"It was me." Yang Ping was given a cigarette. Both his hands were shackled to the table and only his fingers could move. His fingers held the cigarette and he moved his face closer to draw on it. A large breath of nicotine entered his lungs, flowing around his chest like mist around a mountain before being exhaled out. He also breathed out a groan. "It was me who found someone to start the fire. But it wasn't on purpose, I didn't want to kill so many people."

Captain Miao's brows rose past his hairline. He thought, "Not on purpose" again. Does this pack of bastards have any other excuse?

"Why would I lie to you? There's no need for me to do that." Yang Ping stared at the smoke curling up from his fingertips and said nonchalantly, "Actually, as long as there were some casualties, I would have achieved my goal. Having so many people die and the matter getting so big, getting on the newspapers and T.V., and having a pack of police officers refusing to let it go does not benefit anyone, right? At that time, I really did not think that the rundown factory would have flammable and explosive items, and that it would explode right after it was set on fire. That pack of useless idiots from Travellers' Sect really know how to pick a place, they can forget to add salt even when eating shit."

"Was it your idea to have a false kidnapping?" Captain Miao asked coldly.

"How could it be," Yang Ping turned up the corners of his lip in a false smile. "Could I think of such a rotten idea? It's obviously from those Beggars' Sect elders who want to start trouble yet don't dare to. They have holes in their brains. I ask you, if you fake a kidnapping, can you fake it for the rest of your life? Don't those people have to come back anyway after a couple of days? There are old people and children in the group, and their brains don't work very well. Once someone lets the truth slip, it will become a joke. Back then, when they came to me to discuss this thing, Wang Jiusheng happened to be with me. Wang Jiusheng and I are not friends but the two of us shared the same goal, which is to get Zhang Meizhen to fuck off to somewhere far. Because it wasn't convenient to let the Beggars' Sect people see Wang Jiusheng, I told him to stay out of the way for a while. After I got rid of those two idiots, Wang Jiusheng came out and told me that we could turn this thing from fake to real."

Yang Ping's tone when talking about this sounded like he was saying "I ate noodles yesterday." The deaths of so many people seemed to only be a moment's carelessness that resulted in burning the gravy. The purplish tracks of his veins floated on his skin, covering the back of his hands and his temples. The forensic investigator said that it should be the result of something similar to stimulants, together with a method of usage that had yet to be studied. This was their so-called "demonic skill" which could awaken a body's hidden potential and allow him to employ a strength that was beyond his body's capabilities for a short period of time.

Any kind of drug that affected the body's nervous system would change the physiology of the brain to a certain degree. Captain Miao didn't know if Yang Ping was born cold-blooded or if he had practised his demonic skill until he had lost himself. Either way, he really did not seem human.

"After that, the two of us split up and acted separately. He went to arrange for a few of the hotblooded idiots under him to kidnap those people while I went to look for two of my brothers and got them to search everywhere for a few little hoodlums who couldn't last long anymore, and had them start the fire… they're the kind of people who had offended their enemies or have high-interest debts."

"Did those people know the consequences of their actions? Did they know that there were people inside the factory they set fire on?" Captain Miao pressed in.

Yang Ping smiled. "Your questions are truly naive and innocent. Didn't I say just now? These people wouldn't last long, they were at the end of the rope and had no other way to survive. Put yourself in their shoes and think; at that time, if someone came and gave you money and agreed to arrange for you to leave town and become a new person, would you care what they were asking you to do? Of course they wouldn't dare kill someone directly but just throwing a cigarette butt took no effort. As for what happened after they threw it, who cares! Comrade Officer, when you're my age, you'll understand. Every hero is living their nightmare, every coward dares to cover their eyes and take a gamble out of desperation."

At first, Captain Miao thought that those words were rather reasonable. Half a beat late, he realised what was going on. The key point in Yang Ping's last sentence was in the first half, "Every hero is living their nightmare"—at this point, he could still stay calm and feel sorry for himself!

Yang Ping was shriveled and thin and small. His appearance was fierce and from head to toe, there wasn't anything that could make a person like him. When he was young, his mother had refused to take care of him. When he grew up, his father cut off ties with him. His scoundrel friends chased after fame and profit, and had come to him and then left him. His wife and child regarded him as the source of all misfortunes in their lives. Hence, all he could do was to become ever more narcissistic, to the point of driving himself to the brink of death and back, his feelings as deep as the ocean.

"Who knew what kind of terrible fengshui that old factory had. Not a single person managed to escape, they all died in the fire. We really didn't expect that," Yang Ping said. "This trouble we caused was a little too big. We panicked. The follow-up on this matter was all planned by Wang Jiusheng alone. The idiots from Travellers' Sect bore the crime and entered the police station while the rest were sent away, including the brothers under me."

"To the flour factory in the neighbouring province?" Captain Miao asked.

"Mm, I think so." Yang Ping nodded. "They should have gone to the flour factory later on. I'm not sure either. They should have been transferred to quite a few places. Wang Jiusheng has so much money, how hard could it be for him to make arrangements for two people? I was busy practicing martial arts and didn't have the time to care about these things."

Captain Miao's gaze fell on the vicious-looking veins on his hands. "What kind of martial arts were you practising?"

Yang Ping glanced at him, his gaze as light as a feather. "You're an outsider, you won't understand even if I tell you."

"Where did you learn it from?"

"All the demonic and unorthodox paths in the world are under the Xu clan," Yang Ping answered calmly. "This skill of mine is called 'Rebirth^[1].' Only someone who's naturally born with a deficiency and whose meridians have been completely destroyed can practise it. How much suffering it entails, hah, it's not something you young people who only watch T.V. and play with your phones after work can even begin to imagine. Only the most hard-headed person can learn it. It's like it's specially made for me. Maybe Heaven knew that if I couldn't take my revenge on Wei Xiao, I would never rest in peace."

"Why would they impart it to you?"

"If they didn't, it would die out. No one can practise it." Yang Ping spread his hands. "The Xu clan were at their peak more than thirty years ago, during Xu Zhao's time. Count for yourself, how old would Xu Zhao be if he's still alive now? Somewhere between 110 and 120. He would be a fucking centenarian, wouldn't he? Once Xu Zhao, their backbone, is gone, those 'Xu clan people' become worse day by day. Internally, they have no one who can control things and they only know how to fight among themselves. Every day, they either brainwash the old people left behind in the rural mountains or come up with some nonsense like Paradise to go around and swindle people. I'm the Young Master of Beggars' Sect. Me hanging out with them is giving them face."

"Who introduced you to them?"

Yang Ping laughed, a deeper meaning hidden inside. "Your reaction is quite quick. It was also Wang Jiusheng."

"After that fire, I didn't have much contact with Wang Jiusheng. One day, he suddenly came to look for me. He said, that brat Zhu Cong had somehow wrapped himself around Wan Mu Chun's Wei Huan's thigh and was investigating the old case. I said, who gives a shit about Wan Mu Chun, Wei Xiao was just a little bastard who only knows how to hide himself. What new thing can his useless disciple do? So Wang Jiusheng told me that Wei Huan had already revolted from his sect and had officially gone back to the old ways of his sect's ancestors. For the sake of tracking down people, he sold himself to the Xu clan and accepted jobs from them to kill people. Wei Huan is nothing but the Xu clan could not be looked down on… But everyone is just trying to survive. If you have money and power, then you have the basis for a partnership. There's nothing that can't be discussed."

"We ate together a few times and both sides were quite sincere. The Xu clan lacked capable people who could help them do things. For me, as long as I could take revenge on Wei Xiao, anything was fine. As for them, they had obtained the Paoding Jieniu skill anyway so Wei Huan did not have much use anymore. Furthermore, that kid was just like Wei Xiao, always thinking that he was on some high moral ground and really did not listen to anyone. Meanwhile, Zhu Cong was a time bomb."

"Hence, you people lured Wei Huan and Zhu Cong to the flour factory and planned that explosion. Weren't those people in the flour factory your brothers? You people killed your own men too?"

"They were the ones who were heartless first, they can't blame me for being faithless," Yang Ping said coldly.

"What do you mean?"

"They're both nothing good. After Wang Jiusheng arranged for them to be sent out of town, all they did was eat and laze every day. They said that they have evidence of what happened back then and made their living through blackmail and extortion. There were many times when they knew that I definitely would not have money so the target of their blackmail was Wang Jiusheng. This was something Wang Jiusheng told me later on. Wei Huan and Zhu Cong were investigating the old case and fought their way there, and the two of them were pissing their pants from terror. This time, those two heartless trash looked for me. They wrote a letter to me, asking me to find a way, and even threatened me by saying that if Zhu Cong found them, it would be over for all of us. That letter fell into Yang Qing's hands. That old bastard nearly beat me to death!" Yang Ping scoffed. "Since that was the case, it was just nice that I could cook them all in the same pot and silence them."

Captain Miao fell silent for a while. He studied Yang Ping, then suddenly laughed.

The one thing Yang Ping hated the most in his entire life was to be laughed at. His face immediately turned tense. "What are you laughing at?"

"You," Captain Miao said. "Uncle, you're quite amusing, do you know? You think you're working with him but actually, you're a pawn that Wang Jiusheng used to exchange for Wei Huan. The flour factory is Wang Jiusheng's business, his territory. Those two foolish brothers of yours sent you a threatening letter from someone's territory, you still believe that Wang Jiusheng and you are both their victims? How did you come up with that?"

When Yang Ping saw the photos Wang Jiusheng had sent to Gan Qing, he knew at once that he had been betrayed. Otherwise, he wouldn't be sharing everything so easily. However, he was still unable to tolerate other people pointing out how he had been fooled. His nostrils immediately flared in anger, resembling two blackholes.

"The reason why Wei Huan and Zhu Cong could find out about the flour factory was because they heard that your own father had, for some unknown reason, beaten you until he broke your legs. They thought it was strange, that was why they investigated the people who had been by your side back then. You are the lure that Wang Jiusheng put out, the scapegoat he had prepared," Captain Miao said each word slowly and clearly. "Didn't you realise that Wang Jiusheng had been plotting the whole thing from start to end, yet he had never once stepped forward to do anything himself?"

The grey-shirted man from Travellers' Sect strode into the hall where the Martial Arts General Assembly was being held. The moment he opened his mouth, he drew everyone's eyes to him. "Yang Qing, do you dare answer the question of why you broke your only child's legs back then and ousted him from Beggars' Sect?"

Holding on to his walking stick for support, Old Sect Leader Yang slowly stood up.

Grey Shirt strode to the front. One of his accomplices squeezed out from somewhere, a very old-fashioned tape recorder in his hands. Grey Shirt swiftly and smoothly ripped open the envelope and took out a photo from inside. In the photo were three young people. Yang Ping was in the middle and the three of them had their arms around each other's shoulders. "Are there any old members of Beggars' Sect who remember that Young Master Yang had been very showy when he was young? If he didn't have two followers beside him, he would not step out of the house. But now, where are these two people who had followed him like a shadow? Without anyone knowing, they have disappeared. Don't you all think it's strange?"

After saying that, he took out a roll of magnetic tape from the envelope. It was the kind used in old-fashioned phone recorders for landlines and it looked very worn.

Grey Shirt held the magnetic tape up high above his head, showing it to everyone. Then, he let out a scoff and gave Zhang Meizhen a look of challenge. He took the mic from her and put the magnetic tape into the tape recorder.

After a round of static from decades ago, there was the sound of a man's tearful voice. "Yang-ge, this is not the same as what we agreed on. When you told us to do that, you didn't say that so many people would die! What should we do now?"

"Didn't I say that I'll first send you two out of town to hide for a while?"

Once this voice came out, the elderly were in an uproar. It was Yang Ping.

"Then, can we still come back? Yang-ge, I beg you, tell us something certain. Every day, Xiao-Qi and I have nightmares the moment we close our eyes."

In the recording, Yang Ping said, "Why are the two of you so useless? Even Travellers' Sect aren't pissing their pants and they have the bigger share in this matter. They won't find out about us. Those few people who set the fire, unless they don't want to live anymore, they won't let it slip. You guys won't be implicated. Furthermore, can the victims' families explain themselves in this matter—who were the ones who planned this fake kidnapping in the first place? Why am I sending the two of you away to hide? It's exactly because I'm afraid you two weaklings would fall into the trap! Don't worry, after a few months, at most one or two years, no one would remember this thing anymore. You two can come back and do whatever you should."

Beggars' Sect's Old Song stared blankly for a long while, then looked up at Yang Qing in disbelief. "Old Sect Leader…"

Beggars' Sect immediately responded, "This kind of recording can be falsified."

"Exactly." Grey Shirt smiled, unruffled. "Back then, before these two brothers fled Yanning, they had indeed been shrewd and remembered to record the call. But they probably never thought that this thing would only be dug out after so many years, and that technology would advance so quickly."

"Good question. It's because we Travellers' Sect are also the victims." Grey Shirt clapped his hands and pointed at Ruan Xiaoshan and tsk-ed. "Look, just look at what this person has become. Senior, you were jailed for seven years for nothing, did you know? From start to end, someone had been leading you around by the nose!"

Ruan Xiaoshan seemed to be dumbstruck. He stood by the side, numb and stiff, and let out a soft ahh like his soul had left his body.

Grey Shirt sighed and shook his head. "The two people in the photo are also really pitiful. Yang Ping threw them aside once he was done using them and didn't care at all what happened to them. These two people went on the run to hide. When the Elder Zhu's descendant pursued them for their lives, they really had no other way to survive and wrote a letter to Young Master Yang for help but in the end, it was like throwing a stone into the ocean. Later on, these two were killed so that they would not talk and died in a small, unknown flour factory. Perhaps they had some sort of premonition before their deaths; they entrusted these things to our North Branch Master. Sect Leader Yang, what those two souls who died unjust deaths had written in the letter before their deaths, you have seen it. Do you still remember?"

Yang Qing finally opened his eyes and looked at the other man in serene quietness. For some reason, when he saw the old man's gaze, Grey Shirt suddenly could not continue speaking.

Yang Qing—the last sect leader of Beggars' Sect, Chuan Lin Feng of the Five Supremes—finally opened his mouth. "The letter said, 'We did things for you. You had agreed to protect us. You had also agreed that when the storm was over, you would let us return to Yanning. But we've been on the run for more than ten years and they are also all dead now.'"

The clamour in the hall instantly turned into pin-drop silence.

"Everyone, Meizhen did not finish her words just now. Getting Little Master Yu to invite everyone here today was my wish." Yang Qing slowly took a step forward. "I am here to confess my guilt."

Meanwhile, in a room in a five-star hotel in Yanning, Wang Jiusheng slowly took out a pair of binoculars from his pocket and looked out at the cityscape from the window.

Beside him, a middle-aged man with a tacky appearance was pacing about anxiously. If Ruan Xiaoshan was there, he might not even be able to recognise this middle-aged man dressed completely in branded goods as the little brother of his who had worked in the guest house back then, the one who claimed to have overheard Beggars' Sect secret plan and set them on the path that destroyed their lives.

"President Wang, will that nonsense work?" the middle-aged man asked. "It… Even if it's taken to the police station, can it be evidence?"

"No," Wang Jiusheng said unhurriedly. "It's been more than thirty years. Even the most ironclad evidence has rusted through completely."

"But…"

"But when forced so far, Yang Qing would admit his guilt himself," Wang Jiusheng said. "Otherwise, how would he explain why he had thrown Yang Ping out of Beggars' Sect for unclear reasons? The authorities require rigorous evidence but Yang Qing doesn't, Yang Qing wants his reputation. Back then, he concealed that letter out of selfish interests and he might not have had even a good night's sleep in all these years. At this point, would he still argue his way out? Don't worry, he doesn't have the tongue for it… Oh my, here it comes."

The middle-aged man looked up curiously at him. Wang Jiusheng passed the binoculars to him and pointed out, "There, see that? Police cars… They came here following our people."

The Travellers' Sect disciple who delivered the envelope to Grey Shirt had just driven the car into a small courtyard when he was surrounded by police cars that appeared out of nowhere. Without waiting for him to react, the police swarmed up and very efficiently cuffed him and took him away.

The small courtyard was barely 500 meters away from the hotel where Wang Jiusheng was hiding. Through the binoculars, he saw everything clearly.

"The cut-off mobile signal at the event hall, the police lying in wait—they want to lure me out." Wang Jiusheng let out a soft laugh. "This is the work of that Little Master Yu… Are the little brats nowadays all so good at playing clever little tricks?"

The middle-aged man wiped the cold sweat on his face and muttered, "This is so suspenseful."

"What suspenseful, I already knew this would happen," Wang Jiusheng said. "Furthermore, even if I go with the police, what can they do to me? I'm only avoiding them because they're troublesome. Let's go, this place is too near, we'll move somewhere a bit further."

T/N:

[1] I translated the name of Yang Ping's "skill" as "Rebirth" but the original name is "脱胎换骨" which literally means "to be reborn and to change bones." The phrase comes from a Taoist concept about achieving the Way and shedding one's mortal body, but is now more commonly used to describe someone turning over a new leaf.