I'm no saint either

"K-Kong Sang..." The woman shrank to one side, her face full of fear, and answered cautiously. She had no idea whether she should stay closer to this newcomer or the human smuggler.

"Just came down from the north?" Gu Sheng asked casually. Which Hong Kong movie was this from? I haven't seen it.

Still, her face looked very familiar. She bore at least a sixty or seventy percent resemblance to someone.

"...Yes."

"Tell me what happened."

Kong Sang explained everything in a few sentences. The man was a human smuggler, and she had come to stay with her third aunt, only to be detained as soon as she got off the boat.

The smuggler had tried to contact her third aunt for money but failed to reach her. Then, seeing how pretty Kong Sang was, he had tried to molest her.

"I paid before I boarded the boat," Kong Sang said miserably. With that face of hers, she looked utterly pitiful.

"Boss, can you let me go?"

"Here. Take the gun and shoot him dead." Gu Sheng gave her a kindly smile.

"N-no..." Kong Sang recoiled, her face filled with terror.

"Or I shoot both of you. Pick one."

"Boss, just let me go. I'm not worth your trouble," the smuggler pleaded, drenched in cold sweat from the pain.

Bang! Gu Sheng shot the smuggler in the stomach again.

"Which one? Countdown. Three, two, one." Gu Sheng tossed the gun back and forth between his hands.

His casual manner made him look like a murderous maniac, frightening Kong Sang even more.

"I'll do it!" The countdown hit zero. Seeing Gu Sheng's gaze turn cold, Kong Sang gritted her teeth, rushed over, took the gun, and fired several shots at the smuggler.

Bang, bang, bang!

"Right, now we're in this together. Congratulations. You've only just arrived on Hong Kong Island, and you've already unlocked the murderer achievement." Grinning, Gu Sheng took the gun from her hands.

Kong Sang burst into tears, which pattered down her cheeks.

"Don't cry. I'm no saint either. I won't call the cops and have you locked up," Gu Sheng consoled her.

Kong Sang cried even harder. Through her tears, looking utterly helpless, she begged, "Boss, can you let me go? I swear I won't tell anyone what happened today."

"You definitely won't tell anyone. I might, though," Gu Sheng teased, thinking she was dreaming if she expected him to let her go.

Suddenly, Gu Sheng remembered something, and his smile grew even brighter.

"Oh, right. You probably don't know this, but illegal immigrants getting ID cards once they reached the urban area? That was before last year. Now, if they catch you, they send you straight back north. And you've killed someone... You'll probably be shot."

He wasn't bluffing. Just last year, they had abolished the policy of issuing ID cards to illegal immigrants who made it into the urban area.

"How can that be? Didn't they say... Didn't they say..." Kong Sang's face turned deathly pale, and she froze.

First she had entered illegally, then she had nearly been assaulted, then she had killed someone. Now she had learned she couldn't get an ID. With all of it crammed into a single day, Kong Sang was on the verge of breaking down.

"Think it over. I'll clean this up for you. Otherwise, if the cops find it, you're definitely getting arrested. That's a pretty huge favor, right? Feel like you can never repay me?" Gu Sheng searched the room, found a sack, and stuffed the smuggler inside.

Kong Sang's mind had gone completely blank.

"Where's the boat?" Gu Sheng asked. Once he knew where it was, he went over and tossed the sack aboard, then steered off to another spot and stuffed the boss's wife into a sack too.

He also packed in several stones the size of a human head.

He took the boat out to the middle of the river and pushed the sacks overboard. Watching them sink, he muttered away.

"At least you'll have company on the way. Sister-in-law, your husband's already waiting down there. Husband and wife reunited. That's nice. Just live peacefully down there. Stop fighting every day. You're both dead now. No point making a fuss anymore."

After all, she was an acquaintance he knew intimately. The least he could do was see her off.

As soon as Gu Sheng left, Kong Sang wiped her tears. Judging by the sounds, he had gone far away. She wanted to run.

But when she thought about it, where could she go?

Especially now that she had killed someone. If anyone found out, she would drag her third aunt into it too.

But if she stayed, this man would probably be just like that smuggler. No, he was even worse than the smuggler.

Yet if she left, what if he told people she had killed someone and the police arrested her?

Kong Sang sat in the corner with her arms around her knees, wavering back and forth. The more she thought, the more she wanted to cry, and tears began pattering down her cheeks again.

When Gu Sheng returned and saw Kong Sang still huddled in the corner, without having taken the chance to run, he was amused. This girl really was stupid.

"All right, I've cleaned it up for you. Come with me. I happen to need someone at my place." Gu Sheng beckoned.

"What do you want me to do?" Countless possibilities flashed through Kong Sang's mind: making her kill someone, selling her to a brothel. None of them were anything good.

"I need someone to do the cleaning. You'll do," Gu Sheng said.

"Really?" Kong Sang asked cautiously.

"You actually believe that? Are you stupid?" Gu Sheng scoffed.

Kong Sang was about to cry again.

"All right, I really do need someone to clean." Gu Sheng thought it over and decided not to push this foolish girl too far.

He would take her home and keep her for now. It would be a shame not to bring home a girl this gorgeous.

Besides, he had plenty of money now. He could afford to support her.

Money really did come fast in this era. He had already pocketed several hundred thousand in a single day.

Even if she ran away someday... Well, then she ran away. It didn't really matter.

Gu Sheng searched the house and found only a few dozen dollars. With a look of disgust, he stuffed them into his trouser pocket and spat on the floor.

"Broke bastard!"

Seeing plenty of blood still on the floor, he found a can of gasoline and poured it over the stains.

Then he set it alight.

The entire sheet-metal shack instantly became a bonfire.

"Let's go." Gu Sheng picked up the paper bag he had brought with him. There was still a hundred thousand inside.

He called out and walked ahead, with Kong Sang timidly following him. Her pitiful expression kept making him want to snap at her.

He found the motorcycle he had ridden there.

"Get on."

Kong Sang hesitated for ages. Only when Gu Sheng glared at her did she slowly climb onto the back seat. Then he hit the throttle and nearly bounced her off, forcing her to grab his waist.

After that, Gu Sheng deliberately rode over the bumps, frightening Kong Sang so much that she didn't dare let go.

He rode for quite a while before returning to a smooth road. By the time they reached the urban area, it was already the middle of the night.

Gu Sheng found somewhere to dump the motorcycle, then took a taxi home.

As soon as he reached the foot of his building, he saw Big-Eyed Hua pacing back and forth, looking frantic.

"It's the middle of the night. Why the fuck are you pacing outside my building instead of sleeping?" Gu Sheng snapped.

"Brother Sheng, how can I sleep? Something huge happened! The boss got killed... I've been paging you all night." Big-Eyed Hua had only said a few words when he noticed Kong Sang behind Gu Sheng. Her clothes were hopelessly dowdy, but her face was genuinely beautiful. Combined with her helpless expression, it made it hard for him to look away.

Now he knew what Gu Sheng had been doing.

"The boss got killed? Fuck! Who did it? I'll fucking chop him up!" Gu Sheng cursed, looking shocked.

"Some of them say Thunderclap Tiger from Tung Sing did it. The boss went to negotiate with him tonight, but he got shot dead as soon as he reached the foot of the building. Long-Haired Kit died too. King Boxer Yung's still in the hospital."

"But others say the boss's wife hired someone to do it. After the boss got killed, they went looking for her, but she'd disappeared too. The safe at home was open, and all the money was gone!"

"What's happening now?"

"I don't know. Everyone's at the bar. Mad Dog and Chui Gai want to go to war with Tung Sing. They say they're going to avenge the boss." The bar Big-Eyed Hua meant was one of Ah Sin's establishments, one of the best bars in Yuen Long.

Thunderclap Tiger of Tung Sing, meanwhile, ran several Japanese shiatsu massage parlors. Business was supposedly booming.

"Four-Eyed Kid says we should wait for Mr. Jiang to decide. He's also sent people everywhere to look for the boss's wife."

"What a fucking mess. All right, wait here. Let me get the chick I just picked up settled in." Gu Sheng shook his head and took Kong Sang upstairs.

Kong Sang hesitated at the entrance to the stairwell, as though some monster's gaping maw lay ahead.

"Quit fucking dawdling. Hurry up. I'll show you what to clean, then I've got business to take care of!" Gu Sheng snapped.

Opening his front door, Gu Sheng covered his nose and gestured at the pile of rubbish inside. "Here it is. Clean this up, then stay here for now. Fuck, it's filthy. I don't even dare go in."

Kong Sang was pushed through the doorway. Gu Sheng followed immediately behind her, startling her so badly she nearly fell into the rubbish.

"What the fuck are you scared of? I'm not some lecher. I'm only asking you to clean up some rubbish. That timid act of yours pisses me off." After cursing at her, Gu Sheng went to the kitchen, opened a cupboard, and tossed the bag containing a hundred thousand dollars and the gold Rolex inside.

After a moment's thought, he took out a stack of cash and stuffed it into his trouser pocket.

Only then did he turn and leave.