204 – Blue Moon

Shudi said he had hidden away information about Wing Bo, but when Li Yun returned to retrieve it, the information was already wiped out. Wing Bo seemed to be aware that Shudi had kept files on him, and that some point, switched out the evidence. What Shudi had on file was useless. 

However, there was still the bodyguard. Li Yun had kept the bodyguard because his reaction was different from the other ones. Unlike the usual bodyguard, he seemed to have accepted his fate.

“You think he’s a trained assassin?” asked Li Yun.

Ju De nodded. "I never had the pleasure to encounter one before, but I imagined assassins are the type of people who are at the end of their ropes, ex-military, or someone who enjoyed killing."

The assassin did not appear to have the usual stance of someone trained in the military, but he reacted quickly to Li Yun's provocation.

“I think he’s more valuable than Shudi,” said Ju De.

“Someone who’s not afraid of death?” Li Yun had met a lot of people who were not afraid of death. Most people were afraid of dying, or the pain associated with death. It was why torturing people had better results than threatening people with death. There was nothing worse than endless pain.

Li Yun walked inside Fenki’s cell and sat down on a metal folded chair that he had taken inside. Fenki had no reaction, and Li Yun remained silent, reading Fenki’s faces.

“How old were you when they trained you?” Li Yun asked.

Fenki’s eyebrow twitched slightly by the unexpected question.

“You were probably pretty young,” Li Yun spoke slowly, but deliberately.

Fenki’s fear line was simple. It was someone conditioned and groomed to be assassins.

Failed mission 30%

Being exposed 24%

Being captured 19%

“You might be asking who we are, but that isn’t important. We are working to destroy the organization you are working for.”

“It’s not possible.”

“Oh?” Li Yun thought that if people were kidnapped and forced to work for an underground organization, what was their reason for remaining loyal?

“Once I’m captured, they have already assumed I’m useless and will categorize me as a traitor. As soon as I step out, there will be a target on my head. I have already failed my mission, and the price is my head.”

“Hm? Is that so?” asked Li Yun. “What if I tell you that no one else has realized you’re gone?”

Fenki was curious. “What do you mean?”

“If you leave the prison, return with Shudi as though nothing has happened,” Li Yun explained. 

“What do I get in return for helping you?” asked Fenki.

“More missions to fulfill, but this time, it will be your terms and you will get your vengeance.”

Fenki sneered, but more to himself. He couldn’t believe he was exposed so easily. He wanted vengeance, but it was something the organization had used as motivation. If he wanted to get vengeance, he must pass their mission and survive to live another day. It was his only motivation to continue working for the organization.

"If I don't agree, what will happen?" asked Fenki.

"I don't believe anything makes you happier than destroying the organization," said Li Yun.

Fenki let out a snort, and then a chuckle. "You're right," he nodded.

“Do you know Wing Bo?” Li Yun asked.

Fenki nodded.

“Is he like you?”

“I don’t know where they recruited him, but it’s likely the same way. I was in an orphanage that was taken by the organization.”

“Do you have a code name for the organization?”

“The Blue Moon.”

"The Blue Moon?" Li Yun repeated. "What's your name?"

"I don't remember what it was before, but everyone calls me Fenki. What is it that you want?"

“I want you to operate as usual under my organization, with one minor change. No more drugs.”

“Impossible, most of the gang members remain loyal because of the drugs,” said Fenki. Drugs were stable rewards for gang members who acquired an addiction for it. “Everyone will notice.”

Li Yun threw a pack of white powder at Fenki. “This is a substitute you will use. It will not give them a strong high, but should be enough to mask the effect for awhile. As long as they think it’s a drug, it will be fine.”

Li Yun couldn’t completely cure drug addiction, but he could create a sensation to reduce the pain and make people drowsy. It was only temporary to fool everyone else.

“What about the gambling and prostitution ring?” Fenki asked.

“Release all of the girls,” Li Yun directed. "Only keep them if they ask to remain, and keep them safe."

As long as they were willing, Li Yun did not care. Sex workers who willingly put themselves at risk were like any other risky profession. As long as they weren’t coerced into it, Li Yun was fine. There were even women who enjoyed the work and some that found it empowering, so who was Li Yun to judge?

As for Fenki, Li Yun knew he was the type who was used to missions. Without missions, his life would seem meaningless. He was conditioned that way. As for all the crimes he had committed, Li Yun wasn’t sure if there was anyone in his position who would do anything differently. The lack of choice was apparent.

It wasn’t the same excuse that rapists often used to explain what they had done. They blamed it on the victim, it was their clothes, it was their demeanor, it was the way they looked at them that caused them to react that way. Many criminals believed what they did was justified in order to suppress the feeling of guilt. Anything to avoid placing the blame on themselves. Fenki’s situation was beyond his control like many child soldiers.

Li Yun didn’t trust Fenki’s completely. He needed to watch Fenki in action for another month before he could gauge where his loyalty stood.

People in the underground could easily change alliances and motivation. Fenki may live only to complete missions, but once he learned that life existed beyond it, his path would split. He could walk down the world of degeneracy that he was so used to living in or he could become the exact opposite, someone who spurned evil enough to become a monk.

The only way to control Fenki’s path was to keep giving him missions with appropriate reward rather than punishment. Unlike Shudi, he didn’t give Fenki a shot.

“I gave Shudi a poison,” said Li Yun. “When he faints, your mission is to bring him to me. I’ll send you a location on the day he’s scheduled to faint.”

“But, we have been gone for three days, they will be suspicious when we return.”

“You have only been gone for exactly 24 hours,” said Li Yun. 

“What?” Fenki wasn’t exactly sure why it felt like 3 days.

Li Yun had put them to sleep, and although it felt like they had slept for hours, only an hour had passed. "So, what is your final decision? If you succeed, I will give you one day where you can live for yourself and without any fear of retribution.”

Fenki smiled and snorted. “Now I don’t believe you’re from the government.”

The government may have a lot of information, to understand Fenki’s greatest desire for freedom and get rid of the demons that plagued his mind, only a God could understand him.

“Believe whatever you want to believe in,” Li Yun shrugged and unshackled Fenki’s chains. 

"You're really not afraid of anything?" Fenki watched Li Yun in amazement. He had meant a lot of people, but the man in front of him had eyes that seemed to look down from above.

Li Yun noticed Fenki's stare. He was not invulnerable, but he needed to make Fenki believe that he was.

"All right," Fenki nodded.

With Fenki and Shudi’s cooperation, they could maintain the appearance of gang activities, while Li Yun investigated the organization that was backing them up. However, Li Yun doubted they would gather any more information. Shudi was too low down in the food chain and even Fenki only saw his handler once a year. The only way was to force their hand.

“Do you think Wing Bo will join us if take him in?” Li Yun asked Fenki.

“Wing Bo will be harder to crack. He’s ruthless and indiscriminate when he kills,” said Fenki. “While in Old Blight, he had created an accident that killed twenty people, women and children, to mask an assassination of a Chinese official.”

“Do you have a sense that he enjoyed it?” Li Yun still wondered if it was possible to pull Wing Bo over their side. However, he had underestimated the scope of the Blue Moon, and tapped his hands on the table, thinking about how to deal with them.

“I don’t think so, he has always been a bit more serious. My instructor came from the same orphanage. He said that Wing Bo was very different, but he used to be a bright kid. He’s at the threshold of becoming a Trainer.”

“Do you know what his experience is like?”

“We don’t tend to discuss anything that happened in our life.”

“If given the opportunity, Wing Bo will not turn against the organization,” Fenki added. “You have to understand, the organization understood that at all levels, everyone would eventually turn on each other.”

Li Yun did not believe such an organization could exist on a large scale without any leaks. There were too many variables at the bottom chain.

"There had been leaks, but it was too far-fetched for people to believe it, and they scrubbed away everything from the internet," Fenki replied. "I remember a time when a member faked his death during a mission. It was revealed later on that he had hidden his identity and had been releasing news about the organization. No one on the forum believed him. Instead, the organization had managed to track him down and silenced him."

“How did you know?" asked Li Yun.

"That member was very spiteful of the organization, and a few days after he died, a secret pre-timed memo was sent to everyone in the organization," said Fenki. "That incident created a bit of a mess for the organization, and everyone had to be retrained."

"I need you and Shudi to invite Wing Bo to the wine cellar," Li Yun couldn't drag this any longer. The Blue Moon was a lot more dangerous than he had initially thought. While extermining rats, he had walked into a snake pit, yet the snake hole was nowhere to be found. The only method left was to blow them up and scare them away.

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