Chapter 136: Floating

“I don’t have to take this path,” I replied. “As long as I can follow you, I’ll take any path.”

Rong’s expression darkened, and he said irritably, “Ah Jing, I don’t need anyone following me anymore. I have enough money to last me till I die of old age! You’re just dragging me down, don’t you get it?!”

“I…” His words hit me hard.

Maybe I’d had too much to drink—I’d never felt this bad before.

Rong didn’t need me anymore. Jiu didn’t need me anymore.

I was a fist floating in midair, with no body or brain to belong to.

Where should I land? Where should I settle?

“I understand,” I nodded, feeling my eyes and nose sting. “Rong, I won’t cause you any trouble. I’ll leave at daybreak.”

Back at Rong’s place, I lay on the sofa, unable to sleep.

What the hell was going on?

Why had everything changed?

That stupid “brain”—if the “fist” wasn’t around, wouldn’t he just run?

Why throw himself into the fire?

Where had all his usual cleverness gone?

Damn it, I think you weren’t a “brain” at all—you were just an idiot.

The more I thought about it, the worse I felt. The night deepened, but my mind wouldn’t settle.

Every time I closed my eyes, Jiu’s face appeared before me.

All those nonsense words he used to spout, I remembered them now with painful clarity.

“Ah Jing, what would you do without me, your ‘brain’?”

“Ah Jing, you should smile more. Right now, you look like a block of wood.”

“Ah Jing, learn this from me—’Dang it!’ Sounds more powerful, right? ‘Dang it!’ Don’t like it? How about ‘Rot in Hell’?”

“Ah Jing, remember to wear a shirt! Why are you out like this again?”

“Ah Jing, protect me! Dang it! If the ‘brain’ gets wrecked, you’ll turn stupid too!”

“Ah Jing, if I’m ever gone one day, just find yourself another ‘brain.'”

“Ah Jing, if you can’t find a ‘brain,’ just smile more. At least die laughing.”

I touched my cheek—something wet and cold was there.

“Dang it…”

I let out a bitter laugh. Living in this world was really hard.

With that thought, I rolled off the sofa, grabbed a beer from the fridge, quietly opened the door, and went up to the rooftop.

“Ah Jiu, did you always laugh because you knew how hard life was?”

I sat on the edge of the rooftop, legs dangling over the side.

Looking down at the dazzling neon lights below, I felt like I was standing atop the entire city, an indescribable sense of freedom in my heart.

I took a swig of beer, then poured some onto the ground.

The early morning breeze chilled my skin—I’d forgotten to put on a shirt again.

“Jiu, let’s drink our fill tonight.”

“Ahhh!” A startled scream from behind nearly sent me tumbling over the edge.

I steadied myself and turned around to see an older woman collapsed on the ground, a broom in her left hand and a stack of yellow paper in her right.

She stared at me, trembling, as if she’d seen something terrifying.

Something felt off. I quickly climbed down and went to check on her. “Ma’am, are you okay?”

“You… you…” She frowned, but her expression quickly settled. “Young man, you scared me half to death!”

“Me? I don’t understand. I was just sitting here drinking. How could I scare you?”

“You!” She pointed angrily behind me. “Your tattoo! Who told you to get something like that?!”

I realized what she meant. “Ma’am, don’t worry. I have a tattoo, but I’m not a bad person.”

“Who’s talking about that?” She stood up, dusting herself off. “Why couldn’t you get anything else? Had to get a line of words. I thought I was seeing a ghost.”

Something flashed in my mind.

“Ma’am… have you seen someone else with words tattooed on their back?”

“Of course…” She crouched down, spreading the yellow paper on the ground. “There was a young man with a tattoo just like yours. Jumped off this building last week. If you two didn’t look different, I’d have thought I was seeing a ghost.”

“What did you say?!”

“What? You think I came up here in the middle of the night just to lie to you?” She carefully arranged the paper, then pulled out a lighter from her pocket. “Today’s his seventh-day memorial. Even though I’m just a cleaner, I know the customs.”

She lit the paper, clasped her hands, and muttered under her breath, “I’m just a cleaner. Didn’t mean to disturb. Forgive me, forgive me…”

The flickering flames danced in the early morning light, reflecting in my dead-eyed stare.

“Ma’am, stop burning that.” I turned around expressionlessly, showing her the tattoo on my back. “Take a closer look. Are you sure his tattoo was like mine?”

She gave me an impatient glance. “Yes, of course. Just different words. Yours says something about ‘Heaven and Earth’… his was longer, something about ‘wind and flowers.'”

At those words, my heart died completely.

“Ah, the police said that boy didn’t even live in this building. Why would he jump here for no reason? Made me…” She caught herself, slapping her mouth three times. “Pah! Wrong words, wrong words! Forgive me, forgive me!”

Now I understood.

Jiu had jumped from this rooftop seven days ago.

So Rong had lied to me.

I turned my head, looking toward the edge of the rooftop—as if I could see Jiu’s shadow standing there.

His bare back bore a line of wild, flowing calligraphy:

“Wind, flowers, snow, and moon are idle things—only the restless make them complicated.”

“But why did you jump?” I asked.

Jiu’s shadow gave a bitter smile. “Ah Jing, live on with my laughter.”

I blinked, and the shadow was gone.

I didn’t know if it was the alcohol or if Jiu had really returned on his seventh-day memorial, but in that moment, I truly felt like I’d seen him.

His expression had been full of sorrow.

I knew Jiu. If he’d been killed in a fight, he wouldn’t have looked like that.

He’d have just arrogantly told me to avenge him.

So why had he been so sad?

Because he hadn’t wanted to die.

I forced myself to smile like Jiu used to—carefree, reckless—trying to think from his perspective.

“This time, lend me your brain.”

Back when Rong and Jiu were around, I never had to think for myself. But now it was different.

So then…

Why was Tong hunting Rong?

For money.

So Tong wouldn’t kill him—that’d be cutting off his own profit. He’d be the biggest loser.

Besides, the “hunt” was left to Chong, who wanted to recruit me for Tong.

Even if he’d tracked Rong down, he hadn’t sent anyone to kill him outright.

So the “hunt” was never real.

Jiu being killed in a fight was even more absurd.

I looked up at the moon and asked, “Out of loyalty or something else, you wanted Rong to return the money to Tong, didn’t you?”

The sky was silent.

“Rong refused and thought you were betraying him, didn’t he?”

Again, no answer from the moon.

“You had no idea Rong would kill you, so you followed him to the rooftop without a second thought, didn’t you?”

The moon hung there, fuzzy and blurred in the early morning haze.