Chapter 428: Stone Shadow: Despair

That evening, Panzi and I drank twenty cans of beer. We lay on the lawn outside the hotel, staring at the gray sky, without saying much.

I finally understood the blow Panzi had taken during this time. It would have been bad enough that Third Uncle was gone, but the situation of the entire operation had turned out like this—it was truly disgusting and devastating. Everything he had painstakingly built up had instantly transformed into something completely different.

However, I didn't have much heart to think about all that. On the other hand, I still didn't know whether Fatty and Poker-face were dead or alive. On one hand, I felt extremely dejected; on the other, with one hope completely shattered, I was also filled with anxiety.

That night I stayed in his farmer's house. Since my wallet and everything were still in Beijing, and I had almost no money, I asked him if there were any other options.

He sighed, thought for a moment, and said, "The people under Third Master can't be counted on. Tomorrow I'll go and ask around at other operations to see if anyone's interested."

"Any chance?" I asked, thinking to myself that if there was no chance, then I only had one move left: call the police. Though the outcome would be very grim, at least there'd be hope of saving them.

"Hard to say. The hope was slim to begin with, because your Wu family's young master going to other operations to beg for help already tells others that the Wu family has lost its power. Add to that what Wang Baqiu said just now, and it's hard to turn things around. But we still have to try." Panzi said.

Sure enough, the next morning he went. At noon he came back with takeout. When I asked how it went, he just gave a wry smile and shook his head. I noticed many bruises on his arm and asked what happened. He said he went to another small operation and ran into Wang Baqiu's men, got into a fight. In the afternoon he would go ask around a few other places.

Looking at his expression, I realized that he himself had almost no hope at all. I patted him and said forget it. He said, "Young Master Wu, don't worry. If it really comes to that, you and I will go alone. A smaller group might be more agile."

I thought it over. Two people going into such a place wouldn't even be able to carry all the gear. With all the injuries Panzi had accumulated over time, his condition was no longer what it used to be. I really couldn't rest easy letting him go. His original mission was already over; none of this had anything to do with him anymore. I couldn't bear to drag him back in.

But I knew Panzi's temper, so I didn't say it directly. When he went out in the afternoon, I wrote him a note saying I'd found someone who could help me and told him not to worry. Then I left on my own.

The moment I walked out of Panzi's house and reached the roadside, I really didn't know where to go. I even thought about calling the police, but when I thought about all the things we'd done, if we were caught we'd probably be executed. That would be worse than not saving them. Then I thought, maybe while I was worrying, they'd already come out. Hadn't we turned danger into safety and had false alarms before?

But I couldn't fool myself with those thoughts. I wondered if I should go back to Hangzhou and ask Second Uncle for help. But I could almost imagine his reaction: he would definitely lock me up and then tell me that rescuing them was not economical.

But if I didn't go back to Hangzhou, where else could I go? To Guangxi? Going alone, I wouldn't even make it to the lakeside and might die on the way.

Thinking it over, I decided to head to the airport first. If Panzi came back and saw me, I definitely wouldn't be able to hide it. So I tried to hail a taxi. This damned suburb was dusty and under construction everywhere; I couldn't get a cab no matter what.

I walked along the road, passing several bus stops before I finally saw an empty taxi. Just as I was about to get in, my phone suddenly rang.

I thought it was Panzi, and my heart tightened. Then I realized he couldn't be back this early. I wondered if he had managed to settle things and was calling with good news.

I took out my phone and saw it was a text message, and it was from Xiao Hua.

I opened it and read it. "I heard you're in Changsha and know about your predicament. If you've truly made up your mind to rescue them at any cost, please go to the following address. I have prepared something for you there. Sorry, this is all I can do."

At the end of the message, there was an address in Changsha city.

I didn't quite understand what it meant, but clearly Xiao Hua had heard about my situation in Beijing. The Old Nine Gates really had sharp eyes and ears. At that moment, I was infinitely lost, but I had no other choice. I got in the car and told the driver to take me to that address.

The car arrived quickly. It was an unremarkable residential building, very easy to find. I thought it might be like the one in Chengdu before—with something hidden inside.

After knocking, the door opened. The room was very dark, and a skinny woman appeared. At first glance I could hardly tell whether she was male or female. She was dressed in very Chinese-style clothes and asked, "Who are you looking for?"

I didn't know how to explain, so I showed her Xiao Hua's text message. She said, "Master Hua, I understand."

With that, she let me in.

As soon as I entered, I smelled a strong stuffy odor from the room being unventilated. The room was very clean, but it seemed like the windows hadn't been opened for a long time, and the light was very dim.

I looked around and saw a huge makeup mirror on one side of the room, and all around were cabinets. There were also many things that looked like they belonged in a hair salon.

I thought to myself, could this be an unlicensed brothel? Was Xiao Hua helping me by letting me find some prostitute to forget my troubles? But this prostitute was too strange. Then I saw that woman take out a box from the inner room and place it in front of me.

"This is what Master Hua left for you."

It was a ceramic box about the size of a mooncake box but very thin. I gave a bitter smile,

The box was lined with brocade, and on the brocade lay a thin layer of something. At first glance it looked very much like a piece of dough. But when I looked closer, I realized it was a human skin mask.

Although I had seen disguises before, this was the first time I had seen a real human skin mask. I found it amusing that it had a texture like food, but I didn't know what it meant.

So I asked the girl, "What does this mean?" But I found that the girl wasn't paying any attention to me. I pinched the human skin and found it was actually quite tough, so I picked it up from the box and spread it flat in front of me. As soon as I spread it flat, cold sweat broke out all over my body. I immediately recognized whose face it was.

It was my Third Uncle's face.