Pristine Darkness - Chapter 113

As always, I hope you’re keeping well, safe, and sane, wherever you are. I am looking forward to hugging my friends and family, in person, rather than just waving at them or chatting online (although I’m grateful we can do that). Stay at home and read on!

Well, well, well . . . Song Kun sets ‘Smiling Snake’ a task to earn his place on the Buddha’s Hand senior management team, and Bo Jinyan and Jian Yao find out that they are not only looking for the masked killer, but a police mole, as well. Hmmm . . .

SPOILER NOTICE! The PD team will be running a competition soon with bonus chapters as prizes. You might want to think through all that is revealed about the 5 luohans in these few chapters to get a head start on the competition ????

Join us on Discord (link to the right) to discuss the novel or just to hang out.

The second hand of the clock on the wall ticked away. Zheng Chen was a study in concentration* as he had already waited for more than half an hour. When did his thoughts start distracting him?

*T/N 眼观鼻鼻观心 (yan guan bi bi guan xin) – lit. eyes looking at the nose, nose looking at the heart. The person in question is looking down, which depending on the context, can indicate humility, obedience, concentration etc.

With Zhao Kun’s entrance, Qin Sheng’s increasing importance, Gu An’s rise, and now this Ah She . . . Zheng Chen furrowed his brows slightly, raised his head and looked at the tightly shut room door. Many times previously, whenever Buddha’s Hand met someone, he had always brought him along. This time, he only allowed him to wait outside the door.

What were they talking about? That even required him to stand guard?

A surge of cold gripped his chest. After a moment of silence, he looked up and saw that there was no one either in or outside the corridor, only him.

He took a few steps towards the door.

The soundproofing of Buddha’s Hand’s office was excellent. However, it was not completely sealed off. He shut his eyes, calmed his mind, and carefully listened to the barely audible voices.

——

“Ah She, help me check something.”

Song Kun stood at the window. Outside the window, the river and mountains cast their green shadows. At a glance, he looked to be simply a handsome, bright and steady man. However, the almost imperceptible movements of his fingers betrayed an indeterminate sense of something deep and profoundly felt.

Jian Yao sat next to Bo Jinyan and quietly watched the first real confrontation between the two men.

Bo Jinyan’s fingers tapped lightly on the armrest as he laughingly said, “Boss, whatever it is, go ahead and brief me.” His tone was lax and his voice was ice-cold. Jian Yao could not help mentally awarding him another 100 points.

Song Kun turned around, smiled, and walked over to sit down in front of the table. He lit a cigar and offered one to Bo Jinyan. Remembering that Bo Jinyan could not see, he glanced at Jian Yao. However, before Jian Yao could speak, Bo Jinyan had sniffed, then said, “Cigar? The taste is too strong, I don’t like it.”

Song Kun laughed and tossed the cigar back into the box. Following that, he stared at Bo Jinyan and said, “I’m very happy that you brought that thing to me. However, if you want to join Buddha’s Hand and become my right-hand man, this is not enough. Thus, I want you to do one more thing. One more very important thing. Once you’ve completed it, you will be my brother in Buddha’s Hand. The other brothers will not make any objection.

Bo Jinyan grinned widely and said, “What is it? As long as I can do it.”

Song Kun did not reply immediately but retrieved the information from a drawer. As his long, slender fingers gently stroked the cover, he asked, in a voice that had abruptly turned cold, “Smiling Snake, how did you get this information?”

Jian Yao was deeply shaken.

Indeed, the information recorded many secrets about the organisation of Buddha’s Hand. If all the clues were meticulously traced back, there would even be an opportunity to wipe out* Buddha’s Hand. When Song Kun had seen the contents, he had most likely suffered a fright. In truth, Jian Yao and the others had no idea how Smiling Snake had received the news and attacked Zhu Tao to snatch the information before heading for Buddha’s Hand with the intent of presenting him with this treasure. That Buddha’s Hand was asking about this now – was it to probe them, or was it doubt?

*T/N 一锅端 (yi guo duan) – lit. to take even the cooking pots

Whichever it was, the first order of importance was absolutely not to show ignorance. Consequently, Jian Yao first allowed a meaningful smile to show on her face. In an instant, Song Kun’s astute gaze had landed on her. His deep black eyes seemed to understand everything.

Jian Yao’s enigmatic smile remained unchanged.

At this time, a slow smile appeared on Bo Jinyan’s face. He said, “Last month, Zhu Tao did away with eight of my brothers. Some were captured, and some were shot dead. Of course, I wanted to give him a taste of his own medicine*. His wife and children are in Kunming (capital of Yunnan), so I sent someone over there . . . the information was gleaned from his wife.”

*T/N 以其人之道，还治其人之身 (yi qi ren zhi dao, hai zhi gi ren zhi shen) – an idiom from Song dynasty neo-Confucianist Zhu Xi, meaning to use an opponent’s own methods to gain retribution.

Jian Yao did not expect him to spout such nonsense with such earnestness*. After Song Kun had listened to all this, he muttered to himself irresolutely. Then, he clapped his hands and said, “Enduring humiliation as part of an important mission, finding an alternative route, reversing the situation – Ah She, I didn’t misjudge you.”

*T/N 煞有其事 (sha you qi shi) – to make a show of being very much in earnest

Bo Jinyan smiled. “You won’t misjudge me. What the hell is it that you want me to do?”

His tone was somewhat impatient, but Song Kun stared at him unhurriedly and smiled before saying, “Ah She, although you are intelligent, you lack experience. You were able to get hold of this information, but you never once thought, why was Zhu Tao able to get hold of this information?”

Bo Jinyan replied, “He has chased after us, investigated us for so many years; you mean to say that this information is not the result of his investigation?”

Song Kun laughed icily and said, “Even if he investigated us for ten years, there is some information that the police, being on the outside, would find it very hard to dig up. The contents even touched on the details of some of my business transactions.”

Jian Yao’s eyes widened suddenly, while Bo Jinyan’s face changed. “You mean . . .”

Song Kun looked at the two of them and slowly nodded. “There is a traitor by my side. Zhu Tao is not a simple person. He buried a pawn deep beside me. Additionally, this person must be of a fairly high rank, otherwise he would not know those secrets.”

“Actually, I have had my suspicions for a very long time. These last few years, I have lost goods three times, all of which were No. 4*. The losses ran into the millions. The people who delivered the goods also went missing. The others thought these people were merely double-crossing* me, but I suspected they had been captured by the police. It was only because they couldn’t find this place and thus had no way to convict me that no further action was taken.”

*T/N No. 4 – we’re not sure what this refers to, possibly the type of goods in question.

*T/N 黑吃黑 (hei chi hei) – lit. black eats black; fig, doing the dirty on another villain

“You are newcomers, and have no interest in or association with anyone. Apart from me, only you two have seen this information. To add to this, Smiling Snake is so intelligent and astute, I think only the two of you are able to handle the situation.”

“Help me uncover this policeman, and I will make mincemeat of him as a warning to others. Then, Smiling Snake, you will take over his position.”

——

Bo Jinyan and Jian Yao strolled along the river bank. It was going to be dark soon. The winding river, with the reflection of the green mountains superimposed on it, seemed endless. There were no boats at all on the river. This was indeed a little corner forgotten by the world, an abandoned city.

The two of them walked along in silence for a while. Jian Yao said, “Buddha’s Hand has set us a problem.”

“Yeah,” Bo Jinyan sighed. “If we really find that police officer, he will surely die, and we will consequently gain Buddha’s Hand’s complete trust. If we can’t find him . . .”

“What will happen if we can’t find him?”

“Buddha’s Hand has no reason to consider us of use to him. If we are unable to find him and get rid of the traitor in his inner circle, being outsiders who have seen the organisation’s confidential information . . .” Bo Jinyan smiled coldly. “What do you think he will do to us?”

Jian Yao’s heart sank. This Buddha’s Hand had an air of refinement about him, but in reality he was always thinking deeply, scheming away, and being ruthlessly vicious. It was a challenge to deal with him. On thinking about it, they also did not know how the masked killer perceived Song Kun. He was hiding within the organisation of Buddha’s Hand, but apart from hiding, why else was he there? Had he been attracted by Song Kun’s charisma . . . or did he have some hidden motive?

“That means to say, Song Kun has, by his side, right now, not only a police officer, but also the masked killer,” Jian Yao said.

“Yes.” Bo Jinyan smiled faintly as he said, “Don’t you feel that this situation has become even more interesting? Actually, the minute Song Kun started talking today, I knew what his goal was. However, appropriately acting the fool was able to satisfy his arrogance and desire for control.”

There was a faint glimmer in his eyes because he was excited by the stimulating, thrilling confrontation that was nigh. That was his arrogant, self-confident nature. On the other hand, Jian Yao was unable to relax. As Bo Jinyan had said before, previously, no matter what the case, no matter the danger and the risk of death, they had always been the enforcers of the law, investigating and pursuing the criminals. However, this time, they were right in the thick of things.

“What should we do?” Jian Yao asked.

Bo Jinyan took off his sunglasses and closed his eyes. He faced the river, so that she could only see his side profile. The wind blew softly over this short hair and cheeks. In spite of everything, he was still calm and confident. Slowly and deliberately, he said, “They are very likely among those few people. We have to be faster than Buddha’s Hand in finding them. It is time to draw up the profiles of the police officer and the killer.”