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

In the early winter of 1983, before the aftershocks of the Central fall had subsided, the once arrogant Han Chen had died silently in a cold alley in Yau Ma Tei. Before his blood could even be washed away by the rain, the Ni family's purge wheel had already begun to rumble and turn again.

Ni Yongxiao sat in the dimly lit study of his ancestral home, a pair of exquisite silver scissors in his hand, slowly trimming a Cohiba cigar. His eyes, behind his gold-rimmed glasses, gleamed coldly.

For him, Han Chen's death was merely the first line crossed off on this long bill. While the murder of his father was certainly avenged, the crooked bones within the Ni family also had to be broken and removed one by one.

Ni Yongxiao's gaze fell on a yellowed photograph, a group photo of his father, Ni Kun, with the so-called "Four Bosses." Gandhi, Black Ghost, Guo Hua, and Wen Zheng—these four men were once the cornerstone of the Ni family's domineering rule in Tsim Sha Tsui, and also his father's most trusted henchmen.

However, when Ni Kun died suddenly and the Ni family was at its weakest, these four people not only failed to stand up for him, but instead harbored their own ulterior motives, planning to break free from the Ni family's control by cutting off their loans and refusing to pay interest. Ni Yongxiao harbored this grudge deeply in his heart from the very first day he returned to Hong Kong.

His original plan was to let the four old men fight amongst themselves until they were exhausted, then he would step in and reap the benefits. But Mary's tragic death in that fall disrupted everything.

Ni Yongxiao keenly sensed that the situation was spiraling out of control and the window of opportunity for revenge was about to be missed. He could no longer wait; he had to eliminate these troublesome threats once and for all before the four leaders realized what was happening and before the entire Hong Kong police force went completely insane.

"Since they like to play so much, let them play to their heart's content underground." Ni Yongxiao muttered to himself, then lit the cigar he had cut, and thick smoke instantly engulfed his face.

……

At 10 p.m. that night, at the "Kau Kee" hot pot restaurant in Yau Ma Tei.

Because of its remote location and its status as Wen Zheng's private property, this restaurant had always been the first choice for the four leaders to discuss clandestine business deals. At this moment, most of the staff had been dismissed, except for a private room on the second floor, which was still steaming.

The broth in the pot was boiling, emitting a rich aroma of butter. Gandhi, shirtless, had a fresh, deep wound wrapped in thick gauze, with dried bloodstains clinging to it. He was devouring freshly caught fatty beef, his eyes gleaming with a fierce, survivor's rage.

Across from him, the young and impetuous Wen Zheng appeared much more relaxed, leisurely rinsing duck intestines while holding a half-bottle of baijiu in his hand.

"Brother Gandhi, if you ask me, we've actually turned misfortune into blessing this time." Wen Zheng chuckled, his tone laced with malice. "Those two bastards, Guo Hua and Blackie, we've taken all their territory. Last night we even burned down most of their nightclub. Now they probably don't even have money to pay their salaries."

Gandhi took a big gulp of wine and slammed the glass down on the table: "Damn it, what I hate most are the men who sleep with my sister-in-law. That beast Guohua, if it weren't for Ni Yongxiao bringing people to mediate a couple of days ago, I would have ripped their heads off and kicked them around like footballs."

Wen Zheng licked the grease off his lips, his eyes gleaming with a greedy excitement. Although he was the youngest of the four leaders, he was the most wicked.

"Brother Gandhi, I'm the younger brother, and I'm always speaking my mind. That kid Ah-Xiao has been trying to play some kind of 'power balance,' wanting to keep those two bastards on the other side around to keep us in check. Bah! Does he really think he's the emperor?"

Wen Zheng lowered his voice, his tone laced with ruthlessness: "I've got everything figured out. In a couple of days, Guo Hua and Blackie are planning to go to Macau to discuss a heroin deal with Broken Tooth Koi. That's their last chance to turn things around. By then, Macau is far from the central government's reach, and Ni Yongxiao won't be able to extend his reach that far. We'll just send people to guard the docks, and as soon as they land, we'll shoot them dead. By then, it'll be too late. Even if Ni Yongxiao wants to create some kind of 'balance of power,' he'll have no choice but to accept defeat."

"Great idea!" Gandhi's eyes gleamed with excitement. "Once those two bastards are dead, we brothers will split the Tsim Sha Tsui share 50/50. Maybe then we can finally stand up straight and speak to that big boss, Mr. Ni."

Just as the two were immersed in their dreams of power, the tightly closed solid wood door of the hot pot restaurant was pushed open.

One of Gandhi's henchmen ran in and whispered in Gandhi's ear, "Boss, Mr. Ni's driver, Alai, is here. He says it's urgent business."

Gandhi frowned and glanced at Wen Zheng. "Letting him in, I guess those two old devils couldn't hold out any longer, so they brought Ah Xiao in to act as a peacemaker."

A moment later, Alai walked into the private room expressionlessly. He was still wearing that black suit, holding a string of sandalwood prayer beads in his hand, his eyes cold. He didn't sit down, but stood quietly by the round table, watching the pot of boiling red oil, his nostrils twitching slightly.

"Ah Lai, Ah Xiao, do you have some new instructions?" Gandhi leaned back in his chair, picking at bits of meat between his teeth with a toothpick, his tone arrogant. "If it's about reconciliation, then go back and tell him that Guohua slept with my wife. If I don't get revenge, I can't stay in Tsim Sha Tsui. This is non-negotiable! Even Jesus couldn't save him!"

Wen Zheng added pressure, saying, "Luo Ji, let's get this straight. The Ni family hasn't completely secured their South American supply yet; it's all thanks to us brothers fighting on the front lines and keeping things afloat. If Ah Xiao wants to continue being the leader, fine, but he has to give us brothers enough face. Otherwise, things will get tougher in Tsim Sha Tsui."

Ah Lai listened quietly to the noise, his eyes lowered. When the two finished speaking, he slowly reached into his robe and said, "The boss said he's already given you face and let you live for another six months."

Ah Lai's voice was extremely calm, yet it instantly brought the boiling temperature in the room down to freezing point, as if the air had solidified.

"Now that we've used up our face, it's time to settle the bill."

Before the two could even process what was happening, Ah Lai had already pulled out a Black Star pistol fitted with a long silencer.

"Pfft! Pfft!"

Two extremely faint muffled thuds were so insignificant amidst the bubbling sound of the hot pot boiling.

Gandhi's smile was still frozen on his face when a clean, steaming hole suddenly appeared in the center of his forehead. Due to the bullet's immense kinetic energy, his over 100-pound body, along with the mahogany chair behind him, tumbled violently into a pool of blood. The glass filled with strong liquor crashed to the ground with a crisp shattering sound, the aroma of the liquor instantly overwhelmed by the pungent smell of blood.

Wen Zheng tried to turn over in terror to grab the pistol under the table, but Luo Ji gave him no chance to struggle in his death throes. Two more shots followed, accurately piercing his lungs and throat.

"Hmm...hmm..."

Wen Zheng clutched his bleeding throat, large amounts of foamy blood gushing out from between his fingers. His eyes, which he had always considered intelligent, were now filled with disbelief and extreme fear of death.

At that moment, Gandhi's henchmen, who were guarding outside the door and downstairs, heard the strange noise and were preparing to draw their guns and rush in. However, the entire hot pot restaurant had been surrounded by the Ni family's most elite and ruthless assassins. These men, dressed in waterproof suits and with eyes as sharp as iron, had already blocked all the exits.

"kill!"

Ah Lai coldly gave the order from inside the house.

A dense barrage of fire instantly crisscrossed the dimly lit corridor and narrow stairwell. Those valiant followers who had served Gandhi for years fell like felled weeds before this premeditated close-quarters ambush. Screams, the dull thud of flesh hitting the ground, and the crisp sound of spent cartridges hitting the earth intertwined to create a death concerto.

Alai took out a clean white handkerchief and carefully wiped the blood from his face. He looked down at Gandhi, who lay dead with his eyes wide open, turned his prayer beads and silently recited a few words, then turned and walked into the chaotic rain.

The stench of blood quickly overwhelmed the aroma of the hot pot, mixing with the scalding red oil spilled from the boiling broth, creating a nauseating, blood-red graffiti on the marble floor titled "The End of Power."

……

Meanwhile, at a high-end sauna center in Mong Kok.

This place is shrouded in mist, and the air is filled with the faint scent of ylang-ylang essential oil and expensive woody aromas. It is Guohua's headquarters and his favorite place for extravagant spending.

Inside the most luxurious VIP suite, Guohua and Heigui lay comfortably on the massage bed, enjoying the massage from two hot-bodied and skilled Japanese masseuses with their eyes closed.

"Hey bastard, do you think Broken Tooth Koi will give us any face this time we go to Macau?" Guohua leered and reached out to grope the technician's long thighs, his tone revealing unease.

"Hey, we control half of the Ni family's distribution channels in Tsim Sha Tsui. If Broken Tooth Koi has any designs on Hong Kong Island, he'll naturally need us." Blackie sneered, half-closing his eyes and exhaling smoke.

The two traitors didn't feel there was anything wrong with betraying their own people. After all, in their view, since the Ni family's supplies had been cut off, they naturally had to find other ways.

"As long as we can gain a foothold there, not only Gandhi, but even Ni Yongxiao will have to look up to us."

Just as the two were groping each other with lust, there was a gentle knock on the carved wooden door of the private room.

Then, a middle-aged man in a suit, with a kind and even somewhat benevolent face, pushed open the door and entered.

"Third Uncle? Why did you come here in person?" Guohua was startled and quickly pushed away the woman next to him, sitting up somewhat awkwardly.

On this sensitive night, the appearance of the "number two" figure in the Ni family was an invisible pressure for them—especially since they had just been discussing how to betray each other.

Uncle San spoke calmly, a gentle smile on his face: "Ah Xiao said that the situation in South America has finally been resolved. There's a newly developed 'Big Fly' route at an abandoned dock in Saigon that can perfectly avoid customs and marine police radar. Ah Xiao said that the current situation is too chaotic, and the police are watching closely, so the Ni family plans to launder their money. But this business can't be stopped, so he plans to entrust this route to the two of you to take full charge."

Guohua and Hei Gui exchanged a glance, their eyes bursting with unexpected elation.

"I knew Brother Xiao was incredibly resourceful; he'd definitely find a way to solve this!" Blackie was so excited he didn't even bother to get dressed properly, jumping off the massage bed. "Uncle, shall we leave now? Better to wait until things get complicated!"

"Let's go, the sooner we go, the sooner we can put our minds at ease. The car is downstairs."

Uncle San turned around and led the way. The two of them, along with four or five of his trusted henchmen, excitedly got into Uncle San's Mercedes-Benz minivan and headed towards their destination.

……

Just as Gandhi and Wen Zheng were shot to death by Luo Ji in the hot pot restaurant, and Guo Hua and Hei Gui boarded the death vehicle, in a seemingly dilapidated electrical appliance store in Wan Chai with a sign that read "Kun Kee Electrical Appliances".

Lin Kun, wearing a faded gray shirt, was bent over repairing an old cassette recorder with a soldering iron. His slightly sallow, sickly face appeared even paler from his concentration.

A very faint telephone ring sounded.

"Brother Kun, news's back," a trusted subordinate reported over the phone. "Ni Yongxiao has made his move. His men just wiped out Gandhi and Wen Zheng at the hot pot restaurant, leaving no survivors. Now, Uncle Ni has also taken Guo Hua and Hei Gui into a car and is heading towards the barren mountains in the northern New Territories. There are Ni family underlings lying in ambush at Luan Shi Gang, probably planning to send them to their deaths there."

Upon hearing this, Lin Kun's lips curled into a cunning smile, like a viper flicking its tongue. He flicked the red-hot soldering iron slightly, sending up a wisp of spicy smoke from the circuit board.

"Chaos makes things easier. This drug empire in Hong Kong has been ruled by that guy surnamed Ni for too long; it's time to change the chair he's sitting on."

Lin Kun put down the branding iron and asked his men, "Where is Chen Jiaju now?"

The subordinate quickly glanced at the records of his "feet" and replied, "Chen Jiaju is currently on vacation. To appease his sulking girlfriend, he's accompanying her shopping at a mall on Sha Tsui Road. We have two guys keeping an eye on things there."

Lin Kun walked to the map and used his long, slender finger to firmly poke the line connecting Sha Tsui Road and the northern wilderness of Tsuen Wan. Sha Tsui Road was less than a twenty-minute drive from the execution site his third uncle had planned, which was just right.

"Since Ni Yongxiao wants to be a living devil, then I'll go along with it and give him a 'gift' he can never repay in his lifetime," Lin Kun sneered, a vicious idea forming in his mind as his eyes darted around. "Tell the brothers over there to find a petty thief to lure Chen Jiaju towards the rocky hill, and we'll use someone else to do our dirty work."

"Killing Chen Jiaju and also sending the arrogant Ni family along for the ride—General Jinsha will surely be very satisfied with this show of sincerity..."

"clear!"

……

Half an hour later, the van carrying Guohua and Heigui drove through the bustling Tsuen Wan district in the pitch-black night and into a desolate salt flat.

As the neon lights gradually thinned out, the sound of wheels rubbing against the ground became dull and harsh. The car slowly drove along the winding mountain road towards the northern wilderness known locally as the "Dead Land."

Moonlight pierced through the thick clouds, casting an eerie white glow on the barren salt flats, now desolate due to overexploitation.

When the car came to an abrupt stop in front of a bottomless, overgrown loess slope, Guohua finally woke up from his dream of getting rich quick. He sensed something was wrong, and his palms were covered in cold sweat.

"Third Uncle, this...this isn't right, is it? This doesn't seem to be the way to Saigon, does it?" Guohua's hand unconsciously pressed on the handle of the gun in his arms.

"arrive."

Uncle San did not answer their questions, but slowly pushed open the car door and got out of the car first.

Below that loess slope, a pit about three meters wide and nearly two meters deep appeared before the two like a gaping maw on the earth, ready to devour anyone who might bite. Beside the pit stood a dozen burly men in black, expressionless, carrying shovels; their shadows stretched extremely long in the moonlight.

"Third Uncle! What do you mean by this! What do you want to do by bringing us here!" Blackie had a bad feeling and frantically tried to push open the car door to escape, only to find that the doors of this specially made Mercedes-Benz van were already locked.

"Ah-Xiao said that the Ni family doesn't need this kind of rotten person who only sleeps with his sister-in-law, embezzles public funds, and thinks about killing his master all day long," Uncle San's voice echoed in the empty, deathly silent valley, sounding particularly harsh and cold. "Today is a good day, just right for a burial."

"Damn, this old guy's trying to kill us!"

Guohua and the black man frantically pulled out their sidearms, attempting a last-ditch effort through the bulletproof glass. However, before they could pull the trigger, the sunroof of the van was suddenly pried open from the outside, and several tear gas canisters and stun grenades, accompanied by ear-piercing screechs, poured directly into the sealed cabin.

"boom--!"

The intense explosion and acrid chemical fumes instantly filled the space, rendering the two men completely incapable of resistance. Like chicks being picked up, they were dragged out of the carriage by the burly assassins and slammed heavily onto the gravel ground at the edge of the pit.

In the car behind, the five henchmen they brought fared even worse. They didn't even have a chance to draw their guns before being riddled with bullets by the surrounding submachine guns, turning them into piles of mangled flesh. They had absolutely no chance to resist.

"Third Uncle! Please! Third Brother! For Uncle Kun's sake... I'll give all the territory to Ah Xiao! I promise to leave the underworld and go to Southeast Asia! I'll never come back! Let me go..." Black Ghost knelt on the ground, his face covered in snot and tears mixed with dirt. He kowtowed desperately, his forehead hitting the hard stone with a dull thud, instantly drawing blood.

"You have to die because of Brother Kun. Brother Kun is too lonely down there, he wants to find a few old buddies to chat with."

Uncle San expressionlessly took the Remington shotgun handed to him by his subordinate, and calmly fired a shot into each of their thighs, cutting off their last chance of escape.

"ah--!"

A scream shattered the deathly silence of the wilderness.

"Buried alive."

Uncle San coldly uttered two words, then turned around, picked up his harmonica and began to play, as if composing a farewell song for the two of them.

Amidst their desperate pleas for mercy and the scraping sound of mud being thrown, Guohua and Heigui, once powerful figures in the region, were gradually buried underground. The mud covered their mouths, buried their eyes, and finally sealed all their ambitions and betrayals away in this cold wilderness.

That night, the four leaders of the Ni family were all wiped out.

However, just as Guohua and Heigui's heads were about to be buried by the last shovelful of yellow earth, a nimble figure suddenly darted out like a cheetah from the edge of the dark forest.

"Don't move! Police! Hands up!"

A righteous and powerful roar echoed across this sinful wasteland.

……

The road to the top of the mountain leads to the Lu Family Manor.

Lu Chen sat quietly at the large mahogany table in his study, the lights of Victoria Harbour faintly visible outside the window. He was intently reading a report on the latest construction progress of the Longteng Industrial Park.

Just then, the fax machine on the table emitted a soft beep. Lu Chen picked it up and found that it was an encrypted telegram from the "distillery".

Lu Chen glanced at the contents, his eyes, which had been slightly tired from thinking for a long time, became playful because of this information.

"Interesting..." Lu Chen picked up the walkie-talkie on the table. "Ah Sheng!"

A moment later, the door opened, and Tian Yangsheng walked in from outside.

"The boss?"

"Go to Tsuen Wan now," Lu Chen crumpled the fax into a ball and tossed it into the shredder beside him. "Your 'good buddy' at the police station seems to be in a bit of trouble. Go help him out..."

Tian Yangsheng nodded, and his figure quickly disappeared into the darkness of the corridor.

On this winter night in 1983, three forces on Hong Kong Island—Ni Yongxiao's blood-stained family tyranny, Lin Kun's sinister scheming hidden in the shadows, and Lu Chen's plan to achieve their ultimate goal in one fell swoop—finally converged on this damp, cold land filled with the aura of death, all at the behest of fate.

Who is the real hunter, and who is the prey screaming in the mist?

The wind stopped completely at that moment, and everything held its breath.

The entire underworld of Hong Kong seemed to be holding its breath, awaiting that earth-shattering blow.