"Move! Out of my way—all of you, out of my way—"
With Cao Dongfeng as his hostage, Jiaming—his mouth full of blood—had clearly slid into something close to madness. His dagger had cut the rope off Shasha, and then the three of them retreated all the way to the rear of the timber yard.
The Japanese girl—perfect on the outside, in truth beaten black and blue—had seized the chance to struggle up as well, and now stumbled along at Jiaming's side. She was in enormous pain; every step sent needles stabbing through every part of her body; yet that porcelain-doll face of hers still showed not the slightest expression.
She knew this was her last chance to escape.
On the other side, Shasha followed while watching Jiaming with worry. The bamboo sword hadn't landed on his face, yet blood had dyed the whole corner of his mouth red, and his eyes were full of a trembling, unsteady red light. This boy—who normally seemed so timid and afraid of trouble, whose smile was so sincere and honest—was screaming hysterically now. It must hurt so much, he must be so scared. Where on earth did he find the courage to be like this?
At the martial school, Uncle Ye had tried to force him to learn, and he had always looked for ways to slack off—he'd rather do odd jobs on the side, handing out water, handing out towels, than practice. Only when he'd been nagged into a corner would he go through his forms a couple of times.
His stances were correct, very precise, but the moment he sparred with someone he simply couldn't win, no matter what; a few exchanges in and he'd be running circles around the ring like a loach.
As Uncle Ye put it, his boxing was pure rote imitation—the whole set looked beautiful, but take it apart and he had no idea how to use any of it.
Yet just now, those few moves of his had clearly been a handful of fighting techniques Uncle Ye had taught him on a whim: charge in, grab, dodge—a whole sequence, quick and nimble, all in one breath, so fast that even that twisted Japanese old man hadn't kept up. And yet, standing right beside him, she had plainly seen the faint trembling in his arms and body.
"All of you get back—cough, cough..."
The boy's voice had a sob in it, and after the hysterical shout came a few coughs choked out by the blood in his mouth. Jolted by that convulsion, the dagger dug a little deeper, and at once Cao Dongfeng started screaming, his voice cracking toward tears too: "Back off! Back off, all of you! He's about to stab me! He's about to stab me!"
The dozens of men holding machetes, savage looks on their faces, paused at that—then closed in again in a half circle. Cao Jinghao shouted from among them: "Kid, don't do anything stupid. If you dare hurt him, I'll kill your whole family!"
"I'll kill your whole family!" Before his words had landed, Jiaming was already shouting back, eyes bloodshot: "Say that one more time and see if I don't end your family line right here!"
"All right, all right, my mistake. I won't say it, I won't say it. All right, kid, take it easy, easy now, don't get yourself worked up..." Cao Jinghao had spent his life giving orders, and only now did it register that the other side had a hostage in hand. If it were a sane adult, fine, but look at the kid's state—he'd clearly been beaten badly just now and was more than half out of his mind. Corner a man like that and he'd do anything.
Holding the hostage, the three of them backed out from between the two buildings to the rear of the timber yard. The fence had a small gate there, opening onto the mountain woods behind.
Shasha thought it would have been better to go out the front, but Jiaming surely hadn't thought that far at the time, and now these dozens of men with machetes were coming at them in a half-moon—there was no way they'd be allowed to go back and leave by the front.
She thought for a moment, then looked at Jiaming beside her, half-crazed, and her heart ached. It had always been her and Lingjing protecting him; now, because of her own family, he'd been beaten, brought to this.
And yet, watching him protect her so hysterically, driving back all those wolves eyeing them, there was a faint, inexplicable sweetness in her heart too.
The three of them got out that small gate and withdrew toward the woods. When they reached the edge of the trees, Jiaming suddenly shouted again: "Nobody move! Nobody follow!"
"That's impossible—you have to think about me too." Cao Jinghao made his tone as gentle as he could. "If you run and kill my son, then what? I have to be able to see you. I have to..."
"Your son deserved to die in the first place!" Jiaming yelled. "But I won't run. I'll let you see him. But Shasha has to go—she has to! I have to be sure Shasha's gotten far enough away before I let him go!"
"Fine, Shasha can go. But I have to see my son safe. And that woman—"
"She's none of my business. But whoever takes one step closer, I'll kill him!"
"Fine, nobody comes closer, nobody comes closer. I'll explain it to Mr. Tsukiike as well..." As he spoke, he had the translator tell the Japanese old man not to make any move to grab anyone. The old man gave a light snort, said nothing, and made no move either.
The three of them slowly withdrew into the woods behind. From where they stood, the dozen or so men could clearly see Jiaming and Cao Dongfeng behind a clump of low shrubs, and the girl named Shasha crying and shouting something there.
"I'm not going. If we go, we go together. I can't leave you here..."
"I said get moving! I'm staying here to hold them off! You'd only be a burden—get the hell out of here!"
"No... I don't want to..." Shasha shook her head, her face soaked with tears. "I can't go. You never even dared scold me before—I know you're just trying to make me run by myself, and I don't want it. It's my fault you got beaten. If only my dad weren't in the underworld..."
"Why are you saying that now? Just go!" As he spoke, Jiaming kicked Shasha in the stomach. It wasn't a hard kick, but Shasha had never expected Jiaming to kick her. She staggered a few steps and fell onto the leaf-strewn ground behind her. Clutching her stomach, she got up and wept, aggrieved: "Jiaming, you kicked me..."
"I..." Jiaming let out a cry, and then the shoulders that had been so taut finally sagged. In that moment he seemed to revert to his old timid, trouble-fearing self, and his wrists shook even harder. "S-sorry... But, Shasha, I'm really scared, and only one of us two can leave... If I hold on to Cao Dongfeng, they'll definitely follow us. I have to stay here and watch them..."
As he spoke, his voice gradually grew thick and choked.
"Shasha... I'm scared of pain, and I'm scared of dying. I like being with you and Lingjing. If I die, I'll never see either of you again... It hurt so much just now. While I was being beaten, I almost couldn't hold it in—I almost screamed, almost cried. But I'm a man. Sometimes I can't scream and I can't cry... I'm a man, so now I have to stay. If you get out, get the police to come rescue me right away. It's getting dark, Shasha. You have to escape from here..."
Looking at Jiaming like this, Shasha cried even harder. After a moment she managed to say: "Okay... I'll definitely bring the police. But Jiaming, you have to promise me—you have to escape too. Don't let them catch you."
"Mm. I will."
"And... could you... let me kiss you once..."
"Mm—huh?" For an instant Jiaming was so startled he nearly lost the crying face he'd been putting on; luckily it was already dusk, and the light in the woods was too dim for Shasha to see clearly.
While he was still stunned, Shasha walked over and pressed her soft lips up—not to his mouth, but to the blood at the corner of it. Her soft, wet little tongue slipped out, and only stopped once she had licked the blood from the corner of his mouth clean. Then she wiped her tears and, crying softly, ran off deep into the woods.
Ugh... spit feels way worse than blood...
Feeling the blood at the corner of his mouth licked away and replaced with spit, Jiaming was mildly exasperated. Then he glanced at the girl still standing beside him, Tsukiike Kaoru, and frowned.
Tsukiike Kaoru happened to be looking at him too. She didn't understand a word of Chinese, so for now all she could do was follow Jiaming. But a moment later she suddenly bowed and said, in a sweet, tender voice, "Arigatou (thank you)," then turned and broke into a painful little run toward another part of the woods.
Huh... what's going on here...
Jiaming was a little taken aback. The truth was that Tsukiike Kaoru had misread him. Since being dragged here, the part of her the old man had beaten most was her legs; she had gritted her teeth and forced herself upright, but in practice she could move less well than an ordinary person.
The look Jiaming had given her was him working out how to send this girl away too—but in Tsukiike Kaoru's eyes it read as the boy worrying that she would become his burden.
After all, Jiaming's act was too convincing; he probably thinks this boy, unlike me, has never had any training. Yet he could grit his teeth and endure a beating, and though he trembled all over with fear, he could still stand and fight against so many enemies and even bring the two of them out here—and that filled Tsukiike Kaoru with admiration.
Their tracking is very good. In my current state, slipping past them is basically impossible. But this boy's strength has limits too, and I can't drag him down. Even if the chance is one in ten thousand, I have to try...
Outside the woods, dozens of men watched like predators. Cao Jinghao kept checking his watch nervously, and at last ten minutes had passed since Shasha fled. He stared at the two figures behind the shrubs and shouted: "All right, they've been gone ten minutes! You can let him go now!"
In the woods, Cao Dongfeng felt the dagger at his back ease a little and hurried to say: "Jiaming, okay, run now. I swear I won't chase you. If you run now, you'll definitely get away."
He had heard what Jiaming said to Shasha a moment ago and had already concluded that the boy was in a state of utter panic. If he had dared to turn his head and look at Jiaming's expression right now, though, he would have known just how badly mistaken he was...
The trembling he had shown in front of the two girls was gone. His expression was relaxed and casual, and a wicked smile hooked the corner of Jiaming's mouth as he leaned close to the boy in front of him.
"That beating just now... felt pretty good, didn't it?"
"I... I..."
"Relax. I'm not going to hit you and I'm not going to kill you. I'm going to let you find out what real pain and despair feel like—despair, mind you."
Cao Dongfeng's brain probably hadn't caught up with that sentence yet when Jiaming raised his hand and brought the hilt of the dagger down on the back of his head. Then he dragged the unconscious Cao Dongfeng away and vanished into the darkness of the woods.
Outside the woods, Cao Jinghao and the others could only see their son's body suddenly drop—and then Jiaming turn there and disappear...
"After him!"
Armed with machetes and iron rods, dozens of men swarmed into the woods. The Japanese old man was the fastest of all, and the direction he took differed from everyone else's—it was the way Tsukiike Kaoru had fled.
The sun slanted down behind the mountains to the west, and even the last smear of its glow gradually sank from the sky. At dusk the woods were like a crouching savage beast, swallowing all of them whole...