Chapter 8: Passing It On

On the roof terrace of an ordinary house in Venice, an Asian man with a ponytail sat on a folding stool, watching the scene out at sea through night-vision binoculars. But he was much too far away to make out much beyond the enormous paper drill.

Suddenly, he lowered the binoculars and whirled around, calling into the darkness behind him, “Who's there?!”

“You're every bit as alert as he said...” A man carrying an enormous suitcase stepped out of the shadows. “Are you Mr. Zuo?”

Zuo Dao already had one leg over the railing. “Don't come any closer. One more step and I'll jump.”

“Heh... We've only just met. Why threaten me with your death? Do you think a stranger would care whether you live or die?”

Zuo Dao's eyes darted back and forth. “So... you're not here to collect a debt?”

“Would you consider bringing your leg back over before we talk?” The man set down the suitcase as he spoke.

Zuo Dao climbed down from the railing. “All right. Just to make sure, and don't take this the wrong way, um... I haven't slept with anyone in your family, have I?”

The man let out a long sigh, as though mourning Zuo Dao's moral character. Instead of answering, he changed the subject. “You can call me Accountant. I think it's only fair that we both use nicknames.”

“Um... Zuo Dao is my real name...”

Accountant stared blankly for about three seconds, then let out another very long sigh. “Well, uh... What was I going to say? Oh, right. Someone asked me to deliver something to you.” As he spoke, he bent down to open the suitcase.

Zuo Dao shot back up onto the railing. “Are you sure that's not a bomb?”

Accountant rolled his eyes. “Yes, I'm sure.”

“If you think you can wait for me to let my guard down and suddenly pull a submachine gun or a grenade out of that case, you're being far too naive. I sleep with one eye open every night, ready for battle at a moment's notice. My defenses are flawless!”

By then, Accountant had already taken the item out. It was just a videotape.

“Buddy... seriously... could you come down so we can talk?”

Zuo Dao climbed down from the railing for the second time. “Haha, I'm really sorry. As you know, we're in a dangerous line of work.”

Accountant said, “All right, you don't need to explain... Get ready to answer the phone.”

“What phone?” Zuo Dao asked in bewilderment. At that very moment, the mobile phone inside his jacket began to ring.

The shock turned Zuo Dao's face deathly pale, whiter than a white man's. How had this man known his phone was going to ring? And how did he know his number? Wait... how had anyone found out where he lived?!

Accountant found his astonished expression amusing. “Don't panic, buddy. About sixteen hours ago, I went through much the same thing you're going through now. Once you've taken this call, you'll understand.”

Suspicious by nature, Zuo Dao remained dubious. He swallowed, pressed the answer button, and said in a trembling voice, “Hello?”

The person on the other end said, “I want you to deliver this videotape to Blood Owl for me.”

“Who... who's Blood Owl?” Zuo Dao asked. “And who are you?”

“Blood Owl is Kirios. When you give him what Accountant is holding, you can tell him someone named Tian Yi asked you to pass it on. You can also describe what happened to you tonight. Of course, by my reckoning, even if you don't feel like telling him then, he'll find a way to threaten it out of you.”

“What are you after? Why should I help you? And how are you keeping track of my movements?” Zuo Dao fired off one question after another.

Tian Yi answered them one by one, taking his time. “First, you wouldn't understand what I'm after, and it has no direct bearing on your interests. Second, as to why you have to help me, please refer to my forthcoming answer to your third question. As for how I keep track of your movements, my answer is this: search the vast earth for me and you won't find a trace. When I come to kill you, I'll descend like an army from heaven, and you'll never see it coming. If you want a few more years of your frigging life, quit asking me questions and do as you're told. Otherwise, at any moment, a few hundred cops could surround you somewhere like a public toilet stall, arrest you for credit card fraud, and send you off to spend your twilight years in some prison for serious offenders that can change your sexual orientation within a month.”

“B-b-b... b-b... big brother, please have mercy on me. I, I...” Zuo Dao stammered.

Tian Yi cut him off. “Having a stranger approach Blood Owl directly is too dangerous. That's why I came to you. I know you're running errands for Blood Owl and acting as his intermediary. Give him the videotape the next time you see him, and your job is done. If I have no further use for you, we'll never be in contact again. That's all.”

The call ended. Listening to the rapid busy signal from his phone, Zuo Dao turned a terrified, pleading gaze on Accountant. “Brother...”

“Enough... That's more than I can live up to. Just like you, I thought nobody knew my whereabouts. Then my damn phone rang, and a guy named Tian Yi told me to pick up this videotape from a locker at a station.” He sighed helplessly. “You're lucky, really. I haven't slept in over twenty hours, all because he told me I'd find someone named Zuo Dao right here, right now, and I was to hand this over to you.”

Zuo Dao felt a chill down his spine. “Can he predict the future? Is he all-knowing and all-powerful?”

“Not necessarily. I've spent these past few dozen hours thinking about how this man managed all this. In the end, I realized it's entirely possible in theory, though the odds of actually pulling it off are extremely low...” Accountant said. “He didn't see the future. He performed some sort of calculation. Suppose we had a formula like this: (a person's thought patterns + actual actions) × established facts on the physical plane = the outcome of an event. Then this Tian Yi has worked through that process of deduction. He must possess an enormous body of absolutely reliable intelligence, and he took all the many variables into account, allowing him to predict certain events in advance and even influence them.”

Zuo Dao's eyes widened. “My friend, what language are you speaking?”

Accountant replied, “It doesn't matter if you don't understand. It's only my own assessment anyway. Maybe he really can predict the future or something. Who knows? I need to find somewhere to get some sleep.” He stepped forward as he spoke, slapped the videotape into Zuo Dao's hand, then picked up his huge suitcase and left.

Zuo Dao stood alone in a daze for a moment, then suddenly heard a tremendous bang from the north. He hurriedly raised his binoculars and looked out across the sea, where a white dragon was soaring through the air. He had no idea who was fighting out there, putting on one disaster-movie spectacle after another.