Chapter Eighty-Five: The Descendants of the Five Great Detectives Gathered Together

The street was packed shoulder to shoulder, and the hurried passersby wore a hundred different expressions. Some walked with their heads lowered, idly thumbing their phones; some held a handset to their ear, answering in raised voices; others clutched bags and hurried anxiously toward the subway and bus stops. People moved like streams, surging out from every direction, then flowing on in certain currents, now swift, now slow.

A white van was parked across from the neighborhood park, like a jagged stone jutting from the midst of a river.

Zhang Xiaoman arranged the chessboard, then nudged a red pawn forward one step. “Swift Moon Chaser departs from position two.”

A middle-aged man wearing a Bluetooth earpiece, dressed in business attire and carrying a black briefcase, came out of the subway station opposite Violet Smoke Elementary School and quietly replied with two words, “Received.”

Zhang Xiaoman moved another red pawn straight into the depths of the opposing camp. “Bus stop five. Keen Eye is responsible for checking every blind spot in the surveillance coverage.”

“No problem.” A young man with a drawing board on his back and a casual outfit walked slowly toward the bus stop. When a bus pulled in and stopped, he suddenly turned back, feigning a glance at the stop information panel, and his lips moved slightly as he answered.

His finger rested on the red rook at the corner of the board. Zhang Xiaoman shifted his hand. “Rook to four. Has White Wolf reached position?”

A black motorcycle streaked past the van. The rider, wearing a White Wolf helmet, nodded. “White Wolf has set out.”

“Remember not to run red lights, or the fine comes out of your own pocket...” Zhang Xiaoman picked up another red pawn and planted it on the far side of the board. “Forceful Mountain-River entering the field.”

The rear door of a taxi parked at the entrance to the neighborhood park suddenly swung open. A broad-shouldered young man stepped out, flexed his wrists twice, and said crisply, “Understood!”

Zhang Xiaoman moved two red bishops at once and coughed lightly. “The fruit seller holds Entrance Three. The pancake seller holds Exit Seven.”

The old fruit vendor pushed his tricycle to the park entrance and called out, “Cheap apples, only five a pound, homegrown and sold by the grower, prices really not high...”

At the park exit, a middle-aged pancake seller with a crew cut deftly cracked an egg onto the scorching iron griddle and smiled at a customer. “Plain is six. Add an egg for two. That makes eight total. Miss, since you’re my first order today, I’ll give you a discount—throw in bacon and charge you ten, how about that...”

Zhang Xiaoman swallowed. “Make mine a deluxe set in a bit—add ten eggs, one sausage, and five strips of bacon...”

Before the pancake seller could refuse, Zhang Xiaoman picked up a piece and set it down upside down somewhere in the opposing camp. “Shadow Companion, confirm whether Little Bee has flown in.”

Inside the neighborhood park, a man in a gray casual outfit and a black baseball cap stood beside a trash bin, lit a cigarette, and exhaled a ring of smoke. He glanced around the flower bed. Aside from a group of middle-aged women dancing gracefully, there was no one else. He said indifferently, “Everything is peaceful for now.”

“Good. Everyone, stay sharp. The new flowers will arrive soon, and with them a swarm of little bees. The scene will become extremely tangled and chaotic. Our first priority this time is to protect the flowers; second is to track them in reverse and root out the beekeeper. The other side is cunning, so do not let your guard down...” Zhang Xiaoman quickly laid out all the arrangements, then let out a long breath and looked at Nie Yi and Li Jun, who were staring in astonishment. He said softly, “No need to be surprised. This is only the tip of the iceberg for the Bright-Call Society.”

Li Jun pushed his chin back into place and grinned cheekily. “Uncle, where on earth did you find all these people? Their names sound so strange—Swift Moon Chaser, Shadow Companion—it’s like something out of a wuxia story.”

“These aren’t their real names. They’re codenames within the Bright-Call Society, titles passed down to them by the detectives of the previous generation,” Zhang Xiaoman said, looking out the window as his gaze drifted into the distance. “By the time Bright-Call reached your generation, Nie Yi and you, it has passed through three generations in all. From the original trio to the Five Great Detectives, and now to the thirty-four provincial commanders... like a sapling grown into a towering tree...”

“The trio?” Nie Yi murmured for a moment. “So you’re not the founder of the Bright-Call Society?”

“Of course not,” Zhang Xiaoman said with a peculiar expression. “The founder of the Bright-Call Society was a shameless old bastard, and his favorite pastime was swindling people. I only ended up taking over because he swindled me into it. You’ve probably heard his name too—he’s the father of Master Sun Tiantian, the famous suspense and mystery writer Longbow Hard-To-Silence.”

“Huh?” Li Jun immediately pictured the eerie, horrifying face of Sun Tiantian’s master. His Adam’s apple bobbed a few times. “So... you’re Longbow Hard-To-Silence’s disciple? Which means Sweetheart and we are actually senior and junior siblings?”

Zhang Xiaoman shook his head. “I wasn’t that old bastard’s disciple. I was simply chosen by him by happenstance. Longbow Hard-To-Silence first found two assistants to travel the world with him solving cases, and later brought in four more people as partners—that was the original incarnation of Shadow Companion. Those people trained several excellent disciples, and for a time the Bright-Call Society became famous throughout the police circles. Longbow Hard-To-Silence couldn’t swallow his pride, so he took a disciple of his own and completed the Five Great Detectives. But that disciple found it troublesome and refused to take over the Bright-Call Society, while Longbow Hard-To-Silence thought his disciple was too foolish and feared he couldn’t hold things together. That was when he found me...”

He paused, then turned back and looked directly into Nie Yi’s eyes with solemn dignity. “My generation is about to end. From here on, it will be up to you.”

Li Jun was entirely oblivious to the oppressive atmosphere in the car. His mind was full of the scene of him giving an order and seeing heroes and gallants answering in shadowed formation. Rubbing his hands together, he said excitedly, “Uncle, you just mentioned those thirty-four provincial commanders. How many people does the Bright-Call Society actually have?”

“I don’t know either,” Zhang Xiaoman said with a shrug. “Would you ever bother counting how many leaves a tree has? I only know that each province has one branch chief, and every year these people come to me with a mountain of expenses to reimburse...”

Li Jun counted on his fingers, then his eyes bulged. He pouted. “That must cost a fortune. Isn’t that a losing business?”

“Fortunately, most of us are helping the police solve cases,” Zhang Xiaoman said, rubbing his nose. “We can recover a lot of that money from the police bureau. Otherwise, the Bright-Call Society would never have lasted this long.”

Just as Li Jun was about to keep asking, a cool voice suddenly came through the Bluetooth earpiece. “The bull van has entered. The new flowers have arrived.”

White Wolf’s voice followed immediately, riding on the roar of motorcycles. “Four black five-seaters have stopped abruptly in the northwest corner of the neighborhood park. Fifteen little bees have already slipped through the fence into the park. The leader, wearing black sunglasses, is also wearing a Bluetooth earpiece. Too far to read his lips clearly, so I don’t know what he said...”

“Operation begins!” Zhang Xiaoman thought for a moment, straightened in his seat, and moved a piece. “Forceful Mountain-River, move to position one and prepare.”

The burly young man quickly came to the flower bed, found a bench, and sat down. He pulled out his phone, pretended to be absorbed in an online game, and said with bright eyes, “Ready!”

Li Jun looked at the four people who had stepped down from the bull van and said worriedly, “Uncle, six against fifteen is a bit disadvantageous.”

Zhang Xiaoman shook his head. “You’ve counted wrong.”

“Yunxi and the other three, plus the six from the Bright-Call Society, and then the three of us—that’s thirteen total,” Nie Yi suddenly interjected. “Thirteen against fifteen. Not much difference.”

Zhang Xiaoman still shook his head. “You’ve counted wrong too. I said from the start that the two of you won’t need to do anything this time, so you naturally don’t count. Yunxi and the others are only here to fetch something and ask a few questions before leaving; they don’t know about my arrangements. Aside from Han Yuan, the others don’t even know I’ve already arrived in Green Vine City. And I plan to strike before the little bees can sting them, so the four of them don’t count either.”

“Then isn’t it just six against fifteen?” Li Jun frowned. “That’s right...”

Zhang Xiaoman patted the shoulder of the driver seated in the cockpit. “You can get out. Let Li Jun drive the car.”

The driver pulled down his mask, revealing He Wei’s face. He looked back at Nie Yi and Li Jun with a smile, full of confidence. “Relax. With me here, I won’t let anything happen to Yunxi and the others.”

Li Jun instantly felt relieved. Glancing left and right, he said, “Brother He, where are your people? How many did you bring this time? You really are professional—good at hiding. I didn’t notice a thing...”

He Wei pointed at his own nose. “Just me... This isn’t City A. Bringing people across cities to handle a case requires approval, and I couldn’t wait...”

“Seven against fifteen...” Li Jun’s eye twitched. “The gap is still huge...”

“Throughout history, have there not been plenty of examples of the few defeating the many?” Zhang Xiaoman said calmly and with complete composure. “Take the Battle of Julu, for instance. Xiang Yu led only a few tens of thousands and still crushed the Qin army’s hundreds of thousands. Sometimes, having more people is no advantage.”

Li Jun pressed his lips together. “Master, theirs were in the tens of thousands. A localized advantage can gradually expand, sure, but our situation is different. There’s an old saying: two fists can’t beat four hands... Besides, Xiang Yu’s later end wasn’t exactly glorious. Better not model ourselves after him...”

Zhang Xiaoman glared at Li Jun, then waved at He Wei and said flatly, “Police dog enters the field.”

He Wei, who had just pushed the door and stepped down, nearly lost his footing and stumbled. After putting on his Bluetooth earpiece and tugging at his mask, he said plaintively, “Next time, you’ve got to give me a different codename.”

Nie Yi narrowed his eyes slightly and looked toward the bull van. His gaze remained fixed on Shen Yixia, who was wearing shabby clothes. In a low voice he asked, “Master, who is that person?”

“He’s the disciple of Longbow Hard-To-Silence’s disciple,” Zhang Xiaoman said, also turning to look at Shen Yixia. “A few years ago he studied under his master, Sima Bei, up in the mountains. He’s here in Green Vine City under his master’s arrangement to help Yunxi and the others with their work... Today, the descendants of the Five Great Detectives have finally gathered. With you two, that makes seven exactly...”

Li Jun glanced at Shen Yixia, who was clutching his stomach and running for his life, and curled his lips. “What the heck? This guy bolts the moment he takes the stage. By lineage, he’s still the direct bloodline too—what a disgrace...”

“Maybe he ate something bad this morning. Everyone has urgent needs sometimes; no need to fuss over such small matters...” Zhang Xiaoman withdrew his gaze, stared at the chessboard before him, and smacked his lips. “Our focus should be on the big picture. Earlier, White Wolf said the man in sunglasses at the head of the group was also wearing a Bluetooth earpiece. If I’m not mistaken, the beekeeper should be nearby as well... Remember, the opponent is never on the chessboard. He is beyond it.”