Hong Kong

23

The young man in the immense solitude of his castle could not even see the baby. He hated to hear her cry; she was the product of the sin that developed in the castle. The services on their own looked for a wet nurse to nurse her.

A whole year went by like that. Until one day she decided. Inflexible he went to the room where the child was. He picked her up and took her with him.

His servants saw him walking; they guessed what he intended to do and one of them, closing the way, knelt before the young master.

-- I took my life, sir. He exchanged it for her. There is also her ...her sister's blood in the girl.

And so each one knelt before him, offering his life for that of the girl.

He took the horse and headed for the meadow.

Let fate decide.

A whole day on horseback and descended into the middle of the distant prairie.

The girl was crying from hunger and thirst. He left her abandoned in the middle of the meadow.

He mounted his horse and rode away. A great distance he traveled. Until he stopped his gallop and with a shriek of despair, he turned his back and galloped back to the meadow. The girl was the result of a betrayal, but there was also the essence of her.

It was the middle of the night. And in the darkness he could barely make her out.

The girl was almost dead from cold and hunger.

Without thinking with his dagger he cut her and gave her blood to drink.

It was to save her. He had no other choice. He gave another desperate scream in the darkness and plunged the dagger into the ground, saving the girl, killing his own soul. He never accepted that she was dead...Reality hit him with all its brutality. He cried in despair, he cried in rage.

-- Because you didn't love me," he cried to the darkness, "Because.... Damn it!

He plunged the dagger several times into the ground, and when he pulled it out, a different glow permeated it. A greenish color indicated to him that a gold deposit was there.

He had to mark the area. It was no man's land. It would belong to whoever claimed it. A great fortune had been made by trying to murder his sister's daughter.

I

In the morning the servants saw him arrive.

He was pale and haggard.

He handed the girl to the servants and said nothing. Silent and sullen; feeling a miserable fool, he remained without food all day.

In the middle of the night he went to his private library and searched for texts: acupuncture, medicines, combat strategies, construction techniques, mathematics, until he found something that caught his attention. Until he found something that caught his attention. A series of tablets wrapped in untanned leather.... He read them...

II.

23 years before Kathy Hung began her internship in the hospital of Kowlong ....

. Midnight... The nuns of St. Mary Immaculate orphanage woke up in bewilderment.... 8 very loud knocks on the front door..... The frightened old caretaker went to check and found the typical .... A little girl in a wicker basket... Another girl abandoned by a dancer or a girl with money who didn't know how to count the non-fertile days or forgot her pill....

III

Melissa started her shift and on her electric scooter she moved through her assigned area near the hospital... As she expected, the detectives pretended to investigate. No one would waste time with that.

There were several "snitches" in their patrol area. Someone must have seen or heard something.

-- I saw old Lang's triad park the other afternoon in the hospital parking lot. This isn't their zone," an illegal bookie told her, when she stopped him on the sidewalk and started pulling out bundles and bundles of cash with no backing.

It wasn't much. But she had nothing to lose by finding out.

-- So old Lang's triad. And where do these idiots hang out?

-- They're seen around Yau Tsim Mong and are sometimes bodyguards in brothels owned by subsidiaries of the Sun Yee On triad," the bookie told her, annoyed at being stuck against a wall, checked by a uniformed policewoman.

She said nothing. She had a something...Yau Tsim Mong was Kathy Hung's latest residence information.

IV.

Melissa finished her shift... She heard a rumor that a lot of motorcycles and vehicles would be decommissioned.... Some were in good condition and it was customary for police officers who were starting out to buy some of the vehicles at auction.... That's why he checked his savings... And that same night he had a Honda 750... He had hit it hard... But for 4,000 Hong Kong dollars she would put it to use as she thought... Excited, feeling part of "something" she headed to Kathy Hung's last address....

2.--

It was a poorly lit alleyway... Few people walking hurriedly to their homes... Drive slowly... I knew how to look for... A Bmw, a Jaguar, a Cadillac, or some assholes in black flux, with dark glasses walking at night.

He saw the Toyota Camry, parked in a dark side street. Several motorcycles... He listened... He saw a Bmw X5... And two people inside. A man and a woman... Undercover agents.

-- Hi, guys-- he said-- I'm an agent. I'm off duty. I need to ask any operative "Old Lang" a few questions.

-- What for?" the man said, "You're damaging an entire operation.

- Oh, come on. Even the cat knows you're cops. I'm on an investigation involving Kowlong Hospital.

-- I think you're too young for that.

She showed them her badge.

-- Please! From traffic and highway patrol," said the woman accompanying the man dismissively.

-- Are you going to help me?

--- Wait for us in an hour at the restaurant "La pluma de Oro".

-- Is it safe?

-- Nothing in Hong Kong is safe.

V

Within the hour, a young man was sitting in a room, blindfolded and tied up.

-- Is he from "Old Lang"?

The woman nodded in annoyance.

-- What were you doing in the hospital in Kowlong? It's not your area and you take care of your wounded privately," asked Melissa.

The man did not answer. The policeman grabbed his little finger and pulled it all the way back, and the man gave a yelp.

--You have nine left," he said in her ear.

Melissa looked at him in disgust and the policeman lifted his shoulders.

-- I'm just curious. I just want to know what they went to... If it's not important, tell me and I'll believe you.

Without waiting for an answer; the policeman took the other pinky and broke it too. He did it for pure pleasure.

-- You have eight left.

-- I don't know anything. It's the truth... "The ice cream daddy" went to the hospital to take a "Big Horse".

-- What's a "Big Horse"? Melissa asked.

-- Daughter. You have a lot to learn," said the woman, looking at her with mockery, "A "Big Horse" is someone very important from another area, independent and powerful.

-- It's strange," said the three policemen at the same time, and the policeman said, "That's all. He doesn't know more. He has no hierarchy to find out more.

-- What are you going to do with him," Melissa asked.

-- Routine procedures," said the policeman, directing her to leave.

A while later, moving along the air highway; Melissa was more than sure that something was... Something was going on... As part of the silent things of the different Hong Kong types that existed and coexisted in the place.

-t-

VI

-- What did we come here to do?" Kathy asked Qing Liang.

The man did not answer. He was looking all around. He seemed to be looking for something or someone. He kept silent. Three days they wandered around the meadow. Finally they returned. A meaningless walk. A journey to nowhere.

-- You are my guests," said the Count to Thomas and Mei To, "accept my hospitality.

-- I am kidn*pped," Kathy said as best she could in Thomas' ear, when they arrived at the large stable and Mei To gawked at the imposing castle, "And from now on you are too.

-- I came to rescue you," Thomas informed her.

-- And how will we get back?

-- I have no idea.

-- I've never seen such a big hotel-restaurant before," said Mei To in admiration as she entered the castle.

The Count with a gesture invited them to enter.

-- It looks like the castle of The Golden Flower," continued Mei To, looking at everything carefully.

-- That was a stage set," said Thomas, looking at everything.

-- When I arrived, for days I had the impression of getting Zhang Ziyi in the Rebel Princess at any moment. -- Kathy agreed.

-- I really like to see you dressed like this," said Thomas, not to waste time.