Urban Martial Saint

Speaking of the past, Li Qiang seemed to have infinite emotions. He took out his cigarette pack and gave one to Ye Qing, then lit one for himself. Drawing a long drag, he slowly exhaled the smoke. In the swirling haze, his face seemed to become somewhat blurred.

”In the wintry lands of the Northeast, even an adult shouldn’t dream of surviving,” said Li Qiang softly, ”After I killed Scar Three, the kid ran away in fright. I was foolish then, I didn’t chase after him but just took Scar Three’s clothes, dry food, and water and ran in another direction. I don’t know how long I ran for, but with those dry provisions and water, I lasted three days in the snow-covered forest until I couldn’t go on anymore and collapsed in the woods. When I woke up, I had been rescued by an old hunter. He took me to his village, gave me food and clothes, let me stay in the village, and even took me out hunting with him. The old hunter also had a young daughter who kept calling me brother. To be honest, that time was one of the few happy days in my life. I thought I would do well there and the hunter said he would send me back to Pingnan Province after winter. But I never expected I wouldn’t even make it through that winter!”

”I stayed at the hunter’s house for a month when, one day, in a panic, he rushed back and took me to an outside cellar, telling me to hide there. At that time, I didn’t know what had happened. It wasn’t long before a group of people arrived at the hunter’s house. I could see clearly from the cellar, those people were child traffickers. Among them was the kid I hadn’t killed, the one who brought them back for revenge for Scar Three!”

At this point, Li Qiang clenched his fists tightly, his face contorting with ferocity. The memories seemed to cause him a great deal of pain and anger.

”From the cellar, I watched helplessly as the child traffickers forced the old hunter to give me up, but the hunter was unwavering, insisting he knew nothing. In the end, they beat the old hunter to death right there and took his daughter away, who was crying her heart out. In that cellar, I saw with my own eyes as the old hunter’s blood slowly turned the surrounding snow red, then eventually coagulating. Never in my life have I hated myself more than in that moment. I hated myself for not killing that kid when I had the chance, for letting him survive and lure those people here, causing the hunter’s death. I hated myself for being so powerless, for not being able to protect the ones around me, for hiding there like a coward!”

”I waited in the cellar until it got dark, until those people had gone far away and wouldn’t come back, before I quietly crawled out. Looking at the hunter’s unpeaceful death, I thought I would cry. But standing in front of his body, I didn’t shed a single tear. From that day on, I never cried again. I cremated the old hunter’s body, took his hunting knife, and set off with some dry food to track down the child traffickers. No matter what, the hunter’s daughter was still alive, the girl who called me brother was still out there, and I had to find her!”

”That year I was ten years old, following the traffickers’ tracks from the Northeast all the way to the Northwest. Along the way, I begged for food, stole money, looted food, and even killed people. When I was at my hungriest, I ate earthworms for a day’s sustenance. When I was at my thirstiest, I drank my own urine, and even other people’s blood. I thought I would die on that road, but instead, those three years of hardship didn’t kill me; they allowed me to survive like a rat in the shadows, at least leaving me with my life. My only regret is that in the end, I couldn’t catch up with the traffickers. After three years, by the time I reached the Northwest, they were long gone to their next stop. And during those three years of trials, I gradually understood the cruelty of this society, the darkness of this world. I never believed in ’good begets good, evil begets evil.’ Why did the kind old hunter suffer such an unjust death? And why did those child traffickers, who committed countless crimes, get to live so carefree? Why did the old hunter’s daughter, who did nothing wrong, have to face such a dire fate? This society is inherently unjust, survival of the fittest is the law of life. If you want to live, others must die—that is the law of survival!”

Ye Qing sighed, no wonder Li Qiang harbored such thoughts; his childhood experiences were truly too rough.

Ye Qing asked, ”What about the girl? Did you ever find her, after all?”

”I found her...” As he spoke of this matter, Li Qiang’s expression became even more fierce, he clenched his teeth and struggled to stay calm, saying, ”When I arrived in the Northwest, although the traffickers were gone, I knew they would definitely not have taken the little girl with them. They would take a group of people from one place and sell them at another. The little girl must have died on the road or been sold in the Northwest. So, I stayed in the Northwest, day after day, year after year, searching for her. I didn’t know how to do anything else, but on that road, I learned to steal and rob. Stealing and robbing allowed me to survive, to go from city to city looking for her. Finally, at the age of seventeen, I found her in a remote village in the Northwest, in a farmhouse kitchen.”

”When I saw her, she was tied up to the kitchen doorpost like a dog, barely dressed. She was like a wild animal, warily watching everyone that passed by, and had a cautious eye on everything around her. Anyone who approached her vicinity would be met with bared teeth and claws as she attacked with the last of her strength. I barely recognized her because, with the old Hunter, she was a carefree, vivacious, and adorable little girl. But in that village, she had become a madwoman. If not for the mark on her left arm, I would not have recognized her at all. Her daily life was confined to that kitchen, a house with four men—all stark-naked. Her task was to satisfy the desires of these four naked brutes. And after those four went out for work, there would be other men in the village with nefarious intentions, who would run to the kitchen and abuse her. Do you know what kind of life she led in that village for six or seven years, from the age of nine until she was sixteen?”

At this point, Li Qiang punched the pillar next to him forcefully, and the fierce light in his eyes erupted once again.

”What happened next?” Ye Qing asked, his heart also filled with pity. What this girl went through was not much different from the plight of those children under control in Shenchuan City.

”Then, and then...” Li Qiang sighed heavily as he looked up to the sky and said, ”I personally killed forty-two men in that village who had bullied her, and I took her out of the village!”

Ye Qing’s expression changed, and he stared at Li Qiang in astonishment. He knew this man was crazy, but he had not imagined he would go to such extremes. To kill forty-two people in a row—how many people could a village even have? Although those people deserved to die, this act was terrifyingly ruthless.

”I know you don’t like what I did, but back then, my only thought was to kill, and all I wanted to do was just that. I killed those men and took her away from the village. That city was no longer fit for me to live in. I took her and we fled, and even if it killed me, I’d never let her suffer any more pain. But do you know what? Sometimes when you kill one person, it’s a capital offense, but when you kill enough people, it surprisingly isn’t anymore.” Li Qiang gave a cold smile and continued, ”I killed forty-two people, thinking I would be wanted by the police. But after running for three months, there was no news about it. It was only later that I learned that the local police couldn’t take the responsibility, so they kept the incident under wraps. That’s when I realized what a load of crap the law, morality, and the police are. Petty thieves fear them, but once you’re powerful enough, they’re the ones who fear you!”

Ye Qing nodded slowly, reflecting that in Shenchuan City, it was much the same. Those large gangs wielded so much power that few police officers dared to mess with them. Instead, it was the petty thieves who often got nabbed by the police. It all came down to the disparity in power!

”Once I understood that principle, I realized that I had to have my own territory, my own power, so that others would fear me. I took her to another city, and incidentally got her a medical checkup. However, we discovered she had late-stage uterine cancer,” Li Qiang closed his eyes and after a long sigh, he continued, ”Do you know how desperate I felt then? It was with so much difficulty that I found her, only to learn that she was not far from death. I would have willingly traded all my years of life for her just to live another ten years—she was only sixteen, she was just sixteen! Yet, I couldn’t do that, such exchanges don’t exist. All I could do was find the best doctors to treat her, to give her medical care.”

”Seeking medical care meant spending money, but at that time, where could I get the money? After being turned away by several hospitals, I gradually realized how impossible it is to get anywhere in this society without money. So, I started to make money in that city. I began stealing, robbing, even trading lives for cash. I needed to gather money for her treatment, to buy her things, to earn as much as I could so that she could live happily, comfortably, in the time she had left. Whatever she wanted, I stole for her. Even the things she didn’t want, I stole anyway, in case she would want them someday. In two years, I became a youth gang leader feared by everyone in that city. I had my own brothers under me, my own power, and enough money. But even so, she was reaching the end of her life!”

(I recommend a friend’s book, ”Jiuzhou Heavenly Map Chronicles”, those who are interested can check it out.)