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

by Mi Lei

  Suddenly, he heard a metallic click behind him. It was a soft noise, but Fang Mu knew it well: It was the sound of a pistol being cocked.

  He spun around to face a Type 92 pointed at his forehead.

  Fang Mu could not, would not, believe his eyes.

  The man holding the gun was Xiao Wang.

  Fang Mu stared at his brother in arms. His entire body froze. He couldn't feel his head. Only a single thought crazily crashed from one side of his empty skull to the other.

  You? Why you?

  Xiao Wang placed a finger over his lips and motioned with his gun for Fang Mu to follow him. Fang Mu offered no resistance. His mind was too vacant to do anything but obey.

  Xiao Wang walked back out into the hallway. He quickly opened the door to one of the unused rooms, signaling for Fang Mu to enter. The entire time, his gun had remained fixed on Fang Mu's head.

  Fang Mu was staring back at Xiao Wang, but his gaze was dull and empty. He was still clinging to the garrote between his hands as if it was the only real thing left in his life.

  Xiao Wang sat down across from him at a table and with a scowl commanded, "Drop it!"

  It was finally enough to shake Fang Mu out of his stupor. Ever so slowly, the life returned to his eyes. He lowered his head to stare at the garrote, and then looked back up at the pistol. Knowing that he had lost, he placed it on the table. Suddenly, a smile appeared on his face. "So, are you going to talk or just sit there?"

  Xiao Wang remained silent, his eyes wandering up and down Fang Mu in a studious fashion..

  Fang Mu knew what he was thinking. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone and removed the battery. He threw his coat on the table. "I'm not wearing a wire," he said coldly. "I wasn't expecting to meet you here."

  Xiao Wang's face relaxed ever so slightly and he returned the pistol to its holster. He walked over to the door, closed it and turned off the lights.

  The room was plunged into darkness. The two men could no longer see one another; only hear each other's breathing and the pounding of their hearts. Blind to the other's true motives, all trust between them lay shattered.

  Xiao Wang slowly felt his way back to the table and seated himself across from Fang Mu.

  After what must have been minutes, Fang Mu broke the silence. "How long?"

  "All along," Xiao Wang answered.

  "So, when Ding Shucheng went undercover, you were already one of Liang Sihai's men?" Fang Mu asked.

  "Yes." In the cover of darkness, Xiao Wang made no effort to conceal the truth. "He thought he was being so clever, but I saw right through him; I even figured out how he communicated with Xing Zhisen."

  "How did you know?" Fang Mu's voice was flat and devoid of all emotion.

  "Because I've worked undercover myself!" Xiao Wang was on the verge of shouting. "That's why I will always hate Xing Zhisen."

  Even in the dark, Fang Mu could feel the rage smoldering in Xiao Wang's eyes. The spite seemed to ooze from his mouth and seep across the room like a giant, all-consuming serpent, coiling around him.

  "You don't really believe that Xing Zhisen was a good person." Xiao Wang's voice sounded raw and bitter. "He would do anything to get his way; even sacrifice lives—even the lives of his fellow officers." He was breathing heavily. "Just think of Zheng Lin and his men!"

  "Zheng Lin, Young Hai and Little Zhan did not die because of Old Xing. They died to rescue those girls!" Fang Mu's voice rose, matching Xiao Wang's in acidity.

  "Then they were playing with fire; no wonder they got burned," Xiao Wang said with a snort. "They were never supposed to interfere at the mill."

  It hit Fang Mu like a hatchet to the head. The moment his mind stopped reeling, he felt his entire body tense. "Someone found my bottle, didn't they?"

  "Yeah. That morning, one of the cave cleaners gave me a call." Xiao Wang chuckled. "I knew it could only be you."

  "And then you called Liang Sihai so he could send people to kill us?" A part of Fang Mu still refused to believe any of it.

  "Not you; just the girls."

  Fang Mu could feel Xiao Wang staring at him through the darkness.

  "I didn't want you to die. Why else would I have rescued you at the Baixin Bath Palace?"

  "You...?" Fang Mu arched an eyebrow. "You were the one who busted the bars and scared them off?"

  "Yes," Xiao Wang curtly confirmed.

  "How did you know I was there?" Fang Mu asked.

  "Easy; your cell phone. Back then, I knew your every move." Xiao Wang sounded almost gentle now. "Fang Mu, I told you, you are a rare talent. I would have been happy to work with you; we could have done great things. But it's your incredible talent that makes you play the hero. All that righteousness, all that loyalty—it's just a lie to send you rushing off to your death. Here in the real world, we all live in a very pragmatic society. Come, join us; you'll discover the rules of the game are nothing like you imagine." He sighed. "Whether you accept it or not, there's no way out for you now. There never was. If you want to live and enjoy your life, then just respect the rules. Otherwise..."

  "Otherwise you'll kill me?" Fang Mu spat.

  "No, that would cause far too much trouble. We can make you disappear. Make you disappear forever." Xiao Wang's voice had become a low growl. "For example, we can dissolve you in liquid steel, and sink the ingot in the middle of the ocean."

  Fang Mu silently stared at the vague outline of a man that had slowly formed across from him as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. "Is that what you did with the woman Hu Yingbo killed in the Bay City Hotel?"

  Xiao Wang chuckled. "You're smart. It's a radical solution; even the DNA is destroyed."

  "Who was she?" Fang Mu asked.

  "You don't want to know, trust me." Xiao Wang stood up. "What's done is done. And I fear you and I will not be friends. The good, the bad—they're all dead now. Just accept it. There's nothing you can do without evidence. And you have nothing. Go back to the Department and serve honorably. But don't forget, I'll be working right next to you, and I can control your every move. If you ever cause trouble again, I'll kill you myself."

  With that, Xiao Wang opened the door and walked out.

  Fang Mu was left in darkness, surrounded by endless, silent black.

  He sat motionless, touching the void; wrapping it around himself, hiding his body deep within.

  Loss. Defeat.

  He didn't care whether Liang Zehao was still in the bathroom across the hallway. Fang Mu's only desire was to hide in darkness—for a minute. For a lifetime.

  Was there anything but darkness left in the world?

  The door opened.

  The hallway's light poured over him, covering Fang Mu's body, like a shining blade to cut through his cocoon of shadows.

  Fang Mu turned to the door. The silhouette of a woman with long hair flowing around her body was cast in the bright light of the doorway.

  The silhouette took a step back. Obviously she hadn't expected the room to be occupied. She suddenly froze. "Is that you?"

  Before Fang Mu had a chance to answer, the woman had grabbed him and was pulling him away.

  She led him down the hallway and into an elevator. Only as the doors slowly closed did Fang Mu finally recognize her. It was Pei Lan. Her face was flush with alcohol and covered in dried tears.

  Despite the night's many horrible surprises, Fang Mu was still shocked by this new abduction.

  "What…? What are you doing?" he finally managed to ask.

  Instead of answering, Pei Lan turned all her attention to the small display next to the door. On it, the floor number was rising higher and higher. She never released her vice-like grip on his wrist.

  The elevator doors opened and Pei Lan pulled Fang Mu down the hallway and toward a room. She shoved Fang Mu inside and then pushed him against the door. He hit the door with a soft thud and it locked with a metallic click. That was the noise Pei Lan had been waiting for. Pressing herself against him, she began to lithely press aro
und his body like a sensuous snake.

  Fang Mu felt the gentle touch of soft kisses on his cheeks, neck, and ears. They smelled of strong liquor and wispy perfume. The warmth lifted him from the depths of defeat and into a fantasy free of his past, free of all memory. He couldn't stop his arms from wrapping themselves around Pei Lan's waist. For a few seconds, they stood entangled, caught in each other. Fang Mu felt her hands reach for his belt and unbuckle it.

  It was enough to shock him back to reality. He pushed her away.

  As Pei Lan stumbled backward, he could see her disheveled hair, her flushed red face, and her eyes; eyes not filled with lust, but utter despair.

  "Don't you want me? There's so much I can do…" She undid the front of her blouse. The black fabric parted to reveal smooth, alabaster skin.

  Fang Mu closed his eyes and turned away.

  "Don't go..." She reached out to him. Only her fingertips made it to his sleeve before her head lolled and she fell forward.

  Fang Mu immediately reached out to catch her, but Pei Lan's entire body had gone limp. He scooped up the unconscious actress up in a firm embrace before she hit the floor. Gently, he carried her over to the bed at the other side of the room and laid her down. Her eyes remained firmly shut. Her breathing came fast and shallow as sweat dripped from every pore of her body.

  Fang Mu decided it would be best to get a towel from the bathroom, but before he could go, he felt Pei Lan's fingers tighten around his wrist.

  "Please stay..." she mumbled. "Don't leave me here… Don't go…"

  Reluctantly, he let her hold on as he watched her tears fall.

  After countless tears amid her ragged sobs, Pei Lan's breathing finally slowed. With a long, heavy sigh, she sat up. She pulled her legs to her body and let her head fall on her knees.

  "Better?" Fang Mu asked lightly.

  "Mhm." Her face had turned from bright red to ashen pale. Damp tendrils of hair clung to her tear-stained cheeks.

  Fang Mu expected her to collapse again at any moment. She did not, instead undoing two more buttons of her blouse. With a deep frown, he took a step back and seated himself on the sofa at the side of the room.

  "Don't worry," Pei Lan offered him as a frail smile crossed her face, noticing his discomfort. "I'm done harassing you. My clothes are drenched in sweat. I need to get out of them."

  She slipped out of her jeans. Wearing only her underwear, she walked to the room's refrigerator and took out a bottle of water and drank it with heavy gulps.

  "Are you sick?" He saw that her entire, flawless body was covered in fresh sweat.

  She shot him a crooked smile. "No, I'm not sick. Liang Zehao gave me this pill, and then he tried to get me into a three-way with another girl. I refused and ran away. Never thought that I'd run into you, though. I hope I didn't shock you too much back there."

  He didn't answer, but continued intently watching her. It made Pei Lan's breathing grow husky once again. She turned back to him, quite deliberately showing off her body.

  Right then, she really, really wanted him to make a move.

  Fang Mu let his eyes wander down her body, finally resting at her abdomen. A flower was tattooed there.

  Following his gaze, Pei Lan lowered her head. She looked down herself, brow furrowing.

  "It's an Aster Amelius, a symbol of friendship." She let her fingers gently stroke the purple flower. "When I was studying at the Film Academy, Tang Xiaomei was my best friend. In our sophomore year, we decided to get a tattoo together. We picked this flower. It was our way of showing that we would be friends forever. It still seems so surreal that she kidnapped—"

  "Wait! What!" Fang Mu shouted.

  Her head shot back up. Her eyes widened in shock when she saw him staring at her. His posture tensed and he looked ready to jump her.

  "What did you say?" He actually rushed toward her. "Tang Xiaomei had the same tattoo?" he shouted, grabbing her arm.

  Overwhelmed, she barely managed to nod.

  "A lavender flower?"

  "Yes," she replied. "Why?"

  Without answering, he slowly shook his head. He stumbled backward and finally slumped to the floor at the bedside. His head moved from side to side in slow realization.

  During the polygraph test, Old Xing had mentioned a lavender flower on the abdomen of the woman Hu Yingbo had killed.

  That woman must have been Tang Xiaomei. The same Tang Xiaomei who had kidnapped Pei Lan just days before the events at the Bay City Hotel.

  That was what Xiao Wang had meant when we he said 'You don't want to know'. When he had helped arrest Tang Xiaomei, he had unwittingly signed her death warrant.

  Pei Lan had no idea what was going on. Trying her best to read Fang Mu's face, she asked, "Did you see Tang Xiaomei again? I mean, after the incident? I want to visit her, but I have no idea where she is incarcerated or even how long her sentence is."

  Fang Mu shook his head. "You won't be able to see her."

  Liang Sihai had been unbelievably brazen: Knowing that Xiao Wang was working the case, he must have told him to bypass all regular police procedures—even the arrest warrant and the indictment had never existed. There had never been a trial.

  Considering the timeline, Tang Xiaomei had probably been taken to Changhong City the very night of her supposed arrest. And then, they had made her disappear forever, just like Xiao Wang had said. Sun Wei, her boyfriend, had probably suffered a similar fate.

  Fang Mu's thoughts did nothing to ease Pei Lan's confusion. "I don't understand what you mean," she said. "Isn't Tang Xiaomei in prison?"

  "I wish she were that lucky." He decided to tell her the truth. "Liang Zehao had Tang Xiaomei killed, and then they cast her into an iron ingot and sank it into the ocean." He looked back down at the flower on her smooth abdomen.

  A pained sound escaped Pei Lan's lips as her eyes bulged with horror and disbelief. She raised a hand to cover her mouth and her entire body began to tremble. Several long and terrible moments later, she finally whispered, "I…I never wanted that… How could he...?"

  "He did not kill her for your sake." He clenched his teeth. "He did it to frame someone."

  He finally turned his attention back to her, his voice callously distant. "Well, now that you know, will you stay with a man like that?"

  The question hit her like a blow and she collapsed onto the carpet. Burrowing her face in her hands, she silently cried bitter tears.

  Fang Mu stared at Pei Lan's shoulders that shook with her sobbing. He didn't know whether he should be angry for his own sake or sad for her's.

  Fang Mu and Pei Lan stayed the entire night, but they didn't speak another word. He resorted to smoking in silence as she cried herself to sleep.

  The moment she woke up, she started sobbing again. Dawn was fast approaching when her tears finally ran dry. She staggered into the bathroom.

  Hearing the sound of running water, Fang Mu got back on his feet and walked over to the large panorama window. He stared down at the city about to wake from its deep slumber. Below, the houses and streets were hidden by the deep darkness before dawn. The moon had disappeared beyond the horizon and the light of the stars was fading. It was time for the sun to rise, but the light wouldn't yet come.

  Fang Mu looked to the east. A cluster of tall buildings towered impassively against the sky, their massive black forms blocking the horizon. The sun struggled to surmount them, but it was a long and arduous climb. For what felt like an eternity, only the very edges of the black skyline glowed with the warm light of morning. Had it not been for the occasional illuminated window, the city's people could have easily mistaken these silent giants for another Dragon Tail.

  But did they know that a dark, silent river flowed beneath this mountain as well?

  Fang Mu suddenly realized that he had never left the underground river.

  It was all around him, pulling him down, drowning him in its unfathomable depths.

  Silence had fallen in the bathroom. A little while later, Pei Lan em
erged, wrapped in a towel. She joined him at the window.

  "Give me a cigarette." The night of sobs had left her voice hoarse.

  Fang Mu handed her one and lit it for her.

  She stood by his side, silently smoking as she stared down at the city below their feet. The rise and fall of the cigarette's glow rhythmically drew the contours of her face out from behind the veil of her wet hair.

  As she finished the cigarette, she asked, "Tell me, do you think the soul remains after we die?"

  "I wouldn't know." He lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply. Watching the blue smoke curl upward, he added, "But I sure hope so."

  She smiled. "Me, too." She reached out to gently stroke her reflection on the glass. "How was it... How was it when Tang Xiaomei died?"

  "She was in a hotel." He halted. "She was naked."

  "Hmm..." She raised her head and let her gaze sweep over the black sky. "I hope her soul is up there," she said, her voice seeming to echo from a distant dream. "I hope she is looking down on me."

  She reached to her chest and undid the towel. It slid down her body. She closed her eyes and spread her arms. "Xiaomei, I give you my body. I give you my Aster Amelius. All of it, I give you all of it…"

  There was nothing but serene devotion in her face. There could be no doubt that she really was ready to offer herself to the spirit of her friend, drifting between the shadows.

  In the dim light, Pei Lan's naked body looked like a sculpture. She stood still, waiting for a moment that would never come; it was a dream of catharsis from torment and hate.

  The city outside the window lit up. The sun had transcended the mountains of concrete and glass.

  After a long while, Pei Lan softly exhaled and opened her eyes, but she remained the woman reflected in the glass. A tear trickled down her cheek. "Fang Mu," she said after what seemed like an eternity of pause, "I want to do something for Tang Xiaomei."

  When she received no answer, Pei Lan turned toward him.

  The young policeman, however, had long vanished.