Breakfast time.

After being confined for a whole night, Cao Jiefang was finally released for a walk. In an extremely cheerful mood, he took small steps, darting back and forth under the half-drooping door. Cao Yanhua followed behind, holding a steamed bun, occasionally tearing off small pieces to throw on the ground: “Jiefang, eat the bun. Come, eat the bun.”

Cao Jiefang, however, paid little attention to him, which made him quite depressed. Raising a pet was truly like nurturing a child; early emotional bonding was crucial. Yet this important and pure relationship had been stolen away by Yan Hongsha and Yi Wansan.

Huo Zihong was the last to come down. Taking her seat, she noticed Qing Mu sitting in a distant corner and asked Uncle Zhang, “Aren’t we inviting that person to join us? He seems to be Luo Ren’s friend.”

Uncle Zhang gave Qing Mu a sidelong glance without responding.

He had originally intended to invite him, he understood basic courtesy. Luo Ren and Mu Dai were in a steady relationship, and since Qing Mu was Luo Ren’s friend, he was considered half a family member. He wouldn’t begrudge a meal.

What bothered him was the man’s rigid and cold demeanor, not even greeting people, as if everyone owed him something. They weren’t asking anything of him, so why offer warmth to his cold backside?

Having been old companions for many years, Huo Zihong somewhat understood Uncle Zhang’s thoughts. She smiled and quietly instructed Yan Hongsha: “Hongsha, why don’t you take a portion over? Whether he eats it or not is up to him, but we’ve shown our goodwill.”

Yan Hongsha silently put down her chopsticks, stood up, took an empty bowl, and ladled some porridge.

Huo Zihong thought of something else: “I called Mu Dai last night, but the little girl didn’t answer. I wonder how Old Lady Mei is doing. She taught Mu Dai so thoroughly. If things aren’t good this time, we should also contribute something.”

Neither Yi Wansan nor Yan Hongsha dared speak, only Uncle Zhang responded: “That’s right. Come to think of it, the little boss lady is like a closed-door disciple.”

As they spoke, Cao Jiefang bounded in joyfully, darting to Yi Wansan’s feet. Yi Wansan lowered his head to feed him a piece of a steamed bun. Cao Jiefang swallowed with his small neck, quickly chewing and gulping down the bun. Cao Yanhua watched from behind, feeling a pang of sadness.

Not one of the pieces of steamed bun he had scattered had been touched by Cao Jiefang. Why did he specifically eat at Brother Sansan’s? What was Brother Sansan’s bun sweeter? Ungrateful little creature, who was it that rescued you from the meat chicken vendor?

Yan Hongsha filled a bowl with porridge and placed two buns on a small plate. As she brought it over, she felt hesitant in her heart. Qing Mu wasn’t very pleasant—how should she begin?

Qing Mu saw her, furrowed his brow, showing slight displeasure at being disturbed. Just then, Luo Ren’s voice suddenly came from outside: “Qing Mu!”

Qing Mu immediately stood up, circled Yan Hongsha, and strode toward Luo Ren, the steel frame attached to his leg creaking.

Yan Hongsha stood holding the porridge and plate, unsure whether to put them down or not. A thought suddenly popped into her mind: How did his leg get injured?

Luo Ren asked Qing Mu a question: “Back then, when I fought Leopard, I injured her eye, and she fell from the building. I leaned over to look, then got shot. You rescued me. During this process, did you notice how badly Leopard was injured?”

Qing Mu couldn’t quite grasp his point: “Does this matter? Her wounds have healed, and she’s entered the country.”

“It matters. Qing Mu, with your combat experience, could she have stood up again after a fall of that magnitude?”

Qing Mu was silent for a moment, then said: “Logically, she shouldn’t have been able to stand.”

He was familiar with the speed and weight of Luo Ren’s fists and feet, just as familiar as with his techniques. In that situation, Luo Ren, enraged and seeking vengeance for Tasha and the fallen brothers, had thrown punches that, without exaggeration, could dent iron plates.

That flying dagger strike had embedded the handle almost completely. Leopard’s injury wasn’t just to her eye—in his opinion, the blade had penetrated her brain.

Afterward, Leopard fell from the rooftop. When Luo Ren went to check, he was unexpectedly shot, but while providing covering fire from the side, Qing Mu had seen that the Leopard had fallen almost flat on her back. From that height, the probability of a broken spine was very high.

So it was no wonder Luo Ren had always believed Leopard was dead. But without seeing the body, and with Leopard being carried away by her subordinates without any news of her death, he had persisted in seeking a definitive answer.

Qing Mu gave Luo Ren a definitive response: “She shouldn’t have been able to stand. Given the current situation, one can only say that heaven was too kind to her, opening a door of convenience.”

Luo Ren said, “What’s been good to her might not necessarily be heaven.”

Qing Mu didn’t quite understand, and Luo Ren changed the subject: “I’ve commissioned domestic agencies to investigate Leopard, but the information is limited. You’ve been tracking Leopard for so long—what else have you found out?”

His tone became more forceful: “Anything, no matter how trivial, as long as it’s news about her or her family, I want to know.”

Did Leopard have a family? Qing Mu thought carefully.

It seemed she did. Reportedly, an elder in her family, supposedly her great-grandfather, is probably nearly a hundred years old, living on Samar Island, very close to Mindanao. He was truly in his twilight years, struggling day by day, waiting for death.

“Many of her family members died early on due to gang retribution. All that remains is this old man who rarely goes out due to his age. According to the caregivers, his mind is no longer clear. From morning until night, he only talks about one thing—wanting to go home.”

“Wanting to go home?”

“Yes.” Qing Mu shrugged. “His home is on Samar Island. He’s already living at home, so what home is he trying to return to?”

“Is this person still alive? Can we get recent photos of him?”

Qing Mu shook his head: “After Leopard vanished, he disappeared as well. I guess because Leopard had too many enemies, her confidants feared others might take the opportunity for retaliation, so they hid her family members too, just like you fear Pin Ting might be affected, so you want to keep them safe.”

“Can we still contact the caregiver?”

The caregiver could still be contacted. After being dismissed by Leopard’s family, they currently work at a hospital in Manila.

Luo Ren asked Qing Mu to arrange a video call with that nurse.

The call was made at home. The bedroom was still in the same mess from when he had left the night before. As Luo Ren dialed online, Qing Mu gave a meaningful look at the knife embedded in the wall, then reached out to pull it.

It took two attempts to remove it. He scraped the blade a couple of times against the steel frame attached to his leg, slid it back into its sheath, and handed it to Luo Ren: “Luo, you were very angry.”

Luo Ren made a sound of agreement and clicked “Request Call,” waiting for a response.

Qing Mu said, “For a woman, it’s not worth it.”

Luo Ren’s face was expressionless: “I think it’s worth it.”

Qing Mu laughed coldly: “More worth it than your brothers?”

He pressed aggressively: “Back then, you asked why I saved you, saying your heart had died in the Philippines.”

Luo Ren remained silent.

“But after you returned to China, it’s as if you forgot everything, and your heart came alive again. You’ve forgotten everything about the Philippines.”

Luo Ren looked up at Qing Mu: “I know, you bore everything. You’ve been in the Philippines all this time.”

Qing Mu’s gaze grew cold: “No, after learning about Leopard’s news, I went back to Japan once to break off my engagement with my fiancée.”

“Yukiko, who sang lullabies to you?”

Qing Mu slowly rolled up his sleeve, revealing a tattoo on his arm that read “Silver bowl holds snow, white horse enters reed flowers.”

Yukiko loved Zen, loved haiku, and after making love, would tenderly nestle in his arms, singing lullabies to the fine waves along the coast.

—Pillow, oh pillow, say nothing, don’t tell anyone about the relationship between that lovely person and me…

“I told her I was about to do something extremely dangerous, with a resolve to die if necessary, and asked her to forget me.”

In Qing Mu’s character, there was a kind of tragic decisiveness that Luo Ren found difficult to understand. When he decided to do something, he would burn his bridges and sever all attachments and relationships.

Luo Ren said, “You shouldn’t sacrifice your love with Yukiko for your vengeance against Leopard.”

Qing Mu’s forehead veins bulged: “Luo! They’re all dead!”

Luo Ren looked at him: “Yes, they died. Like a great fire that burned away a large part of my life. But Qing Mu, I won’t let it burn away my entire life. If from now on I no longer live or love, how pleased Leopard would be—she only stabbed me once, but I would be handing my head to her.”

Qing Mu’s Adam’s apple bobbed, his fists clenched, as he heard Luo Ren say: “She destroyed your brothers, and you followed by sacrificing your love and your life. Qing Mu, why should we do things that harm others without benefiting ourselves?”

The other end accepted the video call. Luo Ren clicked the button and said, “If you can still live, remember to win Yukiko back. In this world, good women are rare and worthwhile.”

The caregiver was dark and plump, with typical tropical female features. Her name was Ligaya, and she spoke fluent English. Because the payment had been extremely high at the time, she remembered the experience of caring for Leopard’s great-grandfather very clearly.

“He wasn’t mentally normal—a common ailment among the elderly. But he wasn’t crazy, he just kept saying he wanted to go home.”

“Do you know what home he wanted to return to?”

“No.” Ligaya smiled and added, “But it should be in China.”

Luo Ren’s heart stirred: “How do you know?”

“There was a map in the room, a map of China. The old gentleman smoked, and when he got excited, he would burn the map at a certain point with his cigarette butt, then say he wanted to go home.”

“Was it in Zhejiang?”

Ligaya couldn’t distinguish the provinces of China: “I don’t know what Zhejiang is, I only know that according to the location, it was in the east, near the sea.”

The general location seemed about right. Luo Ren pondered for a moment: “What else? Anything noteworthy?”

Ligaya suddenly remembered something and grinned: “Mr. Luo, there was another interesting thing about that map.”

“The old gentleman would often caress several points on the map. Although he never burned them with cigarette butts, he caressed them so often that the paper in those areas wore away. From a distance, they looked like white dots, curved and winding across the map.”

Several points on the map, curved and winding across the map?

Luo Ren suddenly thought of something: “Wait a moment.”

He quickly took paper and pen from nearby, first outlining China, then horizontally drawing the Big Dipper constellation, with the position of the last star, Alkaid, falling within Zhejiang’s boundaries.

Then he turned the paper around toward the camera: “Is this the image?”

Ligaya smiled: “Yes, Mr. Luo, your drawing is very similar. Like a bent, crooked ladle.”

…

The call ended, and Luo Ren’s hand hung at his side, his fingers tightly gripping the map.

Qing Mu found it strange: “Luo?”

Luo Ren didn’t speak, his chest heaving heavily.

He could almost be certain that Leopard had the Murder Bamboo Slip.

—Leopard was indeed a skilled fighter, but given Mu Dai’s abilities, she wouldn’t have submitted so quickly. For her to say “Luo Xiaodao, I probably can’t beat her” after just a few exchanges, she must have sensed some astonishing reaction and control ability in Leopard, abilities granted by the Murder Bamboo Slip.

—He was very certain of the damage he had inflicted on Leopard during that fight, even believing she had died. For her to be able to function normally after such severe injuries must be due to some mysterious power.

—On the map of Leopard’s great-grandfather, there appeared a horizontal Big Dipper constellation, and he had once also connected a Big Dipper based on the possible locations of the Murder Bamboo Slip. However, one had the handle pointing east, the other pointing south…

—Qing Mu had mentioned that Leopard had entered the country recently, but her subordinates had appeared in China several months earlier, visiting several remote places, including the small town in Zhejiang. On that town’s stone bridge, there was a footboard pattern even more complete than the underwater giant painting in Five Pearl Village. Could it be that because Leopard was severely injured, her confidants, guided by Leopard’s great-grandfather, came to China to search for the Murder Bamboo Slip?

Luo Ren’s heart pounded violently, and he immediately dialed Shen Gun’s number.

It took quite a while for the call to connect. Shen Gun’s voice was very impatient, even angry: “What do you want?”

Luo Ren had completely forgotten about offending Shen Gun: “About the Murder Bamboo Slip, you mentioned sending it to The Four Archways, and you also said…”

Shen Gun interrupted him: “Now you come asking me? Where were you earlier? Little Radish, you’re the kind of person who kicks away the bridge after crossing the river, without manners, using people when needed, and discarding them afterward. I tell you, unless you apologize to me…”

“I apologize.”

Huh? This Little Radish, how could he have no principles at all? Where was his backbone?

Shen Gun was stunned for a moment: “And you need to buy me KFC family buckets for half a year…”

“I’ll buy them!”

“And pay for half a year of internet…”

“I’ll pay!”

Really? Shen Gun suddenly felt that Luo Ren was quite a good person, generous and decisive.

He tried to maintain a stern face, but couldn’t help smiling: “What was it you wanted to ask?”