The Lost Tomb : Ten Years Later

Chapter 19: Keep Beating

Wang Meng didn't wake up until the second hit, and when he did, he looked at me with a puzzled expression and touched the back of his head. "What?"

I went up and beat him so much that he got up and ran all over the camp. "Wu Xie! Don't think I'm afraid of you just because you have so many people!" I got even angrier and gave him a flying kick that caused him to stumble. Fatty stretched out his legs and tripped him, causing him to face-plant in the mud like a dog. I went up and gave him two more hard slaps: "Say it! What are you doing?"

"Oh, so if we're doing the same thing, you're allowed to do it, but I can't? There's no such thing!" Wang Meng still wasn't convinced, so I backhanded him, put my foot on his chest, and threw the shoes back to Fatty.

Wang Meng was staring at me fiercely while he gasped for breath, but he didn't dare say anything. I stared at him, and he stared back at me for a long time before he said, "What if he's dead? A lot of things can happen in ten years. You've changed, and he's changed. Even if he's not dead, he may have forgotten you. You're risking your life to come here and pick up your demons."

I lit a cigarette and looked at him coldly.

Wang Meng continued: "You know he only told you to find him in ten years to give you an unknown future. People are forgetful. He thinks ten years is enough time for you to forget. You know no one can live underground for ten years. You're crazy to really come here to pick him up."

Fatty and Xiao Hua both looked at us, and Wang Meng pointed to them: "For the sake of your personal demons, you dragged these people into the water. You dragged me into the water. This isn't my life. You can't do whatever you want just because you have your own demons. It's not fair!"

I lifted my foot and looked at the scars on my hands. I didn't expect Wang Meng to say these things to me, but my heart would never waver, because—"Everyone has their own demons." I said. "What are yours?"

He looked at me and couldn't answer.

I said coldly, "I'll give you two choices: you either go back to handle the shop for me, or I'll bury you right here right now."

His eyes became red-rimmed.

"You don't even want to talk to me."

"There are some people you just can't stand up." I replied.

Poker-Face may not appear, or I may die on the road, but after so much, I needed to be free. I needed a full stop. This freedom couldn't be solved by a sudden epiphany. In the past ten years— and even before that— everything was realistic and could be touched. These memories needed some closure.

"But when I come back, I can tell you why I had to do this." I said as I looked at him.

As Wang Meng continued to stare at me, Fatty came over and squatted beside him: "Go back. Your IQ can neither stop us, nor stop you from dying."

Wang Meng stood up. The memory of last night made him too afraid to try and be brave. He started putting away his equipment, and his men stood up one by one. I gave Kan Jian a look, and he threw them some food.

Wang Meng glanced at me, turned, and then started limping down the mountain. After a few steps, he turned back and whispered, "Boss, you have to come back alive."

I nodded, and he turned back around and started his slow, depressed descent down the mountain.

I took a puff of my cigarette and Fatty said, "He made his men pretend to be Little Brother because he wanted to..."

I didn't listen to the second half of Fatty's sentence. I wasn't interested in knowing what Wang Meng wanted to do, so I asked Fatty, "How did you come out of the ground?"