Content warning: This chapter contains a reference to human trafficking and a brief description of animal mutilation.

"You people didn't close the door." Zhang Meizhen extended a finger and tapped the door frame. Her face was made up with fiery red lips, her hair white and her face even whiter. The contrast between the red and the white was too great and made a person temporarily overlook her wrinkles, leaving only an impression of imposing gaudiness. She winked at Yu Yan and asked, "A police officer?"

Yu Yan stared at her, dumbstruck, and subconsciously stood up straighter. "Ah… yes! Auntie… Jie… Erm… Madam…"

"Call me Grandma." Zhang Meizhen patted his head like she was petting a dog and entered without hesitation, conveniently passing the box of strawberries she was carrying to Old Master Yang. "Wash them and share them with everyone."

Old Master Yang was someone who spent his entire day at home burning incense and studying weiqi game records but now, without a word, he rolled his sleeves up and prepared to do as she bid. Next to them, Han Dongsheng hurriedly took the box from him. "Let me do it!"

Old Master Yang looked at his thick and broad back, and sighed soundlessly. He turned his head around. "But that is also just a guess."

"Other than those punks, who else could it be? You don't have to avoid the topic around me, I've washed my hands clean of them thirty years ago. Ever since that Wang Jiusheng became the leader, I couldn't even be bothered to find out what they've been up to." Zhang Meizhen leaned back against the sofa and took off her heels, tossing them aside. She smiled at the bewildered Yu Yan, "I was originally from Travellers' Sect."

As she spoke, the very black triad-like Grandma Zhang swung a key ring in her hand. There was an accessory in the shape of a bat hung on it, its colour an exceptionally bright red. It looked as though it was made of plastic but when removed from the ring and held in one's hand, the weight could be truly felt. It was real, genuine agate.

Yu Yan asked, "What's that?"

"Travellers' Sect's Five Bats Token," Zhang Meizhen said. "If we were in ancient times, it could be considered a sacred item, just like your Grandpa Yang's firewood staff. Now, it's still considered an antique anyway but there isn't much meaning to this nonsense, it's not worth much money."

Yu Yan spent a long time making the gr— sound but still could not say the word "Grandma." In the end, he gave up. "...Your Travellers' Sect, what do they do?"

"The Travellers' Sect in ancient times consisted of five types of people comprising 'carriage, boat, shop, foot and broker'—drivers, boatmen, shop attendants, porters and intermediaries. These people wander all over, up north and down south. There were good people and there were also those who swindled and tricked others. Back during the days of the old society, they all belonged to the lowest class and hence, couldn't be considered a reputable and righteous sect. The Five Bats represent these five main trades. At the start, the five main trades were as close as though they were born from the same womb but as time went by, they each had their own territory and livelihoods. Inevitably, they started fighting for power and there were frequently internal conflicts. After a brief period of glory in history, they very quickly fell into decline," Sect Leader Yang explained slowly at the side. "After liberation, the old trades were no more and the people's hearts were even more scattered. For the sake of integrating with society and also to preserve old traditions, their north branch master at Yanning, Wang Jiusheng, even started a delivery company. It's called… what was it again… Fu something Da."

Yu Yan and Yu Lanchuan said in unison, "Futongda!"

Old Master Yang said, "That's it!"

Yu Yan said, "Second to none when it comes to losing parcels."

Yu Lanchuan said, "Throws packages like they're throwing grenades."

Yu Yan said, "Eight days for deliveries within the same city."

Yu Lanchuan said, "Their complaint number is busier than the hotline, I've never been able to get through."

Yu Yan said, "We just arrested one of their delivery workers last week. He was behaving improperly to a girl!"

Old Master Yang, "..."

The people were already so deeply angered?

"Wang Jiusheng, the north branch master, is nothing good. After falling into his hands, there was no way Travellers' Sect would become anything good either. The current generation is not only unreasonable, even the old rules are no more. In my opinion, this Travellers' Sect is just a mud hole where local bullies and ruffians gather." Zhang Meizhen scoffed. "This lousy delivery company is at least a proper business and can be considered a loincloth to hide their shame. There are plenty of other disciples who go around swindling people. Not only do they not care about that; once a victim hunts them down, they even cover up for one another. Wang Jiusheng always puts on an act of 'I'm an entrepreneur, why would I be related to those low class people.' He has plenty of lackeys below him that he can order around as he likes anyway, you won't be able to get anything you can use against him."

"Which is to say, that qigong master who ran away is very likely to be hidden by his fellow sect members now." Yu Yan asked, "This matters involves a human life after all. That old boss of Futongda… erm, that branch master, is there any chance he would cooperate with the police? Give me a way to contact him."

Han Dongsheng put the washed strawberries on the table. The few seniors of the martials arts community reached out to take the strawberries to stuff their mouths, and looked at Yu Yan who had said something foolish like they were watching a show.

Yu Lanchuan said, "I think it would be more effective if you complained about him at the post office."

"All right, fine." Yu Yan spread his hands. "What ideas do you guys have? Can we infiltrate their inner circle?"

"Travellers' Sect has many people and is also messy. I heard that it's common for their people who caused an incident in one part of the country to run away to another place and look for protection from fellow sect members there. They would create a false identity and continue to mess around." Zhang Meizhen thought awhile, then said, "The Five Bats Token opens doors but whether or not it works depends on the person's face."

Yu Yan's eyes brightened. "Housing in Yanning is expensive, temporary accommodation is also expensive. They shouldn't have many dens. If we can infiltrate them, we might be able to find where that qigong master is hiding."

"Erm… about that." Old Master Yang carefully glanced at Zhang Meizhen and interjected. "Even though this 'qigong master' of yours is likely to be from Travellers' Sect, the missing old people cases might really have nothing to do with them."

Yu Yan asked, "Why?"

Old Yang was about to speak but stopped himself.

"What's there that can't be said," Zhang Meizhen cut him off placidly. "The enmity between Traveller's Sect and Beggars' Sect goes a long way back, they wouldn't gather a pack of old men and old ladies to beg for them. It's not possible for the situation you're worried about to happen. Furthermore, that master depends on eggs to swindle and get money. He had finally nurtured a group of believers, each and everyone of them a money tree that drops cash whenever he shakes them. He hasn't collected enough money yet, he still needs to keep this group around to get their retirement funds. How could he bear to harm them?"

Yu Yan hesitated for a while. "But right now, other than this 'qigong master,' we don't have any other clue… Furthermore, this person should indeed be detained. It's bad enough that he's deceiving people into buying his energised eggs at a high price, he even insists that they wait until the hour of the zi—which is around midnight—and eat the entire carton in one go! One carton can have six large eggs! Those old men and old ladies said that after eating the eggs, they felt their qi rushing forth from the pit of their stomach and their power increasing. I really have to admit defeat. The farts caused by the egg whites that can't be digested easily can also be called 'power.' Isn't the skill they're learning a little too smelly!"

Yu Lanchuan's ears could detect the stink. Silently, he put the strawberries back. He had no appetite now.

Yu Yan said gravely, "Right now, there aren't any problems from this yet, so he's lucky. But I think it's only a matter of time before there's a problem. Those 'fart kungfu' practitioners are all exceptionally devoted. If we let it be, by the time their 'master' has hid from the storm, make his return and come up with some new problem, it would be too late."

"Officer, this is not a matter of catching one person. Even though those Travellers' Sect people turned over a new leaf a long time ago, to put it in a less pleasant way, they were all from the black triads in the past. When Elder Yu was still around, they had already dared to come all the way to No. 110 Courtyard to kidnap people," Zhang Meizhen said. "Don't think they won't dare attack the police. They can beat you up until you're incapacitated and you won't even have seen clearly the person who did it. The main perpetrator will then pick a place to hide while the others work together to create a false alibi. They'll push the matter from person to person, and you can continue to dream of catching them one day. I think you better think further before you speak."

Yu Yan frowned. In truth, it was pretty difficult to handle things when these local bullies started to act like rogues. They were like cockroaches in the house—no matter how strong the repellant was, victory was short-lived. Unless the entire neighbourhood was destroyed, after a mere few days, they would start popping up again.

These people were indeed bad but ultimately, they had not commited murder or arson. Any punishments wouldn't be severe; at most they would be detained for a few days and then the police would have to let them go.

When these dregs of society were released from the detention center, most of the time, they would become even more fearless. Some of them would even take revenge on the police officers who handled their case. Police officers were also humans, everyone had parents or children at home. At most, they only knew a few amateur techniques for fighting or taking down opponents. They wouldn't turn into martial arts experts just by putting on their uniforms. There were times when the police really couldn't afford to offend those ruffians.

At that moment, Han Dongsheng suddenly said, "Why don't I give it a try…"

Once he spoke, everyone's eyes fell on him.

"Ai, in the first place, this is my family's problem." Out of habit, Han Dongsheng smiled but immediately after, he didn't know why he was smiling so he stopped. He rubbed his thick palms. "Even though I've put my martial arts skills aside long ago, I should still be able to think of a way to escape if anything happens. Plus, my flesh is thick, I can handle being hit."

"Huh?" Yu Yan was stunned. He firmly rejected the idea. "This definitely won't do!"

The police handling the case fearing danger and letting civilians go in their place, what was this?

"Comrade Officer, whether or not you can make use of me, I'll definitely go and investigate. If I didn't know all these, that would be it. But since I found this clue today, regardless of whether they are legit or illegal, I need to check them out first. There's no way I can stay at home and wait for the news." As before, Han Dongsheng still had the appearance of a yes-man but his mouth was saying softly, "My surname is Han after all. I cannot bring shame to my ancestors."

What was so great about his surname being Han?

As an outsider, Yu Yan could not understand. Whatever that "Fuliang Yue" was, he had only heard Old Master Yang bring it up as an aside. The legends were all from the start of the century. No matter how bright their glory was back then, it had all been extinguished along with the passing of a century.

What was more, Mr. Han was a middle-aged man with the body of a pregnant woman and if his face was covered, he might even be offered a priority seat on public transport. What kind of fighting ability could he have?

Yu Yan said wearily, "Ai, please don't be impulsive-"

But Old Master Yang said suddenly, "It's good if Xiao-Han checks it out."

Zhang Meizhen chuckled. She unhooked the Five Bats Token key chain and tossed it to him.

Han Dongsheng reached up and caught it. "Everyone, let's discuss properly first and act together. That would be better than acting on our own. Comrade Officer, what do you think?"

Yu Yan didn't think much of it. He could only look at Yu Lanchuan, hoping for their ever-dependable alliance leader to say something.

In the end, the alliance leader said, "Sounds good. Coincidentally, I would also like to meet Travellers' Sect."

Yu Yan, "..."

Something had possessed Yu Lanchuan!

Yu Lanchuan had recalled something and a hint of a cold smile was revealed on his face. He seemed to be biting on a series of grudges, old and new, between his teeth. "How about this weekend? I can free up a day."

When Zhang Meizhen returned home, Gan Qing was scrubbing the floors as though nothing had happened. She had earphones in her ears and looked as though she was completely immersed in the music, not even looking up when someone came in.

Zhang Meizhen directly walked up to her and pulled out one of her earphones.

"Ai." Gan Qing seemed to have been startled. She looked up and smiled at her. "Meizhen-jie, you're back."

Zhang Meizhen looked at her steadily.

Gan Qing asked, "Your lipstick today looks good. Which shade is it?"

But this topic that could usually draw a lengthy comment from Zhang Meizhen did not work today.

Zhang Meizhen didn't answer her. "More than ten years ago, the Yanning police caught a gang of human traffickers. Among the people implicated were the Black Bats of Travellers' Sect. The Black Bats are 'intermediaries.'"

Intermediaries were the middlemen in business transactions. They were about the same as intermediaries who conducted purchases and sales of real estate, and could be considered a proper profession.

However, in ancient times, other than real estate, physical objects and livestock, the trade of these intermediaries included one more type of transaction—humans. But even in the feudalistic society back then, by the time of the Song and Ming dynasties, the selling and buying of humans were no longer allowed by law. Those professional human traffickers were known as "slave traders" and were basically all followers of evil and terrible ways.

Within Travellers' Sect, the fish and the dragons alike muddled together. They took in anyone, the sweet-smelling good and the stinky evil. For them to decline into their current feeble state was only natural.

"The Black Bats would of course protect their own but that matter was already in the news and had a huge impact at that time. Travellers' Sect's north branch master, Wang Jiusheng, spent a great effort to whitewash himself into a private entrepreneur. There was no way he could contain the matter so he handed over those few who were involved in it and even injured a group of the Black Bats," Zhang Meizhen continued to say. "Because of that, the Black Bats did not submit to Wang Jiusheng and wanted to pull him down. Wang Jiusheng thickened his face and ran to No. 110 to look for Elder Yu to back him up. He wanted to drive the Black Bats out of the sect. Among the Black Bats were some from the younger generation who didn't know how high the sky nor how thick the earth was, and there was no limit to their madness. In order to warn Elder Yu to keep out of matters that were none of his business, they even kidnapped Elder Yu's grandson who was still in junior high."

Gan Qing blinked and put on a confused look. "What kind of underworld society are you talking about? It has long since been outlawed, hasn't it?"

Zhang Meizhen ignored her. "When we found the child the next day, we found that he was completely unharmed. Instead, there were a few Black Bats who were in a miserable state, both humans and dogs. One of the vicious dogs had even been disemboweled, its intestines pulled out far and wrapped around the neck of an unconscious Black Bat. Someone had even written a few words on the Black Bat's chest with the dog's blood—'Travellers' Sect, Cowardly Turtles' Sect, the big turtle can't manage the small turtles^[1].'"

Gan Qing, "..."

She had a vague recollection of this unfortunate incident… Had she been that much of a terror when she was young?

Zhang Meizhen smiled. "Elder Yu was the one who found the words. At that time, he felt that even though this friend who had lent a helping hand behind the scenes was righteous, they were probably a troublemaker. He was afraid there would be further troubles so before handing them over to the police, he wiped away those words. But Wang Jiusheng had already seen them. Wang Jiusheng came from a background of hardship and had worked his way through the ranks in Travellers' Sect since young. When he was young, other people would bully him and call him a cowardly turtle. When he grew up, he was like a salted fish turning over a new leaf, and he changed his name to Jiusheng. Throughout his entire life, he abhorred the two words 'cowardly turtle.' Just seeing a turtle dish on the table could make him turn hostile, what more having someone use dog blood to insult him indirectly. But he was a subtle and crafty person. He didn't let anything show at that time but he kept a grudge in his heart."

Gan Qing suddenly sensed something and her eyes swiftly widened.

Zhang Meizhen glanced at her, then stood up and walked to the bathroom to remove her makeup.

"Meizhen-jie!" Gan Qing stood up abruptly, one earphone dangling at her chest. "He kept a grudge in his heart, and then?"

"I don't know any more than that," Zhang Meizhen said. "That friend who wrote in dog's blood was vicious in their methods. It was obvious which sect their skills were from but those people lived in hiding and were not easy to find. However, Wang Jiusheng knew people from all walks of life in Yanning, his might was far-reaching and he had so many followers. Even if he couldn't find them in one or two years, give him three or five years… huh, who knows?"

T/N:

[1] The word used here is 王八 wángbā. It is an informal term for "turtle" or "tortoise," but is also an offensive insult that means "coward" or "bastard." The "wang" here is the same "wang" as Wang Jiusheng.

A note on Travellers' Sect: Unlike Beggars' Sect which is a fairly well-known fictional wuxia sect that appears in many wuxia stories, Travellers' Sect seems to be something the author came up with herself. I couldn't find any references to it other than this story and Youfei, which is also by the same author.