”

“I don’t know either. If I’m lazy, it’s a scarf. If I’m diligent, perhaps it will become a sweater. Whether it’s a scarf or a sweater, it will depend on your luck.”

Li Yingliang looked at her. “It’s for me?”

She raised her thin eyebrows, continuing to knit. “It’s for the dog.”

Li Yingliang extended his arm and gently took her needle and thread. “Stop knitting, it’s too troublesome. If I want to wear one, I’ll just buy a ready-made one.”

Jin Jingxue asked, “Are you really concerned about me? Or do you not want to owe me a favour? If it’s for the former, I thank you. If it’s the latter, then if you’re so capable, don’t stay in my house, you can leave now.”

Li Yingliang arranged the bamboo needles and thread for a while, and then he looked at the lamp and sighed, “Of course I can’t stay here forever.”

“Then where do you want to go? Leave, I won’t make you stay.”

Li Yingliang suddenly asked, “Second Young Mistress, you said you’ve seen Yokoyama Akira in my house before, and that he seemed to be sympathetic to me?”

“Ah? You aren’t thinking of defecting to the Japanese devils again, are you? They’re even already opening fire on us, and yet you still want to continue being a Chinese traitor? Besides, you caused those secret documents or whatever to be leaked onto the newspapers, will they spare you? If you go to see the Japanese, isn’t that the same as courting death?”

“Yokoyama Akira and I have the same interests. He won’t kill me easily.”

“Forget it! Follow me home after a few days, you’re always welcome there.”

Li Yingliang shook his head, “Escaping is useless. You truly don’t know how powerful the Japanese are. Sooner or later, they will occupy the whole China, and no matter where you run to, the result will be the same. In any case, if we’re going to be slaves of a defeated nation anyway, I might as well just strike first. Besides, I’ve already sold so many years of my life for the Japanese and Yokoyama Akira also appreciates me a lot, I have a foundation. As long as Yokoyama Akira is willing to give me a chance, I can immediately make a comeback.”

“Why do you want to make a comeback? If you want money, I can give it to you. You don’t have to make a comeback!”

“It’s not a matter of money, I want power.” He lowered his voice, “I must make a comeback, if not, the Japanese want to kill me, Shen Zhiheng wants to kill me, I can’t hide together with you forever.”

Jin Jingxue completely could not understand Li Yingliang’s thinking, and was also too lazy to argue with him. Picking up her tools, she continued knitting, but was unable to knit stably, as the sound of gunfire still echoed in the distance from time to time, causing her to be terror-stricken.

After that night, Beiping fell, and the Japanese warplanes started bombing Tianjin [4] .

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A province of the Republic of China that is now part of Inner Mongolia, Hebei, and Beijing.

This puts the date at around 25 July 1937.

The phrase used here is 死鸭子嘴硬 (sǐ yā zi zuǐ yìng) which can be literally translated as “dead duck, hard mouth”, which figuratively refers to someone being very stubborn.