Chapter 73: The Family of the Orphan Qin Yang?

“Who cares who it is—as long as they’re here to kill those bastards, they’re not our enemy.” Qin Yang gritted his teeth, fished a crudely-made homemade explosive from his pocket, lit the fuse, and hurled it. It landed right at Cody’s feet. Cody saw it, let out a furious roar, and with unimaginable speed, dashed away, diving to the ground with his hands over his head—quick and efficient.

But, to everyone’s astonishment, the explosive didn’t go off!

There was a clear fizzing sound, trailing off into silence. Ling Suyun, watching from a distance, nearly burst out laughing—Cody’s dramatic dodge was all for nothing. Qin Yang was dumbfounded too, and in his mind echoed Zhang Qijiao’s earlier words about these explosives: “The power is enough. Used to blow up fish in the village before. Don’t worry, it’ll detonate in water too. If not, you can come beat me up.”

“Damn it,” Qin Yang muttered under his breath.

But no one was more furious than Cody. His face was nearly purple now. Twice—twice he’d been made a fool of! Blinded by rage, he didn’t hesitate: he whipped out a hand grenade and hurled it at Qin Yang, who dodged in fright. At the same time, a hail of bullets rained down, and Cody shouted, “Diss, take out that bastard in the back for me! In half an hour, I want to be lying next to the ladies!”

Sensing their leader’s fury, Diss and the others dared not slack off. They’d already been played for fools several times—never before had they been so humiliated. Now, driven half-mad, they fired wildly in the direction they guessed their adversary was hiding.

A fiery explosion erupted in the graveyard, sending several gravestones tumbling under the force. Qin Yang lay flat on the ground, covered in dirt, not daring to lift his head as Cody’s gunfire raked the area. The wild spray had turned into controlled bursts, but it was still enough to keep Qin Yang pinned. He knew he wouldn’t die, but the price of hell’s resurrection for a host like him was steep—at least, far more than he could bear now. According to the butler, if he died and came back now, he’d lose all of hell’s powers for ten years and, worse yet, have to constantly replenish hell’s energy himself.

“Damn it,” Qin Yang swore.

Carefully, he fished out a detonator from his pocket and pressed it hard. A series of metallic chimes rang out. Cody and his men noticed, but—should they believe it or not? In the end, they chose survival over pride and dove for cover in turn. But all that happened was a series of small fireworks popping up from the ground. They didn’t shoot high—just two or three meters—but lit up the area as bright as day. Qin Yang seized the chance to slip away and find a new hiding spot.

“Bastard! Bastard!” Cody’s face twitched with fury. This guy was shameless! He’d just gotten up and taken two steps when, under the fireworks, a sudden, violent shockwave burst out. A column of fire shot skyward, scattering the fireworks. The four men, who had just stood up, had no time to evade and were blown back three or four meters by the blast, the thunderous boom ringing in their ears.

“Let’s see if this doesn’t finish you off!” Qin Yang, filthy and disheveled, stepped out from his hiding place, spat on the ground, and lit a cigarette.

He swaggered over to the crater the explosion had left. Luckily, this section of the graveyard hadn’t been sold yet—otherwise, he’d have really ruined someone’s ancestral tomb. The acrid scent of gunpowder hung in the air. Qin Yang couldn’t help coughing. “That’s powerful enough,” he said.

“Damn it, damn it,” Cody cursed, lying on the ground, bloody and battered.

The other three lay twitching on the ground, too weak to fight back. Just as Qin Yang started to approach, a burst of gunfire made him duck for cover. He saw his mysterious ally step out from the shadows. The thug whom Qin Yang had shot in the chest with a crossbow wailed in pain, collapsed on the ground, blood streaming from his right shoulder.

“I saved one for you,” Ling Suyun said as he walked up, holstering his pistol. “You’re impressive, really—managing to run rings around these guys. I’m Ling Suyun, captain of the city criminal police unit.”

“Oh? So you’re the ace that Sun Qi—the feisty woman—keeps bragging about?” Qin Yang chuckled. “No wonder she’s so confident. With a boss like you and that marksmanship, who wouldn’t be?”

“I wouldn’t call myself that, but I am impressed by your setup,” Ling Suyun admitted, admiration in his eyes.

This gang of jewel thieves was, after all, highly trained. Yet here they’d been played for fools by Qin Yang alone, then subdued with surprisingly little effort. As the two spoke, police lights flashed in the distance. Qin Yang walked over to Cody, took the ring from his finger, and said, “This is mine—he stole it.”

Ling Suyun smiled and nodded, not about to contradict Qin Yang. After all, it was mostly Qin Yang who’d taken them down, and the ring was useless to him—just another piece of unrecoverable stolen property. But Qin Yang could feel the spiritual energy inside the ring and was quietly delighted, though he kept that well hidden.

“All right, can I leave these people to you?” Ling Suyun said with a smile. “I’ve been tracking them for six months.”

“Why are you so interested in a foreign criminal gang?” Qin Yang asked, curious.

Ling Suyun nodded. By now, police officers had arrived on the scene. Seeing the chaos, they saluted Ling Suyun with admiration, naturally assuming he’d been in charge. Qin Yang didn’t care to claim credit, just patted Ling Suyun’s shoulder. “Let’s talk in the car.”

Once inside, Ling Suyun explained, “This gang’s first crime in the country was a murder six months ago in Jianghai City. Before that, their overseas crimes could fill a novel. Interpol’s been after them for some time—in fact, they’re linked to a mysterious religious group called the Bliss Sect. The sect’s been around for a decade, operating with extreme secrecy, committing crimes all over the country, and has been labeled a cult. Bliss Sect has branches in many countries—except for a few like ours, where they keep a low profile because they’re too notorious. Besides Interpol, many other forces want them wiped out. They’ve nurtured a number of affiliated gangs to carry out crimes for them, most notoriously tomb raiding and jewel theft.”

“Quite the taste,” Qin Yang remarked.

Ling Suyun didn’t disagree, continuing, “Asia is where Bliss Sect’s influence is weakest, but it’s also home to two ancient civilizations with countless artifacts and treasures. They want to establish themselves here, and Cody’s gang was their vanguard. But make no mistake—this group was the weakest of Bliss Sect’s teams. When they committed murder in Jianghai City, I started tracking them. It took me half a year to finally arrest them. Fortunately, we had the East Sea Star as bait.”

“They committed murder in Jianghai City?” Qin Yang repeated.

Ling Suyun nodded. “By coincidence, the victim was a boy named Qin Yang. And now, you, also named Qin Yang, have brought them to justice. Karma really does come full circle.”

“What about the boy’s family?” Qin Yang asked, his voice trembling slightly.

Ling Suyun sighed. “He was from an orphanage. I spent more than two months, following every clue from his time there, and finally found his family. When he was a baby, his parents were tricked and threatened by thugs at the station, and the child was lost. They searched for years but found nothing. The boy, little Qin Yang, was taken by an old man to the orphanage. I visited that old man, and from his account and the station’s records, I finally found the family. The boy’s been buried now.”

“Can you tell me where his family lives?” Qin Yang asked, his mood heavy.

“Of course.” Ling Suyun wrote down an address and handed it to Qin Yang. “You can visit, but it’s best not to mention the late Qin Yang. After searching for over twenty years, to find only their son’s remains—that’s a blow for any parent.”

“I understand.”

Qin Yang forced a smile.

Instead of going anywhere else, or to the police station, he had Ling Suyun take him home. Wandering inside, he felt dazed and empty—the thrill of revenge had faded, replaced by the weight of what Ling Suyun had told him. Lighting a cigarette, he sat at his desk in silence, lost in thought.

Buzz.

His phone rang.

He answered. The first thing he heard was Ji Lietiger’s excited voice: “Old Qin, we did it! We made it!”

“Yeah, I know,” Qin Yang replied, his tone weary.

“What’s wrong? Did something go wrong with the plan?” Ji Lietiger pressed. “Where are you?”

“I’m fine. We succeeded. I’ll come see you when I can. Be careful—the police won’t give up easily,” Qin Yang said.

“Same to you. Watch your back.”

Qin Yang hung up and sighed heavily.

Qi Mengwei approached quietly, noticing his low spirits. She rested her hands on his shoulders and gently massaged them. “What’s wrong?” she asked softly.

He smiled wryly. “Nothing much. I just found out some things I’ve been looking for, for many years. Turns out, when you finally get answers after more than twenty years, it doesn’t feel as good as you’d think.”

Qi Mengwei sensed this was no simple matter, but seeing that he wasn’t ready to talk, she said, “You know, you always tell me not to worry so much. Why so anxious now?”

Her words, light and teasing, made Qin Yang smile. “All right, enough comforting me. Go get some rest—unless you want to share my bed tonight?”

Qi Mengwei blushed, looking down shyly without answering. Seeing her like this, Qin Yang couldn’t help but flick her on the nose. “Okay, okay, I’ll stop. Off to bed with you—it’s getting late.”