44 Internecine Killing

 

The country has a country's law and sects have their own sect rules. Based on Chu Ye’s sect rule, betrayal of the master demanded punishment of skinning and gauging out of the heart. Little Three’s death hadn’t tipped them off but when Ol’ Six’s body appeared skinned, the gang knew someone was executing the sect rules. After Chu Ye was killed by his own disciples, the 6 disciples that he took as his own sons, someone had to handle his funeral arrangements. The biggest fear of a grave robber was to have others rob their own grave so when he was 30, Chu Ye had started to design his own tomb. Currently, we were inside his tomb.

After Chu Ye’s death, the 6 brothers gave him the most respected funeral. Chu Ye’s buddies did not suspect anything, they never once considered that the 6 brothers would conspire to murder their own master. However, the coffin barrier was not the 6 brothers, but Chu Ye’s lawfully wedded wife. Turns out Chu Ye had made a will without his disciples’ knowledge, all his funeral arrangements would be done by his wife. The brothers watched as Chu Ye’s wife entered the tomb, followed by people they had never seen. When they saw the treasures accumulated by Chu Ye over his life enter the tomb, they came to a decision among themselves.

There was no mention of the 6 brothers in Chu Ye’s will at all. Chu Ye had never really treated them as his kin. The sweet words, the smiling faces, the promises, they were all fake. The 6 brothers laughed, so both parties had been scamming each other after all. There was never a real relationship to begin with. They felt better, the small guilt that they had over killing their master disintegrated. Their master’s tomb would be complicated, that was something they knew, however there would also be enormous treasures inside their master’s tomb, that was something they knew as well. They decided to return to rob their master’s grave after a few years. That way, even if someone discovered the empty tomb, no one would have suspected Chu Ye’s loyal disciples as the true culprit.

Chu Ye’s wife exited the grave and the tomb was sealed. The brothers were originally afraid that Chu Ye’s wife would open the coffin to inspect the body, however, when she came out and said nothing, the brothers sighed surreptitiously in relief. The incident ended with Chu Ye’s burial. However, the real climax was only about to begin. Now that Chu Ye was out of the way, no one was going to stop them from getting Xiao Mei anymore. They decided to ambush Xiao Mei on her way back from university. They couldn’t wait anymore. Once Chu Ye’s last breath left his brother, their penises were already twitching. A clever man had their upper body control their lower body, a stupid man had their lower body control their upper body.

Someone had to notify Xiao Mei of Chu Ye’s death and that task fell on the 6 brothers. Qian Er suggested, “We have to notify her in the afternoon. She’ll hurry back once she gets the news. Calculating the time, she’ll reach this place around midnight.” Qian Er was undeniably the strategist of the group. He used half a year to unite all the brothers, used 1 month to come up with the murder plan and used just a minute to come up with the way to get Xiao Mei. On Xiao Mei’s journey back, the cornfield was the best place for them to lay the ambush. The stretch of road had no streetlights and no one would pass there at midnight. It was the best timing but something unexpected happened. Xiao Mei did not return alone, she came with someone else, she looked to be Xiao Mei’s university friend.

“Should we retreat?” Big Egg asked.

Qian San cursed and said, “What the fuck, of course not. These are just 2 girls, what are you so afraid of?” Therefore, they made their move. The men who came out to drag the girls into the cornfield were Wei Er and Big Egg. They jumped out from the field and detained a girl each. Then Qian San was the first to pounce on their prey. Qian San had been yearning to lick Xiao Mei’s pretty face. Qian San’s tongue snaked out from the cartoon mask. Xiao Mei’s face tasted like ice cream, it had a unique sweetness to it. The others were instigated by Qian San’s lust. It was Big Egg who tore off Dai Yu’s clothes and then sighed, “This bitch is so fucking ugly! What a boner killer!”

When Little Three heard Big Egg, he pushed Big Egg to the side and took over. However, when Little Three saw Dai Yu, his penis shrank as well. Therefore, they were tasked to detain Dai Yu, while the others took turns raping Xiao Mei.

“Wait, isn’t Ol’ Six a necrophiliac? I was told no living woman can make him hard.” I asked.

“Yes, he was the only one who didn’t take his turn that night.” By then, Qian San’s breath was already very flimsy. The man was at his limit. Actually if we had carried Qian San out earlier, he might have survived but I didn’t want to give him that chance. His hands could no longer stop the blood pouring out from his stomach, the intestines were showing. “Chu Mei is back. Someone among the six of us is the tattletale. Do not trust another. If Chu Ye’s friends knew about the truth behind his death, all six of us would be horribly tortured and killed. Therefore, the 6 of us will do everything within our power to kill anyone who knows this secret and now that includes the two of you, so do not trust anyone.”

“Then why did you tell us these things in the first place?” I demanded, “You wish for our death?”

Qian San curled his lips into a smile. He patted down his hair. “Since I joined this industry, I knew I would have a horrible death but I didn’t expect to die like this. I’m telling you this because if I don’t, the secret will fester inside me. I don’t know whether you understand the weight of carrying a horrible secret. It’s a kind of special torment. I do not wish to still be carrying this secret when I go down there. I hope to make my afterlife judgement lighter by unloading all of my sins while I still have the chance.” Qian San closed his eyes. “Now help me close the lid back on. This place has good Feng Shui. It should help my son. He’s now 5 years old…”

I didn’t expect Qian San to have a wife and son. Qian San gave me an impression of an easy-going man who wasn’t concerned about anything. At the moment of death, people hoped that others would remember their good and forget about their sins. I closed the coffin lid.

Qian San was another person who claimed that Chu Mei had returned. Even grave robbers believed in the talks of ghosts? Now we could confirm that these 6 were indeed the group who gangraped Chu Mei 5 years ago but the story we just heard varied slightly from Dai Yu’s version. If they had killed Chu Mei, Ol’ Six could have easily raped the body but Qian San just confirmed that Ol’ Six was the only one who didn’t take advantage of the girls that night. Why this discrepancy? Qian San was dead inside the coffin, so we had to find the answer elsewhere.

“I just took another look around, there is another passage behind the stone door. It has shown recent use. The place is so dark that even with the flashlight, it’s hard to spot the blood trail.” Zhao Mingkun waved her flashlight at me and signalled for me to follow. Soon we reached another 3 fork-junction. Looks like Chu Ye was really afraid of tomb-raiders. For those not familiar with the layout, they would die being lost underground. With that in mind, I marked down a symbol on the wall to remember where we came from.

“This way!” Zhao Mingkun shone the light on the ground. “There are multiple footprints, they should have gone this way.” We followed the footprints and were soon greeted by the smell of blood. It smelled like someone was injured or possibly dead. I had examined the six brothers’ daggers up close. They were extremely sharp and could do serious damage.

We were too late. If we didn’t stop to listen to Qian San’s story, these two might have survived. Two bodies laid on the ground beside a coffin. They were Big Egg and Wei Er. They were both holding daggers in their hands. Under the glow of the flashlight, their bodies revealed a lot of knife wounds. Blood pooled heavily, the smell refused to dissipate. I could imagine what happened here: inside the dark chamber, neither of them could see the other clearly. They could only hear the sounds and sense the other’s breathing. In the dark, the wounds collected on their bodies. They eventually collapsed from blood loss. Internecine killing.

They knew that the other could not be trusted because once the secret was out, the 6 of them would have a horrible ending. Dying in the tomb was much better than being treated by sect laws. For example, when Doggie Wang Er executed the rules, his father was bitten to death. Dying in their master’s tomb was easier and less complicated than facing punishment via sect rules.

How to ensure that a secret would be kept by another person? The easiest solution was to kill them. That has always been the truth.

Therefore, the earliest to die was Qian San, who was the least cunning. And now these two. The strategist among them, Qian Er, had gone missing. Perhaps he was lost in the maze-like tomb or he had escaped. Chu Ye’s dying prediction came true after all. Since they could betray their master, what was stopping them from betraying each other?

“He still has a breath in him.” Zhao Minghun observed as she knelt down beside Wei Er. I hurried over. “Little Brother, I’m sorry I can’t hold on until your arrival.” Wei Er coughed intermittently. “Chu Mei, Chu Mei is back. I don’t know who is behind this. But she’s also in the tomb, be careful…. I… I stole this dagger…” Wei Er handed me a dagger.

Wei Er’s words sent a shiver down my spine. Chu Mei was back and in the tomb with us. But didn't she die? How come these people keep saying she’s back? Was it really the return of Chu Mei’s ghost? The same one we saw in the yard?

I waved my flashlight around. The surroundings were dark and creepy. A big coffin was placed in the middle of the chamber, it was empty. But human fear often originated from the unknown. The unknowable was always the scariest. Seeing the sweat on my face, Zhao Mingkun scoffed. “Don’t be foolish, there is no ghost in this world. If there are ghosts out to take revenge, there won’t be so many cold cases and we won’t even need the police.” It felt weird to hear Zhao Mingkun, the criminal, sing praise about the law enforcement.

I stopped flinging the ray of my flashlight around and examined the dagger Wei Er gave me. Qian San had one, Big Egg had one, Wei Er still had one in his hand, the suspected Ol’ Six’s body had one and now I had one. That made 5 daggers in total, so who had the 6th dagger? Qian Er? The Killer? Or Chu Mei?