Chapter Text
“I killed your family? Huh. They probably deserved it.”
Shi Wudu didn’t sugarcoat his words when he was attempting to be mean. He knew how to kick and claw and bite, he just rarely had the opportunity to do so, and the consequences weren’t usually worth it.
But Shi Wudu wasn’t trying to avoid consequences. No, not anymore.
“What did you say?” He Xuan spoke with quiet rage, tone trembling.
He walked up to Shi Wudu and cupped his palm, slapping him hard across the right cheek. Shi Wudu’s head whipped to the side at the unexpected movement and only paused briefly before returning his head to look at He Xuan.
“I said ‘they probably deserved it’” He emphasized the consonant sounds of each character.
He Xuan’s eyes looked alight as his teeth cracked as they ground together.
“You know nothing of what they deserved. In fact, I know how little you care but I would have at least thought you’d understand. I mean, Shi Qingxuan may not realize all that you’ve done for them, but I know you’ve bent over backwards to provide for them, and maybe they deserve the same treatment as my family.”
Shi Wudu’s facade of cruel indifference melted into careful neutrality as he stared at He Xuan. At the sudden quiet, He Xuan laughed, pacing, picking at his fingernails.
“There’s your weakness. You always lose your bluster when it comes to them. And I know the truth. I know that everything you’ve done is for them, but do they know? And if not, do you think that maybe they’d like to know that they were actually fated to die? To be mutilated by a serial killer and left to rot?” He Xuan sneered this with condescension. “Your parents died just like mine, but at least mine still had integrity when they passed. And you gave all your integrity to Shi Qingxuan; that’s one point in your favor. But you, you have no morals or righteousness and you deserve to suffer for what you’ve done.”
Shi Wudu raised his chin in defiance and maybe it was this lack of remorse that had He Xuan launching at Shi Wudu with a clenched fist, an oppressive and brutal strike to the stomach, uppercut into his ribs on the right.
Shi Wudu lost his breath and hunched over as much as he could in agony. His hair that had originally been tied in its usual tight knot was loosening and falling in strands around his face. He Xuan pushed his shoulders back against the chair while he was still writhing and delivered another punishing hit, after hit, after hit, to the same spot, Shi Wudu crying out in a hoarse scream that was also taken from him like his breath.
He Xuan was panting above him as Shi Wudu stared at his feet, listening to the chains as they rankled and had a moment of memory flicker past of the first time he’d found himself in ankle chains at the hands of Shen Buzhi.
This is nothing compared to that, he reasoned with himself, trying to get himself under control.
“You said…cough… that your parents died with dignity. Was there someone in your life that didn’t die with their dignity intact? Don’t get me wrong, I know yours has been cast away for the sake of this revenge, but you’re still alive. So, who was it? Who was it that degraded themselves so thoroughly that you can’t even speak their name?”
Shi Wudu gasped out the sentence with a smile. His words were met with a fist to the face before He Xuan stepped back and yelled at him in frustration, presumably at poking at his own weakness.
He Xuan reached backwards into his pocket and pulled out a knife. With irritation, he flicked it opened and closed, seemingly debating whether it would be worth it to stab Shi Wudu.
“My sister,” He Xuan began with gritted teeth and a snarl adorning his lips, “gave everything of herself to provide for me before she died. She joined Heaven gang. She worked tirelessly every night to earn her keep so that we could regain some semblance of stability after our identities were fucking erased and we were stranded without identities or a penny to our names! You don’t have the right to assume that she lost her integrity. She had more honor in her pinky toe than you have in your entire body. She worked to the bone, the bone! She gave herself over entirely to try to dig us out of the mess YOU put us in!” He Xuan was ranting and raving, but Shi Wudu caught onto a more subtle meaning to his words of denial.
“Your sister… she worked for Heaven?”
He Xuan stilled at the tone of voice. It was almost thoughtful. Considering.
And then Shi Wudu laughed, a hideous, mangled thing, having come to a conclusion that He Xuan had tried to dance around.
“You’re doing all this… for a whore? A pathetic excuse of a person? An ungrateful, useless slut?” He laughed some more. “Oh, now it all makes sense. How it all comes around. You know what? I bet she deserved to die. I bet she was dirty, filthy and wretched, and deserved the death she got!”
Shi Wudu spat as he yelled and He Xuan’s eyes dilated to pinpricks, his coiled muscles releasing, pouncing, intending to drive the thin switchblade into his heart, or maybe his lungs, or his kidneys, or maybe his fucking neck just to get him to shut the fuck up. How dare he speak of He Xuan’s sister like that?!?
And he almost did it; really, it was a close call. But the look in his eyes was wrong.
It wasn’t just fear, or anger… it was relief, satisfaction, freedom, and He Xuan couldn’t have that.
He stopped, the tip of the knife embedding into the wood of the chair behind Shi Wudu’s head, a crack forming in the hard wood.
He tilted his head at Shi Wudu, considering.
“You’d like to die, wouldn’t you? You’d like it if I just ended it all right here, right now, huh? No more suffering. Shi Qingxuan doesn’t know any better and doesn’t suffer and I get my revenge. Is that it?”
Shi Wudu’s face was stoic, the only thing giving him away the muniscule tremble of his cracked bottom lip, pale and bleeding. Had that happened while He Xuan pummeled him?
“So that’s it. Well… then I suppose we both know what that means.”
He Xuan backed up and Shi Wudu’s grandiose seemed to falter, his neck dropping forward, shoulders shuddering in defeat.
“Just kill me.” Shi Wudu begged, hoarse and wild with desperation.
“Hmm, no. I don’t think I will. Not yet. Not until you know the suffering He Meng-mei knew.”
The chains rattled. In the distance, a droplet of water from condensation fell off a pipe into a small puddle of water.
He Xuan took a deep steadying breath, trying to release some of his anger, his hands faintly shaking from adrenaline.
He should’ve seen that coming. He should’ve known Shi Wudu would still rather sacrifice himself for Shi Qingxuan than face the consequences of his own actions himself. He Xuan wouldn’t let that happen though. No.
He Xuan pulled out a lighter and began to heat the flat edge of the knife with it, unafraid to warp the metal, letting it get red-hot. The flame sputtered in the dank air, but persisted, until He Xuan was satisfied that it would work.
Shi Wudu watched and a flash of understanding seemed to come to pass as he started to struggle in his restraints. He Xuan lifted a boot to kick him in the stomach, getting the lower parts of his ribs with it too, hearing a crunch, feeling a slight buckling, feeling spittle and likely blood flecking onto his cheek as the chair lost its battle against momentum and fell backwards, a dull thud of Shi Wudu’s head to follow.
As Shi Wudu choked on his breathlessness, He Xuan stepped up and placed the hot steel to the side of Shi Wudu’s neck. The thin, pale skin seemed to sizzle as he scorched it with rancor.
If Shi Wudu might’ve been able to catch his breath, it was immediately stolen away by the gargling scream that came from him at the burning. The scent of singed hair and crisping flesh was secondary to the sharp agonizing pain that radiated from the area. Every vibration and movement seemed to intensify the whole thing and he had a fleeting thought that if he thrashed around too much the brand would be a larger area and potentially cause more damage and scarring. But that was dependent on whether he survived.
In a weird way, he hoped he’d get nerve damage so that when the killing blow came he would feel as little as possible.
He Xuan removed the blistering knife from where it kissed his skin, standing up from his crouched position and considering the mark he’d just left. For a second, it looked like he regretted his actions, but he quickly switched back to impartiality. He reached back down and hoisted the chair back upright with Shi Wudu.
Shi Wudu’s arms throbbed at where the chair had landed unceremoniously on his forearms where his hands were still tied. The impact probably hadn’t broken them, but surely they were bruised and another fall like that one would surely crack bone.
Shi Wudu tried to look intimidating as he still caught his breath and shuddered through lingering pangs of pain from his likely still singing flesh. He Xuan moved away from him, once again digging the tip of the knife into his finger. Maybe he was attempting to give himself a wound as well, albeit a much smaller one.
He Xuan suddenly straightened and made his way over to the side of the room where a bag was. He pulled on a glove and then took out a rag and a bottle of unlabeled liquid. He held his breath and poured it before standing and marching over to Shi Wudu to shove the cloth over his mouth.
Shi Wudu only had a moment to be shocked as he lost the battle with the darkness that had been encroaching his vision since he’d hit his head and fell limp and unconscious, left to He Xuan’s mercy.
~~~~~
Xie Lian was feeing a weird sense of giddiness as he sat in the same room in the Gambling Den as the first time he’d met Hua Cheng.
It had taken all of a few minutes for Xie Lian’s carefully laid plan of trying to get more information about No Face to be detailed by the prime witness going AWOL. While the letter Pei Ming found suggested it was a willing departure, it couldn’t be ruled out that he had been taken directly from the apartment, but when they found his cellphone and cross-referenced this with the presence of the van in the area being registered to a known “enemy” of Shi Wudu, it didn’t take too many more leaps to figure out what had happened.
Xie Lian had then had to do a complete 180 on why he was seeking out Hua Cheng from intel gathering regarding No Face to emergency reconnaissance to try and find the missing Shi Wudu.
It was unfortunate and Xie Lian’s nerves were a little bit more fried than usual. He kind of wanted to just go home and snuggle with Rouye but that was wishful thinking. A self-soothing method he wished he could shake.
Ling Wen was currently trying to track the vehicle’s whereabouts, but that was likely a lost cause in Xie Lian’s opinion. Not because he didn’t believe Ling Wen was looking hard but that the driver likely avoided cameras intentionally.
The door opened and the very plain young man entered with a tray of warm tea and biscuits, setting them on the table before Xie Lian before leaving with a slight nod. Hua Cheng entered just as he left.
“San Lang, thank you for meeting with me.”
Xie Lian had texted the man and been told to come to the Gambling Den where he’d entered through a back door.
“It’s no problem. I’m happy you reached out to me for help. What can I do for you?” Hua Cheng sat down across from Xie Lian and poured them both a cup of tea. While doing so, Xie Lian noticed a rather inconspicuous black snake lounging around Hua Cheng’s neck, tongue flicking out to scent the tea. Xie Lian was enamored. And the poor little thing only had one eye!
“What a gorgeous reptile.” Xie Lian had lost the plot of the conversation a little bit.
“Ah, this is E-Ming.” Said snake slithered slowly down Hua Cheng’s arm and into his cupped palm, head extending as he happily booped his nose on Xie Lian’s finger when he raised it to gentle smooth it down the noodle’s back.
E-Ming seemed quite fond and attempted to slide into Xie Lian’s lap but was held back by Hua Cheng.
“I have an albino corn snake at home. Ruoye.” He didn’t know why he said anything. He was being silly, but Hua Cheng’s answering smile settled him. Maybe Hua Cheng would like to come over and meet him? Maybe he could stay for a meal. Xie Lian hadn’t tried making anything in a while…
Xie Lian shook his head, trying to get himself back on track. He cleared his throat.
Ahem “Sorry. I wanted to thank you for the information regarding the person from Heaven I was looking for. I found them through the party and managed to get some good information. However…”
Hua Cheng looked completely composed.
“…there has been a complication wherein he has now gone missing. And we think it’s his sibling’s boyfriend that has taken him. He Xuan.”
Xie Lian was helpfully informed (although rather cryptically) through text messages from Ling Wen.
Hua Cheng’s eyes narrowed at the name, but he didn’t mention anything.
“I’m sorry to hear that. Do you think I can be of some sort of assistance in locating this person?”
Xie Lian nodded vigorously but then slowed and shrugged before nodding again but more sheepishly.
“If possible, but I understand the information might not be free…” he didn’t have anything to offer…
“For you, it’s free.” Hua Cheng said quickly. He pulled out his phone and texted someone. A moment later, the plain young man entered holding a laptop which Hua Cheng flipped open without a word. The man then left.
Hua Cheng began to type speedily on the device. Xie Lian could only look at his fingers flying as he couldn’t see the screen. After a moment, Hua Cheng seemed to realize that Xie Lian couldn’t see and stood up and moved to the couch that Xie Lian was seated on, their thighs smushed together and the laptop set between each of their legs to share the burden of its weight. Realistically, Xie Lian could have moved away, but he didn’t want to. He was marveling at the technical prowess being displayed before him as well as indulgently delighted to be seeing this grown up version of Cheng Hong. He wanted to broach this topic, but maybe it would be best to let sleeping dogs lie? Let bygones be bygones? But Xie Lian couldn’t just forget about the past. No, the past had always been something that shaped his future. He tried to learn from his mistakes. He wanted to hear what Hua Cheng had been through to become the person he is now.
He’d wait. As patiently as he needed to.
On the screen, a kaleidoscope of video footage was presented in minuscule squares, timestamps speeding through and boxes of code popping up. Whatever program it was seemed very impressive. It had silver accents as an aesthetic. Xie Lian was impressed all around.
(He also gracefully accepted E-Ming onto his own shoulders when he slithered there. The snake settled quickly)
“Where did he disappear from?” Hua Cheng seemed to have recovered from his trance.
Xie Lian relayed Pei Ming’s building’s address. Realistically, he probably shouldn’t have, but it was probably fine. Regardless, he hadn’t stated who exactly the address belonged to and he hadn’t given a specific apartment number.
Hua Cheng inputted some data and some of the racing squares enlarged, showing different street views of nearby buildings, little silver boxes popping up on screen to surround people who passed by’s faces, little boxes of data on their identities emerging at the side of the screen. It was all fast forwarded and some of the data seemed to be uncertain from whatever program was running the Face ID.
“Around what time would you say he was taken?”
Xie Lian dutifully recited the timeframe in which Pei Ming had been out of the apartment. With that, Hua Cheng again inputted some parameters and off the boxes went, skimming footage at breakneck speed, slowing only when a certain time revealed a familiar face. Hua Cheng had no reason to recognize him, but his program did and up popped a box on Shi Wudu, all of his scant information available.
“That’s him.” Xie Lian indicated, and Hua Cheng slowed the footage and zoomed in on Shi Wudu, following his movements.
“Safe to say, he was not directly taken from the apartment.”
Xie Lian was already nodding when he saw Hua Cheng’s forehead narrow. He stopped on a rather clear shot of Shi Wudu tucking a non-existent strand of behind his ear. With some taps and clicks, the information box with Shi Wudu’s face and information enlarged and then suddenly, the scantily available information was overflowing with characters being input.
The story that seemed to play out made Xie Lian’s teeth go numb.
Shi Wudu was originally a young heir to a business. His parents had been brutally murdered and the killing was suspected to be No Face. Xie Lian recognized the names. He’d researched all incidents No Face was involved in and sought to identify whether it was No Face or not who had done the crime. The Shi Architecture murders he’d placed in the “maybe” category as there were a few discrepancies that he hadn’t been able to put his finger on. It made the whole thing feel too mess to be No Face. The missing kids were a huge factor in it. No Face rarely spared any victims, and if he did, you could be damn sure they wouldn’t be left to fade into obscurity. No, he always found a way to draw them back into sick games, perpetually circling just a little too close to the truth and danger for comfort.
Xie Lian would know. Clearly No Face had some sort of vendetta against Xie Lian. He’d killed his parents and left him to pursue the killer, but No Face always came back on his own terms. With taunting words and threatening actions, gaslighting to make Xie Lian question every decision he made while just trying to do some good.
He couldn’t imagine just what Shi Wudu had been dealing with then.
Hua Cheng’s program picked up Shi Wudu’s facial structure and build as well as cloths and other identifying features and started automatically pulling up video footage of different cameras in chronological order as Shi Wudu made his way through the city, head in a swivel but ultimately pointlessly.
As the program worked, Hua Cheng began typing again, texting someone. Someone named “Gluttony”. Hua Cheng was sending strong words to this person to absolute silence. When there was no response he pulled up another program and typed in a number. A map suddenly appeared and dots scattered it. It looked like a map of streets from downtown and the dots seemed to indicate locations.
Xie Lian’s eyes were beginning to cross at the sheer volume of information going on, but he was extremely impressed with Hua Cheng. Clearly he was the designer of this system if he used it so well.
The dots started disappearing as numbers counted them off. There was no discernible pattern but eventually they were left with only a few scattered dots rather far apart from each other. Some more input from Hua Cheng’s deft fingers and a piece of security footage of a van was played. It was dated from some time ago, years. One of the dots turned crimson red and Hua Cheng’s smile was devilish.
“He Xuan was my contact within Heaven.” He started off with that bombshell.
Xie Lian was considering apologizing but Hua Cheng kept talking.
“I knew that by getting you into Heaven his identity would be exposed. He knew this as well. I knew he had his reasons for infiltrating Heaven. I didn’t expect them to coincidentally intersect with yours. My apologies for the oversight.”
Xie Lian was already shaking his head to refute the apology. Really, there was no need. Hua Cheng was helping Xie Lian immensely!
“With that information of him being involved, I was able to backdate his phone tracker that I placed on the device to locations. Based on his locations over the years, I narrowed down some locations he only visited once or twice. With those locations and dates available I then had my program search for He Xuan’s face or his car on surveillance footage in those areas. Based on what he was doing there on that day I was able to logically and algorithmically conclude the most likely location that he’d use to hide someone.” He then rattled off a location address and pulled up pictures of the place as well as nearby security camera footage, a barely visible bumper of what looked like the van visible.
It was a bit of a leap, a lot of trust being put into computer systems and Hua Cheng himself.
All Xie Lian could say was “Wow. Where did you learn to do this?”
He was genuinely impressed.
Hua Cheng looked at Xie Lian and then looked away. He didn’t blush, but Xie Lian could tell he was slightly abashed but also preening at the compliment.
“I’m mostly self-taught with a little bit of guidance from a mentor.”
At the mention of the mentor, Hua Cheng’s barely there smile morphed into a frown.
“He’s been missing for a while now. I’ve been trying to find him with little success.” Hua Cheng’s gestured at the computer as he said it.
It must be frustrating to have so much power at the tips of his fingers and still fall short in identifying someone important.
Hua Cheng shook his head, seeming to banish the melancholy thoughts and stood up. He typed the address into his phone and sent it to Xie Lian’s phone which chimed in delight.
E-Ming was trying to reach back to Xie Lian’s phone but Hua Cheng grabbed him and wrestled his head under his clothes before offering a hand for Xie Lian to grasp and hoist himself up with.
“I think time may be of the essence. I am unsure what He Xuan is intending to do nor what he’s entirely capable of.”
Xie Lian nodded and they walked together out of the room and through the temporarily empty halls of the Gambling Den. Xie Lian was honestly surprised it wasn’t opened 24/7 but he respected it. He was thinking of that over the fact that his hand felt empty ever since Hua Cheng had released it and he desperately wanted it back in his grasp.
Before they got to the exited, Hua Cheng stopped as his phone chirped a particular tone of notification that had him stopping mid step. It was from the Silver program.
He Xuan halted and Xie Lian did too, Hua Cheng angling his phone for Xie Lian to see as he navigated to the alert that indicated something of note having been found on the surveillance network he’d just scanned for He Xuan.
It was an alley (it was always a fucking alley) that both men didn’t immediately recognize. But in a matter of moments what was once an unassuming alley was flooded with the horrific image of a slim man dragging a large garbage bag into the alley.
If he’d just left it there and walked away, it wouldn’t have been picked up by the program. Instead, the man pulled out a knife and split the bag opened like a sheep’s stomach and out spilled the contents.
The contents being a dead body.
Xie Lian gasped. For a second, he thought maybe it was No Face, but scanning the man’s face, he was not clad in white as Shi Wudu had described. Instead, his face seemed grubby and dirty, his hair clumped in matted dreads that flopped uncoordinatedly with each erratic flailing movement. It was almost overly exaggerated. Uncanny even.
The man knelt over the body that he’d released in a pile of garbage and stroked her hair. Xie Lian felt his stomach churn at the delicacy in that movement, juxtaposed with the sharp nails and knobby fingers of the man.
Xie Lian watched as the man froze and then traced the girl’s arm down from her shoulder to her hand. He jerked it up, her stiff body barely moving as he brought her forearm to his mouth and with absolutely no hesitation opened his mouth wide and chomped down on the flesh.
Xie Lian physically recoiled at the sight, heart suddenly pounding in his ears and his eyes stayed transfixed on the way a chunk was ripped out of the girl’s arm and the man chewed. Despite the fact that the video had no sound, Xie Lian could practically hear the obscene wet smacking noises that accompanied the overzealous chewing.
Xie Lian’s felt sick to his stomach. The man’s head suddenly whipped to one side, seemingly having heard something. There was red rimming his lips but Xie Lian’s frothing stomach suddenly stilled and dropped like a bowling ball.
Because he hadn’t been able to tell before, but he could see the face clearly now, and he recognized it after all these years.
It was just such a recognizable face. It was sharp in all the ways it shouldn’t be. High arching eye brows, slanted eyes with pronounced points, a pointed nose and lips that were thin and sharp at the corners. And now there appeared to be shark-like sharp teeth sticking out from his gums.
“Cousin Qi Rong?” Xie Lian couldn’t help but say in shock.
Hua Cheng’s eye glanced to him. “You know him?”
Xie Lian swallowed against the dryness of his throat as well as the layer of mucus that was gathering in the back of his throat, likely in preparation to vomit.
“He’s… my cousin. I haven’t seen him in, god, years. I thought he was dead! He’s been missing since.. since…”
Since.
Since Xie Lian’s and Qi Rong’s parents were brutally slaughtered by No Face and strung up in the rafters, daintily swaying back and forth despite the stillness of the house.
Their feet scorched: “Body in Abyss”.
Their hearts missing: “Heart in Paradise”.
Tiny mocking faces scattering their naked forms.
Xie Lian’s clenched his teeth. He’d found his parents and had broken down screaming. It wasn’t until he’d lot his voice from it all that he numbly rose and went to check the house for his aunt. His uncle was hardly his uncle and hadn’t been in the picture in years. Last they’d heard he was in jail for something. But Xie Lian’s aunt and his cousin had been living with Xie Lian’s parents…
He’d found his aunt, raped and slaughtered in her bed. There was a pool of blood that had later been identified as Qi Rong’s in the corner of the room, but no body.
Had he watched it happen? Had he been forced to watch? Did he run away? Was he taken away?
Some police officers debated on whether Qi Rong had been the one to kill his mother or if No Face had. Xie Lian was the foremost expert on No Face, and could say with certainty that it was almost definitely an official No Face kill…
…but Xie Lian’s Aunt had a suspicious chunk of flesh missing from her breast that wasn’t consistent with No Face’s M.O. and had been stumping him for many years.
Perhaps…
That train of thought was ground to a halt rather forcefully. Xie Lian didn’t need to confirm what happened back then to know that Qi Rong was undoubtedly sick and dare he say demented from his actions on that camera alone.
“San Lang, please send me that video. I need it as evidence. It has a very clear shot of his face, it will help us send out a warning to be on the look out for him.”
Hua Cheng didn’t hesitate to send it, saving a copy for himself on a secure server along with the ones tracking Shi Wudu and He Xuan.
“You know this man?” Hua Cheng gestured to the frozen frame of Qi Rong over the dead body.
“He was my cousin. He disappeared the night my parents and his mother were, ahem, murdered.” He realized a little too late how open he was being about his personal life and felt somewhat sheepish.
Hua Cheng didn’t dive deeper into the details thankfully but his expression turned decidedly more stern.
They reached the exit, Xie Lian confirming the location Hua Cheng had whittled it down to and the video evidence, already desperately trying to coordinate with Central and Ling Wen to quickly bring manpower to the area when Xie Lian heard footsteps behind them.
He turned to see that plain faced man who spared him no glance to address Hua Cheng. “Chengzhu, there’s been a sighting of Mei Nianqing near the river.”
Hua Cheng’s eyebrows furrowed. Xie Lian didn’t dare ask who that person was, but they were obviously important in some way. Perhaps an enemy? Or maybe that mentor?
Regardless, Hua Cheng was already pulling up footage to confirm the sighting, looking apologetically at Xie Lian as he did.
Xie Lian was going to wave him off, tell him to take care of his own matters, when the exit door swung opened rather abruptly and Quan Yizhen stumbled through the door already spouting words to Xie Lian about being in the area and urgently summoned by Ling Wen to retrieve Xie Lian for an operation when he suddenly ceased speaking and moving, gaze locked onto the plain young man at Hua Cheng’s side.
“Yin Yu!?!” Quan Yizhen shouted, voice unnaturally high. Xie Lian saw this ‘Yin Yu’ cringe and decided to step in.
“Quan Yizhen, time is of the essence. We must get to where we’re expected.” He placed a hand on Quan Yizhen’s shoulder and spun him around and back out the exit door. Quan Yizhen sputtered, something about having been looking for Yin Yu for so long, but Xie Lian was adamant that he’d be able to return here at another time to investigate if it really was who he was seeking.
Time really was of the essence, although Xie Lian had the distinct feeling that he was herding cats sometimes.
This is why he preferred snakes. They were much easier to corral.