Fiction: Group 3
“Zhang Jian,” the vexatious voice at the other end of the phone was not a morning greeting that
anyone would want to wake up to.
“What is it?” Zhang Jian barked into the phone. It was only 9:09:09 A.M. He should really hire an
assistant that would not wake him up so early in the morning when they knew that he had spent the night at
Dong Guan.
“A reliable source told me that you will soon be prosecuted for bribery.” The voice at the other
end droned on. “I shall hand in my resignation letter tomorrow.”
“Simply what do you mean? Bribery? I have never committed a crime of that sort! Why, I might
have com--” Zhang Jian shut his lips abruptly and slammed down the phone. This was China, after all.
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Seventh Body found in Pearl River Delta, Medical Evidence Suggests Death by Murder, Not Suicide.
Guang Dong Military Plane Crashes at Pearl River Delta
Latest of Pearl Tragedies: Pearl Corporations Cargo Sinks
Police Cannot Prevent Suicides? Eleventh Body of Pearl Corporations Executive Found in Pearl River
Delta
Pearl Corporations and the “Pearl Incidents”
The Crumbling of Zhang Jian’s Empire
The man pulled on the hood as he continued reading the newspaper articles. 4:44:44 A.M., April
4th. He lowered the baton slowly.
Diminuendo.
The note of cessation was soon to come.
Just then, a man in a suit sat down on the bench. A man who was formerly known as Zhang Jian,
who had just had his empire wrecked by a chain of phone calls.
“Hi, I am a representative of Hiroshiba. I regret to tell you that…..”
“I’m sorry, but we’re pulling out. I know we’re old associates, but when it comes to business, I’ve
got to leave friendship behind. I don’t want my name dragged into those bribery cases either, I’m sorry,
Zhang. ”
“I would like to resign….”
Zhang Jian didn’t blame them. Anything associated with the Pearl River Delta carried a foul
stench. Zhang Jian looked at the young man seated across from him. He looked quite pleasant, and with
those Armani jeans, he was evidently quite well off. Zhang wondered what the young man was doing out
here at such an hour.
“Hi, it’s only 4 A.M., isn’t it? It’s unusual for young people to be up so early.” Zhang wondered if
his attempt to start a conversation would go well with the young man.
“Well, I am quite an unusual person, if I do say so myself.” The young man did not turn his head
to Zhang while he spoke. A typical sign of unfriendliness.
“So… What area are you interested in? Do you have a job?” Zhang’s curiosity drew him in as the
young man finally turned his head.
“I don’t need a job. I have everything I want right now.”
Zhang sighed and murmured to himself, “and I have nothing.”
The voice across from him gave a low-pitched chuckle. “I can’t believe it was so easy.” Zhang Jian
almost jumped in fright. That familiar voice...No, it simply couldn’t be! But as people so often say, reality is
cruel, and Zhang soon found himself thrown into inferno.
The chuckle grew louder. “I can’t believe it was so easy to take away everything of yours! I can’t
believe your everything was the money that Grandfather gave you. You haven’t changed at all, you’re still
the same rapacious man you were 33 years ago, Father.” The man in the black hood unsheathed his face and
took off the jacket….. The crippled left arm. Zhang Jian turned to stone as the young man walked over. A
predator looming over its prey.
“It was so easy, bribing the military to do the dirty work for me using money from your bank
account. Shooting down cargos, creating plane crashes…. I felt God’s power transcend in my hands. And I
believe it did. God transcended his power to me so that I could punish you.” Those icy eyes brought Zhang
back to the night at the alley. That night of fate when he pushed away the last of his troubles.
In this dreamlike trance of reality, Zhang finally came to his sense, “You… you were the one who
created all the incidents? You killed eleven innocent people to punish me?”
