97 Why Am I Killing You?

 

Intentionally spreading AIDS fall under attempted murder, but with money, the rich second-generation got the least severe of sentence. The day Lin Dafa left with the cleaver, it was the day the rich second-generation was released from prison. Lin Dafa waited at the door of the young man’s home. Lin Dafa hid the cleaver inside his clothes and waited at that spot for a whole week. In the morning, he subsisted on dry bread; at night, he slept by the roadside. His eyes were red like a hunger panther; his eyes were sharp like an eagle. He was like a statue, a statue demanding for blood.

1 week later, Lin Dafa finally saw the rich second-generation. Even though he was just released from prison, the young man tumbled back into the life of sin. His life was frozen at 20, what did he have to lose? The rich second-generation was opening the door when Lin Dafa pounced like a beast. He kicked the young man into the house. Then he locked the door behind him. The young man was so drunk that he couldn’t even struggle to stand up from the ground. Seeing this, Lin Dafa laughed. The young man looked like such an ugly little maggot. But Lin Dafa didn’t plan to squish him just like that, he had plans for the young man.

Lin Dafa tied him to an armchair, he placed the cleaver on the young man’s neck and rewarded the young man with a basin of cold water to the face. That finally woke the man up from his hangover. He saw the skinny dark-skinned man before him and the cleaver around his neck, his eyes started to fill with fear. “What, what do you want?” The young man stammered, “I can give you all the money you want as long as you don’t hurt me!”

Lin Dafa studied the young man before him silently. The young man was 20 plus but he looked like he was approaching 40. He looked about as old as Lin Dafa himself. The fear of the young man was a complete contrast to the arrogance he showcased inside the police station. How could someone with AIDS be so afraid of death? “I do want to kill you but I will give you a chance.” Lin Dafa said, “Guess why I want to kill you, if you’re correct, then I’ll let you go. You don’t have much time left, so get thinking.”

Lin Dafa sat across from the young man. He slowly took out a wrinkled cigarette box from his pocket and then lit one. He held the smoke in one hand while his other hand slowly pushed the cleaver. The blade was sharp and it slowly carved into the young man’s supple skin. “Sir, please, slow down. I have something better than the cigarette you’re smoking in my drawer over there.” Survival instinct made the young man’s brain move fast, “Take a look, I’m not lying to you.” Lin Dafa opened the drawer where a box of tobacco sat inside. The box of tobacco bought the young man some time. At the same time, that was when Lin Dafa fell in love with specialty cigarettes. He split open his cigarette and replaced the cheap leaves inside with the tobacco. The kick was amazing, it made his head spin but he didn’t forget his purpose for being there.

“Guess.” With the cigarette loosening him, Lin Dafa became chattier. “Come on, guess! You’ll be punished if you don’t!” To prove his point, Lin Dafa used the tip of the blade to slash across the young man’s cheek, fresh blood leaked out from it. For others, the rich second-generation’s blood was a lethal weapon but Lin Dafa was not afraid of it. After all, he already had nothing to live for so why would he be afraid of AIDS?

“You, you are Xiao Wan’s father.” The young man cried, “You’re Xiao Wan’s father. I got her pregnant but I kicked her aside. She didn’t dare to let her parents know and she didn’t dare to go to the hospital, so she gave birth under a civilian pass-over. Due to a lack of medical attention, both her and her baby died from blood loss. But wait, the police didn’t even know that’s my child, so how would you know?” The young man rambled as his body shook, “So no, you’re not Wan Er’s father, you’re not here for her.” Lin Dafa smiled gently and with a push, the cleaver inched deeper into the young man’s flesh. Blood slowly leaked out. The man could feel itchiness and warmth around his neck. It was his blood, his poisoned blood.

“I know! I know!” The blood, sweat and tears mixed together. When they touched his wounds, it felt like his face was bitten by fire ants. “If you’re not Wan Er’s father, then you have to be Xiao Mei’s father. I was wrong there, I’m an animal.”

Lin Dafa chuckled, “Continue.”

The young man thought he was correct and his expression relaxed. “You’re Xiao Mei’s father. That time, just for fun, a few of us tied Xiao Mei inside a factory, and took off her clothes. When we came back an hour later, we realized she was still tied there but she had been gangraped. And Xiao Mei, Xiao Mei’s eyes were closed and she had no more breath in her.” The young man shivered. “We were so afraid so we ran. But, but I heard the real culprits, the factory workers have all been captured. I know I was the one who kidnapped Xiao Mei but it wasn’t my fault, right?”

Lin Dafa’s cleaver inched in further. “It’s not that, that’s not why I’m here.” The young man was in despair, he could feel his life slipping away. Even if he didn’t die from decapitation, he would die from massive blood loss. The wound was getting deeper, he didn’t have too many chances left. The young man had labored breaths like he had just finished a marathon. His brain spun quickly. Just what had he done that he deserved something like this?

“Don’t keep your thoughts to yourself.” Lin Dafa rolled another cigarette and urged gently, “How can I know what you’re thinking if you’re not talking?”

“Of course, of course!” The young man answered. “Erm, erm, I know, I know. It should be this then. I lived at the countryside before I was 10. That night I was playing with fire and accidentally burnt a whole wooden house down. I was too young and too afraid so I ran. Only later I found out the fire had killed the wife and her young daughter. You must be the husband, that night you were away from home due to work. Is that it?” The young man pleaded like a hooked fish.

Lin Dafa scratched his head with the end of the cleaver, he was surprised that the young man was responsible for so many tragedies and he had killed so many lives but Lin Dafa didn’t care about them. The world was filled with people, if he had to mourn everyone that died, then he wouldn’t have time to do anything. These people had nothing to do with Lin Dafa and he didn’t feel even a bit sorry for them, but he was angry. Why was it that the young man had reached into his childhood but he still couldn’t remember what he had done to Lin Dafa’s daughter?!

With his anger, the blade pressed deeper into flesh. The response was loud but no one heard it. The rich second-generation’s house had perfect sound insulation.

“That’s also wrong?” The young man trembled. He struggled against the knot but it was pointless. Lin Dafa was a man of labor, he was at least 10 times more powerful than the young man. So how could the latter struggle loose from the knot? With each struggle, the wound on the young man’s neck opened further and more blood oozed out. “Why are you treating me like this!” The young man wailed indignantly.

Lin Dafa responded easily, “Well, guess.”

The young man cried but with the press of the cleaver on his neck, he continued, “If it’s none of those, what… what can it be… I know, you are Sister Hua’s husband! Sister Hua did say she has a husband about your age. I transmitted AIDS to her but she didn’t know about it and when she was back home, she transmitted it to her husband. So you have AIDS too.” The young man looked at Lin Dafa before him. “So you’re doing this for revenge? But this is really not my fault, it was Sister Hua who came onto me. She was doing it for my money and I was only playing along. This isn’t my fault, she did this to herself.” The young man blubbered, “Plus I didn’t kill her. Sister Hua killed herself. She came demanding for an explanation, and I told her she was the one who couldn’t wait to jump on my dick, and then she jumped off the building. I didn’t do anything to her! How about this, I have a lot of money and the latency period for AIDS is very long. My money will be your money from now on, okay?”

Lin Dafa was livid. He didn’t know who Sister Hua was and he was definitely not her husband. But at the same time, he was disappointed. The memory that Lin Rong held so dearly didn’t even feature at all in this young mind’s mind. Her daughter was just like so many nameless women ruined by this young man and then forgotten by him. Things were often one-sided, one-sided love, one-sided hatred, one-sided remembrance and one-side dismissal.

“You’re running out of chances.” Lin Dafa grinned coldly, “When you’re down there, tell the Lord of Hell that your murderer is Lin Dafa.” He readied the cleaver.

‘Lin Dafa! This man’s surname is Lin! Who else did I know that has the surname Lin? Which woman has the surname Lin?’ Suddenly a name popped in the young man’s head.

“Lin Rong! Lin Rong!” He shouted. “You’re Lin Rong’s father, you’re here for her! She’s only 15, 16, isn’t she? Right!” The young man bellowed between tears. Before this, he thought that having AIDS was no different from death. But when he faced death so starkly then he realized how scary death was.

The cleaver halted in mid-air and Lin Dafa laughed.

The young man saw the halted cleaver and he laughed.