Chapter 72: Chapter 52: Fu Tailan: The Two Lying in Wait

Fu Tailan was still sitting on the hood of the car. He glanced at the newcomer, then turned his head away without getting off.

"...Don’t tell me the person on that ship is one of yours?"

"Don’t be an idiot."

Chaisi Monroe seemed utterly oblivious to the fact that his car was parked in the middle of the road. But then again, the road to the private dock ahead rarely saw traffic, especially this late at night. Fu Tailan’s hope that a police car might conveniently pass by and write him a ticket was, for now, a lost cause.

"If we were the ones dealing with Westley, do you really think I’d let you just sit here?"

"Then where would you have me sit? In Kai Luonan’s chair?"

Fu Tailan shot back, though he couldn’t suppress his irritation.

’...How the hell did he know?’

The fact that Westley was making a deal tonight had been kept secret from the whole of Blackmoor City.

Fu Tailan himself had only decided on this course of action less than an hour ago, based on some unexpected intel. He’d only just arrived himself. ’Where the hell did this guy pick up the scent? Tailing me like a damn hyena?’

He was dying to know, but he was even more determined not to ask.

His face fell. After a moment of silence, Fu Tailan let out a cold laugh. "...So it was Huangli Roslin. Someone was actually willing to board that sinking ship of yours? She’d better not think about jumping ship again."

"Oh? Figured that out all by yourself?" Chaisi asked. "No help from your tutor?"

There were still pieces he hadn’t figured out, though. For instance, even if Huangli Roslin knew their location, how did Chaisi know Westley was dealing with a third party? Not that Fu Tailan could possibly bring himself to ask now.

’Anyway, once he sinks his teeth into the smallest clue, he never lets go. He really picked the wrong profession; he should’ve been a snapping turtle.’

Fu Tailan asked curtly, "So, are you happy being your godfather’s dog?"

Chaisi didn’t get angry. He just smiled, his teeth a white slash in the darkness.

"A little happier than if my own father were a dog."

"...This is Hunter business. It has nothing to do with you. You don’t get it, so go home."

"How could I possibly do that? After you make a mess of things, a grown-up has to come clean up." Chaisi shot him a look, then chuckled and lowered his gaze. "...You’re used to it by now, aren’t you?"

Fu Tailan had never paid any mind to the color of Chaisi’s eyes, but right now, they were like a pair of ink-black stones with a hard luster, set deep beneath his brow, seeming to swallow the surrounding night.

At times, he seemed less human and more like a Denizen. He was Chaisi, standing right here in Blackmoor City, yet he seemed to cast the long shadow of a Denizen on the ground.

Perhaps it was this very feeling that caused Fu Tailan’s body to tense up as Chaisi drew closer, step by step.

Though he wasn’t conscious of it, he had still shifted his position ever so slightly to face Chaisi head-on, every muscle coiled and ready to spring into action.

Longzhen was further back, coordinating their people and setting up a perimeter. Fu Tailan was alone here.

’If I clash with Chaisi here...’

"Don’t be so tense. If I were going to make a move, being on guard wouldn’t help you." Chaisi jutted his chin toward the cigarette in Fu Tailan’s hand. "Just need a light." 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

"Don’t have one."

Cursing under his breath, Fu Tailan glanced at the lit paper roll in his hand. ’If you’re so tough, go rub some sticks together.’ "You should get the hell out of here."

"Oh?"

"The person making the deal with Westley hasn’t even gotten off the ship yet."

Fu Tailan threw the paper roll to the ground. Forcing himself to go against his youthful temper, he summoned every ounce of patience he possessed. "Your car is blocking the road, and you’re just standing here, more conspicuous than the damn Loch Ness Monster. What do you need a light for? To shoot off a flare and warn them not to come out?"

Most Hunters in Blackmoor City knew that if you were driving in the dead of night and suddenly saw Chaisi Monroe standing in your headlights, it meant trouble was on its way.

"Afraid I’ll ruin your little operation?" Chaisi glanced down the road toward the dock. "I’m a very reasonable person."

Fu Tailan bit back a sarcastic retort.

"If I knew I was potentially ruining something for you, I certainly wouldn’t keep standing in the middle of the road."

’Although he’d never admit it, Chaisi Monroe had no Path, yet he’d managed to climb to his current position in the Hunter World. It wasn’t just because he was willing to be his adoptive father’s dog.’

As Carter Morgan always said, "Where there’s a motive, there’s an action." And once people take action, they leave a trail.

’Chaisi was using that innate snapping-turtle talent of his, sniffing out something unusual in the Morgan Family’s movements tonight. In other words, his target wasn’t just Westley’s trading partner; he was also probing the Morgan Family’s intentions and plans.’

’Thinking deeper, he might have been watching the Morgan Family for a while now.’

’He really would make a good Hunter.’

’Which is why he can never be allowed to have a Path.’

"This has nothing to do with the Kai Family."

Fu Tailan’s expression hardened. "Someone poached business from the Morgan Family. We’re just cleaning up our own trash—this is a private matter. You’d better think this through. Does the Kai Family really need to get involved tonight?"

"Bullshit."

Chaisi stared at the distant docks. "The first thing you asked when you saw me was whether the person on the ship was from the Kai Family. That proves you don’t know who’s on board, either."

Fu Tailan wasn’t about to be caught by a simple slip of the tongue like that.

"Were you born yesterday? For him to dare cross us, he obviously has backing. I come all the way out here, and you just so happen to show up." He sneered. "You think the world is full of coincidences like that? Of course I’m going to ask."

Chaisi gave Fu Tailan an expressionless look. For a moment, he actually seemed a little uncertain.

"That makes sense."

But then Chaisi considered it and said, "A pity. Even if you told me you were human, I’d still need to see an autopsy report to believe it."

Fu Tailan instantly hopped off the hood, strode past Chaisi, and yanked open the driver’s side door of his own car.

"Then you just keep standing there," he said. "I’d love to see what comes of it."

The car door slammed shut with a THUD, cutting off whatever reaction Chaisi might have had.

’Although Chaisi was an unexpected variable, tonight’s situation was still under the Morgan Family’s control.’

’First, with me here watching, he can’t just snatch the target of the deal.’

’Second, even if the target sees Chaisi and bolts, the Hunters and helicopter I have deployed nearby can still track him down and expose his identity. It might create some complications, but it would draw the action away from the docks, making it less likely to spook Westley.’

’Even if Westley gets suspicious later, we can pin everything on the Kai Family. The target himself will think the Kai Family was the one after him.’

’So, from another angle, Chaisi’s appearance was actually a good thing. He was the perfect cover for the Morgan Family.’

That said, it was still asking a lot for a seventeen-year-old to just swallow his pride and frustration.

He glanced out of the half-lowered car window.

Chaisi had returned to the middle of the road. His tall silhouette was leaning against the hood of the black Mercedes, arms crossed, as if he was determined to turn tonight’s game into a complete mess.

Whatever he was planning, both of them could only wait for now.

The night fell silent once more. In the distance, lights twinkled on the sea.

After a moment, Fu Tailan subconsciously patted his pocket, only to realize he’d thrown his last hand-rolled cigarette on the ground earlier.

He hesitated, which was rare for him. ’Get out and pick it up? That’d be a little embarrassing.’

’But not picking it up means just sitting here in the car, waiting, not even able to look at my phone. It’s unbearable. No matter what, I’m still only seventeen. Even knowing I might be fighting for my life in a few minutes doesn’t stop me from being bored right now.’

Fu Tailan poked his head out of the car for another look.

’Doesn’t an old man like him get bored?’

If Chaisi didn’t move soon, Fu Tailan would have suspected he’d fallen asleep. But just then, Chaisi straightened up, walked to the side of his car, and reached in through the window.

When he stood straight again, he was holding what looked like a heavy, T-shaped pole. At the same time, music began to play from the black Mercedes.

Chaisi gave Fu Tailan a silent smile that was like a wound being torn open in the dim void.

Swinging the T-shaped tire iron in one hand, he stepped in time with the vocals that drifted through the night like mist, and leaned against the hood of his car once more.

The night seemed to pause for a beat, and then a rhythm hit like a gale force wind on a highway, strong enough to feel like it could lift your hair.

I’ve been dreamin’ about the West Coast

Where the people take it real slow

Chaisi’s silhouette remained as still as a statue. Only if you looked closely could you see the toe of his shoe tapping faintly in time with the beat.

Fu Tailan tried to hold it in but couldn’t, letting out a snort that was half-mocking and half-amused.

’If the old man is going to listen to music, what’s the big deal about picking up a cigarette butt?’

Fu Tailan pushed the door open and stepped out onto the road. At that exact moment, a car rounded the corner up ahead, its headlights stabbing through the darkness.

’...They’re here?’

Fu Tailan’s hand swept across the roof of his car, grabbing an iron chain he had placed there earlier. He didn’t turn his head, but he heard a dull THUD and saw the tall figure leap onto his own car’s hood in his peripheral vision.

The moment it rounded the corner, the approaching car seemed to startle, swerving violently off the road. With a screech of tires that sounded like it was scraping sparks from the night itself, the car careened off the pavement as if it had lost its mind. The thought ’Did he see Chaisi?’ flashed through Fu Tailan’s mind, but he instantly realized that wasn’t right.

’He’s too far away. There’s no way he could see Chaisi clearly, let alone be scared enough to drive off the road.’

’The driver must have spotted something else—’

Before the thought could even finish, a deafening blast, like a cannon shot, erupted from a small, silent, dark building by the roadside. The night seemed to collapse inward as a fireball blossomed.

The next second, the car was thrown high into the sky, riding the blast wave and the light of the explosion like a toy tossed by a child.

All I wanna do is fly

Take me where the sun shines