At dawn, OK Chai put on a baseball cap and pulled the brim low. With his head slightly lowered, his face was hidden.
Then he took the earliest minibus back to Kwun Tong.
He did not really want to return while things were so tense, but Sai Kung was not safe either.
For one thing, according to the information he had received, those people appeared at night and disappeared in the early hours. Mornings were relatively safe.
For another, he was afraid that if he delayed too long, the tens of thousands of dollars hidden at home would be gone. That was everything he owned.
He could no longer stay on Hong Kong Island. He was counting on taking the money and fleeing to Taiwan.
Once in Taiwan, he could find something to do. Perhaps he would even have a chance to make something of himself.
Back in Kwun Tong, OK Chai looked around. Seeing no one suspicious, he lowered his head and hurried home.
At his door, OK Chai took out his key, opened it, and shut it behind him before letting out a quiet sigh of relief.
But he soon noticed that many things in his home had been rummaged through. It had already been messy; now it was even worse.
"Fuck!" Alarmed, OK Chai rushed into the bathroom and pried up a floor tile. Only when he saw that the money wrapped in a plastic bag was still underneath did he relax a little.
"Motherfucker!" OK Chai did not even need to think to know who had been in his home. It had to be his idle, gambling-addict cousin.
He dug a bag out of the cupboard, threw the money inside, and stuffed in a few changes of clothes, then picked it up and left.
But the