"Life and death are predestined, wealth and honor are determined by fate. Do you accept your fate?" Song Tianyao looked at the three people in front of him and asked with a smile.
If Lei Yingdong were resigned to his fate, he should be running a small grocery store with his mother now, instead of being chased by sailors with machine guns at sea, cutting through the wind and waves to smuggle contraband.
If Cheng Yu-tung had accepted his fate, he should still be working as a goldsmith apprentice at Chow Tai Fook, and at most become a goldsmith in a branch store, instead of taking a speedboat alone to Macau to smuggle gold back to Hong Kong.
If Ho Hung-sang had accepted his fate, he should have given up in despair when his father abandoned him and his mother, instead of going to Macau with only ten Hong Kong dollars after his family was ruined, working as a secretary, and even refusing to back down when someone threw a grenade at him.
So Song Tianyao's simple question actually startled them all. They shook their heads. For these three, the word "acceptance of fate" had never appeared in their minds, and it never would.
Song Tianyao, wearing a trench coat, turned and walked towards his car on the shore, muttering to himself as he went, "If I had accepted my fate, I would have been a laborer who failed the police academy entrance exam and was destined to work at the docks, instead of the Song Tianyao who dared to kill Foreign Devil today. All along, I've only believed that fate is given by one's parents, but wealth and status are earned through one's own efforts. It's just a Foreign Devil dying; there's no need for you three to worry about me. It's getting dark. Chairman Chu me to his house for dinner tonight. He's an elder, so it wouldn't be good to be late. I also need to buy some small gifts as a token of our meeting. I'll be going now. The rest is up to you three. I won't thank you enough; I'll treat you to drinks another day—we won't leave until we're drunk!"
Only after Song Tianyao actually drove away did Cheng Yu-tung scratch the mole near his mouth. "Is this guy's ease an act or genuine? Killing Foreign Devil, huh? And he still has the mood to attend a banquet? He's got some nerve!"
"Three journalists, please come with my men. They will take you to the welfare home for your investigation and interviews." Lei Yingdong did not answer Cheng Yu-tung's question, but instead called out to the three Macau journalists who had regained their senses in the distance.
Ho Hung-sang chuckled, "Interesting. This guy should try his luck in a place like Macau; it might suit him better."
"Are you sure you can manage on your own?" Yan Hung asked nervously as he watched Lam Kong walk out of the orphanage and get into the car.
Lam Kong chuckled dismissively, "Brother Hung, I know very well how you went from being Uniformed Branch to Senior Detective Sergeant overnight, and I envy you a lot. I've always wanted to be like you. You killed people, and so can I. You could kill a gangster Big Brother one night, and today I can kill Foreign Devil. Opportunities are earned through hard work. You don't want to do anything, yet you want to be appreciated and promoted. It's not that easy, is it?"
After saying that, Lam Kong turned around and got into his Ford 49. He waved to the taxi that had already shoved the Foreign Devil doctor into the car, signaling the two gunmen in the taxi to leave.
The two gunmen in the car were personally recruited by Lam Kong from Lao Old Six of the Dark Flower Platform. Dark Flower Platform was a nickname used by people in the underworld for a matchmaking agency. In reality, it was a matchmaking agency (similar to a modern-day intermediary agency). However, this matchmaking agency was different from others. Old Six's Dark Flower Platform did not offer services such as introducing maids or workers or renting rooms. It only served people in the underworld. If someone needed to find a scapegoat or an assassin, they could go to Dark Flower Platform and ask him to help make connections. The prices were fair.
These two scapegoats, found by Old Six, were former Kuomintang soldiers who had been making a living by robbing and stealing in Kowloon. They planned to kill someone in Hong Kong, pull off a big heist, and then escape to Taiwan and never return.
The message Old Six and Lam Kong gave to the two gunmen was that they needed to cooperate with Lam Kong in a heroic act of rescuing a Britain doctor from Police Force detectives. The purpose was to help Lam Kong get promoted. To make the performance more realistic, they were allowed to fire, but only into the air. After the incident, Old Six would arrange for scapegoats to take their place. Their reward would not only be the Hong Kong dollars 100,000 in cash in the car, but they would also receive an additional Hong Kong dollars 50,000 from Old Six. Old Six had even bought them boat tickets, so they could board the ship and leave port immediately after receiving the money.
But in reality, Dunbar Road was their final destination. Even if they didn't die Dunbar Road, Lam Kong Old Six already arranged for his trusted men to wait for them to come and die.
As evening fell, the two cars drove one after the other onto the deserted Dunbar Road. Before the taxi in front could react, Lam Kong suddenly accelerated and crashed into it!
The gunman, caught off guard, turned the steering wheel too slowly, and the front of the car crashed into a gas lamppost on the side of the street before coming to a stop!
"Get out of the car for inspection, officers!" Lam Kong, wearing gloves and holding a pistol, got out of the taxi and shouted at the two gunmen inside.
Following Lam Kong and Old Six's instructions, the two gunmen got out of the car, pistols in hand. The three men stood almost face-to-face, just a step apart. One of the gunmen fired a shot into the air, yelling at Lam Kong, "Get out of the way if you don't want to die! This is none of your business! This guy's a Foreign Devil. You're China person, think carefully about whether your life is more important than his!"
Lam Kong was preparing to fire two shots to kill the two men, a soldier in Uniformed Branch suddenly ran out of an alley. Seeing Lam Kong facing off against two armed men, he was startled and frantically drew his gun, aiming helplessly between the two gunmen and Lam Kong, shouting, "Put down your guns! Officers! Put down your guns!"
"I'm Headless from the Wan Chai Police Station! These two are robbers, I saw them kidnap a Foreign Devil!" Lam Kong thought to himself that something was wrong, but he immediately identified himself to the other party.
The two gunmen were somewhat bewildered. The previous instructions only mentioned Lam Kong alone, not that he would appear in Uniformed Branch.
So they couldn't help but turn their heads to look at the Uniformed Branch that had spoken behind them, and in that instant, Lam Kong decisively pulled the trigger!
"Bang! Bang!" Two shots rang out, and two gunmen were hit in the head at close range!
After firing the shot, Lam Kong held the gun in one hand and took out his police ID from his clothes with the other, holding it up. He said to the nervous man who was aiming his Uniformed Branch at him, "It really is one of our own. This is my identification."