activa-t Chapter 11 You Turned the Tide
Chapter 11 You Turned the Tide
The needle tip slowly rotated on the oil lamp flame, turning from dark red to incandescent white.
Ruan Wenzhong's screams echoed in the basement, from high-pitched to hoarse, and finally turned into a hoarse, broken bellows-like wheezing sound.
Sweat and urine mixed together, and the fishy smell overpowered the stench of blood.
Zhou Xing didn't ask many questions.
This Annamese man was even more resilient than he had imagined. Before the seventh needle had even been inserted, he vomited up everything, both what he should and shouldn't have.
As Zhou Xing listened, the puzzle in his mind was gradually pieced together.
The Tianjin Huayang Charity Association sounds benevolent, but it's actually a three-tiered pagoda.
At the very bottom is a "folk art collection" like a red peony.
Scattered in teahouses, restaurants, and brothels, they specifically target wealthy, powerful, or Chinese people with unusual birth charts, stealing their hair, personal belongings, or even drugging them.
In the middle is someone like Mr. Qin, who acts as an "expert."
The Xiangxi Paijiao, the Fujian and Guangdong Tanka people, and the Guanwai Ma people each occupied a hall, responsible for turning the materials sent in through "collection" into harmful stuff.
Mr. Qin's lineage specializes in "corpse driving," while Zhang Heng's lineage specializes in "nightmare suppression."
At the very top... Ruan Wenzhong didn't know who it was either.
He only ever called him "Head of the Association" and never actually saw him.
The connection with the police station was something Ruan Wenzhong himself made. Three years ago, he incurred huge debts at the casino, which Mr. Qin paid off for him.
The price is becoming a "street-cleaning Yama," where any death caused by the charity is covered up by the police, making it look like an accident, sudden illness, or suicide.
In addition to this, he had another task: to find people in the household register of the concession based on the birth dates and times given by the charity.
Found it, report it.
After a while, those people either disappeared or died violent deaths.
"I...I really don't know why I sought out these people..."
Ruan Wenzhong wept uncontrollably, "Mr. Qin only said... said that their destinies were special and that they would be useful..."
Zhou Xing held the needle in his hand, without saying a word.
He remembered the original owner of this body.
The young police officer who was murdered in the alley a month ago was born on the seventh day of the seventh month of the Gengzi year at midnight.
An extremely Yin birth chart.
If Ruan Wenzhong only seeks out people with this kind of destiny... then the original owner's death was not accidental. It was likely a pre-selected pawn in some grand ritual.
The reason they haven't come knocking yet is probably because they weren't particularly noticeable before, and they've been very cautious ever since they transmigrated.
But you can only be a thief for a thousand days, not a thief for a thousand days.
Since we've been targeted, if we want to survive, we have to overturn this chessboard.
"Detective Ruan,"
Zhou Xing looked at the other person's ashen face and asked, "What did you just say you were?"
"I...I'm a dog..."
Ruan Wenzhong was in tears.
"wrong."
Zhou Xing shook his head. "Even a dog barks when it's been beaten. You, on the other hand, only know how to lick your wounds."
The needle pierced Ruan Wenzhong's fingernail.
Another scream rang out.
……
Half an hour later, Ruan Wenzhong collapsed on the ground, like a dog whose bones had been removed.
Zhou Xing put away the needles, heated them over the oil lamp, and put them back in the cloth bag. He looked at Li Wenyong, who was huddled in the corner.
The man hadn't moved since the beginning, hugging his knees, his eyes wide open, watching Ruan Wenzhong go from screaming to begging for mercy to collapsing.
"Scared?"
Zhou Xing asked.
Li Wenyong shuddered violently, shaking his head and nodding frantically.
Zhou walked over, squatted down, and looked him in the eye.
"Would you like to sit in Ruan Wenzhong's seat?"
Li Wenyong was stunned; his lips moved, but no sound came out.
"An Annamite first-class inspector, monthly salary of eighty silver dollars, no need to patrol the streets at night, has a private office, and manages thirty people."
Zhou Xing laughed and said, "Foreigners value you, and Chinese fear you. You have rickshaws when you go out, people treat you to meals, and when you sleep... there are plenty of women who want to get into your bed."
Li Wenyong's throat moved.
"To want to, or not to?"
"...I want to. But...but Inspector Ruan is dead, I can't go up."
Li Wenyong's voice was as soft as a mosquito's buzz.
"How could that be?"
Zhou Xing said earnestly, "Go back and report immediately that everyone else 'heroically died in the line of duty,' but you alone turned the tide and destroyed the cult."
This is a great achievement! Foreigners care about face, they like heroism, and they especially love to promote "heroic sacrifice."
"I……"
Li Wenyong remained silent.
Zhou Xing got up, picked up A Biao's gun from the ground, and handed it to Li Wenyong.
"Take it."
Li Wenyong's hands were shaking so badly that he could barely hold on.
Zhou Xing then drew a short knife and handed it over:
"Knife in the left hand, gun in the right."
"Master Zhou..."
"If you want to sit in that seat, you have to have blood on your hands."
Zhou Xing pointed to Ruan Wenzhong on the ground, "Your blood, or his blood. Choose one."
Le Van Dung looked at Nguyen Van Trung, then at the knife and gun in his hand, his face as white as paper.
Ruan Wenzhong raised his eyes, which were swollen to slits, and hissed:
"Wenyong...no...the foreigners won't let you go..."
Li Wenyong's hands trembled even more violently.
Zhou Xing sighed.
He walked behind Li Wenyong, grasped his wrists, and, like manipulating a puppet, led him to raise his hands.
The knife tip was aimed at the outside of Ruan Wenzhong's thigh, and the gun muzzle was aimed at the left side of his abdomen; neither was a fatal spot.
"remember."
Zhou Xing whispered in his ear, "This sword and spear are your pledge of allegiance. From now on, you and I are in this together."
As soon as he finished speaking, he exerted force with his wrist.
"Pfft!"
The knife pierced the flesh.
Almost simultaneously, a gunshot rang out.
"Bang!"
Ruan Wenzhong's body suddenly arched, and a hoarse breathing sound came out of his throat.
Blood gushed from the knife wound and the gunshot wound.
Li Wenyong released his grip, and the knife and spear fell to the ground. He took two steps back and slid down against the wall.
Zhou Xing put away his knife and gun, then tore off a piece of yellow talisman paper, dipped it in the blood from Ruan Wenzhong's wound, wrapped it up, and put it in his pocket.
He poured out a brown pill from a medicine bottle. This was a tonic pill given to him by Ip Man when he was practicing standing meditation. It had a slightly bitter taste.
He pried open Li Wenyong's mouth and stuffed the pill inside.
"Swallow it."
Li Wenyong swallowed mechanically.
"This is called 'Seven-Day Intestinal-Severing Powder'."
Zhou Xing remained unfazed. "I will give you the antidote on the fifteenth of each month. If you don't take it, your intestines will rupture and you'll die a more gruesome death than he did."
Li Wenyong's face turned even paler.
"Do you know how to explain Ruan Wenzhong's death?"
"...I know, I know."
Say it once.
"Detective Ruan discovered a cult stronghold... and led us... to investigate... but we were ambushed... He and Ah Biao died in the line of duty... I was the only one who survived..."
Zhou Xing nodded:
"I'll help you polish your testimony. I'll also arrange the scene. But there are two things you need to remember."
He crouched down and stared into Li Wenyong's eyes:
"First, will the charity trust you again? If you get promoted, they'll be wary of you, and might even want to kill you. You can only rely on me."
"Secondly, I have kept evidence of the stab and the gun you used to stab Ruan Wenzhong."
"If you ever try to betray us, I'll put the evidence on the foreigner's table, and you'll be a traitor who murdered his superior and colluded with a cult. The police will skin you alive."
Li Wenyong trembled all over, and his last thought of resistance vanished, leaving only obedience.
"...I...I'll listen to Master Zhou."
"Just call me Lao Zhou."
Zhou Xing patted him on the shoulder.
"From now on, in the police station, you will be Inspector Li, and I will be Officer Zhou."
"When working, you should use your job title."