The Imperial Hunter

“Hmm, hard to say.”

Immersed in political calculations, Gao Shusen’s serious expression looked like an entirely different person from when he was enraptured by the golden glow earlier. This side probably resembled his true face as a party official more.

“Even if footage of the villa being robbed goes public, his head won’t roll right away. As you know, Chairman, short of extremely serious charges, he can’t be brought to trial until an agreement between factions, as is procedure here.”

“Still, it’s a well-established fact that his head will fall off, so I’m inquiring about what happens afterward.”

“After that, it’ll depend on me making my moves. I may even leapfrog over several middle stages and go straight to becoming provincial governor. Anyway, trust this man for now. I will make prudent use of the contributions you bring, Chairman.”

He only gave vague responses no matter how I tried to probe the party’s internal affairs.

‘It’s his turf after all.’

Unnecessarily revealing his own circumstances could show weaknesses. I didn’t pry further. In any case, all the actions we were taking together were in and of themselves a noose tightening around Gao Shusen’s neck.

“More importantly, when are you planning to hit the Triads?”

To Gao Shusen’s question, I casually replied.

“I’ll raid them tonight. As soon as I locate a suitable target point.”

“…You’re not tired? I mean, you just came from combat.”

“Take it as a sign of my sincerity toward you, Deputy Secretary. I need you to be safe so I can rest easy too.”

“That’s… much appreciated. You’re quite vigorous indeed. I’ll be trusting only my Chairman.”

With that, Gao Shusen turned to his underlings and gestured with enthusiastic clapping, substituting for verbal orders. Expressionless shoulders lifted the goods we had brought from the vehicles and moved them to the center of the warehouse. I detected not the slightest greed from them. What sort of insurance did this communist aristocrat have over them?

Capturing their families and holding them hostage in prison? With orders to kill them immediately if anything happened?

This was no rash conjecture. Concealment was the norm in the local governance of China, and violence and death were the norm in China’s prisons. Therefore, cornered communist aristocrats could freely abuse their authority however they wished. As long as they avoided a purge, minor abuses of power would be no issue, and if they were purged, such trivial matters would be unimportant.

The shoulders finished their task in the time it took Gao Shusen to smoke a cigarette. The valuables, now conveniently gathered in the center of the warehouse, would surely be moved again to somewhere safer before sunrise.

After waiting a few steps away to avoid the cigarette smoke, I bid the communist aristocrat a brief farewell.

“I’ll be off again now. I’ll be sure to bring good news tonight.”

“Go safely.”

I boarded the lightened SUV and instructed a return to the pier where the cruise ship was docked. I had to drive about 10 km back, crossing a bridge to re-enter Haizhu district, then following the riverside road. Lined along the scenic road were presentable buildings standing in a row. Beyond the thin, tidy band of high-rises, densely-packed slums crammed into the blind spots. By this point, it could be called a universal principle of land use throughout the Chinese mainland.

There, I saw the depths of human destitution. In the late dark hours, the alleys full of poverty were a fitting place for unemployed migrant workers tormented by hunger and homelessness to abandon their humanity momentarily. One starved corpse feeding many lives is not always an evil thing. After all, they were remains with no kin left to even hold a funeral.

The faces of those sharing meat and guilt showed no trace of expression that could be called such. The only emotion was simple, grueling fatigue. A line too difficult for one to cross became easy when crossed together.

I had expected it. Where there is severe famine, could cannibals be absent? Humans were originally creatures that lived by preying on each other, only how they preyed changed according to circumstances.

Moreover, there were far too many hungry people in China right now. The 70 million flood victims from the historically unprecedented great floods last summer. Having drifted to the cities in search of a living, they must have nibbled away at each other little by little even during their long journey to get there. Usually the corpses of those who collapsed while walking, occasionally the weak who lacked strength but were still alive.

Such a scene of humans repeatedly preying on each other, as there was no other way for the destitute to fill their stomachs. 

The proliferating cancerous masses were insufficient to fill their bellies either. The proliferation of cells that fed on magic power and mana was far too slow a process compared to the hunger of the masses. It was like a poor farmer who boiled and ate up all his seeds for next year’s planting as well.

“Truly an abyss of isolation.”

My words puzzled Kyung-tae.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“I speak of ‘

‘ – poisoning by isolation. Creatures with venom are confined together, prey on each other repeatedly until only the one with the strongest venom remains. It’s merely superstitious sorcery, but you must have heard of it at least once.”

“Ah, that. Of course, I know it. But why…”

“It just came to mind seeing people eat people at this late hour. Even those without venom will generate deadliness from preying on each other.”

In the end, anything that harmed people could be called poisonous, also because its spread would sicken society.

“Oh.”

Kyung-tae glanced outside the car window following scenery I couldn’t see, shrugging as he said.

“They used to say the cruelest

was confining and starving children to create ‘

‘ – human

.”

“Is that so.”

“Yes. Starving kids and letting them twist their bodies to crawl inside bamboo to die was considered the best, I heard….”

“Excessively unrealistic.”

“Who knows. If not for meeting you, I may have ended up like that.”

“Nonsense.”

“Haha.”

Kyung-tae laughed awkwardly and turned the steering wheel. The convoy gently curved following the river road.

I saw the providence of nature in this concrete jungle. Exploitation and oppression. Primitive, direct cannibalism and more civilized, indirect forms carried out through oppression. Beneath the lowest floors were more, and the weak devoured by the strong were predators preying on even weaker beings. In the seething cauldron of discrimination and oppression, soft human benevolence melted away, leaving only hard clumps of evil.

Now was the time for me as a hunter to step into that abyss of isolation.