The Blade of Silence (Fang Mu Eastern Crimes Series Book 3)

by Mi Lei

  The villagers turned to each other and one after another called out, "I remember!"

  "If we want our good days to endure, we must stand by our pact." Lu Tianchang raised his voice. "If anyone breaks the pact, it means all of us – young and old, men, women, and children – will be pushed to the edge of the cliff of poverty."

  The crowd began to stir, their pitchforks and rakes glinting in the pale sunlight.

  Lu Tianchang returned his attention to Lu Haitao, and with a faint smile, said, "Lu Haitao, you almost managed to bring our good days to an end."

  Lu Haitao's knees buckled. Only the two villagers holding his arms kept him on his feet.

  "Uncle, I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare..." he stammered. "Please, forgive me..."

  The village head took a hatchet from one of the villagers. He walked toward Lu Haitao and handed him the tool, and then pointed at the two phones lying in the snow.

  With trembling hands, the young man accepted the hatchet. Uncertain, he looked from Lu Tianchang to Fang Mu and back again. He took a cautious step forward. He knelt down in the snow and raised the hatchet.

  With a crack he brought it down on the screen of the first phone.

  "Put your back into it!" Lu Tianchang shouted at him.

  Shaking, Lu Haitao raised the hatchet.

  Again the blade came down and both phones shattered to pieces. Lu Haitao bent down over the fragments and gathered them into a pile. He continued to desperately smash them. If he could just erase the phones, maybe it would erase his transgressions, maybe they would let him live. Else…

  Fang Mu could only stare at the mangled pile of circuitry and plastic in cold horror. His heart twitched with every blow of the hatchet.

  He had finally found a lead, and now it was all crashing into pieces.

  Soon, there was almost nothing left. With the phones ground into the muddy snow, Lu Tianchang signaled Lu Haitao to stop. The village head walked over and forced the pulp farther into the mud with his heel. Looking down at Lu Haitao, he said, "Well, you've managed to undo that mistake."

  The young man's face lit up as he raised his head.

  With a scream and a whimper, Lu Haiyan suddenly burst from the back of the crowd. Her expression was somewhere between hopeful pleading and desperate gratitude as she tried to rush to her brother's side. But before she could reach him, Lu Dachun grabbed her from behind and stopped her in her tracks.

  "There is, of course, another matter," Lu Tianchang coldly noted. "Lu Sanqiang's murder."

  The light in Lu Haitao's eyes died. In desperation, he tried to rise to his feet, but the villagers immediately pushed him back to the ground.

  "It wasn't me… Not me!" Lu Haitao tried to shout, but he was silenced as his face was forced into the snow.

  What little noise he managed to make was drowned out by Lu Tianchang shouting. "Tell me, what should we do with him?" His gaze swept the mob. "Lu Sanqiang is dead!" He indicated Lu Haitao. "So what do we do with him?"

  The crowd stared back in silence. Suddenly, the old lady's shrill voice erupted from the crowd. "Kill him!"

  The call set off a chain reaction, exploding across the gathered mob. "If that son of a bitch had his way, we'd all be back with our faces in the dirt..."

  "He could make a run for it. He could kill again."

  "Kill him..."

  Lu Tianchang turned to look down at Lu Haitao. The young man was completely paralyzed by fear. "Lu Haitao, there's nothing to be done about it," the village head said with a smile. "You have done wrong and you will pay the price..."

  "No!"

  A wail burst from behind the crowd. It was Widow Cui. She pushed her way to the front of the villagers and then threw herself at Lu Tianchang's feet. Clutching his feet, she pleaded. "Village Head, Village Head, spare him, please… You said if I handed him over to you, you were just going to take his legs..."

  Lu Haiyan ceased to struggle against Lu Dachun. For a few seconds she only glared at her mother with blank outrage. A cry burst from her. "Mother! How could you sell us out? He's your son, my little brother!"

  Lu Haitao himself was simply unable to comprehend what he had just heard. Still facing the snow, he turned enough to see the widow. His jaw dropped as he stared at his mother in disbelief.

  Tears streaming down her face, Widow Cui continued to plead, this time with her children. "Mother had no choice… Our entire life… Mother could not let you lose everything..."

  Lu Tianchang helped Widow Cui to her feet with a gentle smile. His voice, however, was cold as ice. "Elder Sister, your child has done wrong. He has killed a man and almost destroyed our village. If we do not punish him, our good days are over."

  Again the mob erupted. "Yes, the village head is right."

  "We cannot go back to digging in the dirt..."

  "He did it. Now he has to pay…"

  Lu Tianchang leaned forward to brush the snow and dirt off Widow Cui's coat. "Elder Sister, the rules are the rules. And if the rules are broken, we can all too easily find ourselves back in the bad old days. Think of it this way: The village will live, you will live, and Lu Haiyan will live."

  Those final words froze Widow Cui on the spot. She barely dared to breathe as she stared at Lu Haitao. Finally, she slowly turned away.

  The village head only needed to raise an eyebrow to goad the mob forward. They quickly gathered around Lu Haitao. The young man had resigned himself to his fate. His mouth agape and eyes wide, he watched his fellow villagers approach.

  His sister had renewed her struggle. She flailed and screamed, but Lu Dachun held her tight, nearly off her feet.

  The village head pointed at her with a frown. "Think of your mother's life. Think of your life. Behave."

  "Uncle, please! Let Lu Haotai go! I beg you!" Lu Haiyan's legs kicked the air as she burst into sobs. "Lu Dachun and I... I'll promise you anything…!"

  "Lu Haiyan! Lu Dachun has nothing to do with this!" the village head bellowed. "Your brother has committed a terrible crime! If he lives, our entire village is finished!"

  "Yes! We cannot all suffer just because of your family!" A villager wielding a wooden club shouted.

  Other voices from the mob joined his call.

  "Lu Dajiang, you go first!" Lu Tianchang waved the man over. "From now on, Lu Haitao's share is yours!"

  The summoned villager hesitantly stepped forward. He bent down and waved his club in front of Lu Haitao's face.

  "What the masses do, the law cannot punish! What are you afraid of?" Lu Tianchang roared. "Do it! All of you! Two thousand yuan to whoever strikes first!"

  With a scream, Lu Dajiang raised the club high above his head. He brought it down with a solid strike.

  The crowd gathered around as he struck and struck again. Bright blood gushed from the young man's head, splattering down and staining the white snow stark red.

  Perhaps it was sight of blood, perhaps the 2,000 yuan, perhaps the madness of the mob or maybe that old adage, "What the masses do, the law cannot punish", but something had unleashed the villagers' inner demons. Clubs, pitchforks, and rakes were raised and they all rained down on Lu Haitao.

  "Stop!" Fang Mu shouted in horror as he desperately struggled to break the grasp of the two villagers holding him.

  Once free, he scrambled to Lu Haitao's side. With all his strength, he tried to pull the young man to safety. The shocked villagers quickly stopped their assault, but a few wayward blows still struck Fang Mu's back.

  "Have you gone mad?" Fang Mu screamed, unwilling to believe what he had just seen. Of course, he had known that the village head wanted Lu Haitao dead, but he never would have guessed that the young man would be murdered in broad daylight—and by the entire village.

  "Stay out of this!" Lu Tianchang growled. "This only concerns our village."

  The blows might have stopped, but both their lives remained poised on razor's edge. Faced with the mob, Fang Mu had toyed with the idea of exposing Lu Dachun as the real killer, but now he knew that no one
would have listened. The villagers were out to kill Lu Haitao; not to avenge Lu Sanqiang, but to protect their ill-gotten wealth.

  Material desire could turn humans into monsters and that terrible reality was no less true there than it was in the city.

  There was little hope in reasoning with monsters, but what other option did Fang Mu have?

  "Calm down. No matter what oaths you swore, you can't just kill him." Fang Mu stood over Lu Haitao's battered and bleeding body. Spreading his arms wide, he shouted, "Lu Sanqiang is dead and there is nothing that can change that. You should—Hey!"

  Fang Mu felt a sharp pain in his leg. Looking down, he saw that Lu Haitao had torn through his pants and now his fingernails were clawing their way into his skin.

  "Agh…" a pained moan escaped Lu Haitao's broken lips. His face was covered in blood, but underneath the bruises and pain, his eyes were burning with a bright light. His terrified eyes were staring straight at Fang Mu.

  White-hot pain shot up Fang Mu's leg and he felt his knees buckle.

  "He's gone crazy! Kill him! Kill him!" someone in the mob shrieked. Again, the villagers closed in.

  "Don't be stupid!" Fang Mu shouted as he fought to steady himself. "Murder is a capital offense. If you murder Lu Haitao, you'll seal your own fate!"

  "Bullshit! Who would arrest us all?" someone yelled back at him.

  "Listen to me!" Sweat was dripping from Fang Mu's brow. "Everyone just calm down! Our society is a society of laws..."

  "What laws? Do laws feed us? Do laws pay us?" another villager callously replied.

  "What's more important, money or a life?" Fang Mu roared. "Are you really willing to kill for stuff? For money?"

  "If he lives, we all die!" Lu Tianchang shouted. "Don't listen to him! Go, go!"

  It was enough to spur on the villagers and a wall of clubs and pitchforks came crashing down. Blow after blow landed on Fang Mu's head and body. First came the pain. Then, he went numb. Through the haze, he realized that the mob had changed; their faces were no longer human.

  The villagers had no eyes.

  Where there should have been light, he could see only empty sockets, oozing inky, black fog.

  Blind fish. Fang Mu was suddenly reminded of those creatures, their eyes atrophied in that sunless cave.

  Ensnared in the darkness of their blind desires, these people were no different.

  Despair took hold of his heart, his mind, his body. But with that despair also came rage.

  A club crashed down on his shoulder and he grabbed it. Fang Mu ripped it from the hand that had struck him and lashed back out.

  His unexpected resistance forced the villagers back. Fang Mu wiped the blood from his brow and thrust his club to point at the mob. "Do the right thing!" He knew he had to get Lu Haitao out of there. Steeling himself, he shouted, "I am—"

  Thud.

  It was a strange sound. Then, the mob gasped. Fang Mu spun around. The blood froze in his veins.

  Behind him, Lu Haitao collapsed limply. Brain and blood dripped from his broken skull with a sickening, sliding sound. The young man's mouth had fallen open and his eyes were bulging. He was staring at his killer in frozen disbelief.

  It was Lu Haiyan.

  She, too, had frozen; Her body bent forward, teeth clenched, she was staring at the end of the hatchet in her hands, at her twitching, dying brother.

  But she had no eyes with which to stare.

  Only empty, oozing darkness.

  Everything was quiet. The whisper of the wind was the loudest noise.

  They all stood like statues, silently looking at Lu Haiyan, staring at the broken body in front of her.

  Only when the last rasping breath left Lu Haitao's body did she begin to shake. Her head down, she dragged herself toward Lu Tianchang.

  The village head was in complete shock and recoiled as she approached, hatchet still in hand. He looked ready to make a run for it.

  But Lu Haiyan was no threat. She never even looked up as she meekly handed Lu Tianchang the blood-stained weapon. The village head numbly accepted the hatchet. His mouth opened, and then closed. Finally, he managed to squeeze out, "Good…good girl."

  Now, Lu Haiyan raised her head. Two orbs of cold light flashed behind the black curtain of hair that covered her face. She curled her lips with a snarl, exposing white teeth beneath.

  "Arrgh...!" The scream erupted from deep within her chest.

  It struck like a sword thrust into every ear. Crows rose from the trees answering her cry as they flew into the sky.

  She screamed until all the air had left her lungs. And even as her howl died, her mouth remained wide open. Saliva slowly dripped from her lips.

  Then her head fell again and she walked to her mother's side. Widow Cui had fainted and was lying in the snow. Lu Haiyan bent down and slung her unconscious mother over her shoulder. Without another look back, she slowly staggered away.

  As she disappeared behind a house, the crowd hesitantly began to disperse. Soon only a small group of villagers, the village head, Lu Dachun, and Fang Mu remained.

  And then there was Lu Haitao, already growing stiff.

  Lu Tianchang whispered a few words into his son's ear. Nodding, Lu Dachun commanded two villagers to drag Lu Haitao's body away. The others stepped forward to surround Fang Mu.

  Still in shock, Fang Mu exhaled. He looked the village head straight in the eye and smiled. "It's my turn now, is it?"

  "No." Lu Tianchang shook his head. "I won't kill you. You're leaving."

  "Eh?" Fang Mu could only stare. "Why?"

  "Yeah, why would I let you live?" With a shrug, the village head lit himself a cigarette. "They're going to ask the same question, if you tell anyone what you saw here today."

  "Oh." Fang Mu nodded. "No one will believe me, is that it?"

  "I can make it so there has never been a Lu Haitao and Lu Sanqiang in this village." Lu Tianchang released the smoke from his mouth. "But you're different. If you disappear, your family and friends will come looking for you. Perhaps they'll find us…and I don't want that."

  "So..." Fang Mu started, but the village head interrupted him.

  "So, you will forget us. Nothing happened here—that is, if you want to continue living in peace. I have to warn you; should you come back, I'll not be so accommodating."

  Fang Mu continued to stare at him for another few seconds, and then lowered his eyes. "Good."

  "Your things stay here." Lu Tianchang signaled Lu Dachun. "We'll be happy to give you a ride back."

  With that, he stepped over the frozen pool of blood and brains and walked away.

  CHAPTER

  17

  Thank You

  It was an expensive candleholder. The base was shaped in the traditional form of a promising cloud. Exquisitely wrought decorative flowers curled upward from there toward the delicate female figure that made up the main body of the holder. Her headdress, posture, and flowing robes marked the woman as an Apsara, a Buddhist spirit of cloud and water. Her eyes expressed calm serenity and her shape possessed a delicate suppleness. The Apsara's left hand was at her bosom, while her right hand held a lotus aloft. This lotus in turn was meant to hold a candle. The entire piece was made of solid gold. It was one of a kind, commissioned especially for her birthday.

  It was a gift covered in fresh blood. Would the lady's candles now come with a whiff of gore?

  The blood was that of a man. He was lying motionlessly on the ground, his limbs splayed out on the floor. It was hard to tell whether he was just unconscious or had been knocked into a coma. At least, he was out of harm's way down there.

  Liang Sihai had lost his temper.

  The cage incident had cost him an entire building and more money than he liked to lose, and for absolutely nothing. Ding Shucheng was dead, yes, but they had let the girl live. And so far they had failed to uncover the identity of the intruder who had snuck into the Baixin Bath Palace that night.

  It made his blood boil. And then that pathetic excu
se for a minion had dared to babble on about what a fierce fight Ding Shucheng had put up, how they had no option but to lock him in and wait for his death; and on and on. He'd had to lash out.

  Failure could not go unpunished.

  Liang Sihai put down the candle holder and turned to Jin Yongyu. His lieutenant was trembling in the corner. "Wash this. And wrap it back up. Also," he said, kicking the man on the ground, "take him with you. You have one week to find the girl. If you fail, I will not be so merciful again. Now, get out!"

  In the blink of an eye they were gone and Liang Sihai was alone. As he sat down at his desk, his fingers caught on something sticky. Blood.

  He cursed and grabbed a tissue to wipe the stain away. The table cleaned, he threw the bloody tissue into his trash bin. It had all been a bit much. Feeling short of breath, he reached down and pulled his prayer beads from a drawer. Then, he lowered his head and recited the Heart Sutra.

  After minutes of quiet chanting, peace of mind still eluded him.

  He couldn't stop the questions spinning through his head. Perhaps most important of all: Who was the intruder? And who had helped him or her escape?

  The nurse nervously eyed her patient as she changed his bandages. With his wounds, most others would have long been crying out in pain. But not him; he was stoic as ever, staring at the ceiling in silence.

  The patient had been like that ever since a truck driver had dropped him off in the middle of the night. He had arrived in nothing but his underwear. His entire body had been covered in cuts and contusions. Multiple deep lacerations still crisscrossed his face and scalp. Finally, there was a particularly deep gash on his left leg. As they sutured his wounds, the man had just stared down at the ground, apparently oblivious to the pain. His strange behavior and refusal to talk led the hospital staff to believe that he was a mental patient who had wandered off. They were about to transfer him to a relief station when he'd asked for a phone. He had made a call and then had lain back down in his bed. Ever since, he'd not eaten, hadn't taken a single drink, and hadn't slept.

  After the nurse finished and cleaned up, she gently tucked him in. She was just about to leave when a young man burst into the room, almost running right into her.