Chapter 68: Macbeth Nine

Chapter 68: Macbeth Nine

TL by QuantumC

6.21.2020

==================================

The Zhou's official website collapsed. And almost at the same time, Lang Qiao arrested the video uploader. Meanwhile, the net police were racing time to locate the email senders who provided the video.

However, this also meant that the delicate balance between the police and the abductors was knocked off, because their only line of communication was cut off.

The whole realm of the internet was filled with scouting tentacles that flowed along the current of gossips.

At that moment, Zhou Junmao was no longer a person. His past life has become an open book where each and every punctuation had been officially published, standing nakedly in front of the public gaze to be savored, judged, and commented on --

"Backed by solid evidence: the real identity of the Zhou's bastard."

"Zhou Junmao and his mistresses: stories you don't know."

"Zhou's stock price plummeted at opening today: implication of difference in rules and regulations between the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock markets."

"The vanishing partner: investigating on the other early-deceased founding figure of the Zhou's Enterprise."

"Other used name: Zhou Dalong -- check out the success story of the slum-dog millionaire."

"Zhou Junmao's late wife was actually the widow of his cousin? Discussing the famous wives in history."

"The killing of a father by his illegitimate son -- Let's talk about the mysterious Oedipus Complex."

...

The likes of these topics flooded every corner of the internet. There was absolutely no way to delete them in time, except perhaps to censor the word "Zhou" and expel if from the list of surnames.

The words "0:00" flickered on the kidnappers' final countdown screen. With the arrest of Heng Da's shit stirrer band, the kidnappers stopped sending new messages. Ominous silence tortured everyone's nerve.

Countless eyes were fixated on the lifeless screen.

Luo Wenzhou almost lifted Yang Bo's driver off the ground by his collar: "Sneaking things right under the nose of the police...Bravo, it's been years since I last saw such a ballsy suspect. My friend, you have some gall!"

The driver was a thirty-some-year-old, plain looking individual whose face and demeanors don't attract attention. He entered the room together with Yang Bo, but in such a long time no one took notice of him at all.

Suddenly being singled out, the driver's shaking legs almost couldn't withstand his own weight anymore: "I...I...I didn't do anything...I was...just posting a Weibo message..."

"Posting with a newly registered account? In argot? Who is your intended reader?" Luo Wenzhou handcuffed him brusquely, "Were you writing a diary online, or expressing your feelings to the air?"

Fei Du hurried to back off so he wouldn't obstruct Captain Luo from using his hands in full-fledge. He shook his head in sympathy: "I know, the person you take orders from is right in this house. He might even be watching you right now. But think twice about it, Mister, if something worse happens to Zhou Huaijin, what you're doing here will take on a whole new meaning. What could this person possibly have promised you to make you sell out your life? "

Before his last sentence even finished, someone on the side yelled, "Captain Luo, a new video!"

Luo Wenzhou: "..."

Paid Story264K14.5K Paid Story675K32.4K 677K144K Paid Story9.5M453K 6.2M225K 1.5M201K 27.7M596K

As soon as he said the words "something worse", the new video came. This Fei Du is such a jinx. If only he could sew those "beaks of crow" (1) together, he might as well be able to grind an iron rod into a needle (2).

(1) crow beaks refer to someone who always makes misfortunate forecasts and they always turn out to be true.

(2) this saying refers to something that's very very difficult, almost impossible to achieve.

Now without the tech support of Heng Da, the abductors seemed to be at the end of their wits. They uploaded the fourth video in such a haste.

This time the video was only less than a minute long. The camera was very shaky, and it even caught the profile view of another man. He was obviously one of the kidnappers. He was covered by dark fabrics from head to toe and not even a single strain of hair could be seen. The camera man held the machine in one hand and focused it at his other hand -- the hand that held a large chopper intended for severing pork ribs.

Zhou Huaijin curled himself up desperately. The panic in his voice was so discernible that it had almost taken forms: "I don't know, I'm not familiar with the Asian branch. My father and Zheng were in charge. I really don't know anything about the charity funds...Don't come close, stop...Don't...Ahhhhh!"

At that moment, another distorted voice came from the accomplice, urging: "Hurry! Stop the filming. The cops are very quick!"

But the camera and chopper - holding kidnapper ignored him, and slowly raised his chopper.

Zhou Huaijin struggled like a fish on the cutting board, and somehow managed to get on his feet despite legs being tightly tied to the chair. Staggering, he tried to back away from the knife, but stumbled on something and lost his balance. The poor young master didn't have a particularly bright cerebellum. He screeched and fell sideways out of the camera view.

Meanwhile, together with his falling, the camera shook vigorously as if the kidnapper had charged.

"Then afterwards, they only need to commemorate the late Zhou Huaijin, denounce the cruelty of the kidnappers, and pronounce all the unanswered questions as slander. When the public is done with feasting on the gossips, they will remember 'political-correctness' again, and quickly take the side of the victim to deride violence. The company likely won't really take a big hit. Not to mention that then, without Zhou Junmao and Zhou Huaijin, the leftover 'skeleton painter' Zhou Huaixin isn't even worth weighing. It goes without saying whose hands the company would fall into." Fei Du shrugged, "The logic and the details all check out. It's indeed a perfect plan."

The driver stared at him, completely stunned. Somehow he had a feeling that there was more between the lines of Fei Du's words.

"Take him back to the Bureau!"

Baisha river banks.

The roaring police cars arrived in three teams. They charged into the north-east forrest lands from different directions and turned the otherwise desolate area into a frantic war zone.

The autumn rain two days ago had wetted the soil into mud.

"Vice Captain Tao, there are fresh traces of tire marks!"

Tao Ran wiped away his sweat and commanded: "Follow it!"

The Baisha river is lightly flooding. As they followed, the sound of the flowing river grew louder and louder. Faint tire marks quickly lead them to the river bank.

"Over there!"

"In the water! In the water!"

A white van truck was slowly sinking into the river. Meanwhile, the rapid water current pushed it to flow downstream towards the deeper waters.

In the Zhou's house, everyone - except Yang Bo, who was taken away to be questioned alone - held their breaths and waited for the news. Their expressions were different, and their agendas and hopes were different too. Only Zhou Huaixin was unambiguously worried about his brother. He clamped onto the arm rest of the wooden chair, his long nails scratched the wood and made uneasy noises.

Every second seemed to have been stretched thrice as long.

"Captain Luo, " finally, Tao Ran's choppy voice was heard amidst the thundering water, "The van door is open but no one is inside. Not sure if the kidnappers took him away, or if he fell into the water."

Zheng Kaifeng's face slightly paled; Hu Zhenyu's back suddenly stiffened.

Zhou Huaixin shot up. His pelvis bone hit the wooden table hard, but he paid no attention. What was left of the color on his lips was completely gone. He looked like a frail, hung-over joker.

Luo Wenzhou ordered solemnly: "Continue the search."

Tao Ran -- having gone in the river himself -- just choked on the water. He coughed it out, then called out: "Continue the search --- !"

"Captain Tao, look! Over there!"

The kidnappers must have left the scene in a hurry, because the door to the van was not securely locked, and Zhou Huaijin, together with the wooden chair he was tied to, was flushed out of the van. The wooden chair was like an awkward life buoy. Carrying a motionless man, it flowed in the current like a leaf in the wind.

"I got it!"

"Hold on tight, don't let go! Wait...wait he's still alive!"

Twenty minutes later, the updates of Zhou Huaijin's rescue made it to the Zhou's house. Zhou Huaijin was wounded on the leg. Luckily no vital damages. One of the more nervous kidnappers didn't give his accomplice the time to kill and dismember the body: startled by the siren, he quickly slammed the gas and drove the truck into the river. Then the two kidnappers fled, while Zhou Huaijin flowed in the river.

Hu Zhenyu's heart finally landed in his stomach. Zheng Kaifeng quietly closed his eyes, seemingly praying to the buddha.

Zhou Huaixin crumpled to the floor. When he finally made it to the bathroom, he vomited his guts out.

Someone followed him into the bathroom. Zhou thought it was the maid. His eyes closed, he panted and reached out a hand, asking in a hoarse voice: "Water please."

A bottle of water was handed to him. The cap was already loosened.

Zhou Huaixin gulped a mouthful and gargled. Then he heard the voice of the person behind him saying: "Seriously, brother Zhou? Didn't you already know this ending?"

Zhou Huaixin accidentally swallowed the gargle water, and almost choked.

==================================

Hey guys, I found a brilliant fan cut of the whole book, starring Zhu Yilong and Bai Yu! This is by far the best cut I've seen out there, in my opinion. I love it so much that I spent 2 hours adding English subtitles. It's on Youtube and the thumbnail looks like this:

Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.

Just copy and paste these two words "" in the youtube search box and you should find it. I added the link to the summary page of this book too(can't paste the link here for some reason). The video follows the plot, but I wouldn't worry too much about spoilers since it's hard to understand what's really going on if you haven't finished the book yet. For the chapters that you have read, the plot of the video will make a lot of sense.

And the lines...oh my lord the lines...they are delivered so well and they immediately bring the scenes alive. The lines were taken from the audio book of Modu, produced by 729 Sound Studio, starring Yang Tianxiang as Fei Du and Liu Cong as Luo Wenzhou. The music: the first two songs are the theme songs of the audio book too. The lyric was written specifically for our dear Captain Luo and little Fei Du. I love it so much so I translated the lyrics in the video too.

In sum, highly, highly, highly recommend that you check this video out :)