#but their exchange is ''lao-di，are you still here?'' and ''i am''

[qilingxiong]

各位蓮絡人們，新年快樂! it's been a slower winter holiday for me, but to start off the continued MLC brainrot in 2024, have a draft snippet with di feisheng's thoughts from a fic i'm chipping away at (inspired by @redemption-revenge's ideas on difang and archivist!fang duobing).

the first thing one might note if they were to enter the imperial archives of the great xi, housed in an unassuming wing of the palace grounds, is that they are far too dark. the windows, grand and admirable as they are in an effort to capture the sun, are not enough to illuminate the rows upon rows of shelves taller than any man. fit to be a forest they are, books, scrolls, coiled slips of bamboo lay stacked upon each. some neatly, others in haphazard formations to the side of an aisle or path, no resting place designated for them yet. the records all fall in as one, draped in shadow save for those in reach of the carefully set lanterns and candles.

these lights— poor but determined substitutes for that of the day— flicker disturbed by one's passing in otherwise still air, and perhaps that is the second thing to notice: that any breeze serves only to push around dust and the scent of old paper. other open, towering libraries and halls of learning are far more renowned, where one may enter and seek out like minds, or some to hear new theories from. archives such as this, important though they are for the dynasty's repository of knowledge, are to too many considered tedious. they house no great collections of classics or poetry, in lieu of concerning themselves with careful records and documentation. the average scholar would consider this building unworthy of visit, unless someone required a history on some person, or village, or particular official collation of such and such event. it is evidenced in the isolated sound of creaking shelves, the steps of only a few individuals in the entirety of the complex. this deserted quiet would be the third thing.

all that di feisheng's attention rests on, however, is the form of fang duobing.

he darts between cramped bookcases with ease, strides down aisles guided by instinct over senses. there is none of the carefree, ceaseless monologue to his presence, only his footfalls on stone, and so di feisheng is left with nothing but to trace his steps through this labyrinth in matched silence. for all that he'd met di feisheng for the first time in years with words chosen by purpose, not impulse, fang duobing had never struck him as one to keep his thoughts tucked away inside his head.

what happened to the young master with a voice of unwary privilege, making himself known to anyone who could listen? it took him too long to recognize fang duobing by the river's edge the day before, silent and solitary, the two of them studying one another for a frozen moment like any two strangers on the roads of the jianghu.

somewhere in the time gone by, cut by two paths of grief diverging, di feisheng missed the time that wore away fang duobing's rougher edges. not only with the learned hold to his tongue; the man before him stands taller, more confidence sketched in the fall of his walk and the grip of erya in one hand. if i gave you ten years, di feisheng told him once, you would be able to parallel me. in some ways, measured in more than their weapons, perhaps fang duobing has already risen to his level.

the same constant of a ponytail springs with each step, though. something still boyish hangs about him, as fang duobing's silhouette disappears around corners of this endless hall.

something once-familiar on a different figure, and so all too abruptly, between one instant and the next does the image of fang duobing blur into another.

this reunion between two of them should have a third, yet like the portrait that still hangs in baichuanyuan, an image unchanging, all they have is the recollection of how he walked away. seven years, and still unfound. seven years gone, left for somewhere no one could follow, and di feisheng tried to anyway but all he achieved is that now even fang duobing walks ahead (too far; when did di feisheng's footsteps falter?) and once is a joke, twice is shame, third is—

"老笛，你還在嗎?" fang duobing's boots scuff to a stop, and di feisheng blinks, illusion shattered. "we're almost there."

no, he isn't li xiangyi. it would be unjust of di feisheng to think otherwise.

back then, he never believed fang duobing could stand where li xiangyi once did, either. how time wears down the blade of a remark once-sharp, turned to something that could be almost merciful in how fang duobing looks back at him. equal parts concern, and curiosity.

"我在," di feisheng says, returned to the present, and fang duobing carries on.

[vashak]

Eiji’s war

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4

Originally posted on 22 December 2019 in Turkish here.

No, I’m not done yet.

I previously wrote about how Eiji found a new purpose in life after meeting Ash and getting to know his world, which helped him come out of the depression he suffered back in Japan. But what exactly is Eiji’s new purpose in life? It’s saving Ash from his very “different” world.

In the beginning of the story, we saw how devastated Eiji was when he found out that Ash was ready to use his one and only trump card (the capsule containing the Banana Fish drug) against Golzine, knowing full well that he wouldn’t win.

Ash had risked his own life to save Eiji’s when he didn’t know him at all and now Eiji doesn’t have the heart to let him walk to his death. It’s like he’s thinking to himself, “How can a boy my age find himself in such an impasse?” This is the first time we see Eiji rebel against the world Ash’s living in.

But Eiji does more than silently shed tears, especially once things get more complicated. For example, here he’s basically telling Ash to quit doing things that would put him in harm’s way.

Later, when it becomes clear that there’s no “quitting” in this world (because they simply won’t let you), Eiji comes up with a different suggestion.

And this offer is so unexpected that Ash doesn’t understand at first. Eiji simply asks him again if he would like to come to Japan with him. He is presumably surprised that Ash was so taken aback by such a straightforward question. Ash’s surprise is telling me that he never even thought it would be possible to leave this life behind.

Eiji’s offer also means this: I forgive you. Going to Japan to start a new life means that Ash won’t have to account for all the bad things he did in the past. Ash doesn’t believe there’s such a possibility or that he deserves such a chance. So he averts his gaze and comes up with an excuse. I just realized that there’s a pattern here. When Ash makes such excuses, he always puts himself down as if to say he’s not worthy of Eiji’s offer.  But then, as you’ll see in the scene below, he realizes that this attitude only serves to embarrass Eiji, so he stops and apologizes.

What this scene inherently tells us is just how ashamed Ash feels about the things he was forced to do all his life. It is also a good example of the difference in opinion between Ash and Eiji—while Ash thinks so little of himself, Eiji thinks the world of him.

When Eiji repeats his offer to go to Japan together a second time, he can’t stay so calm.

Because by then, Ash gave himself up to Golzine as hostage in exchange for Eiji’s life, underwent an eating disorder, started a guerilla war, got raped and is still fighting against commandos as they’re having this conversation.

This time, Ash tells him what he really thinks instead of coming up with excuses. He says “My hands are dirty with other people’s blood,” implying that he doesn’t deserve a fresh start. “But you had to. Or you would be killed yourself,” replies Eiji, whereas previously, when they were quarreling before Ash’s one-to-one fight with Arthur, Eiji had yelled “You are not the kind of man who shoots defenseless people!” to his face. It seems that Eiji has learned the cruel ways of Ash’s world since then.

There is another reason why Ash is not taking Eiji up on his offer besides thinking that he doesn’t deserve a fresh start. Ash thinks he’s a troublemaker and will put those around him in danger no matter where he is (I talked more about this here). And as expected, he tells Eiji exactly that: “I’m bad news, Eiji. Doesn’t matter where I go… And you’ll get caught up in it. Like you are now.”

We know by now that Eiji never even once stayed silent when Ash said something to stigmatize himself. He always told Ash otherwise and explained why in a perfectly logical way. All this time, he calmly and patiently fought against Ash’s toxic mindset. But this time, he’s had enough.

This is the first time Eiji puts his emotions into words in such a raw way. He literally screams how much he cares about Ash. And a minute later, he indisputably proves just how much by pushing Ash away and taking bullet for him.

This incident resets all the progress Eiji’s so far made to change Ash’s self-loathing mindset. The fact that Eiji almost died because of him and later Lao’s tirade against Ash in front of all the gang members (“He ain’t human! He’s a goddamn monster!”) make Ash feel ashamed and disgusted at himself.

Then comes the wretched hospital scene… This scene is drenched in symbolism, but it actually serves to make us understand one simple fact: Similar to how Eiji can’t survive in Ash’s world, Ash will never be accepted in Eiji’s world. Eiji’s not capable of protecting himself in Ash’s world. He’ll always be vulnerable as long as he stays there. And in Eiji’s world, Ash will never be accepted by others in the way Eiji accepts Ash. He’ll ultimately be seen as a criminal rather than a victim and will have to answer to the law for what he did.

So Ash enters the hospital. He’s been reminded in the most painful way that he can never be part of Eiji’s world and has come to say goodbye to his friend one last time. Eiji vaguely hears Ash’s accented “sayounara” and crawls out of bed with great difficulty to stop him from leaving (Ash can’t pronounce the second syllable long, but instead says “sa-yo-na-ra”). But just then, Charlie and Ibe-san notice Ash and come after him. Eiji knows that even if they have good intentions now, eventually Ash will be found guilty. And, for the first time in his life, Eiji tells Ash to leave him. He screams “Go!” with all his might. The anime adaptation did a wonderful job showing us how difficult this must have been for Eiji to do.

I think Eiji inherently knew that this was the last time he would see Ash. But he refused to believe it, because that would mean that he himself had surrendered to the fatalistic mindset that he was trying to liberate Ash from. So what does Eiji do next? What he does best, of course.

Remember when Eiji wanted to pass a message to Ash through his gang members when Ash tried to send him back to Japan without telling him? He asked Bones and Kong to tell Ash to “take care of his life” and that he would “always wish him luck” even from far away.

So this time, Eiji writes a letter to Ash in case he can’t see him before going to Japan. He pours in all that he feels. The letter ends up being the most earnest summary of everything Eiji has been trying to make Ash understand.

… You said to me before, “We live in different worlds” … We are friends. Isn’t that enough? … But I never felt scared of you, not even once … Actually, I always felt that you are hurt, much more than me—that your spirit is wounded … I always wanted to protect you … I think I wanted to protect you from your future … You can change your fate …

Eiji wants these words to accompany Ash while he’s away: “You are not alone, Ash. I am with you. My soul is always with you.” The one-way ticket to Japan he encloses with the letter serves as a reminder of his invitation. We know that Eiji had every intention of seeing Ash again from his thoughts on the plane. What didn’t cross his mind at all was without a doubt that Ash would draw his last breath as he read Eiji’s heartfelt words.

When it comes to Ash’s death, I feel overwhelmed with a series of unanswered questions as I previously indicated here and here. For example…

When Sing can’t get Ash to say anything to Eiji, he can’t bear to face Eiji empty-handed so he sees him off with a few made-up parting words in Ash’s stead (Aww, isn’t he precious?). Does Eiji ever realize this? Can he tell that Sing made up Ash’s parting words? I think he can. So does he ever confront Sing about this before or after Garden of Light? Who knows.

And just how much does Eiji know about Ash’s death? He knows that his letter distracted Ash, so he didn’t see Lao coming. But does he know that Ash had read part of his letter by then and started running to the airport? Does he know that Ash went back to the library after getting wounded to read the rest of his letter? Does he know that Ash laid his head on his letter and died with a smile on his face?

I really wish for a “yes” to these questions.

To me, the story of Banana Fish is more antagonistic towards Eiji than Ash. Yes, all the bad stuff happen to Ash but he’s never shocked that they do. The leopard has learned how harsh the ascent can be. Eiji, on the other hand, believes he can save Ash from this shitty world. He is proven wrong a number of times but he never stops believing that. As I mentioned in the answer to this ask, if you think about it, in the end Ash dies just like he knew he would.

He is stabbed by a street thug who held a grudge against him and dies just like that. In the end, he couldn’t change his fate like Eiji tried to make him believe. In the end, the leopard couldn’t climb down the mountain. But what’s remarkable is that Eiji never surrenders to Ash’s fatalistic mindset even after his death. Not even once. He never says things like “He was right after all and I was wrong. He couldn’t change his fate and trouble never ever left him alone.” Instead he says this:

The End

[puttingfingerstokeys]

faraday cage

so the title should tell you the ship (if you’re familiar with my terminology), but if not, it’s Faraday Cage (Johnny/Raiden). Spacing’s all fucky and, as usual, tumblr eats italics. I’m a lazy POS tho so here ya go! One day I STG I’mma post these on Ao3, with like maybe more words/deets. I skimmed this one before I posted it, so like, hopefully it’s not a TOTAL mess. Hilarious ‘cause the story actually titled “How Come Cassie Gets Two Dads” is only like... POTENTIAL faraday cage and also isn’t in the prevented timeline at all (I mislabeled it initially, WOOPS). 

Prevented timeline

“Hey, Raidude, I’ve got a question for ya.

“Yes, Johnny Cage?”

Raiden shifted on the lawn chair to face the mortal who addressed him, fully aware that whatever came out of the man’s mouth next would almost certainly be foolish. He was eager to hear it.

“What color’s your hair?”

“Oh my GOD, dad; you can’t just ask a guy what color his hair is—that’s so weird!” Cassie, just emerging from the house with a plate of lemonade for the three of them, was appalled at her father’s lack of courtesy toward their divine guest. That, or she was simply messing with him. “It’s like asking a girl if her hair is dyed—that shit stings.”

“It does not insult me, Cassandra Cage,” Raiden reassured the woman, taking the offered glass and giving a serene smile in return. She rolled her eyes. He would never stop calling her Cassandra Cage. She suspected he could not help it. “Fujin and I are twins, thus...” He trailed off, gesturing at his own pause. “But I understand—”

“Wait, you guys are twins?” This was Cassie, settling down next to her father, two glasses in hand. Johnny tipped his shades down his nose to better judge if the god of thunder was toying with them. He was, as usual, not.

“Why is this surprising?” Raiden seemed genuinely taken aback, in point of fact, that the mortals had not known this from the start. He had never made mention of it, because it had never mattered. Every day, he was surprised, again and again, by the things the Cage family said or did, or asked, in this case; it revealed still more layers to the complexity of mortality.

“You just don’t—I mean he looks like he could be, I dunno, mid thirties?” Johnny looked to Cassie for confirmation. She pursed her lips and nodded. “And you’re like—”

“A dad,” Cassie filled in. “Like, sorry in advance and all that, but lowkey dilf status.”

Johnny went red. Cassie was also colored to the ears. Raiden looked between them and understood context with enough acuity to know that whatever she had just said was not, in general, something one discussed in polite or mixed company.

“CASS!” Johnny finally managed to hiss this and give his daughter a hard sidelong glance.

“Well not ME, but like, y’know…” She gestured in Raiden’s general direction, while the god himself was having a mental field day observing their antics. It must truly have been glorious to be mortal, to experience many things only once, seeing phenomena which, to a god, occurred millions of times in the eons of their lifespan, but to a mortal were wholly unique, singular, and precious.

“Well whaddabout me?” Now Johnny was on the warpath. Raiden leaned back in his seat and observed the exchange further, still wondering what “dilf” signified.

“No, dad, I’m not asking anyone that. Gross.” Cassie made a face. “I mean you’re a movie star, so like, someone prolly thinks you’re hot.”

Johnny laughed aloud at that and drank deep of his lemonade, shielding his eyes from the California sun. “That’s good ‘nuff for me. I just need someone to think I’m hot and it’s all good. My ego is very fragile.”

The three sat in silence a while, the only sound accompanying them a light clinking of ice cubes on glass when someone took a drink. It was peaceful and they finally—all three—felt as if they could breathe once more.

“So Fujin’s really your twin, huh?” Johnny was, evidently, not ready to let that point go. Raiden nodded.

“He is the wind and I the lightning,” he said simply, as if this explained it all. “His appearance is that of a much younger man, but keep in mind, we are neither mortal, nor human.”

“Your appearance probably reflects your job, or something, right?” Cassie was taking a stab in the dark, but she was neither stupid nor unobservant. “I mean you’re like the cosmic dad, so, it kinda makes sense you look like one.”

Raiden pursed his lips, considered this, and nodded. “I am flattered, Cassandra Cage, that you consider me a father figure.”

“What am I,” Johnny grunted, crossing his arms and imitating a pouting child, “chopped liver?”

“I can have two dads, dad,” Cassie returned almost without thinking. Her cheeks colored, but she pressed on. “It’s the twenty-first century.”

“Yeah, yeah,” said Johnny, drowning the words in more lemonade and waving his daughter off. “I dunno if Electric Slide here wants the job, though, do ya, big guy? Cassie’s a handful.”

“Cassandra Cage is a competent kombatant; she takes after both her mother and father; I would be honored to fight by her side.”

Raiden’s answers to these things always came across in one of two ways: pedantic and pontificating, or sweeping, all-encompassing, realm-crossing philosophies. This was the latter. Cassie froze a moment, her brain scrambling for words. It was an immense compliment she had just been paid and she, the motormouth of the century, had nothing to say in return.

“Th…thanks,” she stammered, mimicking her father and drowning more words in lemonade. She had her mother’s eyes, in shape if not color, Raiden had noticed, and they widened the same way when he complimented her. He did not hand these out without thought, and so he was pleased she understood the gravity of his meaning. “I’m… prolly not callin’ you dad, though; that’d be kinda weird.”

“Y’think the neighbors would buy the ‘uncle’ bit?” Johnny ventured, speaking to his daughter.

“No way. That just makes you guys sound like a couple on the DL; no one’s on the DL anymore, especially not in Beverly Hills.” The Cages laughed aloud and Raiden smiled once more. Their mirth was infectious. He felt lighter in their presence. It was refreshing. The thunder god felt safe alongside them, a strange phenomenon he did not realize he had lacked until it was placed in his lap, so to speak. He removed his hat and set it gently aside, desirous of the sun’s warmth upon his brow. 

Johnny noticed immediately when Raiden reached up to then loosen and remove the cap which he wore underneath his hat. That thing was a piece of headwear almost as famous as Kung Lao’s razor-edged lid; Johnny could not remember the last time he saw Raiden not wearing it, if ever. Cassie turned as the cap came free and, spilling out, absent of its confining presence, was a thick, light-catching, glossy mane of the whitest hair they had ever seen—save on  Fujin, of course. Raiden felt about in his hair and made the face of someone who has lost something.

“Your uh… scrunchy broke?” Cassie was the first to find her words. She didn’t know what she was witnessing, precisely, but she knew it was rare. Raiden was far too tightly wound to simply take his hat AND cap off in front of just anyone. She wondered if they were the first people to see his hair in millennia. Her heart thudded a little faster as she considered it; this was special and she didn’t even have her phone on her (yet another rare occurrence).

Cassie Cage played the part of a flippant valley girl, but her guts were her mother’s and cleverness and bravery came before all else. She could drink all the iced coffee she wanted, wear the most expensive shades, and shop only at places called boutiques, but she was still a Blade. Blade women looked upon gods with the appropriate awe and she was doing just that at this moment. 

But that was nothing compared to her father.

Johnny was, in a word, thunderstruck by Raiden’s voluminous hair and was assaulted all at once by the urge to see it spread out on a pillow. He stowed that, quick and hard, trying to replace his expression with something resembling nonchalant serenity and contentment, as if it was totally normal for the god of thunder to be disrobing in his presence.

“I seem to have misplaced it, yes,” admitted Raiden, almost sadly. “But it was ancient and… on occasion, ancient things … tire out.”

Johnny leaned forward and took a chance, laying a hand upon Raiden’s knee, lightly, knowing the clothing he wore protected from much of his electrical potential, but not all. There was a low buzz just beneath his fingers. “You’re tired, but not tired out, man,” he reminded Raiden. Cassie was standing quietly, sneaking away from her seat. She knew what she was seeing and it would be best to get a move on while their attention was focused on each other. “You’re a god—like, an eternal battery; you guys never run out.”

“Your confidence in us is flattering, Johnny Cage,” said Raiden sadly, “but ultimately misplaced.”

“I don’t think it is,” responded Johnny with resolve. “No, see, I’m not built to have faith in something I haven’t seen—someone who I don’t know can deliver on his promises, or fight damn hard to do it.” What other god would go to the lengths Raiden had to protect his people? Johnny couldn’t think of a single mythological example, at least. “I have faith in you because you’ve more than earned it.”

It was now Raiden’s turn to be struck dumb. His lips were parted, just a little, as if he had intended to protest, but the protest died thereupon and was caught, suddenly and without warning, by Johnny’s.

[shijiujun]

[ENG] History3: Trapped Novel - Chapter Two

~6,500 words (proofread by @weilongfu​)

Translation Masterpost can be found here

Disclaimer: Translations are entirely mine - these are not official translations and some phrases have been changed for better English interpretation so you’ll definitely see better/different translations elsewhere. Also keeping in mind when we translated this we aren’t exactly thinking about the style of writing and this translation is as close to the novel as we can make it XD So yes, some parts may be a little awkward to read. And yes some teeny weeny details and words may not turn up in the translation because the Chi to Eng mind acrobatics didn’t work out. If you see asterisks, scroll all the way to the bottom for notes!

Full chapter below the cut

Chapter Two

The sound of a gun’s silencer echoes from inside a black sedan, and both Wang Kun Cheng and his driver are found dead inside with bullet wounds through their right temple, just hours after their meeting with Xing Tian Meng.

Time of death, 9pm.

Meng Shao Fei lies on his bed, thinking back to the meeting with Interpol during the day, where Team 3 and Interpol exchanged information on this case. Although Wang Kun Cheng’s men insist that the person who murdered their leader was Tang Yi, but as seen from Team 3 and Interpol’s investigation, there were no signs of struggle and fights inside the club where both parties met, and   moreover, Tang Yi has a perfect alibi.

As Wang Kun Cheng was shot at close range after he left the club, it is impossible that Tang Yi, who was at another location attending an evening gala dinner — they have CCTV footage to prove that he entered the hotel at 8.30pm and left only at 1am in the morning —  was the culprit for the murder. They aren’t ruling out the possibility of a third party committing the murder at Tang Yi’s orders, but the surveillance cameras in the area were tampered with and damaged before the murder happened, so before they can find further evidence and witnesses, Tang Yi is definitely not the culprit. However, he is curious about one thing… in the 48 hours after news of Wang Kun Cheng’s death was made known, Cambodia’s drug syndicate’s leader Chen Wen Hao immediately returned to Taiwan. Both Chen Wen Hao and Wang Kun Cheng used to be members of Xing Tian Meng, especially Chen Wen Hao. Xing Tian Meng is able to grow to its scale today because it was he and Tang Guo Dong who built the organisation up from scratch.

Even after Chen Wen Hao was sentenced to prison for 24 years due to the skirmish with Si He Hui, but during this time, the person who visited him most frequently was Tang Guo Dong. From this, it is obvious that they were very close to each other and had a deep relationship. If this was so, what reason would Tang Yi, who took over Xing Tian Meng in Tang Guo Dong’s place, have to go create trouble with Chen Wen Hao’s men, and even going so far as to kill the man?

Unable to sleep no matter what he does, Shao Fei finds himself leaving the bed and walking over to his bulletin board, filled entirely with profiles of people and information related to Xing Tian Meng. Staring at the drawing he made, he mumbles, “Four years ago…”

Four years ago, Chen Wen Hao immediately fled for Southeast Asia the moment he was released from prison, and his whereabouts have been unknown ever since until now with his return to Taiwan. Four years ago, Tang Guo Dong and Li Zhen both died on that hill, and no one knew why they met in secret, and there were so many rumors about Li Zhen illegally colluding with the mob. Four years ago, Tang Yi was shot at the scene and managed to live after many attempts at trying to resuscitate him. He became the only survivor of the incident, the only witness who possibly knows what happened on that day.

Meng Shao Fei looks at Tang Yi’s portrait sketch again, and asks it, as if he’s speaking directly to Tang Yi himself, “Aren’t you going clean with the mob? Aren’t you staying away from drugs? And didn’t you say you would never kill a person? Why are you giving up on your principles NOW? Why did you go touch Chen Wen Hao’s people?”

Shao Fei cannot think of any possible answer, and scratches at his head in frustration, pacing back and forth in his apartment.

The Tang Household

Standing at the balcony and looking into the night view in the distance, in Tang Yi’s hand lies a black, metallic lighter. He recalls what Boss Tang said to him eight years ago…

“Drizzle olive oil in the wok and circle it for two rounds? Can we do three rounds?”

At that time, Tang Yi had just turned 20 years old, and the thing he liked to do most was to bother Boss Tang in his space when he could, asking him to pass his cooking skills on to him.

“That’s fine too. The point is you have to make sure the entire wok gets the same amount of heat, that’s why we circle it,” Tang Guo Dong stands next to the stove, an apron tied around his own waist and guides Tang Yi to pay more attention to cooking as he smokes.

People always say that the lines on one’s foreheads represent the passing of time and age, as it catches up with you, and with every horizontal line therein lies a story that belongs to it, but in Tang Yi’s eyes, every mark on Boss Tang’s face is the culmination of both wisdom and duty. No matter how severe the problem is, once it lands in Boss Tang’s hands, the problem can be solved easily, just like no matter how complicated the cooking and recipes are, he is always able to handle it, all the while smoking at the same time.

In comparison Tang Yi is impatient in both his personality and cooking and thus, he deeply respects this man who is both like a father and teacher to him. He wonders if there ever will be a day, where he’s able to catch up to Boss Tang and this 30 year age gap, and from Boss Tang’s mouth hear-

I feel at ease leaving everything to you.

“Don’t smoke when you’re cooking,” Tang Yi says, immediately dropping the garlic and bell peppers he’s holding and snatches the cigarette pressed between Boss Tang’s lips.

The man whose cigarette was snatched away smiles a little helplessly, then crosses his arms and continues guiding Tang Yi, “After you put in the noodles, you need to stir it in the wok, otherwise it’ll stick to the base.”

Tang Yi looks at the food cooking in his wok and says, delighted, “It looks just like yours!”

“We’ll have to try the dish to know.”

Tang Yi tastes a spoonful of the food from the wok, frowns, then picks up the spicy sauce next to him and adds another half a spoon in, “Not spicy enough.”

Tang Guo Dong, who tried the dish at the same time, is frowning on the other hand, because of the spiciness he is tasting in his mouth. “Xiao Tang, you’re eating this so spicy?”

“Strange, why is it that no matter how I cook I just cook it the same way you do?”

“To govern a country is like cooking, have you ever heard of this?”

“No.

Tang Guo Dong smiles, then opens his mouth to explain, “All these years from handling and dealing with the gang’s every single matter no matter how big or small, I felt that, when we do things, we cannot be overly impulsive and rush into things, nor can we be complacent and passive. we have to think through each detail carefully in order to do things well. Take cooking for example, every brother is like an ingredient, you need to understand each ingredient’s taste to be able to put it in a dish, and then the taste of the finished dish will be the best.”

Tang Yi is intrigued by this analogy, and also curious about how Boss Tang sees him, he asks, “So which ingredient am I?”

“Lotus root.”

“Lotus root? Why a lotus root?”

“Did you forget the first time we met, how much dirt you had all over your body? Isn’t it just like the lotus root that’s just been harvested and pulled out from the soil?”

“Oh, so you detested me this much actually,” Tang Yi says, sulking as he brings the wok over to the person who’s plating dishes at his side.

The person most important to him just called him a dirty little runt, how could anyone be happy?

Tang Guo Dong laughs and takes out his cigarette box again. “Hey, Xiao Tang, you were born into unfortunate circumstances and grew up in a terrible environment, you managed to keep your spirit and character pure. I hope you never forget this, and that you don’t ever change.”

At this, Tang Yi returns Tang Guo Dong’s smile and replies, “I got it, Lao Tang. I will keep being like this.”

As long as Tang Guo Dong likes him like this, then Tang Yi will become the person that he likes, because to him, there’s no one else in the world who’s more important to him, more important than Tang Guo Dong.

“Actually, there’s another reason in persevering in cooking,” Tang Guo Dong adds somberly, taking off his apron and walking over to Tang Yi’s side, opening a wine bottle and pouring a glass for himself.

“What is it?”

“People like us who face death every day and are used to it, we don’t even know when we’ll die and go to meet our makers. If we can’t even deal with the basic necessity and function of eating in our lives, then what more fun in our lives can we have? So we have to be serious towards every meal, and that means also that we have to live our lives seriously.

“I understand. So when I’m done learning cooking from you, I’ll let you taste my cooking.”

“Done learning? You little shit, you only just learnt this little bit and you want to represent the Tang family and con people outside already?”

“I have confidence that I don’t need too much time to learn your ways.”

Tang Guo Dong puts up his thumb and praises, “Okay, you’ve got ambition. But if you want to take the wok and metals away from me, it’s not that easy!”

“I won’t disappoint you… although-“ Tang Yi looks at the failed finished product in the wok today, and laughs, “It looks like we still have to eat this not so delicious dish, let’s hope when we are done we won’t need a trip to emergency.”

Watching Tang Yi’s back as he picks up the plate and walk towards the dining room, Tang Guo Dong, who’s lived more than half a century, stops smiling, and in his heart, he makes a decision.

At a Japanese restaurant

The various members of Team 3 are gathered at a restaurant undercover as guests and wait staff for the ongoing investigation on Wang Kun Cheng’s death. They are currently surveilling a particular guest, who’s discussing business with another person.

Suddenly, a tall figure walks into the store, and once Shao Fei, who’s seated right at the entrance of the restaurant sees him, he stands up and brings the other person to a corner in the restaurant.

“Why are you here?”

Walking into the restaurant and stunned at seeing Shao Fei, Tang Yi abandons his original intentions for coming here and turns to leave.

“Since the police are investigating a case, I will not disturb.”

On the other side of the restaurant, Zhao Li An, who’s dressed as a waiter, is just about to run over to stop Shao Fei, but Zhou Guan Zhi stops him by holding onto his arm. He eyes Zhao Zi, indicating that they should continue as planned, or they will risk ruining the mission this time.

Shao Fei grabs onto Tang Yi’s elbow, staring right into his eyes and asks, “Since you’re already here, you might as well assist us on our investigation. Do you know a person called ‘Chen Wen Hao’?”

Tang Yi’s expression suddenly becomes stiff, and this does not go unnoticed by the cop who’s been hounding him for the past four years.

“Looks like we have the same goal, we’re here for the same person,” Shao Fei continues, his eyebrows raised.

“So you killed Wang Kun Cheng just to lure Chen Wen Hao back here. And for you, Xing Tian Meng’s leader who’s also trying to wash everything clean at the moment, to care so much about a Cambodian drug syndicate leader, there can only be two reasons. Firstly, you’ve made him come back because this was Tang Guo Dong’s mission for you.Or two, Chen Wen Hao has something to do with the double homicide from four years ago.”

Shao Fei’s guesses are so close to the truth, that in that moment, Tang Yi’s repressed rage emerges again — these four years, he has wanted to kill this person who’s only ever ruined all his plans countless of times, but countless of times, Tang Yi has also had to end his murderous thoughts towards this police officer.

Such action is out of character for Tang Yi — if Hong Ye and Ah De are unable to comprehend why he’s doing this, Tang Yi himself has no idea either.

“Have I hit the nail on the head, is that why you want to run?”

“I have nothing to say to Officer Meng,” Tang Yi snaps, gritting his teeth and turning away to leave the store.

He follows the stairs outside the restaurant to where he parked his car. His tone filled with anger, Shao Fei who’s only ever seen Tang Yi’s two sarcastic and cold expressions, is momentarily stunned. He breaks out of his trance, then rushes out of the restaurant to chase Tang Yi, his hand pressing against Tang Yi’s chest and stopping him from moving forward, his eyes incredibly sharp.

“I’m getting closer to the truth, correct?”

If he isn’t getting closer to the truth, why would Xing Tian Meng’s poker-faced leader make the effort of snapping at him?

“Officer Meng has his own mission that he’s not carrying out, and instead he’s here to obstruct my freedom again?”

“If my hypothesis is correct, then following you is the only way I can find out the truth.”

Tang Yi pushes Shao Fei’s hand away and walks over to the driver’s side to open the door, but Shao Fei grabs onto his wrist instead, slamming shut the door that’s just been opened.

“I’m asking you to leave, did you not hear me? These four years my tolerance towards you has reached a tipping point. Meng. Shao. Fei! Don’t test my patience!”

He pushes Shao Fei away, hard, and settles in the driver’s seat, shutting the door behind him securely. Unexpectedly, Shao Fei circles the car to the passenger side and unceremoniously sits inside the car, holding onto the brake.

“Tang Yi, if I don’t get my answers today I’m not letting you leave!”

Tang Yi points outside and shouts, “I’m warning you for the last time, get out of my car.”

“Hmph!”

Shao Fei turns to grab for the seatbelt, obviously having no intention to leave.

“You!”

Angrily, Tang Yi swings his right fist out to restrain both of Shao Fei’s hands, reaching to his back and grabbing the young police officer’s gun, that Tang Yi knows he has usually stuffed into the back of his waist, then pressing the muzzle of the gun to Shao Fei’s temple.

Just as Tang Yi is about to throw Shao Fei out of the car, the driver’s seat door is flung open from the outside, and reflex has Tang Yi moving the hand holding onto the gun towards the person outside, but his opponent quickly strikes at his hand, the gun falling to the ground.

Losing his most useful weapon hardly means that he has no other way to defend himself. He rushes out of the car with tight fists and immediately starts to land repeated blows on his attacker, who’s clad in a black suit. Shao Fei on the other hand is also facing a similar attack by a person wearing a black baseball cap and fighting him intensely.

Eventually, both Tang Yi and Shao Fei are forced into a corner by their attackers, pressed back to back. Unconsciously, they leave their vulnerable backs to one another, exchange a glance and then simultaneously attack. Punches and kicks going against the two men with retractable batons and knives, they are soon overpowered by the weapons.

“Boss wants you to meet him,” says the man attacking Tang Yi, pushing him to the floor and pressing a knife at his jugular.

===

As the black van follows along the left and right curves of the mountainous road, the occupants of the vehicle find themselves swaying from left to right as well.

“I can’t believe I’m handcuffed by my own handcuffs.”

Tang Yi side-eyes the man next to him, and scoffs, “It’s not like this is the first time.”

“Hey do you have to speak like this? If you didn’t take away my gun, would we be in this situation?” Shao Fei retorts, holding up his right hand that is currently attached to Tang Yi’s.

“Shut up!” warns the man seated in the third row of the car, one hand holding up a knife.

Tang Yi turns around to look at the man in black seated right behind them, and says, “Kidnapping a police officer is going to get troublesome for you guys.”

The man ignores Tang Yi; instead, it is the man seated in front driving the van that shoots both hostages a look through the rearview mirror, and smiles icily, “You should worry about yourself first!”

Their hands handcuffed together, Tang Yi taps Shao Fei’s pinky finger with his own, and once their gazes meet, Tang Yi gestures at Shao Fei. Shao Fei nods in understanding, then in an irritated tone, laments, “Why is it that when you guys do bad things you always run towards the mountains? It’s not that I want to comment, but this method lacks so much creativity that it really isn’t OK-“

Shao Fei yells immediately, after ensuring that Tang Yi’s right hand is creeping towards the handbrake of the van, “NOW!”

Bam!

Tang Yi kicks at the driver’s right arm, sending the man forward against the steering wheel, and at the same time Shao Fei leans forward to pull the handbrake up. The van strikes against the walls of the mountain and the impact stops the van immediately. Before the driver can react, Shao Fei has already moved into the passenger seat and with a kick, knocks the driver out.

He sees Tang Yi getting punched in the face by the other guy in the back, and Tang Yi, with his hand movement restricted, can barely defend himself against the attack. Seeing that the other guy is rushing towards Tang Yi with a knife in his hands, Shao Fei moves back to his seat and stands between Tang Yi and his attacker, getting a slash across his arm for his trouble. Then, they use the handcuff chains between them to trap their attacker’s wrists, and Tang Yi strikes the knife in his hands to the ground.

In the chaos, Tang Yi sees Shao Fei’s wound on his right arm, bleeding profusely.

And right in that moment, Tang Yi loses all composure and logic that he is so proud of. He swings his fist repeatedly at his attacker, and doesn’t stop even when his face is all bloodied from the impact of his punches.

“We have to go!”

Shao Fei is afraid that Tang Yi will just kill the man, so he opens the door and pulls Tang Yi, who has lost all control, out of the car. They give up on moving along the visible and easily trackable roads and instead choose to head inside the dense forest to escape.

In between the trees, four other men — their attackers’ accomplices who were travelling behind them in another van — split up to look through every nook and cranny of the forest.

“Damn it, they can really hide huh?”

“Did you find them on your side?”

“No.”

“You, and you, go that side and look.”

“Yes.”

They continue their search for an hour to no avail, and they do not realise that the Xing Tian Meng leader they’re trying to find is actually hiding behind a big rock, covered in green moss.

Tang Yi is using his entire body to protect and shield Shao Fei, until the noise grows faint and more distant from their hiding spot, only then does Tang Yi heave a sigh of relief. He turns around and crouches low to the ground, using the rock as a backrest.

Maybe it’s because fleeing for their lives is an intense sport, or maybe it’s because the both of them were suddenly so close to each other earlier, so close that Shao Fei can even catch a hint of Tang Yi’s cologne, Shao Fei feels his face heating up strangely. All he can do is raise their hands up, still cuffed to each other, to distract himself.

“If only we didn’t have this.”

“Who brought it here?”

Having just experienced a life or death situation, Tang Yi’s tone as he speaks to Shao Fei has changed somewhat from before. From being ice cold and distant, Tang Yi is now talking as if he would make fun of a friend.

Unable to retort, Shao Fei rolls his eyes instead, but in the next second see Tang Yi using his right hand to pinch at this left thumb, and just as he’s about to ask, he hears the sound of a bone being dislocated.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

With his left thumb dislocated successfully, Tang Yi’s hand leaves the restraints of the handcuffs, and then easily snaps his dislocated thumb back into its original place. Shao Fei can feel how painful that action just was just by looking, but Tang Yi just did it with barely a sound and a frown.

“This can also work?”

Shao Fei, with wide eyes, watches as Tang Yi just walks off with a shake of his hands, then follows the man to hopefully somewhere more suitable to hide at, a hand covering his own wound.

===

Ding dong ding dong!

“Ah Fei!!! Ah Fei are you inside?” Zhao Zi stands outside Shao Fei’s apartment door, one hand pressing at the doorbell and the other dialling Shao Fei’s number, but all he gets is Shao Fei’s voice message.

“This is Meng Shao Fei, if there’s anything urgent, please leave a message.”

“Ah Fei if you don’t pick up the phone, Boss is really going to throw me out!”

Zhao Zi’s pitiful complaint echoes down the empty stairway. After half an hour of no reply, all he can do is give up. He walks down the stairs, worried.

“I’m at the alley near Ah Fei’s house. He’s not at home and I can’t get through to him on his phone. Oh, okay. We’ll keep in touch. I’ll contact you guys after I find him. Okay, bye.”

Hanging up on the call with his team’s colleagues, Zhao Zi recalls how Boss always scolds him for not using his brains, and at the spur of the moment, he leaves his phone in his jacket’s pocket and pulls up the zip, then does a handstand and begins walking on the ground on his hands.

He giggles. He’s actually still pretty smart, as long as he make all the blood rush into the top of his head, and when that happens, his brain will begin to work at a higher capacity. Maybe he’ll be able to find a way to find Shao Fei like this even! Just as Zhao Zi smiles gleefully to himself, a pair of cool blue leather shoes step into his line of vision, and as his eyes follow along those long legs all the way up to see who this person is, he sees the man who he brought to the station previously. Tang Yi’s bodyguard, the man called Jack.

“Are you looking for me?”

Zhao Zi puts both his legs down and dusts his hands off, but Jack grabs him by the back of his shirt collar around his neck, and picks him up. “Let’s go!”

“Huh? What are you doing? Where are you bringing me to?”

Like a rabbit whose neck was just bitten by a wolf in the wild, Zhao Zi follows the man called Jack helpless, leaving the alley at Shao Fei’s house.

“What are you catching me for?” asks Zhao Zi later.

He doesn’t know when he was struck unconscious. All he knows is that when he woke up earlier, he found himself incarcerated in a dark room. In the room sits only a single lamp and the big bad wolf who caught him, and brought him here.

“Where did Meng Shao Fei bring my boss?”

Zhao Zi opens his mouth wide, surprised, and asks, “Ah Fei is really with Tang Yi then?”

“Are you pretending to be stupid?”

Jack, with a whole head of red hair, glares at the rookie police officer, his eyes tinged with a glint of danger and sharpness. Jack doesn’t know what tricks Zhao Zi is playing here, but he takes out his phone, and plays the surveillance footage from the camera at the Japanese restaurant’s entrance for Zhao Zi to see.

“They’re really together! I’m looking for Ah Fei urgently, do you know where they went?” He sighs. “Forget it. You definitely don’t know either, otherwise you wouldn’t have brought me here… Damn it, if we don’t find Ah Fei soon, it’ll be my turn to write 3000 words in my apology letter,” Zhao mumbles, standing up from the chair.

“Call him!” Jack commands, taking out his phone and presenting it to his ‘hostage’.

“I tried, but his phone is switched off.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“I said, if I can’t get through to him, I really can’t get through to him.”

Jack holds onto his own phone, and coldly says, “Then give me his number, I’ll call.”

“I’m not going to give it to you! I’m a police officer and at the very least I need to ensure that my colleague is protected and safe, so I won’t give you Ah Fei’s number. I absolutely will not!”

Intrigued suddenly by this fearless boy, Jack circles around Zhao Zi, then stares at him head on, unnervingly.

“Even if you glare at me I won’t.”

Jack takes a step forward, approaching the boy who’s hugging his knees and curling into a ball on the couch.

“Even if you beat me to death I won’t.”

Bam!

Wrapped in fingerless leather gloves, that fist suddenly slams against the back of the couch, and the sound of something being hit echoes in the room.

“No matter what you do, I won’t!”

Zhao Zi is so afraid that he’s already covering his own ears, his entire body shaking in fear, and yet he still refuses Jack in a clear, loud voice.

Jack’s lips curve in a smile. He turns around and walks out of the dark room, and locks the door from the outside.

“Hey! Open the door! Open the door!! Don’t leave me here alone! Hey!” shouts the rookie cop at the top of his lungs as he strikes at the door, the rookie cop who’s not afraid of threats but is apparently, afraid of the dark.

On the mountains, in an abandoned structure

In order to hide from either Wang Kun Cheng or Chen Wen Hao’s men, both Tang Yi and Shao Fei chose to take temporary refuge at this abandoned house first. They started a fire earlier with the wood that Tang Yi found to keep warm, and it is the only source of light in the dark place.

“Can you really not help me open this?” Shao Fei asks, shaking the handcuff still attached to his right wrist.

Tang Yi sends Shao Fei a look, then stresses, “It will hurt!”

“Please, I, Meng Shao Fei, have survived even bullet wounds, will I be scared of this pain?”

Carelessly, Shao Fei reaches his hand over, but the moment Tang Yi grabs onto his thumb and starts to twist it, Shao Fei begins to yell out in pain, “It hurts! It seriously hurts!!”

“I thought you aren’t afraid of pain?”

“Stop twisting it!! Okay okay, I’ll just keep on wearing it then!” Shao Fei implores, his face entirely pale as he hits at Tang Yi’s arm to let him go.

Tang Yi smiles knowingly, as if expecting this outcome all along, and returns to his position by the fire. At this, Shao Fei steals glances at Tang Yi with astonishment, and mumbles, “Fuck. How can this not hurt? Does that guy have any pain nerves in the first place?”

Leaning against the wall, Tang Yi watches as Shao Fei picks up the unused wood and head towards the inside of the house, and he asks, “What are you doing?”

“The weather is so cold, I’m going to start a fire inside and at night we’ll sleep in there.”

“I’m going to take the first watch,” refuses Tang Yi.

It’s as if his rejection just erected a tall and cold wall between them both, but Shao Fei is already used to the way Tang Yi is, so he merely shrugs. He picks up the lighter sitting next to the wood, and says, “Up to you. If you’re not afraid of the cold you can sleep here by yourself, I’m going inside, and lend me this-“

“Don’t touch that!”

Suddenly, Tang Yi who was just a few seconds ago sitting next to the fire, snatches the lighter back from Shao Fei’s hands.

“Why are you so fierce? If you don’t give me the lighter how am I going to start a fire?”

Tang Yi does not reply, only picking up glowing branch from the fire and passing it to Shao Fei. He listens as Shao Fei’s mumbles return to where he was earlier, and as he looks at the lighter sitting in his palm, Tang Yi recalls…

Four years ago

“Here.”

After lighting a cigarette, Tang Guo Dong passes the lighter in his hand to the young man standing next to him.

“Why?”

“I thought you liked it?”

“No work, no reward,” Tang Yi places the lighter back in Tang Guo Dong’s hand, and seriously looks at the man. “What do you want me to help you with?”

Tang Guo Dong is stunned for a moment, and then he laughs, “”Xiao Tang, it’s really so hard to lie to you! I think you, too, know the answer to this question. Help to dismantle Xing Tian Meng, and start to move everything into legal businesses.”

“Aren’t you already doing that?”

“I need someone to continue doing it for me.”

Tang Yi frowns, and once again snatches the cigarette away from Tang Guo Dong’s mouth. “Don’t say that as if you’re going to die soon.”

“When you’re in this line of business, you must always be prepared for death.”

Tang Guo Dong exhales, then opens his left hand where the lighter rests in his palm. He asks, “So what is it? Do you dare take it?”

“Hmph. You failed at your request, so you’ve switched to challenging me instead?”

Tang Guo Dong laughs, taking the cigarette back from Tang Yi, and replies, “You’ll accept it, because you hate drugs more than anyone else. But to make sure you take care of everyone, you need to have money, that’s why no gang in the world will stay away from drugs. Since we’ve decided to call a halt to it, we must be prepared.”

“The person you’re meeting tomorrow… is there a problem?”

“No.. it’s just,” Tang Guo Dong shakes his head, then reaches out with his left arm and hooks it around Tang Yi, “Just treat it as a back up plan. Please. If one day I’m not here anymore, you have to continue with the work of washing Xing Tian Meng clean.”

Hesitantly, Tang Yi looks at Tang Guo Dong who’s speaking with so much emotion. Tang Guo Dong, who is both his father and teacher.

“Xiao Tang! Humans are really too weak, we’re always looking for excuses so we can escape, finding excuses so we can make mistakes, and even blaming our failures on fate, but we forget that for every decision and action we make, we have to pay its price. After all, the money we made from drugs is dirty money, and even if we survived long enough to earn the money, we wouldn’t get to spend it. I don’t want our brothers to live a life standing at the edge of death. I’m not afraid to be laughed at, but it took me a few decades to realise that the best life is one where we live normally.”

“What’s good about a normal life? We’ll only get bullied.”

Just like that year’s 12-year old Tang Yi and 10-year old Hong Ye, two children stranded on the streets, homeless — that was normal enough a life, was it not? But ‘normal’ didn’t feed them, and it would only ensure that they get bullied by children older than they, and if they didn’t meet Tang Guo Dong then, they probably wouldn’t have made it to adulthood. They definitely would not be like this now, having experienced the happiness of being doted on by someone.

Tang Guo Dong turns around, leaning against the railings behind him and thinks about the past. “Maybe the you right now won’t be able to understand, but some people, because of me, were robbed of the ‘normal life’ he should have had. I owe him too much, and in this life, I am unable to make amends.”

“Who? A woman?” Tang Yi asks curiously, looking at the man who, with every sentence, is becoming even more serious.

However, Tang Guo Dong has no intentions of answering that question, and instead just smiles. “One day there’ll be a certain someone who will make you understand what it means to lead a normal life, and what a beautiful feeling it is, to be able to lead this life. So, do you accept?”

The lighter is once against thrust under his nose, and this time, as Tang Yi looks at the wisps of white smoke in the air, he promises, “I promise you. If you’re not around anymore, I will still make sure Xing Tian Meng is washed clean, even if I die-“

“Hey hey hey! You’ve only got one life, don’t waste it.”

Tang Guo Dong tries to stop Tang Yi from saying such inauspicious words, but the 24-year old merely looks into the sky and repeats what the man just told him, “When you’re in this line of business, you must always be prepared for death.”

“You!”

Lines pulling at the edges of his mouth as he smiles, Tang Guo Dong looks at Tang Yi, doting.

“Lao Tang.”

“Hmm?”

Tang Guo Dong throws the butt of his cigarette on the ground and steps on it, then proceeds to light up a second stick.

“I want to ask you a question.”

“Nnn!”

“Why did you pick me? Xing Tian Meng has so many other uncles, and brothers, no? Even if you wanted to find someone younger, there’s still-“

“It can only be you.”

“Why?”

“Because only if I hand it over to you will I be at ease.”

Tears quickly fill his eyes and his vision blurs. Tang Yi looks away, because finally, he’s hearing the words he wanted to hear most.

I’ll be at ease, handing everything over to you.

On the mountains, in an abandoned structure

Tang Yi returns back to the present from his thoughts, only to see that Shao Fei is already lying on the wooden boards, prepared to sleep.

“I really envy you, you can sleep anywhere.”

Lying on the boards, Shao Fei covers his own body with his olive green jacket, as he removed the jacket earlier to treat his own wound, and says, “As human beings we need to be adaptable and take whatever comes, a young, rich master like you who can’t sleep without a bed will never understand.”

“Do you know how to train, to escape?”

Shao Fei looks at Tang Yi at his sudden, seemingly irrelevant question, not understanding why he’s bringing this up at all.

“You have to train when you’re young. First, you twist the thumb inwards. Wait for the bone to grow again and then twist it broken again. Grow, then break. You practice it repeatedly until you’re able to do it. I ask you, which rich master from any family grows up like that?”

Shao Fei looks at this man, who now seems so different from the man he imagined in his head, and asks, “Who forced you to?”

“No one forced me to, I wanted to do it myself. Being part of any gang… we are closer to death, and when you want to survive, you’ll force yourself to do a lot of things.”

“So it’s not that you can’t sleep… but you don’t dare to sleep?”

So when Tang Yi said that he would keep watch earlier, it wasn’t because he was distancing himself, or putting a wall back up in between the both of them, but because the man before his eyes doesn’t feel that he has a person he can truly rely on and trust.

At this sudden display of sensitivity from the usually impulsive and fiery character that is Shao Fei, Tang Yi is speechless. He then laughs wistfully, walking to where there should have been windows installed in this entire building. Leaning against the rusty surface and looking at the clear sky and moon, he says, “I’m only pretending to go legal with Xing Tian Meng, actually I am-“

Shao Fei gets up from where he’s seated and interrupts Tang Yi’s sarcastic monologue. Bowing, he apologises, “It’s my fault! I was wrong. I was too full of myself, to be so sure that it was you… Tang Yi, I’m sorry!”

Tang Yi looks at the man before him, and somewhere deep inside his heart, he is moved by Shao Fei’s words.

“Hey, I’ve already said so much, you should at least give me a response!”

“This is my first time seeing a monkey who knows how to reflect on himself.”

“Hey! Who are you calling a monkey? Let me tell you, even if you’re sincere in trying to wash Xing Tian Meng clean, I will be keeping my eyes on you. The moment you do anything illegal, I’ll still arrest you!”

“Keep your eyes on me?”

“Yes! Keep my eyes on you. Both eyes!” Shao Fei points his fingers at Tang Yi.

In that moment, Tang Yi’s mouth curves into a smile that Shao Fei has never seen before, and says, “Okay. Then I’ll keep on letting you keep your eyes on me.”

“Then I- I’m going to sleep. Good- good night…”

Suddenly, Shao Fei can feel his cheeks heating up again. He flees back to the corner he was lying at earlier, pulls his jacket over himself and pretends to sleep.

[dustedandsocial]

Music 2018 April: There’s too much music and it isn’t helping anyone. Please stop all music.

Rock, punk, post-punk, psych, etc. Also folk I guess?

Full-Lengths Bart De Paepe - Pagus Wasiae LP (Beyond Beyond Is Beyond) Blank Realm - Last Seen LP (Hobbies Galore) Blind Mans Band - Blind Mans Band CS [Orig. 2016] (Insula Jazz) Bridge of Flowers - Bridge of Flowers CS (Sloow Tapes) Bodies On Everest - A National Day Of Mourning CD (Third-I-Rex) Chris Cogburn, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, Bob Hoffnar, Henry Kaiser - En Las Montañas de Excesos LP (Self Sabotage) Christian Kann - Tang® Under the Bridge... CS (Metaphysical Circuits) Chocolat Billy - Délicat déni LP (Kythibong / Les Potagers Natures) Convivial Cannibal Clan - Autosarcophagy CS (Ignorant Ear Tapes) COXNOX - COXNOX CD (Econore) Death by Delirium - Pushing up the Daisies CS (Wilhelm show me the Major Label) The Doozer ‎- Figurines LP (Feeding Tube) DLVRNC - DLVRNC (Self-Released) Faux Départ ‎- Au Pied Du Mur LP (Colilla / Doomtown) Flesh Narc - Songs of Reality CS (NULLZØNE) Great Saunites - Brown CD (Il Verso Del Cinghiale / Hypershape / Toten Schwan) Gnaw Their Tongues - Genocidal Majesty LP (Consouling Sounds) Headroom / Dire Wolves - Split CS (Pome Pome Tones) Holiday Inn - Torbido LP (Maple Death) Hospice - Hospice CS (Scavenger of Death) Itchy Bugger - Done One LP (Low Company) Jacob Yates - The Hare. The Moon. The Drone. LP (Optimo Music) Jesus Is My Son - Tout a une fin (même l'amour) CD (Cheap Satanism) King Dick - KDIII LP (King Dick) KTB - KTB II LP (Feeding Tube) Lewsberg - Lewsberg LP (Self-Released) Leverton Fox - I Am Zebra LP (Not Applicable) Litku Klemetti - Taika Tapahtuu LP (Luova) Locean - Object / Disco CS (Box) Maailmanloppu - Tuhon Koodi LP (Svart) Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog - Yru Still Here CD (Yellowbird / Enja) Lonker See - One Eye Sees Red CD (Instant Classic) Makoto Kawabata • Richard Pinhas • Yoshida Tatsuya - Trax LP (Bam Balam) Mark Wynn - Damp Towels Stink Drama (Desert Mine) MÄSÄ - Viimesen päälle LP (Luova) Mr Sterile - Haters, Wreckers and other Friends CD (skirted) Ramble Tamble - Outlaw Overtones CS (Eiderdown) The Shna - Fairytape CS (Kitchen Leg) Sonic Death - Punks Against Mafia Vol. 1 (DTH Studios) Spost - Monkey Face LP (Self-Released) Stratocastors - Living Under The Johnny Vacances LP (Et Mon Cul C’est Du Tofu) Thee Agnes Muller - Le Bad CS (Degelite) The Submissives - Pining for a Boy CS (Egg Paper) Tommy Jay & The General - Florida Songs LP (Feeding Tube) Total Leatherette - For The Climax Of The Night LP (Mïlk) The Trendees - NIGHTMARE CITY (Self-Released) Vanta - Vanta II CS (Self-Released) Weasel Walter - Skhiizm CD (ugEXPLODE) Weeping Bong Band - Weeping Bong Band LP (Feeding Tube) Wombo - Staring At Trees CS (Sophomore Lounge) Yes Deer - Gloss LP (Abstract Tits) Ylayali - Pumpkin Patch CS / Picked Apart (Self-Released) Zëro - Ain't That Mayhem 2xLP (Ici d'Ailleurs)

Singles, EPs, Demos Basic Human - Cassette CS (Meatspin) Bodybags - Demo 2018 (Self-Released) Can Can Heads - Duo Exchange in 4´42 Minutes EP (Self-Released) Cerkkyu - Demo CS (MYDY / Overflöd / Pissed Off!) Crude - Drug Culture 12" (Farewell) Dauðyflin - Dauþiflin 7" EP (Iron Lung) Dick Whyte & Finn Johansson - What Kind Of Bird Am I 7" (Ilk Ither) Ecstasy - Ecstasy 7" EP (Digital Regress) Fatamorgana - Fatamorgana CS (Self-Released) Floating Skull - FROSTED MINOTAUR / SECULAR BUTCHER CS (Self-Released) Gen Pop - II 7" EP (Feel It) Hetze - Bedbugs (Self-Released) Jesus Is My Son - Désolé 7" (Lexi Disques) Kovaa Rasvaa - Pahan vaimon käsikirja 12" (Svart) Laurence Wasser - The Garden CS (Kitchen Leg) Life Fucker - Z - 12" (Static Age) Merlin Nova - Protect Your Flame EP (Blank Editions) Nandas - EP II (Toxic State) No Future - Demo CS (Televised Suicide) NoNoNo - Cutting Edge CD (Self-Released) Photogenic - Demo CS (Self-Released) Physique - Punk Life Is Shit 12" (Iron Lung) Primer Regimen - Ultimo Testamento 12" (Byllepest Distro) Punctï - Quartz Hour Shining Sphere (Self-Released) Pvnisher - Pvnishment Demonstration CS (Razored Raw) Rapid Tan - Golden Wonder EP (Self-Released) Sara Fuego - soundcloud demos Scarlatine - Tine EP (Self-released) Slab City - Regina Delle Streghe CS (Always Restrictions) Slant - Demo 2018 CS (Headcount / Pissed Off!) Skitklass - Kaos Och Förstörelse 4-låtars 7" EP (Hardcore Survives) Stagger - Thermobaeric Blues CS (Self-Released) Street Gurgler - Live on WRUW CS (Adamant Blasts / Pete Smokes Weed Tapes) Terebentina - O outro (Self-Released) XUX - XUX CS (Hobbies Galore) [pictured] WAMEKI - 72 Hours EP (Self-Released)

 Experimental, Avant-Garde, Free Jazz, etc

6majik9 - Ritual Zero / Monk Nun 2xCDr (chemical imbalance.) Ad`Absurdum & Strøm - Infest LP (Acoustic Desaster / Tonzonen) Adam Cadell - Bush Songs CS (Soft Abuse) Adderall Canyonly - The Limits of All Known Ice CS (Lighten Up Sounds) Aeolipile - Observational error CD (Foolproof Projects) AMK & WM Zarate - Embedded CS (Regional Bears) Amuleto - Misztériumok LP (Three꞉four) Aqueduct Ensemble - Improvisations on an Apricot LP (Last Resort) AmErIkAn TeEnAgEr - Bandcamp CS (Barreuh) Awkward Geisha & GX Jupitter-Larsen - Final Destination CS (Lurker Bias) Baldruin - Vergessene Träume LP (Ikuisuus) Bianca Scout -  __dislex-ia (Beatrice & Annie) Bella e Cadu Tenório - Vazios CS (QTV) Body Morph - The Three Mothers CS (Moon Myst Music) Brianna Kelly / Sympathy Pain - Split CS (Whited Sepulchre) Carlo Giustini - Sant'angelo CS (Purlieu Recordings) Chaos Echœs with Mats Gustafsson - Sustain LP (Utech) Chesterfield - Consuelo CD (Mikroton) Chow Mwng - Ah Alpine ! CDr (Self-Released) Church Shuttle - Natural Disaster 7'' (Soft Abuse) Columbus Duo - À Temps CD (Dead Sailor Muzic) Crazy Doberman - "Get Lost Pens Of Baldwin" Particle I & II CS (Fag Tapes) Dane Rousay - IMP-ENV 10'' (Colour8) Dead Voices on Air - Mirror Carrier CS (Format Noise) Dirk Wachtelaer, Jürgen De Blonde, Alec Ilyine, Gert De Meester - Tales From The Hellhole (Self-Released) Disposición Asoleada - Sigses Saturninos 7'' (Lexi Disques) Dwarfs of East Agouza - Rats Don’t Eat Synthesizers LP (Akuphone) Èlg - Vu Du Dôme LP (Editions Gravats) eRikm & Percussions de Strasbourg - Drum-Machines 2xLP (Percussions de Strasbourg) Fuck My WInter - Hic svnt leones CS (Jeunesse Cosmique) Jérôme Noetinger & Sec_ - La Cave Des Étendards CD (Mikroton) John Godbert - The Sealed Container CDr (Chocolate Monk) Kurt Liedwart & Petr Vrba - Punkt CD (Mikroton) kutin | kindlinger - Decomposition IV (Variations on Bulletproof Glass) 2xLP (Ventil) Lärmschutz - Divine Descent CS (No Index) Lao Dan 老丹 - 思維扭曲的行動體 Functioning Anomie CS (WV Sorcerer Productions) Les Horribles Travailleurs & Mechanical Ape - Collaborative Soundworks CS (Noir Age) Li Jianhong 李劍鴻 - 1969 CS (WV Sorcerer Productions) Louise Landes Levi - IKIRU or The Wanderer LP (Oaken Palace) Lucrecia Dalt - Anticlines LP (RVNG Intl.) Maria da Rocha - Beet Root & Other Stories CD (Shhpuma) Martín Escalante and Charlie Mumma - Escalante / Mumma CS (Sploosh) Me Donner - ÉÀ&! (Self-Released) Mei Zhiyong 梅志勇 / Ryosuke Kiyasu - 高円寺 Kōenji CS (WV Sorcerer Productions) Michael Foster / Ben Bennett / Jacob Wick - Glove Issues CD (Palliative) Mike Dilloway - Hay Bale Paws CD (Chocolate Monk) Nat Birchall - Cosmic Language LP (Jazzman) Neutrals - 0318 CS (Alien Passengers) Nick Hoffman - Salamander CS (Notice) La banane de Hakim - Q EP (Self-Released) Q'uq'umatz - Tepeu CS (WV Sorcerer Productions) Paulie Shankwank / Zawinul Cropse - Split CS (Post-Materialization) Red Brut - Red Brut LP (KRAAK) Richmond Avant Improv Collective - Communion / Il Delirio E La Mortalità Di Amore 2xCD (Arachnidiscs) Rob Michalchuk - Where Did You Learn To Fly CS / Thirty CS (Poor Little Music) Saboteuse - X CS (Crow Versus Crow) Sensual Spasmo - Lichhouse Drip Feed CS (Moon Myst Music) Simon Cummings - 間 (ma) CS (Crónica) Sparkle in Grey - The Bones of Quietness CD (Grey Sparkle) The Spiders - Bit Offset 2xCS (chemical imbalance.) STARBIRTHED - The Dweller On the Threshold CS (Flower Room) Tasos Stamou - Musique con Crète LP (Discrepant) Tatras / Oostanaula - Split CS (Park 70) Thembi Soddell - Love Songs CD (Room40) Threes And Will / Deludium Skies - Kraaipan / From The Dirt Arose The Lesser King CD (Xtelyon) Tomaga - Music for Visual Disorders LP (meakusma) Torben Snekkestad, Agusti Fernandez, Barry Guy - Louisiana Variations CD (Fundacja Słuchaj) VA - 2018 Balkan Experimental Survey - Post Industrial Culture Series (Unexplained Sounds Group) VA - New Modernism (Unexplained Sounds Group) VA - Solidarity Is Our Weapon Against All Prisons (Anarchist Black Cross Benefit) 2xCS (Totes Format) Uton - Sax On, Sax Off CS (Eiderdown) Vanessa Amara - Manos LP (Posh Isolation) Wukir Suryadi - Atas Nama Bunyi /  In The Name Of Sound 2008 EP (Self-Released) Zohastre - Pan And The Master Pipers LP (S.K Records)

Reissues, Archival

A New Personality - A New Personality 1981-84 (No Label) Cardiacs - The Seaside (Original Edition) [Orig. 1983, Remastered] (The Alphabet Business Concern) Dino J.A. Deane - For Leena 2xLP [Rec. 1991-1998] (Lullabies For Insomniacs) Expo 70 - Mother Universe Has Birthed Her Last Cosmos 2xCD [Rec. 2008-2010] (Zoharum) Goz Of Kermeur - Greatest Hits 2xLP [Rec. 1992-1996] (Jelodanti / Et Mon Cul C'est Du Tofu / Degelite) Heldon - Electronique Guerilla LP / Heldon II LP [Orig. 1974, 1975] (Bureau B) Nexda - Words & Numbers LP [Rec. 1982] (Emotional Rescue / Blowpipe / Mannnequin) Nocturnal Projections - Complete Studio Recordings LP / Inmates In Images LP [Rec. 1981-1983] (Dais) No Trend - You Deserve Your Life. LP [Rec. 1983] (Digital Regress, 2018) Norgez Bank - Samfunnets tjenera LP [Rec. 1980-1982] (Fucking North Pole) Onyx - Complete Works 1981-1983 LP (MIND Records) Peggy Lee & Dylan van der Schyff - These Are Our Shoes [Orig. 1998] (WhirrbooM!) Pellethead - The Best of a Bad Bunch LP [Rec. 1992-2017] (GNUinc) PRRRL JAM - Prrrl Jam 2xCS [Orig. 2014, Expanded] (Grog Pappy) Residents - The W⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎ B⁎⁎⁎ Album LP [Rec. 1971]͙͙ (New Ralph Too) Shatterbox - Strung Out On The Line LP [Orig. 1981] (Dig! Records) Sun Ra - God Is More Than Love Can Ever Be LP [Orig. 1979, Remastered] (Cosmic Myth) Tunnelrunners - Neath Abbey Road CD [Rec. 1980-1982] (Only Fit For The Bin) Unknown Artist - Early Sampling Puzzle, Potentially Recorded During The Late 1980′s LP (Delodio) Unovidual - Synthetic Solitude CS [Rec. 1983-1986] (Kontakt)

Electronic

AQXDM - Aegis 12'' (Bedouin) Astrid Sonne - Human Lines LP (Escho) Beat Detectives - Rhythms & Edits Volume 1 CS (Altered States) Blue Nude - Blue Nude CS (Puff Boys) burnet207 - forever CD (Jacktone) C_C - Brumas, Nieblas, Neblinas CS (Zamzam) Chloé - Recall Remixes 12'' (Lumière Noire) Curses - Pedal To The Metal And Don't Look Back 12'' (Bordello A Parigi) CVN - Kaisou CS (Altered States) Cyclist - Alabaster Thrones 12'' (100% Silk) Eomac - Reconnect LP (Eotrax) Garland - Preludes #1 LP (Lullabies For Insomniacs) House Of Kenzo - Bonfires Of Urbanity CS (Ascetic House) Hugo Jay - Tape Two LP (Coastal Haze) Hysteric - In The Moonlight 12'' (Violette Szabo) Jack Patterson - Snapping The Golden Thread CS (Archive) Kiwi - Mountains Of Dew 12'' (Disco Halal) Lauren Tosswill - My Home In The Year 12'' (Enmossed) Low Jack - Riddims du Lieu-dit LP (Editions Gravats) Mateis e. aqir - Geography of Nowhere 12'' (Jungle Gym) Mind Safari - The Dream Manipulator CS (Jacktone) Modified Man - Modifications꞉ Set 2 LP (Albert’s Favourites) Mrs Dink - The Norma Meetings EP (Run On Recordings) NN* - Cave Of The Birdbath King CS (Self-Released) Opal Beau - Open Window CS (Altered States) Overloper - Aposynthesis 12'' (Pater Noster) Piotr Połoz - Shameful Hatred CDr (Mik.Musik.!.) PSYCHOPOP - The Devil's Drums and the Angelic Electronics CS (HIT+RUN) Raquin - Ariclone CS (Janushoved) Ssaliva - WYIN 12'' (Collapsing Market) Somaticae - Planètes De Glace CS (ABRecords) VA - HU-MR96 3x12'' (MISTRESS Recordings) VA - Metallurgic 12'' (Metallurgic) VA - NOWHERE01 (Something Happening Somewhere) VA - One Instrument Volume 01 LP (One Instrument)

[directorscutandsomeotherstuff]

The Battle at Hu Lao Gate

(Welcome to Director’s Cut, the segment where we beat up peasants in the hundreds and then beat up hundreds more. Today, let’s go back to classic literature.)

(Romance of the Three Kingdoms is one of China’s most well-known works of literature, alongside such things as “Journey to the West” and [author’s note: look up another work of classic Chinese literature before publishing this post. Preferably an obscure one that wasn’t turned into an anime or video game, so I look super smart and cool.] It’s a mythologized account of the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history, written fully a millennium after the fact, that blends together historical fact, artistic license, and the sort of Confucian and Legalistic philosophical discussions that, even today, captures the interest of those people whose eyes wouldn’t immediately glaze over at having to read an eight hundred thousand word long book.)

(Clearly, for those with such a scholarly mindset, it’s only fitting to think that people might try and use the medium of fanfiction to render their personal interpretation of the lofty concepts of Chinese philosophy and... oh, wait, what? You’re saying that’s not what false-colors, the author of this work, was trying to do? You’re saying they just played Dynasty Warriors a bunch and decided to make a fanfic of the video game, and just dropped it in the category for the work of 14th century literature? Yeah, that sounds about right. Let’s dig in, yeah?)

THE BATTLE AT HU LAO GATE Disclaimer: No, I didn't think up or make the "Dynasty Warriors" series, the video game company Koei did, well they didn't really think it up, all the battles in the game really happen back in early AD time in China, they just made it into a video game, and a great one at that. (That wasn’t a run on sentence. That was a thousand li somersaulting sentence.) Author's notes: The Battle at Hu Lao Gate really did happen. I think, but not at all like this. Like the character Xiahou Dun. who was a real person.I think, he probably wasn't even in the Battle at Hu Lao Gate, and in this story he dies which isn't true, he died way latter. (Significantly latter. What little I could find in five minutes of searching says he probably died decades latter.) There are also a couple other characters that probably weren't in this battle, but I am positive that the character Lu Bu was. (Again, what little I could find in a quick search seems to suggest the battle of Hulao Gate didn’t even happen. It may be mentioned in the book, and it’s certainly in the game, but whenever I do a search, half the results say it’s fake, and the other half link me to Dynasty Warriors)  Also Dong Zhuo's army didn't win that battle Cao Cao's alliance did. Also if you don't have the game, just to help you out, there are 3 armies the "Wei", "Wu" and "Shu". This battle only involves the Wei. Winter, 191 AD a few years after The Yellow Turban Rebellion where Xiahou Dun defeated the magical Zhang Jiao, the trader Dong Zhuo has gained too much power over the land in China; (using the power of sensible trade deals and commodity management. Also, he was a traitor. A traitor!)  Coa Coa (the Wei supreme general) has formed an alliance against him. The battle to over-throw Dong Zhuo begins now. Xiahou Dun (a Wei general), wheeling his enormous Kirin Sword, is preparing his troops for battle. (His troops exchange glances, wondering who should be the first to tell Xiahou Dun that, if he needs to cart his sword around in a wheelbarrow, it’s probably too heavy for him to use properly.) Dong Zhuo's troops have already taken control of the gate and are camped south of it in his castle. The first wave of Wei troops are fighting at the gate, while Xiahou Dun cuts his way through to the back entrance. (His troops also resent being sent to battle while they’re still preparing for it. Xiahou Dun was the worst general in China.) Blow after blow Dong Zhuo's troops drop to the group until none are standing. Stabbing the last one blocking his path from the top of the gate through the heart, he steps on to the gate to only be faced with five bowmen, which he cuts down easily. (Luckily for Xiahou Dun’s men, Dong Zhou’s troops were trained from day one to do absolutely nothing to defend themselves, when soldiers attacked.) "We will jump down and attack them.", he yelled to his bodyguards. And with a swoop they leaps from the gate wall to the ground gracefully. (And then they landed, falling to the cold ground in a mass of broken legs and cracked skulls. Xiahou Dun spared himself by landing on one of his bodyguards.) Dong Zhuo's troops were everywhere, but he was much stronger then them, and he slashed through each one decapitating some and just leaving gapping cuts in others. The few generals that were there put up some fight for him, but still were no match. (It was truly the most exciting battle ever, with one side being categorically superior and not even feeling a hint of adversity.) And after the last one was cut down the gates were pried open and revealed yet another massive riot of Dong Zhuo troops.  Far off Dian Wei has started the battle with Lu Bu, one of the greatest warriors in China who favored his Lunar Spear and was crushing Dian Wei's troops with it. (”Damn,” said Dian Wei. “I’ve fought many warriors in China who favored his Lunar Spear and was crushing my troops with it, but this Lu Bu guy is, without a doubt, one of the greatest warriors in China who ever favored a specific weapon and is currently using it to crush my troops.”) It seemed no one was a match for Lu Bu, also the most feared warrior in China. He had already wiped out the two Wei generals camped south of the Hu Lao Gate near the castle and all the troops with them. (They didn’t even get a shot in. It’s almost like they just sort of stood there like idiots and let Lu Bu kill them, just so he could rack up a kill counter.) He was not far from the Wei Base in the north and not far from where Xiahou Dun was fighting. The enemy has been defeated near the Hu Lao Gate; bodies lie scattered and bloody all over the ground. Xiahou Dun has gotten word of Lu Bu, and orders not to go after him, but to go to the castle and defeat Dong Zhuo. He refuses. "No! I must destroy Lu Bu. There will be time for Dong Zhuo latter.", Xiahou Dun says. "But general, our lord has ordered us to attack the castle, we must.", says the messenger. Cutting him off, "If I don't kill Lu Bu now he will destroy us in the next battle", says Xiahou Dun.

(”No, we’ll be fine,” the messenger tried to reassure. “He’s only killing unnamed generals and soldiers. We crate those guys in by the gross, specifically for named characters to cut down. It’s a tradition, here in China.”) Xiahou rides off on a stolen enemy horse. He is headed toward the gate in the north were Dian Wei is. Lu Bu is there and has destroyed most of Dian Wei's troops and has severally injured Dian Wei. (”Damn,” said Dian Wei. “I’m not just singly injured. Or even like, couply injured. I’m like... severally injured.”) As Xiahou Dun arrives Dian Wei is retreating toward him battered and bloody. He says to Xiahou Dun in an almost dead voice: "Don't fight him, he is to powerful, he will kill you, run away! NOW!" Dian Wei falls to the ground and is carried away by his few remaining guards. Xiahoiu Dun approaches Lu Bu who is unhurt despite his battle with Dian Wei and the other generals. He is riding his horse Red Hare, the fastest horse in the land that only listens to him. (”Damn,” said Xiahou Dun, picking up where the brave Dian Wei had left off. “I’ve seen a lot of horses that only listen to Lu Bu, but that one has to be the fastest horse in China that only listens to Lu Bu.”) They begin to speak. "I have come to fight you, I hear you are a good general", says Xiahou Dun. "You pitiful fool, I will destroy you and the rest of your army.", says Lu Bu. "After I take your head I will then take Dong Zhuo's.", Xiahou Dun Says. "Well you are going to have to fight for it.", Lu Bu says as he slashes at Xiahou Dun Knocking him off his horse. With a flip in mid air Xiahou Dun is back on his feet and tries to cut at Lu Bu on his horse but he flips of at that same moment and the fight begins. Xiahou strikes first with a combination of five hits, all blocked, and then he charges up for a powerful swipe that should have sent Lu Bu Flying but only knocked him off balance. (Trust me on this. It defied the laws of physics, this exchange.) Lu Bu comes back with a few hit that are blocked by Xiahou Dun's mighty sword, (actually, it was mostly by the wheelbarrow it was being held in, but Xiahou gets testy when you bring that up.) but the last one sends him to the ground. This gives Lu Bu a chance to charge up and strike his Lunar Spear in to the ground creating a small earthquake sending Xiahou Dun back to his knees. (From the ground? Did it knock him back up, and then drop him down to his knees?) The battle goes on like this for hours, (really stupidly.) hit after hit from each other only a few actually doing any damage. Until finally Xiahou Dun cannot go on, his attacks are only getting weaker and Lu Bu seems to only be pushing harder and harder. (Part of it might have been that unlike Xiahou Dun, Lu Bu actually thought to come to battle with a weapon he could actually carry.) Then with a mighty swoop Lu Bu trips the unsteady Xiahou Dun up into the air and strikes him down to his knees with the end of his spear. "No, I cannot go on.", says Xiahou Dun, "I am to weak, my lord Cao Cao, please forgive me" "You should have listen to Dian Wei and ran away.", says Lu Bu, "Now you will die" Lu Bu sunk his Lunar Spear into the center of Xiahou Dun's head, killing him instantly and leaving him limp in a pool of his own blood. Lu Bu rides away on Red Hare to The Hu Lao Gate where more of Dong Zhuo's troops accompany him. They destroy the Wei army in one great blow. (It was truly an epic battle, where nobody bothered to fight after the only competent soldier on the Wei side was killed. It was like knocking down scarecrows.) Lu Bu goes on to fight many more battles leading his own armies and defeating many great generals. He is eventually killed in battle, his armies destroyed and forever remembered as one of the greatest and feared warriors in China (who ever favored the Lunar Spear, had a horse named Red Hare who only listened to him, and who ever crushed Dian Wei’s troops. If you didn’t compare him using such ludicrously specific descriptors, however, he was actually kind of a shit fighter.).