Chapter 22: The Second Phone Call

When Tian Yi returned to the bookshop that night, Gu Wen was sitting in his chair, reading. On the floor in front of the desk sat an Asian man with a ponytail, cross-legged and wrapped like a rice dumpling in a thick iron chain, with a pair of worn-out socks stuffed in his mouth.

Tian Yi glanced at him and casually asked, “What's this? Bondage play?”

Just then, a pitch-black humanoid creature stepped out of the shadows of a bookcase in the corner.

Darkwater answered bluntly, “He's very crafty. This is the only way to keep him from escaping.”

Zuo Dao made muffled noises, apparently trying to say something.

Tian Yi told Darkwater, “Untie him.”

While Darkwater was untying Zuo Dao, Gu Wen vacated Tian Yi's chair without being asked and went to fetch another. “How did the negotiations go?” he asked.

“The man who came today couldn't make any major decisions. I set another time and told him to bring someone with some clout to negotiate with me,” Tian Yi said. “Given the value of the intelligence on Hades's Divine Mist, Xingtian's strategist will most likely come in person. If he lives up to his reputation, I think he'll agree to my demands.”

Gu Wen smiled. “As I see it, even if he's an idiot, you could easily give him the intelligence for free. Once Xingtian focuses on seizing the Divine Mist, it won't have much energy left to make trouble for us in the Dragon Commandery.”

Tian Yi poured himself a cup of coffee and slumped comfortably into his chair. “Morals are declining. People aren't what they used to be… These days, if you give them some earth-shattering inside information for free, they'll immediately decide it's a trap. You have to make demands and strike a deal before they'll believe the information is real. And you can't ask for more than they can afford. You have to get them secretly thinking, ‘Heh heh… we've really come out ahead this time.’ So you see… the less trust and honesty there is in society, the more contemptible people become.”

Speaking of contemptible, someone had just been untied. Zuo Dao pulled the sock out of his mouth (it was his own sock) and screamed, “Aaaaaah!!!!!!”

Darkwater barely reacted. Tian Yi and Gu Wen, one drinking coffee and the other tomato juice, calmly leafed through books and yawned.

Zuo Dao screamed until he was a little light-headed. He hurriedly gulped a few breaths, then let out another long howl. “Heeeeelp!!!!!”

The other three carried on as before, without reacting at all.

Zuo Dao's shifty eyes darted about, and he sprang up, turned and ran. He had barely taken one step when Darkwater flicked a finger, sending a black water bullet into his lower back. There happened to be a small stack of books at his feet, and the impact sent him tripping over it and sprawling.

Tian Yi sighed. “Even if you built a stage in here and held a heavy metal concert, someone standing outside within a meter of the display window wouldn't hear a thing.”

Gu Wen added, “Even if you were driving and Darkwater was on foot, he could still catch you. If you've seen Terminator 2, you should understand.”

“What the hell do you want from me?!” Zuo Dao demanded.

“Nothing much,” Tian Yi said. “Just run an errand. Deliver a message for me.”

Zuo Dao thought for a moment, then asked, “Where? To whom?”

Tian Yi answered, “Tidal Prison. Blood Owl.”

“Aaaaaah!!!!!!!! Heeeeelp!!!!!!!!” Zuo Dao turned toward the display window and once again screamed himself hoarse.

“Go on! Keep screaming!” Tian Yi suddenly roared like a madman. “You want to be chopped up and fed to pigs, huh?!” He pulled open a drawer, which actually contained a meat cleaver, snatched it up and looked ready to lunge at Zuo Dao.

Gu Wen hurriedly stood to block him, turning back to tell Zuo Dao, “The boss is about to come over the desk… You'd better quit while you're ahead…”

Zuo Dao thought, You drag me out of the mountain wilderness and force me to go somewhere nobody comes out of alive, to meet a deranged homicidal maniac, and you're telling me to quit while I'm ahead?

“What the hell do you people do?! So this guy is Gu Wen, but what the hell is this oil freak? I don't care what organization you belong to. Don't push me. Push me too far and I'll turn myself in!” Zuo Dao made this “threat” out of sheer desperation.

Tian Yi let out a long breath and set the cleaver on the desk. “You think turning yourself in will keep you from being sent to Hell Island?”

Zuo Dao's expression changed. He waited to hear what Tian Yi would say next.

Tian Yi continued, “You're a Paper-rank ability user with no record of violent crime. There are about fifty special prisons around the world for criminals like you. There are, however, a few circumstances in which people like you get thrown into Tidal Prison too…

“For example, if EAS classifies your ability under ‘Order Disruption’ or the ‘Omega category.’”

Zuo Dao considered this. “EAS… that's the imperial organization that researches ability users?”

“Oh…” Tian Yi said. “Looks like you don't know much about the Empire's truly frightening agencies. EAS is only one link in the chain. Several agencies rank even higher. Technically, those departments don't exist, but in reality, they're the very foundation supporting the Empire. They represent the rulers'… power.”

Zuo Dao wasn't particularly interested in any of that right now. He was more concerned about his own safety. “You're saying that if I'm arrested, EAS will send me to Hell Island anyway?”

“That's right,” Tian Yi said. “Of course, if you turn yourself in to the police and successfully hide the fact that you're an ability user, no other departments will be alerted.”

Gu Wen gulped down half a glass of tomato juice and added, “Except we'll send the police an anonymous letter exposing you, with your ability type included. And mention in passing that you're a member of the Inverted Cross.”

Zuo Dao sat on the floor and thought for a long time. “So… I have no choice but to climb aboard your pirate ship?”

“You'll have to choose a side sooner or later. For people like you and me, simply staying alive in troubled times is a luxury we can only dream of. The tree may wish for stillness, but the wind won't stop. You were born different from the weeds sheltering beneath it. You might as well accept your fate now,” Gu Wen said.

Tian Yi, meanwhile, took a Spider-Man mask out of the desk, pulled it over his face, and said in a low voice, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

Gu Wen found this too embarrassing to bear. With a wave of his hand, he shredded the mask with the Thread of Truth.

“That was a limited edition!” Tian Yi said, turning to Gu Wen.

“Get lost. It was street-stall junk.” Gu Wen went on speaking to Zuo Dao. “All right… I'm about to tell you a great many things. I trust that, with your intelligence, once you've heard them you won't even consider joining any other organization. Hmm… where should I begin…”

…

May 1, morning.

At Li Wei's mansion, the same people were assembled as yesterday. Ji Cheng and his team stood ready.

But everyone had something weighing on their mind.

Li Wei naturally had his own concerns. After yesterday, he was beginning to want to back out. He and Jiang Yun weren't even in a real relationship yet. Even if it had been his actual wife who'd been kidnapped, he wouldn't risk his life for a woman.

Yes, she was beautiful, and winning her would allow him to marry into the imperial family. She was his first choice for a principal wife. But if that crazy kidnapper toyed with him until he died, wouldn't it all come to nothing?

The HL agents, meanwhile, were thinking about something else. A mole.

Repeated playback and analysis of yesterday's surveillance recordings had yielded little. The kidnapper named Tian Yi remained hidden, his movements unfathomable, yet he knew their every move. They had little choice but to suspect that someone on the team was working for him.

Even Li Wei suspected it and had hinted that Ji Cheng should investigate. But Ji Cheng was in a difficult position too. He had personally selected the kidnapping response team at random, and the members assigned to combat duties knew very little. In theory, it would have been very difficult for the kidnapper to buy off a member of the surveillance team in advance to keep him informed.

It was safe to say that as long as these people remained unaware that something as outrageously advanced as the Book of the Heart existed, they would never work out the answer.

What frustrated the HL agents most was that everything yesterday had been part of the kidnapper's plan. They had never managed to control the situation. Their sole contribution had been to rescue Li Wei before he was seriously injured, and perhaps even that had been anticipated. Basically… Tian Yi had brought HL in to clean up after his game, to keep his toy, Li Wei, from getting broken.

The utterly baffling first clue, 3│3，3，36, had yielded no usable interpretation despite analysis by a whole crowd of so-called cryptography eggheads and professors at the branch office. Their excuse was, “Perhaps we need to collect all five clues before we can begin studying them.”

Hearing that answer, Li Wei wanted to hire a few professional killers to wipe out those useless old parasites. The first clue alone had left his head split open and his whole body bruised. Would he even be alive by the time he collected them all?

Without warning, the phone rang. Its screen lit up on the coffee table, and, just as he had yesterday, Li Wei pressed the speakerphone button.

“All right, you should all know the rules by now. So, Young Master Li, I now announce the second proposition—trust is only a gamble.” Tian Yi hung up as soon as he finished. A text immediately arrived on the phone, giving an address and instructing Li Wei to arrive within one hour.

Ji Cheng read the message. “That's not too far from here. About thirty minutes by car.” He turned and began issuing orders. “Everyone, prepare to move out. Notify the police in that area first…”

“Captain Ji.” Li Wei interrupted before Ji Cheng could finish. Staring at the address, he frowned. “This address… if I remember correctly, I think it's an office building owned by my group.”