No. 56 Walking Away, Back to Back
March 18th, Friday.
Five days had passed since Xiaodie and I had raided Shadow’s warehouse.
During those five days, I’d been monitoring online activity and noticed an interesting development.
Shadow had broken ties with their partners in the government.
As expected, the official whose phone I’d used had died in the car crash. The flames had devoured his vehicle, leaving nothing but a charred skeleton, including the crucial smartphone inside. There was no way they could recover any data, let alone trace the hack back to me. They were lucky if they could even salvage the phone chip from the ashes.
That’s why I could have easily hacked the phone from home. There was no need to go through the trouble of hiding my identity at the internet cafe or using foreign servers as proxies.
The same went for our little operation with Xiaodie. I had meticulously erased our tracks, but it turned out to be completely unnecessary. That afternoon, Shadow had stormed the city government building, causing a massive scene. The officials, caught off guard, feigned ignorance. After all, the only one who could contradict their claims was dead. The whole debacle played out live on television.
The news footage showed several young men in bizarre attire wielding hammers and axes, kicking down the doors of the city government building.
“Lu Zhaowei, get out here!”
Their voices were filled with a raw fury, like cornered animals.
“W-what do you think you’re doing?”
A man at the front desk seemed to recognize them but maintained a facade of composure for the cameras. “We have armed guards here. Don’t do anything rash.”
“Rash? Ask Lu Zhaowei if he summoned us for a meeting! You took advantage of the situation and robbed us blind! Is this how you treat your allies?”
The man sputtered, confused. “Robbed you? I’ve never robbed anyone in my life!”
“Who else would know the layout of our warehouse so well? Just get Lu Zhaowei out here!”
“Lu Zhaowei is dead.”
“Dead? You’re trying to tell us you silenced your own man to cover your tracks? That’s it! You asked for this! Get them, boys!”
And with that, all hell broke loose.
Although the thugs were eventually apprehended for inciting a riot, Shadow’s retaliation had already begun.
On March 15th, the city government was attacked again. The attackers claimed that most of the evidence against Mayor Huang Zhiqiang had been fabricated, admitting to a conspiracy with certain officials and taking responsibility for several other incidents.
On March 16th, Shadow organized a small protest, urging people to distrust the current administration.
On March 17th, the detention center where Huang Zhiqiang was being held was attacked, and the trial was postponed to the 20th.
After reviewing these reports, I came to a conclusion:
Shadow was nothing more than a glorified street gang, a bunch of overgrown delinquents with no real organization or strategic thinking. They were all brawn and no brains, incapable of achieving anything significant.
I couldn’t fathom how such a group could have orchestrated the chaos of 2017.
“That’s why, from now on, we either follow Liang’s lead, go to another city, study hard, and get decent jobs, or end up like those idiots—used and discarded without ever knowing why.”
It was seven in the evening. I sat with a few members of the Black Dragon Society at a nondescript street food stall.
We were regulars here, so we didn’t have to worry about hygiene or watered-down drinks. Plus, the prices were reasonable.
This was Liang Zhenyi’s farewell dinner. He was leaving the city to focus on his studies.
“Hey, enough about those losers. This is about Liang!”
Hua She drained his glass and sighed. “How long has it been since we last hung out like this, just the brothers, sharing a drink?”
Silence.
“Almost two months, right? Ever since that Pai Ge joined us, things haven’t been the same…” He refilled his glass. “Don’t get me wrong, Luo Wei is a good guy. He’s loaded, always treating us to expensive drinks and food. But it’s just… different, you know? Remember when we were kids, roasting peanuts we dug up ourselves, sharing a single bottle of cheap liquor? Those were the days… Now, even if I had mountains of peanuts and rivers of beer, it wouldn’t be the same.”
“Yeah, I miss the early days of the Black Dragon Society. Just us, a few brothers, following Dragon’s lead, raising hell in the streets. Haha, remember that time you got drunk and tried to marry a tree, Hua She?”
“Dude, not cool. There’s a lady present.”
“Who? Yi Yao? Yi Yao is one of the guys! Right, bro?” Liang Zhenyi slung an arm around my shoulders, laughing. “By the way, remember when I first met Yi Yao? I asked Dragon, ‘Hey, is this your girl?’ You’ll never guess what he said.”
“What?”
“He goes,” Liang Zhenyi took a swig of his beer, puffed out his chest, and mimicked Dragon’s voice, “‘Show some respect, kid. She’s not my girlfriend. She’s your sister.’”
“Hahahaha!”
“I was speechless! So I told him, ‘Alright, alright, I’ll take a penalty drink. Let’s go all out tonight!’ And Dragon goes, ‘You want me to waste my hard-earned money on your mistake? Did you pay your dues today?’”
“Hahahahaha!”
Some things never changed. They were still the same lovable idiots I remembered from Yi Yao’s past.
The laughter subsided, replaced by a contemplative silence.
“Old…”
“New…”
“You first.”
“So, Yi Yao is the new leader of the Black Dragon Society, right?”
“Yeah, apparently Dragon asked Ouyang Dati to appoint her.”
“Who cares who’s in charge? Dragon’s gone. There’s barely anyone left in the Black Dragon Society anyway.”
“Dragon’s gone, and now you’re leaving too, Liang. What’s going to happen to us?”
“Don’t be so dramatic. It’s not like he’s never coming back. Right, Liang? Which university are you planning to apply to?”
“Seriously? Jinghua University, of course.”
Jinghua University. One of the most prestigious universities in the country, a dream destination for countless students.
“Dude, with your grades, you’ll be lucky to get into a second-tier university.”
“I still have two years to catch up.”
Liang Zhenyi chugged his beer, a grimace of pain morphing into a look of satisfaction. “Once I get into Jinghua, I’ll get a good job and make sure you guys never have to worry about money again.”
His grades were abysmal. That much was true.
But seven years from now, he would graduate from Jinghua University. That was also true.
As he had said, he would achieve his dream through sheer determination.
“Hey, Yi Yao, say something. You’ve been awfully quiet lately. What happened to that cheerful, carefree girl we used to know?”
The speaker was the one who had taken a beating for Yi Yao a while back, shielding her from a blow during a brawl with a rival gang.
He probably didn’t even remember the incident. Such occurrences were commonplace in their line of work.
I took a sip of my juice. “Just thinking about some things.”
To be honest, I was considering dissuading Liang Zhenyi from pursuing Jinghua University.
Because that meant he would be walking the same path as his counterpart from the other world.
He would graduate from his dream university full of hope, only to be chewed up and spat out by a ruthless society. He would be burdened by the expectations of family and friends, overworked, underpaid, and constantly stressed. His health would deteriorate, and he would die a bitter, disillusioned man.
“What kind of things? You’ve been spending a lot of time with that mayor’s daughter lately. What’s up with that?”
“Nothing. We were enemies, and now we’re friends.”
I finished my juice and pulled out my phone. “Can I ask you guys a favor?”
“Come on, we’re brothers. Don’t be a stranger. Just say the word.”
“I need you to buy some lottery tickets for me.”
I showed them my phone screen. “03.” I flipped it around so they could see the number clearly. “I’ll give you the money. Buy any lottery ticket with the number ‘3’ on the blue ball. 2000 yuan total, split evenly. I’ll transfer 400 to each of you.”
Hua She hesitated. “Is this for your mother’s medical bills?”
“Yes.” I nodded. “I’m desperate.”
“Why the number ‘3’?” Liang Zhenyi asked, picking up a skewer of grilled meat.
“Just a hunch,” I said casually.
Returning to the past and buying lottery tickets was the easiest way to make money.
The problem was, I had been too focused on my studies back then to pay attention to such things.
The only reason I remembered this particular lottery was because of a sudden craze that had swept through my class. I had overheard a classmate shouting in excitement about the number ‘3’.
Each ticket cost 2 yuan. Matching the ‘3’ on the blue ball would win you 5. I couldn’t buy thousands of tickets at once—that would raise suspicion. This was the best I could do for now.
“Buy two hundred tickets each. If the winning number is ‘3,’ you’ll win 1000. Give me 800, and keep the rest. If I’m wrong, then consider it a gift.”
That way, I could turn 2000 yuan into 4000. Combined with what I had saved up, it would be a decent sum.
“Alright.”
They agreed without hesitation, trusting me implicitly.
I transferred the money through Alipay.
Just then, Liang Zhenyi’s phone rang.
“Hello? … Okay… Yeah.”
He hung up and gave us an apologetic bow. “My dad wants me to go home and pack.”
“Alright, man. Stay in touch.”
“Take care of yourself, and eat well.”
“Okay, okay, enough with the mushy stuff.”
“Liang.”
I stood up.
“Yi Yao, what’s wrong?”
I looked at him, his youthful face etched in my memory. I wanted to say so many things, to warn him, to guide him, to protect him from the cruel hand fate had dealt him. But the words caught in my throat.
“Study hard, take care of yourself, and remember what you said today. If you don’t get into Jinghua University, I’ll never forgive you.”
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