Hong Kong variety show: The mastermind behind the scenes is emerging.

In the winter of 1983, the sky over Hong Kong Island was heavily shrouded in a thick, leaden-gray cloud, as if it were about to pour down at any moment.

The rain in Victoria Harbour no longer carries a salty, moist warmth; instead, it transforms into countless tiny ice blades, frantically slicing through the gaps between the skyscrapers and cutting into the collars of pedestrians.

The Customs Headquarters building in Central appeared particularly solemn and indifferent in the bleak morning mist. Its marble walls exuded a sternness that kept people at a distance, as if declaring to the whole of Hong Kong that the old era where everything could be bought with money was collapsing completely with Thomas's imprisonment.

Outside the customs chief's office, Ni Yongxiao stood quietly. Today he wore a dark blue three-piece suit, the collar of his shirt neatly trimmed like a knife's edge. His eyes behind his gold-rimmed glasses were bloodshot from long-term anxiety, yet he still tried his best to maintain the so-called respectability of the Ni family.

In front of him, a British middleman who had received many benefits from the Ni family was hurriedly wiping the cold sweat from his forehead.

"Mr. Ni, I must remind you again, Mr. Sterling and Thomas are completely different kinds of people," the middleman lowered his voice, a hint of helplessness in his tone. "Sterling is a firefighter transferred from Japan. Right now, all he can think about is how to clean up customs. The fact that he agreed to see you this time is only because of our long-standing friendship. Remember, you only have this one chance."

Ni Yongxiao didn't speak, but simply pushed up his glasses, a deep, dark glint flashing in his eyes. He was well aware of the current situation. Thomas's downfall not only facilitated Lu Chen's takeover of Wheelock and severed the Ni family's shipping lifeline, but also delivered a resounding slap to the foreign government in the face politically.

In order to back down and, more importantly, to maintain the last shred of dignity in the public eye, the foreigners proactively chose Sterling, the rigid and hardcore "cleaner," to take over customs. For the Ni family, this was tantamount to adding another thick layer of ice to a boiling volcano.

The mahogany doors to the office slowly opened.

Inside, a strong aroma of Earl Grey tea wafted through the air. Commissioner Sterling sat behind a large walnut desk, his short, silver-white hair meticulously combed, and his deep blue eyes held a cold, hard quality like granite.

"Mr. Ni, if it's about those seized containers, you can go back now." Sterling's voice was hoarse and steady, leaving Ni Yongxiao no room for maneuver.

Ni Yongxiao didn't rush to speak. He took out a beautifully printed invitation from his inside pocket and placed it on the table piled with official documents: "Mr. Director Guan, my father was always passionate about charity. Next week we are having a dinner in Tsim Sha Tsui about the 'Retired Marine Police Family Support Scheme.' I think Mr. Director Guan might be interested in serving as our honorary director. Of course, there will be a very generous 'Director's Fund' for you to use."

Ni Yongxiao put it very tactfully, but in Sterling's eyes, it was an offense.

"The board's fund?" Sterling's lips curled into a mocking smile. He didn't even touch the invitation, but instead pushed it onto the table. "Mr. Ni, I heard of you before I took office. You studied in the US; you're a smart man."

Sterling's tone was as cold as a piece of raw iron just pulled from an icebox: "But intelligent people often make a ridiculous mistake, which is to think that everything in this world has a price tag. Thomas is now soaking in lava in hell because of his greed, and I don't want me, as his successor, to do the same thing next year."

"Mr. Sterling, this is just a small token of our appreciation."

"Take it away." Sterling waved his hand sharply, his tone laced with stern disgust. "If I didn't want to use you to tell those rats in Hong Kong that the customs gates are completely welded shut, you wouldn't even be able to get through the door today! From now on, I will personally supervise the scanning of every single box of the Ni family's goods. Now, please leave."

The middleman was terrified and quickly grabbed the invitation, pulling Ni Yongxiao out of the office.

In the corridor, Ni Yongxiao's steps did not falter, his silhouette stretching extremely long in the cold corridor of the customs headquarters.

Failed.

Without the "tacit understanding" of customs, the mountains of South American goods piled up by the Ni family became a ticking time bomb hanging over their heads.

However, just as Ni Yongxiao got into the black Mercedes and was about to return to Tsim Sha Tsui to continue trying to find a solution, his cell phone vibrated.

"Good evening, my esteemed boss," a deep voice came from the other end of the phone. It was a professional detective hired by Ni Yongxiao to monitor Huang Zhicheng and Mary 24/7. "The target has met. At 12:15 PM today, Huang Zhicheng and Mary entered the Roman Hotel in Central, room number 1209. We installed miniature video and audio recording devices in the potted plants in the suite beforehand. Of course, if you want to watch in person, you can go now."

Ni Yongxiao tightened his grip on the phone, his knuckles turning a pale white from the excessive force.

"You did a great job. I'll transfer the money I promised to you whenever I want."

Beep beep—

Ni Yongxiao slowly closed his eyes, an extremely intense killing intent emanating from his body, drawing the air in the car to a freezing point. All the frustrations of the past few days finally found an outlet at this moment.

"Ah Lai, immediately notify Uncle San and have him bring two teams of men," Ni Yongxiao opened his eyes, his gaze devoid of any emotion, only a deathly coldness. "Go to the Roman Hotel in Central. The news of a triad boss's wife having a secret meeting with a Hong Kong police officer will definitely sell like hotcakes."

……

Meanwhile, the Roman Hotel has 1209 suites.

The rain outside the window grew heavier, the fine raindrops pattering against the French windows, blurring the distant skyscrapers. Inside, the lights were off, and in the dim light, a complex and oppressive atmosphere slowly permeated the air.

Mary sat leaning against the large double bed, her once stunning face now pale with a sickly pallor due to long-term anxiety. Across from her, Huang Zhicheng, dressed in casual clothes, held a nearly burnt-out cigarette, staring at the woman who had captivated him for ten years with a complex expression.

Huang Zhicheng, Han Chen, Mary.

The three of them were childhood friends who grew up in the same village and the same dilapidated alley. In those innocent and impoverished years, Huang Zhicheng and Han Chen both pursued this girl, who was as thorny as a rose, with fervor.

Mary also hesitated between two outstanding young men back then, unsure of which to choose.

Until one day, an unexpected event changed her mind. That day, the three of them went out to play. Mary was harassed by some gangsters. Huang Zhicheng instinctively ran to the street corner to find a phone booth to call the police. But Han Chen, who always smiled and seemed a bit cowardly, rushed into the crowd that night with a brick in his hand and his face covered in blood, and managed to snatch Mary back.

That day, Mary chose Han Chen. Later, the three went their separate ways; Han Chen joined the Ni family, while Huang Zhicheng put on the police uniform he was so proud of.

"Congratulations, Inspector Wong. I heard you were just promoted to Senior Inspector a couple of days ago. You really have a bright future ahead of you," Mary broke the silence, her tone tinged with self-deprecating humor.

"It's the same old story, I guess I've hit my limit," Huang Zhicheng exhaled a smoke ring, his eyes flickering in the darkness. "What, you called me here today just for this?"

"...Six months ago, you asked me to kill Ni Kun, and I did it." Mary suddenly raised her head, a cold glint flashing in her eyes like a venomous snake. "I helped you get rid of the police's biggest threat in Tsim Sha Tsui, but, Wong Chi-shing, you didn't keep your promise."

Huang Zhicheng's hand holding the cigarette trembled slightly, and he remained silent.

The deal was simple: Ni Kun's death would throw the Ni family into chaos. Huang Zhicheng used police pressure and intelligence to support Han Chen, an "honest man," to rise to power and become the sole leader in Tsim Sha Tsui. A compliant drug dealer who doesn't kill indiscriminately is easier to manage than a ruthless tyrant who controls everything—this is Huang Zhicheng's so-called "police management philosophy."

result.

Ni Yongxiao suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

That young man who studied finance in the United States, who had never interfered in family affairs, managed to stabilize the four leaders overnight with an unbelievable ruthlessness and meticulous financial planning, and even led the Ni family to a higher and more secretive level.

"I didn't expect Ni Yongxiao to come back. Even more unexpectedly, he'll be even more difficult to deal with than Ni Kun." Huang Zhicheng chuckled self-deprecatingly. "So, you want to kill Ni Yongxiao?"

"It's not that I want him to die, it's that he has to die." Mary gritted her teeth, her nails digging deep into her palms. "Recently, Ni Yongxiao's movements have been extremely strange. He seems to have sensed something and is frantically investigating the cause of his father's death. Moreover, recently, the four leaders of the Ni family have suddenly started killing each other. Ni Yongxiao must be the one stirring things up... I understand. After he takes care of those four old guys, Ah Chen will be next."

As Mary spoke, her fingers dug tightly into the bedsheets. She had ordered Liu Jianming to shoot Ni Kun; it was the biggest gamble of her life, and she couldn't afford to lose.

"I don't want to sit here and wait to die! If we don't act now, and Ni Yongxiao finds out about me, Ah Chen won't even have a chance to collect his body," Mary said, taking out a pack of cigarettes, lighting one, and adding, "Don't forget, you were involved in killing Ni Kun. Do you really think Ni Yongxiao will give up on getting revenge on his father's killer just because you're a cop?"

"Are you threatening me?" Huang Zhicheng stood up, walked up to Mary, looked down at the woman, and spoke with an inexplicable sense of oppression.

"I'm not threatening you, I'm telling you... we're already in the mud, there's no turning back." A complex look flashed in Mary's eyes. She ultimately avoided Huang Zhicheng's burning gaze and turned her head away. "If Ah Xiao doesn't die, Han Chen and I won't sleep soundly for a single day. I want my man to be the master of Tsim Sha Tsui, not to live in constant fear."

Huang Zhicheng looked at Mary's profile, reached out, and roughly pinched her chin, forcing her to look at him.

"Mary, do you really think that killing Ni Yongxiao will secure Han Chen's position? Even Ni Yongxiao is in a terrible predicament; do you think Han Chen can take over smoothly?"

Mary forcefully pulled her hand away from his, her eyes resolute: "That's better than waiting to die. As long as you cooperate and move the surrounding patrol cars away like you did six months ago, I'll have Liu Jianming handle the rest."

Huang Zhicheng took a deep breath, his eyes gradually becoming crazed and obsessive. Having already done it once, the second time wouldn't be so difficult. In order to take down those drug dealers, in order to achieve his so-called "fighting crime with crime," he had already chosen to descend into the abyss.

"I'll find a way to transfer those people away, and I hope you can do it."

After saying this, Huang Zhicheng turned around and prepared to open the door and leave. Mary was taken aback at first, then a look of joy flashed in her eyes, and she was about to follow him.

However, just as the two reached the door, Huang Zhicheng's cell phone rang urgently.

"Huang Zhicheng, where are you now!" came the voice of his good friend and boss, Lu Qichang, on the other end of the phone.

This usually calm and composed chief inspector sounded unusually anxious this time.

"I'm in Central on business, what's wrong?" Wong Chi-shing's heart skipped a beat.

"Something terrible has happened! I've received word that Ni Yongxiao and Third Uncle are leading dozens of Ni family elites, heading menacingly towards Central. According to intelligence, their target is the Roman Hotel; they're probably planning something big. You need to rejoin the team immediately and go to the scene to provide support!"

Lu Qichang had no idea that Huang Zhicheng was at the center of that storm. He was still urging on the phone, "Hurry up! If Ni Yongxiao opens fire in the bustling Central district, we'll all be useless in our police uniforms!"

Upon hearing this, Huang Zhicheng felt as if his blood had frozen instantly, and a chilling sweat seeped down his spine to his feet.

Although there was no evidence, his intuition as a veteran detective told him that Ni Yongxiao's target was definitely them!

After hanging up the phone, Huang Zhicheng turned around abruptly and stared intently at Mary, who was still standing there in a daze.

"Run! Run!" Huang Zhicheng burst through the door, grabbed Mary, and rushed down the corridor. "Ni Yongxiao knows we're here!"

Mary was terrified: "How could this be? I didn't tell anyone I was coming here..."

"Don't worry about that! Now is not the time to find out the reason! Split up! You take the fire escape on the left, I'll take the one on the right! Remember, whatever you do, don't take the elevator!" Huang Zhicheng shouted at the top of the stairs.

Mary nodded, her face pale. The two exchanged one last glance at each other at the corner of the corridor, then, like lone birds startled into flight in the darkness, each plunged into the dimly lit stairwell.

……

In the hallway, half of the motion-sensor lights were broken.

Mary ran desperately down the stairs, the sound of her high heels echoing terrifyingly in the narrow space. Overwhelmed by fear, her breathing became like a broken bellows, and with each floor she descended, her heart felt as if it would burst.

Tenth floor, ninth floor...

Just as she rushed to the corner of the sixth floor, suddenly...

"Bang!"

The door to the stairwell was violently kicked open.

Three henchmen of the Ni family, dressed in black suits and with deathly aura in their eyes, blocked the way. The leader was Ah Lai, Ni Yongxiao's confidant, who was carrying a black star gun wrapped in a towel.

"Sister Mary, our boss invites you to the rooftop for some fresh air," Ah Lai said with a sneer.

Mary opened her mouth to scream, but a rough hand covered her mouth tightly. Then she was lifted up and roughly dragged to the top floor.

Five minutes later, on the rooftop of the Roman Hotel.

The rain intensified, and the wind howled, making the clothes racks and metal buckets on the rooftop rattle and clang.

Mary was left on the wet, cold cement floor. Her expensive coat was soaked through by the rain and clung to her body, making her look both comical and pathetic.

Ni Yongxiao did not appear; he was sitting in the Mercedes outside the hotel, directing everything through a walkie-talkie.

For safety reasons, he never does this kind of dirty work himself.

"Mary, our boss only needs one word." The henchman grabbed Mary's hair and slammed her hard against the railing at the edge of the rooftop.

Below is a deep abyss, tens of meters deep, bustling with traffic.

"Who fired the shot? Who is the assassin? Tell me and I might spare your life."

Mary felt the cold rain on her cheeks and the painful texture of the railing; she closed her eyes and gritted her teeth.

"I...I don't know..."

"Don't know?" Ah Lai let out a chilling laugh, then abruptly shoved Mary's body halfway over the railing. "Do you want to see Ah Chen turn into a corpse, or do you want to go down and test gravity yourself?"

"I, I..." Mary felt the cold wind dozens of meters high, and the instinct for survival and the guilt she felt towards Liu Jianming were fiercely battling in her mind.

Ultimately, the desire to live triumphed over everything.

"I'll talk, I'll talk..."

However, due to the slippery conditions caused by the rain, and the excessive movements made by the henchmen in an attempt to scare her, the old railing that had been supporting her body suddenly broke apart with a dull metallic crack, just as Mary opened her mouth to utter the name "Liu Jianming."

"ah--!"

Mary's body suddenly leaned backward.

Alai instinctively reached out to grab it, but only managed to grasp a damp, cold corner of his clothes.

On a rainy night in Central in 1983, the woman who once dared to murder a powerful figure for love fell silently into the abyss of that glittering neon-lit city, like a kite with a broken string.

……

At that moment, Huang Zhicheng had just come out from the back door on the first floor.

He pretended to have just arrived to provide support while his eyes warily scanned his surroundings, trying to find Mary.

Just then, a sharp whooshing sound came from above his head.

"Bang—!"

A loud, muffled thud.

A terrifying crater suddenly appeared in the roof of a red sedan parked on the side of the road. The windshield shattered like snowflakes, reflecting an eerie light under the dim streetlights.

Blood and rain splattered on Huang Zhicheng's clothes.

Huang Zhicheng was stunned. He stared blankly at the body twisted at an unbelievable angle on the roof of the car, as if frozen in place.

That's Mary.

Her eyes, once filled with ambition and a dreamy gaze, were now fixed on the sky, pupils unfocused, as rain washed away the bloodstains from her face.

"Mary..."

Huang Zhicheng let out a moan that sounded almost like dry heaving, and collapsed to the ground, his hands gripping the slippery cement floor tightly.

Regret, disbelief, and a feeling of exhaustion from extreme fear instantly overwhelmed Huang Zhicheng. He felt his knees buckle and collapsed onto the muddy ground.

In the distance, Lu Qichang, along with a large number of fully armed police officers, had already blocked off the streets.

"Zhicheng! Are you alright!" Lu Qichang rushed forward and helped the nearly collapsing Huang Zhicheng to his feet. "What happened? Where are Ni Yongxiao's men?"

Huang Zhicheng didn't speak; he just stared intently at Mary's body, tears mingling with the rain as they streamed down his face.

A few kilometers away, atop Daping Mountain, lies the Lu Family Manor.

The torrential rain outside the window was kept out by the thick triple-layered soundproof glass, leaving only blurry rain shadows sliding down the floor-to-ceiling windows.

At noon, in the restaurant, Lu Chen sat elegantly at the head of the long dining table. His main course knife, with its sharp blade, was slowly and methodically slicing a freshly served Wellington steak. As the knife pressed down, the golden, crispy crust crackled softly, revealing the tender, perfectly pink beef tenderloin, coated in ham and mushroom sauce.

Just then, Tian Yangsheng quietly entered the restaurant. He stood three steps away from the table, head bowed, and said, "Boss, things are settled in Central. There was a slight mishap. Mary was being interrogated by Ni's henchmen on the rooftop, lost her footing, and fell to her death. Huang Zhicheng witnessed it and is now almost insane."

Lu Chen did not look up upon hearing this, nor did he show any surprise or pity. He simply picked up a piece of steak juicy with his fork, put it in his mouth and chewed it slowly, savoring the exquisite taste of black truffle and beef bursting on his taste buds.

To him, Mary and Wong Chi-shing were merely pawns he placed to cleanse Hong Kong of its poison. If the pawns were broken, they would be broken; it wouldn't affect the course of the game.

"It seems that this Sister-in-law Ni has great ambitions, but her life is a bit short-lived," Lu Chen swallowed the beef, picked up the snow-white silk napkin next to him, and wiped the meat juice remaining at the corner of his mouth. "I originally wanted to have her tear Liu Jianming's skin off herself to add a climax to this play... Never mind."

He put down his napkin, his gaze fixed intently on the Victoria Harbour shrouded in dark clouds outside the window. His tone turned cold and devoid of warmth: "Since this woman didn't make it to the very end, let's revise the script a bit. Ah Sheng, notify the 'distillery' to activate Project B2."

"Understood." Tian Yangsheng nodded and immediately went to make the arrangements.

Lu Chen picked up his knife and fork again and cut into the incomplete steak once more.

"In this next play, I wonder who will be the last one standing?"