After the commotion Long Ge had stirred up, He Zhengren kept himself shut indoors almost every day, delegating any errands to Hippo, while Li Haozhang once again became his personal bodyguard, shadowing him around the clock. He Zhengren had made inquiries: Renlong Duoji had disappeared again, whereabouts unknown — he was definitely not in Yunnan and not in Lhasa either.

Long Ge, for his part, became doubly cautious, taking extreme care when tailing his quarry.

Then one day, Long Ge observed He Zhengren stepping out of his home. He followed the car all the way to the Capital Airport. With the crowd that airports drew, Long Ge naturally wouldn’t make a move there — after observing quietly, he discovered, to his surprise, that He Zhengren had come to join a five-day group tour to Dali and Lijiang, and he was going alone. Long Ge’s suspicions were aroused, but he followed anyway, purchasing a ticket on the same flight to Dali.

He Zhengren was dragging a large suitcase, which did make him look rather like a tourist. But Long Ge was a man who dealt with tourists year-round — less than half a day after arriving in Dali, he could already see that this trip had nothing to do with tourism. Although He Zhengren dutifully followed the tour guide and traveled by coach to all the must-see sights like the rest of the group, he never completed the full tour of any stop, and always wore the expression of a man whose mind was entirely elsewhere.

Most tellingly: He Zhengren had neither Hippo nor Li Haozhang by his side — no protection whatsoever. Several times Long Ge was tempted to intercept him and finish it regardless of the consequences, but the nagging sense that this trip might yield something unexpected kept him in check, and he held himself back.

The proprietor of the convenience store near Li Haozhang’s home in Beijing — the one Long Ge had paid for information — called to report that one day after He Zhengren had departed, Li Haozhang had also left with a large suitcase and had not returned these past few days.

Could the two of them have arranged to meet somewhere and make a run for it together? Long Ge grew more puzzled by the minute. If they were trying to flee, surely the move would be to head for an airport or a major port and leave the country. Why had he made the long journey all the way to Yunnan? Was he planning to go into hiding? And where was Hippo — why hadn’t he come?

As expected, when the tour group set off for Lijiang, Long Ge noticed He Zhengren staying behind in Dali. Before long, He Zhengren had hired a car and was heading onto the Hang-Rui Expressway. Long Ge quickly got behind the wheel and followed — and found him exiting the expressway at the Nujiang Prefecture off-ramp.

He Zhengren disembarked and changed vehicles several times, only stopping to check into a guesthouse once he was close to the China-Myanmar border. Long Ge tailed him the whole way, heart in his mouth, certain that this journey was no simple matter. At first he suspected He Zhengren was trying to slip into Myanmar illegally, then decided that didn’t quite add up — what possible use would Myanmar be to He Zhengren?

This small town in Nujiang Prefecture bordered Kachin State in Myanmar. The population was sparse, with many ethnicities living side by side, and the two countries were separated by what amounted to a single step — you could literally plant one foot in Myanmar while keeping the other on Chinese soil. The local economy was modest; to protect the primeval forests at the upper reaches of the Dulong River, the entire township had been closed to tourists since September 2017. The most frequent visitors were actually Burmese people who crossed the border to do business. Intermarriage between the ethnic minorities of the township and nearby villages with Burmese people was common, and in their understanding, the line between the two countries was not particularly clearly drawn.

He Zhengren’s purpose remained mysterious. Long Ge kept his eyes fixed on him, barely blinking. What he found puzzling was that although Li Haozhang had appeared to be going somewhere far away, he had not turned up here to meet He Zhengren.

Over the following days, He Zhengren arranged to meet with two short men who did not look Chinese. After they came out of the guesthouse where He Zhengren was staying, they got into a motorized three-wheeled vehicle driven by Long Ge in disguise. In Mandarin, they directed him toward the border, muttering to each other in some foreign language he couldn’t understand along the way. At their destination, they promptly crossed out of Chinese territory — their base appeared to be on the other side of the border.

After dropping them off, Long Ge played back the audio he had secretly recorded and listened carefully. The environment had been noisy, and the engine of the three-wheeled vehicle had added a constant chugging racket, making the recording quality very poor. He enlisted a local to help, and the person determined that the two men had been speaking in a Burmese dialect, with a few discernible words: “sample,” “high price,” and “escort.”

Long Ge mulled this over and wondered: was He Zhengren here to do business as well? He made inquiries around the area and learned that the Burmese people who came there were dealing in everyday goods and handicrafts — which seemed to have nothing whatsoever to do with He Zhengren.

Could it be drug trafficking?

The moment that thought surfaced, Long Ge felt a wild surge of excitement at the idea that he was some lone-wolf operative going up against an international drug ring — but reason told him it couldn’t be. What kind of madman would bring drugs from the capital to sell near the Golden Triangle? It would be like shipping coal from Shanghai to Datong to sell.

He kept up the stakeout for a few more days, and Long Ge made a delightful discovery: he had lost two pounds.

Weight loss aside, the more welcome discovery came courtesy of He Zhengren himself. On a rainy dusk, Long Ge watched He Zhengren check out of his guesthouse and step outside. He hired a three-wheeled vehicle, then switched rides several more times, zigzagging his way to a village close to the Myanmar border with an extremely small population, where he got out and continued on foot. This was canyon terrain — He Zhengren’s mobility was hampered by his bad leg, but he pressed forward by torchlight in one hand and a phone with navigation open in the other, picking his way slowly along the boulders by the riverside. Slowly, but with a visible urgency — as though he wished he could sprout eight legs.

Long Ge followed behind him for two or three hours in total darkness. Another two or three kilometers ahead lay Myanmar. He kept up his pursuit through the rain — was He Zhengren really going to slip across into Myanmar on foot like this?

He followed a little further, and then Long Ge suddenly saw — something was very wrong!

@Morning News Bulletin: A male body has been discovered in the Dulong River Canyon, confirmed to be geological expert and retired professor He of XX University. Accidental death has been preliminarily ruled out. An informed source has revealed that the deceased recently had a violent altercation with a certain male individual; relevant evidence extracted from the body and other evidence on record suggest the individual in question may be a primary suspect. The public is invited to provide information. If the person pictured in the attached notice is spotted, please contact the authorities immediately. Contact: XXX…

Ba Yunye had just returned to Lijiang the previous day with a group of clients and hadn’t had a few minutes’ rest when she stumbled across the police notice on Weibo. The suspect photo attached to the notice was none other than Long Ge, who had been out of contact for days. She was struck utterly speechless; she sank down onto the garden swing in the guesthouse courtyard, and let the swing carry her back and forth several times without coming to her senses.

The last surviving witness to the car accident was dead — and Long Ge was now the prime suspect named in a police notice.

Ba Yunye felt as though she were in a daze. The afternoon sun in the sky directly above dissolved into a white point in her vision, swaying left and right with the motion of the swing like a hypnotist’s pocket watch, making it impossible to tell what was real and what was a dream. The words “Dulong River Canyon” kept expanding before her eyes. The place was worlds away from the capital — yet Long Ge had somehow, with powers she could barely fathom, managed to draw He Zhengren all the way there from Beijing and finish him off? Ba Yunye couldn’t bring herself to believe it no matter how she turned it over in her mind.

Then again — hadn’t Long Ge made no secret of his intention to kill He Zhengren not long after arriving in Beijing? The police had sophisticated investigative equipment. They wouldn’t take an “informed source’s” word for it alone — they must have gotten hold of concrete evidence.

Ba Yunye sank back into turmoil, and at the same time felt a pang of regret. If she had been a little more attuned, noticed the warning signs earlier — even if she’d had to tie him up and lock him in a dark room — she would have done it to keep him from going to Beijing.

Ba Yunye, do you really think Long Ge is a murderer? she asked herself.

No.

When she had exhausted her strength rescuing two children and couldn’t swim back up to the surface — it was Long Ge who had saved her. When she had been conned into watching over a drug lab in her naivety and couldn’t find a way out — Long Ge had pulled her free… In truth, he was just like her — a family member of one of the victims, going everywhere in search of the truth.

She couldn’t say who had decided to stir the pot, but someone with an agenda and a taste for chaos fanned the flames by leaking the information that the Eagle Club had been founded by Long Ge. Before long, the vast majority of clients who had pre-booked upcoming trips began requesting refunds of their deposits. Some particularly unreasonable ones who had already received their deposits back demanded compensation for emotional distress. Then Long Ge’s guesthouses were exposed one by one, sending clients fleeing and cancellations pouring in, and business fell off a cliff.

The incident didn’t make it onto the trending topics list, but there was no shortage of online commentary —

“Eagle Club, more like a bandit’s den!”

“Isn’t there a crackdown on organized crime right now? The police should take a hard look at whether this is a criminal organization!”

“Renlong Duoji… that name looks Japanese?”

“Probably an ethnic minority.”

“Ethnic minorities getting to enjoy minority policies while doing whatever they like and killing Han people!”

…

“Oh, for the love of—!” Ba Yunye was so furious her nose nearly twisted sideways. “He’s a suspect, not a convict! Why are these people stirring things up and dragging it into an ethnic issue?!”

Sister Jin shook her head and offered some comfort: “Those people online say something different every day. Back when that bus in Chongqing plunged off the bridge, they cursed the female driver of the vehicle on the other side up one side and down the other — dug up eighteen generations of her ancestors. Then it turned out the woman had been driving completely within the rules, and they just dusted themselves off and went to pile onto the passenger who had been fighting with the driver instead.”

“Give them a keyboard and they think they can move the world…” Ba Yunye muttered with indignation.

“Master Ba, about our situation…” The other drivers in the club, their bookings draining away one by one, had all come to find Ba Yunye to get the full picture.

Ba Yunye dragged a stool into the middle of the courtyard and sat down. The Haitang Inn next door had emptied out completely; a few of the hired help had already quit and fled, leaving only Sister Jin still bustling away at the cleaning. Ba Yunye cleared her throat.

“Listen up. I don’t believe Long Ge is a murderer — the same way I don’t believe my older sister would ever become a mistress. If we want to take it to the extreme, even if he did do it, his personality is such that after killing someone he would never run away. He’d either turn himself in or die alongside the person. Since he’s currently missing, that tells me this isn’t his doing, and there’s no reason he should be taking the fall for it.”

“But the people out there don’t believe that!”

Ba Yunye’s gaze sharpened. “Do you believe it?”

Silence fell.

“If any one of you thinks Long Ge is a murderer, get up and leave right now. There’s no shortage of outdoor and off-road teams out there. Don’t tell people you worked for the Eagle Club, and you’ll still have clients, you’ll still earn money.” Ba Yunye drew a long, steady breath. Her eyes were calm, her expression grave — the full presence of the club’s number-one figure on full display. “This is the hardest time the club has ever been through. Until this case is resolved and Long Ge reappears, some of you may not earn a single cent. Every one of you is out here making a living — parents to support, children to feed, a whole family waiting on what you bring home. Leaving right now is completely understandable, and I will have no other feelings about it whatsoever.”

The group exchanged uncertain glances, seeming to wrestle with themselves.

“I don’t have any clients left either.” Ba Yunye shrugged. Every booking she had for the year had been refunded — some by clients on their own initiative, others proactively refunded by her herself. Some clients in the group chat expressed concern about where she was headed; others were curious about the details of the case; still others simply left the group and said nothing more. That was just how people were: until something went wrong, you never really knew where anyone stood.

“Tomorrow I’m going to go look for Long Ge. Whether you stay or go — do as you see fit.”

“Where are you going to look?” asked the driver Old Ma.

“I don’t know yet. But since the police are so certain there’s some kind of evidence on He Zhengren’s body connected to Long Ge, that means He Zhengren must have seen Long Ge before he died. So I’ll start from where the body was found. At the very least, I can go ask the local police about the situation. The more you listen to those people online, the more confused you’ll get.”

The drivers in front of her fell silent again. After a moment, they exchanged glances and began to take their leave of each other, shuffling out one after another.

Ba Yunye watched them out the door without speaking for a long time. Some of them had transferred over from other routes — like Old Ma, who used to run the Xinjiang route, and途狼 (Tuláng), who ran the Inner Mongolia route; some were off-road enthusiasts who had played the sport alongside Long Ge, like Shi Tou and Hui Ge; others had come on board only after the club was established, like A Dian and Lao Zuo. She thought of the times the whole club had gathered for a meal together — glasses raised, words flowing, declarations that would have given the Oath of the Peach Garden a run for its money. All that was missing was a blood pact.

Each person had a living to earn. You couldn’t call anyone cold-blooded for it, or faithless. Because in the end — if you wanted loyalty, if you wanted idealism, those were fine — but the most essential things in a person’s life were still eating and sleeping.

No matter how lively a feast, in the end, the guests all leave, and the tea goes cold.