The Black Swan Behind (Beauty of Fire)

Afei looked around where all his men had been knocked down by Renu, Kenny, and the other RJC men.

“You guys are.. playing cheats,” Afei said angrily. But his head was too heavy to be lifted. He had fallen. He looked at Lune who was the only member of the Creeper who was still standing. It was because the man wasn’t attacked by RJC. He was a traitor.

“We cheat on people who cheat,” Emma replied by looking down. “You can’t do anything else, Lee Mu Fei.”

“Have you found the treasure vault?” Kenny asked Black.

Emma nodded, “The room is closed by a safe door that requires a particular key and fingerprint.” She replied as she squatted down beside Lee Mu Fei.

“Wh.. what.. are you.. doing? S-stop!” Lee Mu Fei tried to struggle but Kenny and Renu swiftly restrained his legs and arms.

Emma reached inside the fallen man’s coat. As she had expected, the key to the safe was in his coat pocket, “This is the key,”

Silently, Lune could only stand staring with mixed feelings at the scene. He couldn’t bear to see Lee Mu Fei’s condition but he had his own priority that he had to protect. He would side with anyone who benefited him. If it was Black and RJC, then he would follow them.

.....

“Don’t!” Afei tried to struggle again but all in vain. He looked at Lune who was standing looking at him, “You. Disgusting. Traitor.”

Seeing this, Emma removed her hands from Lee Mu Fei’s coat. She subconsciously tightened her grip on the fairly large key, “Do you not accept being betrayed? Do you feel angry when we cheated on you? Don’t you realize what you have been doing all these years? Even the body of Chingsu Paper’s founder has dried up but still thinking that you are a trustworthy man.”

Afei was stunned to hear what Black said. He didn’t know how Black knew what he had done. It might be that the man had searched the internet for information about the Chingsu District or Lune had told him about it.

“You.. can talk, because you.. don’t know how hard it is to survive.. To live.” He was still trying to defend himself.

But Rachel shook her head, “That’s no excuse for you to ruin other people’s lives. You’ve scammed a lot of innocent people. You turned them into cash cows to make your money hills even higher. You’re no longer trying to survive but becoming greedy. If you really know how miserable it is to survive, you wouldn’t have the heart to do that to anyone else.”

“Do you know what karma is? Karma will come now, tomorrow, next year, or even in your next life. But you can be sure that it will come to you. What you did, good or bad, will come back to you. Just like you who betrayed others. You made a person who was kind to you lose his money. You took other people’s rights. If all of that turned to you now, wouldn’t it look stupid if you get angry?” Emma said.

In that place, everyone fell silent, listening to what Black was saying.

“I don’t know what was the struggle to survive that you meant. But if you became strong because of that, then you’ve misused your power. The power you got from a tribulation should make you appreciate life more, instead of making you feel right to destroy other people’s lives.” Emma continued.

What Black said threw Afei back to the previous years. In his childhood life when he was still living in a remote village with his family. At that time the situation was tough. Afei didn’t mind if he faced it alone. But he couldn’t stand to see his mother and sisters go through the same thing.

Afei remembered when he accidentally met a man who lived in the middle of a bamboo forest. An old man who lived alone. He helped little Afei when the boy accidentally swung an axe into his own leg while he was chopping bamboo in the forest. It was the first time Afei met the old man who was a former Wing Chun teacher.

The man took care of Afei until he recovered and took him back home. Since then, little Afei often came to the old man’s house. One day, Afei accidentally saw the old man practising Kung Fu alone behind his house. He immediately asked to be taught Kung Fu to protect his family from the bad guys who often chased his father who was a jerk. Hearing Afei’s story and sincerity, the old man eventually granted his request.

“Kung Fu is not used to injure other people. Kung Fu was created to protect ourselves. Therefore, we use flowing movements to send the enemy’s blows in another direction. That’s because we shouldn’t hit people if it wasn’t because we had to,” The old man said.

At that time, Lee Mu Fei did indeed have the pure intention of protecting his family. His heart was sincere, white as snow. He was a lump of raw iron forged by the cruelty of the world. But when he became sharp, he stabbed the wrong person.

Afei, who was brought by the founder of Chingsu Paper to Handway City met a demon named Oscar Chopper who quickly defiled his heart. Afei was a miserable guy who tasted the pleasures of the world for the first time. His soul was unable to resist the temptation until he finally fell into a dark world. He forgot the reason why his teacher was willing to train him to be strong.

“Afei. Never use your power for evil. You must use the knowledge I gave you for good. That’s why I trained you.”

Lee Mu Fei had broken his oath. Why could he be defeated? It was because he had lost to his own selfishness. His original purpose of being strong was gone, replaced by greed that slowly gnawed him from within.

If the old man teacher who had trained Afei found out what his student had become now, he would probably be very sorry. He would regret that he only forged Afei’s body but forgot to forge the child’s soul.

Slowly, tears rolled down the corners of Afei’s eyes. He realized that he was guilty. In fact, his family in the village had been living comfortably for many years. It had been a long time since he paid off his father’s debt so that no one would bother his family anymore. But Afei found his heart had a deep hole that he frantically filled with immeasurable wealth. It made him greedy and even had the heart to stab from behind the person who had helped him.

Emma looked at Kenny who reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a knife, “What are you going to do?”

“Let’s cut his finger. You need his fingerprints to open the warehouse, right?” Kenny answered.

Emma and Rachel gasped and turned to look at each other. Of course, it was too sadistic in their eyes. Did that man have no humanity?

“Wait,” Emma immediately grabbed Kenny’s shoulder. “Why don’t we just take him upstairs straight away?”

“Didn’t he refuse?” Kenny asked back.

Emma let out a long sigh then looked back at Lee Mu Fei, “Hey. Do you want to see your fingers cut off?”

However, Lee Mu Fei did not answer. It seemed that he was already deep in depression.

Emma shook her head, “Let’s just take him. There’s no need to shed more blood in this fight.”

“Fine if that’s what you want,” Kenny said. Then he easily carried Lee Mu Fei’s body on his shoulders like a sack of potatoes.

“It’s easier if you just cut off his finger,” Renu muttered as walking beside Black.

Emma turned to the man with thick eyebrows, “You guys are seriously going to cut his finger?”

“That would be easier than having to carry his heavy body upstairs,” He answered by looking at Kenny who was walking in front of them. He felt sorry for his friend who had to struggle to carry a grown man up the stairs.

‘What a strange solidarity. I don’t understand the way the male brain thinks.’ Emma thought to herself.

Rachel was the one who walked in the front to show Kenny the way to Lee Mu Fei’s study.

“Who are they?” Kenny asked when he saw a man and a woman in the room.

“The receptionist staff working downstairs,” Rachel answered while receiving the safe key from Emma. It seemed like Emma had understood that she had to leave everything about the keys to Rachel.

Kenny put down Lee Mu Fei from his arms and forced the man to stand by bringing his arms around his neck. Then Emma took Lee Mu Fei’s hand and tried to place his fingers one by one on a square-shaped screen attached to the door.

Finally, the blue screen gave access when Lee Mu Fei’s right thumb was placed there.

After his fingerprints were successful scanned, Rachel, who had put the key in its hole could turn the key. Then there was a small knocking sound from the centre of the door as the door moved inwards. Rachel immediately pushed the door open.

Everyone in the room was flabbergasted. It was as if a yellow shine was reflected on their faces. Golden light emanated from within the warehouse.

Rachel was the first to set foot inside. It was a room filled with several tables that held piles of gold bars of various sizes on them. No money there. The room contained only precious metals and a row of drawers with the size of a side of the wall.

“He literally kept all his treasures here,” Emma muttered.