Stop Being a Black Lotus, Okay? - Chapter 11

Late at night, the door to the Municipal Bureau was pushed open, revealing an empty corridor.

Lu Min walked in and opened the door to the Technical Section. The room was thick with cigarette smoke. Only one man sat there, staring at the dense data flickering on the computer screen. Hearing the movement, the man immediately looked up. Seeing it was Lu Min, he froze for a moment before jumping up. With a cigarette still dangling from his lips, he rushed forward and pulled Lu Min into a tight hug.

“What, did you decide to come back and be a cop? I told you the business world isn’t as easy to navigate as the police force.”

The man crashed into Lu Min’s chest, bringing with him body heat and the smell of tobacco. Lu Min stiffened momentarily, but he did not pull away from the forceful embrace. The man hugging him was Chen Shen: his partner in his past life, his mentor, his best friend, and the same person who had slammed the table and cursed him the loudest when he handed in his resignation in this lifetime. In his previous life, Chen Shen had gone missing in the Golden Triangle with his whereabouts unknown. Fortunately, in this life, none of that had happened yet. He could still change everything.

Lu Min’s mouth twitched slightly before he got straight to the point.

“Old Chen, I need you to do something for me.”

Sensing something was wrong, Chen Shen took off his glasses and narrowed his eyes to study him. He asked what had happened. Lu Min glanced at him, then shifted his gaze to the crowded case logic map on the whiteboard. He walked over, picked up a marker, and wrote three characters in the empty space: Ying Guiquan.

“I want him,” Lu Min stated firmly.

The room fell into a dead silence. The cigarette in Chen Shen’s hand nearly hit the floor. He stared at Lu Min and asked exactly what he meant by that.

“Literally,” Lu Min replied as he put the pen down and slid his hands back into his trench coat pockets. “He is currently in the detention center awaiting trial. I want you to help me get him out and hand him over to me.”

“Are you crazy?” Chen Shen’s voice rose in disbelief. “Lu Min, that is a criminal suspect! There is kidnapping, intentional injury, and more.”

“And child abuse, human trafficking, and a mountain of unprosecuted filth,” Lu Min interrupted, his tone devoid of emotion. “I know. That is exactly why I want him.”

Chen Shen took a deep breath. He explained that he knew about the kid’s situation and sympathized, but he reminded Lu Min that he used to be a cop and could not do this.

“It is because I was a cop,” Lu Min said as he turned around and spoke deliberately. “That is why I know better than anyone what kind of end a man like Ying Guiquan will face. Will it be three to seven years? Will it be reduced for good behavior? And then what? He comes out, continues gambling, continues drinking, and goes back to making his son’s life a living hell. The law can sentence him to prison, but the law cannot guarantee he will not hurt Ying Yulian again. The law cannot erase the scars on Ying Yulian’s body, it cannot repair a destroyed childhood, and it cannot make him stop being afraid.”

Chen Shen’s expression changed. He scrutinized Lu Min carefully and asked if he had been influenced by the child. He mentioned he had seen the psychological evaluation report and noted the kid had issues.

“He has violent tendencies and antisocial personality disorder,” Lu Min interrupted again. He pulled a document from the inner pocket of his coat. The red letters on the cover were piercing: Psychological Evaluation Report. “I have read it. I have read every page and every word. I know exactly what it says.”

He walked to the desk and pointed his finger at a specific paragraph.

“Right here, it says the subject lacks empathy for the suffering of others. Do you know what kind of photos the psychologist showed him to reach that conclusion? They showed photos of battered women, abandoned children, and abused animals. Those photos are his own past.”

Lu Min’s voice dropped. He looked up, and his dark eyes shone with a startling, cold light under the fluorescent lamps.

“He does not empathize because he has lived through every bit of that pain personally. To him, that is not the suffering of others. That is the living hell he had to face every single day. You call him a madman, but I would like to ask: is the person who locked a child in a cage to sell like cargo not the madman? Is the person who beat him black and blue and ruined his life not the madman? Is the society that turned a blind eye to it not the madman? And yet, when he finally resists and protects the person he cares about, we take out a magnifying glass to analyze if he is antisocial or a potential danger.”

He paused, his lips curling into a faint, almost mocking arc.

“Who is the real madman here? Besides, I was the one who picked Ying Yulian up. If he grows up twisted, I should be the one to deal with him personally. It is not anyone else’s place.”

In his past life, Lu Min had failed. In this life, he absolutely would not fail again. The only sound left in the room was the low hum of the computer fan. After a long silence, Chen Shen finally spoke in a hoarse voice, saying he understood the feelings involved, but suggested that some people are just meant to endure these things as fate.

Lu Min considered the idea of fate. If there was such a thing in this world, it was the fact that he had been given this second life: a head start to find Ying Yulian early and monitor the boy constantly. If he began to turn bad like in the previous life, Lu Min would strike immediately.

“If Ying Yulian really is that dangerous, then fate letting me find him was fate handing me the knife. If he ever commits an evil act, I will get to him before anyone else. If fate truly exists, then why does the crime rate here only go up? Chen Shen, no one is born evil.”

Lu Min walked to the window with his back to Chen Shen, watching the heavy night outside. The city lights flowed in the distance, and he wondered how much sin was festering beneath that prosperity. After a long while, Lu Min spoke softly, stating that it is the world that is sick. Chen Shen opened his mouth to say something but ultimately gave up.

“The one who is sick is not Ying Yulian,” Lu Min continued. His voice was light, yet it hit Chen Shen’s heart like a heavy hammer. “The ones who are sick are the people who turned him into this, the rules that allowed it to happen, and the bystanders who saw it all and never reached out a hand. So, what fate will not give Ying Yulian, I will give. If the world is unkind to him, then I will make the world better.”

If fate still tried to force Ying Yulian down the path of his previous life, Lu Min would handle it himself. No one else needed to intervene. Chen Shen looked at Lu Min, who stood his ground in a stalemate. He cursed inwardly at how stubborn his friend was, but he ultimately pressed a key into Lu Min’s palm.

“I will give this to you, but on one condition: you must come back to the bureau as a consultant. Since you left, the entire department’s efficiency has dropped by two hundred percent.”

“Deal. Thanks, Old Chen.”

The corners of Lu Min’s eyes crinkled as he spun the key around his fingertip. As he walked out of the Municipal Bureau, a light snow began to fall. Lu Min took out his phone. The chat log that had been perpetually empty in his past life was now crowded with messages from Ying Yulian. The boy had asked what time he was coming back, what he wanted for dinner, and noted that he had finished cooking. He had also asked where Lu Min was and mentioned that the food was going to get cold.

Looking at the new messages still flooding the screen and the beautifully prepared meal, Lu Min shook his head helplessly and dialed the number. He asked if the nanny was not at home.

“I wanted to cook for you myself. The food is almost cold, and you still are not back yet,” came Ying Yulian’s listless voice from the other end.

“I am on my way,” Lu Min replied.

“Okay! Then I will go reheat the food right now. I want you to have a hot meal!”