Midnight

"Uh—"

Uncle Kin, his hands stacked together as he prepared to perform chest compressions, froze. He reached out to pat the other man's face, but before his hand got halfway there, it was slapped aside, and he himself was pushed back.

"Y-you... you're okay?"

Uncle Kin fell onto the ground beside him, staring at the person slowly sitting up, his face filled with uncertainty and alarm.

"I'm fine."

Yang Chu shook his head. His slightly dazed gaze swept over the people standing nearby, and he asked in confusion, "What happened?"

"Uncle Kin thought you'd choked on water and drowned. He was about to give you first aid."

"If you hadn't woken up, he almost would've given you mouth-to-mouth."

The two teenagers standing nearby pulled faces and cried out, dark grins full of teasing spread across their sun-browned faces.

"You little brats!"

Uncle Kin let out a soft breath of relief. Seeing the two boys' expressions, he laughed and cursed at them, then looked at Yang Chu again, his expression turning unpleasant. "Kid, you nearly scared me to death just now. I thought you were dead!"

"Sorry. I fell asleep."

Yang Chu had more or less figured out what had happened. He gave an apologetic smile. "I haven't been able to sleep, so I ended up falling asleep while lying in the water."

"Enough, enough. Whether you were sleeping or swimming, it's ten o'clock. I'm closing up."

It had been a false alarm, and Uncle Kin could not be bothered to say more. He stood up from the ground and began shooing everyone out.

Yang Chu said nothing else. After getting to his feet, he followed the two teenagers toward the showers.

But before leaving, he looked back at the pools, a faint smile unconsciously appearing on his face.

At that moment, Yang Chu could clearly feel that his mental state had improved greatly. He felt refreshed and clear-headed.

Though it had not been long—probably only half an hour—his brain had truly received a brief rest and relaxation in the water while maintaining the operation of his body's internal systems.

"Stop looking. I open at six tomorrow morning. Go on, get out of here!"

At the entrance to Sham Shui Po Park Swimming Pool, Uncle Kin saw Yang Chu still standing by the gate. He irritably told him the pool's opening hours, then hurried toward a bus stop not far away.

On the street, a double-decker bus was turning past a zebra crossing, about to pull into the stop.

It was nearly eleven at night by then, and this was probably one of the last one or two buses.

Watching the pool attendant hurry to the bus stop and then pant as he squeezed aboard, Yang Chu stood outside the pool entrance, suddenly tempted to sneak back in and "sleep" a little longer.

That brief sleep in the pool had felt exceptionally comfortable.

Thinking back on it now, the sensation had been like returning to the womb, floating through endlessness and the unknown.

However, after standing silently outside the pool for a while, Yang Chu gave up on finding some other way to get inside.

For one thing, the pool's security was quite good, so getting in would not be easy. For another, his mind was clear now, and that feeling of his consciousness gradually slipping into chaos was gone.

"Forget it. Might as well take a look at Hong Kong Island at midnight."

West Kowloon, at a table on the first floor of Old Tan Tea Restaurant, He Jia'an was picking up a piece of siu mai with his chopsticks when he glanced at the large group of people filing through the door and heading upstairs. A puzzled look appeared on his face.

Sitting across from He Jia'an was a tall, dark-skinned, sturdily built man in his thirties. He paid no attention to the people entering from outside, continuing to hold a bowl of wontons and slurp them down with gusto.

"Officer Chan, those people..."

After watching the group head upstairs, He Jia'an turned back, lowered his voice, and looked at the tall, dark-skinned man.

"Unity Hall. Four Great Families."

The tall, dark-skinned man answered casually. He scooped up another wonton with his spoon, blew on it, and happily continued eating.

After finishing the wonton, the tall, dark-skinned man seemed to notice He Jia'an's still-confused expression. He set down his bowl and asked, "You know Yi Kwan?"

"No." He Jia'an shook his head.

"Tch. Good thing you're in the Serious Crimes Unit with me now. If you were in the Anti-Triad Unit, you'd be in for a hard time knowing nothing like this."

The tall, dark-skinned man snorted and continued, "You know Crippled Ho, right?"

"I do, I do." He Jia'an nodded quickly. Though he was a rookie fresh out of the police academy, anyone living on Hong Kong Island had surely heard of that former drug kingpin who had once shaken all of Hong Kong.

The tall, dark-skinned man picked up a toothpick from the table and held it in his mouth as he continued, "You saw those old guys in the crowd just now, right? They all used to work for Crippled Ho. Lucky bastards—they didn't catch bullets or end up in prison back then. Now they're throwing their weight around, running their own gang. This restaurant is one of their contact points."

"Huh?"

At those final words, He Jia'an's face showed a trace of nervousness. He hurriedly looked around. Only when he saw that neither the owner nor the servers in the tea restaurant were paying attention to them did he relax. Then he leaned closer and lowered his voice further. "Then... why are we still here?"

"Because the late-night food here is good, of course."

The tall, dark-skinned man spoke with utter unconcern, though there was a hint of resentment in his tone. "What else, are we here to stake them out or arrest them? Unless dozens or hundreds of them die, it's the Anti-Triad Unit's or the Narcotics Bureau's business. It's not our place to interfere."

As he spoke, the tall, dark-skinned man tilted his head and gave He Jia'an another look. "Hey, An Zai. I read your file. You did pretty well at the police academy—almost as well as me. From now on, stay sharp when you're with me."

"Yes." Hearing the praise, He Jia'an became so excited that he tried to stand and salute. But he bumped into the restaurant table, making the wonton bowl and bamboo steamer on it tremble. He quickly scratched his head and sat back down.

The tall, dark-skinned man sitting opposite He Jia'an shook his head and chuckled again.

Meanwhile, on the third floor of the tea restaurant, inside a private room.

Four elderly men over sixty, dressed either in old-fashioned long gowns and mandarin jackets or Tang suits, sat around a small round table, watching the tea water bubble furiously.

Behind each of the four old men stood another two or three people. Some wore short sleeves and jeans, standing crookedly without a hint of proper bearing. Others wore suits and ties, looking every bit like successful businessmen. Yet none of them were qualified to sit.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—

The sound of boiling water rose.

An old, short, fat man in a Tang suit sitting at the head of the round table slowly stood and began making tea.

Once the tea was ready, he poured a cup for each of the other three elders around the table before finally pouring one for himself.

After completing the round, the short, fat old man in the Tang suit raised his teacup and made a gesture of offering tea.

"Please, have tea!"