Kungfu Masters

Tricia went to the left wing of the club. She did not see anyone till she came to the cafeteria where three guys sat around a table, eating and drinking, talking and laughing. They did not hear the whistled warning. But when they saw Tricia coming in, they knew it was an intruder. They slung cans, bottles, whatever was on the table, at Tricia, who leaped onto a table two meters away, dodging all the ejections. One of the three guys took a folding knife from his pocket. He unfolded it and flung it at Tricia. Tricia kicked the knife, sending it back to pierce the guy in the shoulder before he had time to shirk. He pulled out the knife and blood followed. Another guy hit two xues on his shoulder to stop the bleeding and tore off one of his shirtsleeves and wrapped it on the wound. Since the wound was not serious, the guy could still fight. The three guys were closing in on Tricia. They used their chi to attack. Tricia sprang onto another table three meters away. Their chi hit the table and the chairs around it and shattered them to pieces. Standing on another table, Tricia clapped her hands as if in appreciation of the feat they had just performed. The guys flared up in censure and indignation and ejected their collective chi towards Tricia again. And again Tricia leaped onto still another table and the table she had stood on a while ago became the victim, together with the chairs surrounding it. The guys used their chi continually and Tricia played the same game with them, like a cat playing with some mice, till almost all the tables and chairs in the cafeteria were broken. The guys wasted much of their chi. Then Tricia counterattacked. She used both her hands to issue her chi. When her chi conflicted with their collective chi, the three guys were sent flying backward and falling supinely on the floor. Before they could get on their feet again, Tricia sprang up and glided in the air, emitting her chi through her fingers and thumbs. Ten whiffs of her chi hit the three guys on their Nonfunction Xues and Mute Xues. She landed on her feet and leaving them lying on the floor, she went to explore the rest of the club, smoothing her hair backwards with her right palm.
With a long whip in her hand, Sally got the upper hand. She fought with the two guys deliberately, chewing her habitual gum. She cracked her whip and entangled it round the left ankle of a guy, then jerked up and threw the guy to a distance of four meters away. The other guy wanted to cut her whip in two, but could not succeed because the whip was so tenacious and pliable that it would not take the cutting force. Sally circled his waist with the thin end of her whip and also jerked him up, hurling him to the side of his comrade. Sally waited there for the two guys to get up. When they approached and attacked again, Sally locked her whip with their swords and pulled with such force, aided by her chi filling the whip, that the two guys could no longer hold the swords and had to let go. She jerked her whip loose and sent the two swords flying upstairs towards the two guys fighting with Lois. These two guys, though disarmed, stood facing Sally and stretched out their hands to use their chi against her. Their chi was so weak, just like beginners. Sally churned her whip into circles against their chi, which was scattered into thin air when it met the whirls of the whip.  Sally lashed out her whip and struck the Nonfunction Xues of the two guys with the tip of her whip. They became motionless where they stood, like two modern statues by an unknown artist.  Sally had almost a whimsical urge to inscribe her name on their foreheads, claiming the art work as hers, but thinking better of it, she severed the pad of gum in half and stuck one half on each guy's forehead.
The two guys fighting against Lois upstairs were brandishing the ax and daggers wildly at her. It was not easy to deal with, because they were not playing by the rules. Lois had to use her chi to keep them at a distance. When they advanced to attack, she shot out her chi with both her hands at them. Her chi was so strong that it sent them a few yards backwards. Then the guys advanced again and Lois did the same thing. The process repeated several times before the two swords came flying at these two guys. They used their weapons to fend off the flying swords and made the swords turn in Lois's direction. Lois ducked her head to let the blades of the swords pass and snatched upward at the handles, catching them each in one hand. The two guys changed their strategy. They lay down on the floor and rolled up to Lois, wielding the ax and daggers to cut at her shins and ankles. If Lois jumped up, they would also jump up and cut at her shins and ankles. Since Lois was off the floor, it was difficult for her to change her position in midair and the guys were at an advantage and very possibly they could cut her shins or ankles.  But Lois didn't react as they had expected.  She just thrust the two swords, tips down, straight into the floor, then gripping the handles, threw her feet upward, literally heels over head. She was standing upside down, holding onto the swords for support. Clang. Clang. Clang. The weapons of the guys hit the swords. The guys jumped to their feet, striking their ax and daggers at Lois's head. But Lois had already put her feet down on the floor at the same time the guys had jumped up. She lifted the swords and parried off their ax and daggers. Now Lois was at an advantage over the guys, because the swords were longer. The guys knew that they could not win and turned to flee. Lois cast the swords at them. The sharp ends of the swords went into their shoulders with such force that they fell face down.  Lois went to them to prick at their Nonfunction Xues.
The girls searched the whole club and found no more people inside. They didn't know when they were fighting that one guy did not appear, escaping instead through the back exit; and that other normal employees, like the cook and his assistants, had fled, too. In a wine cellar, they found some boxes in which they discovered bags of cocaine.  So they called the local police precinct.
Before the police came, they undid the Nonfunction Xues, the Mute Xues and the Sleep Xues on the eight guys, but Lois jabbed at the Null-Kungfu Xue of each of them, so they were no longer kungfu people and could not easily escape from the local jail. Tricia and Sally stood aside to watch Lois delete kungfu from the thugs. They could not help with this. To achieve this, one must have enough force and skill on the fingertip.  Only a master or one on a half-master level like Lois could do this.
When the police came, the girls showed them their ID's and explained everything. Then the police took over and the girls left.
 
***
 
「We don't really need to rent a van,」 Sally said when they were on their way back. Now Sally had time to put a gum into her mouth again. In the excitement of fighting she didn't even think of it.
「Since we couldn't find anything illegal for the police, we must take all the guys we got on our hands and store them in our secret house. That's why we need a van,」 explained Lois. 「Okay. I got an idea. It's only two o'clock now. We can go to another place to make the best use of the van and its rental cost. What about that?」
「Good idea!」 exclaimed Sally, putting up her thumb at Lois.
「Where will we go next?」 asked Tricia, combing back her hair with her fingers.
「All places that belong to the Black Panther are of no more use to us. We are going to the Jack's lair to retrieve Frank's car,」 said Lois.
Tricia okayed it and Sally was simply excited at the prospect that she had another fight to undergo.
They parked the van a few houses away. They found the unmarked police car that Sam sent there to watch over the house. They went past the car without disturbing the plainclothes cop inside who was drinking coffee and listening to the pop music on the car radio.
The girls approached the house, Lois and Sally from the front and Tricia from around the back. They noticed that Frank's car was still in the driveway. Sally stood before the front door and listened for a while. There was absolute silence within. She picked the lock and opened the door. She slipped inside and crouched beside the wall. Lois still stayed outside. Sally took out a flashlight and flicked it on. No one in the living room. When nothing happened, Lois came in. Tricia entered by the back door. The girls searched the first floor and the basement and no one was seen. They went upstairs. It seemed that there were three bedrooms upstairs. Each of the girls tiptoed to one of the three rooms. Everyone listened before the door, then pushed it open and rolled into it to shun possible attack. One room was empty. The other two rooms each had a guy sleeping there, both dead drunk. Tricia recognized Jack as one of the guys. The other guy was the big one fighting with them in New York, using the long whip, which now became Sally's trophy. Though they were drunk, Lois still poked on their Null-Kungfu Xues. Sometimes kungfu will make over-ambitious persons go astray on the life path. Tricia and Sally each grabbed a guy and dragged him downstairs to the living room. Lois went to get the van. Tricia looked for the key to Frank's car. Sally said loudly, 「Hello, Sam. We need no more cops to watch over this house. The guys are our captives now.  See you later, alligator.」
「Are you crazy, Sally?」 Tricia whispered. She found the key tossed on the coffee table and then retrieved the bug she had planted from somewhere above the window frame. Lois stopped the van in front of the house. Tricia and Sally each picked up a guy and carried him to the van. They opened the van's back door and threw the guys in, then closed it. Sally went to sit in the front seat. Tricia drove Frank's car. They headed for their secret house in New Jersey.

Chapter 27

Next day, Sam called on Tricia's cell phone. 「What's going on in that house? I heard Sally's voice on the recording.」 Tricia told him that all the guys in that house disappeared and would probably never return, so there was no need for a stakeout there any longer.
「All right. But tell that wild naughty girl, Sally, don't mess in police work,」 Sam jested.
「She's just kidding.  Any news?」
「Nothing. It seems you're very busy recently.  You got a lot of troubles on your hands.」
「The big trouble's still ahead. We'll soon know the answer.」
「Want any help?」
「Not now. The big sister's planning everything.」 When Tricia cut dead the line, she asked Lois if they needed any help from Sam.
「My principle is that if we get any evidence, we turn it over to the police together with the guys. If not, we'll keep the whole thing to ourselves. The police can do nothing to help without proof,」 said Lois. The two guys they caught yesterday were kept in the basement with the other two guys. They did not even know one another, being in different groups, but they really did not have any chance to talk yet, as they were kept asleep all the time except when eating and going to the bathroom. Their Mute Xues were never undone in the fear that they would cry out and cause troubles.
 
***
 
There is a frequently used phrase in the Chinese language when people are writing novels, which is 「No coincidences, no novels」.
It was Sunday. The sisters were shopping for Christmas in a mall. They wanted to buy some presents for their parents, Alida, Mrs. Gallagher, Mr. and Mrs. Chang, Mr. and Mrs. Chen, Mr. and Mrs. Li and Mr. and Mrs. Hsu; the last four couples had helped Lois financially for the bail money, which she'd yet to repay. They would purchase something for all the girls and guys staying with them. So they had a long shopping list. They walked in the mall, selecting the things on their list. All at once, Sally recognized two men in their fifties as the master brothers. She whispered the information to Lois and Tricia. 「I guess they came here having something special in their mind to buy without any need to pay for it,」 said Sally, pushing the gum under her tongue.
「Probably, they are choosing free gifts for Christmas,」 consented Tricia, tucking away a wisp of her sunstreaked hair from her right eye.
「Let's follow them and see what they do,」 suggested Lois.  The three girls were in disguise.
「They are wanted by the police and are still bold enough to show up in public,」 said Sally, the wad of gum was transferred between the teeth and her right cheek after a few chewings.
「It's because they are confident in believing that they can escape in any circumstances,」 said Lois.
「Shall we call the police and help to catch them?」 asked Sally, moving her mouth a little.
「Let's follow them for a while first,」 said Lois. During such a big shopping time before Christmas, security guards increased in the mall. One of the guards recognized the brothers, too, from the pictures they received. So they notified the police. In a short period of time, all the available police force in the county was stationed in the parking lot outside the mall. They did not want to come in for the arrest. More people would be hurt if the resistance happened within.
The brothers did not buy anything, did not steal anything and did not rob anything, as if they came for sightseeing or spying, in Sally's opinion, to come back at night for burglary. Nonetheless, when they stepped out of the mall exit, followed by the three sisters, they found that something was not normal.  It was as clear as day to experienced culprits like the brothers that the police were waiting to arrest somebody and that somebody was not easy to put under custody. Therefore, it looked like all the police force poured out here just like all the bees swarmed to siege when somebody had smashed their hive. They knew that no one but themselves were worthy of all such efforts from the police department. They were just about to soar onto the roof of the mall when they felt three blasts of chi coming from behind. They turned round swiftly and saw three girls assailing them. They emitted their chi, and when the gusts met, the girls were sent backwards and hit their backs on the wall. The brothers held their ground firmly. Police could not fire their guns because of the girls behind the brothers. The girls sprang forward and attacked again. The brothers used their chi to resist, but the girls eluded their chi, which hit the exit door and the wall. The door was damaged and the plaster fell from the wall. The girls were more nimble and agile. They leaped here and there and ran in circles around the brothers, seeking chances to strike. The brothers stood in the middle, back to back, and just threw out their chi in defense. After ten rounds, Sally spat out her gum at one of the brothers to distract him, who just used his chi to hit the gum and send it flying to stick on the cap of a policeman who stood behind a car to watch. The hitting force was so great that the cap fell off the policeman's head onto the ground. The policeman crouched to retrieve the cap and put it on his head, not daring to peep again.  After spitting the gum as a distraction, Sally jumped rapidly forward to attack from the side. The elder brother suddenly turned to face Sally and issued his chi from his right forefinger, striking at Sally's Numb Xue. Sally did not have time to react and went limp. The elder brother grabbed Sally as a hostage. They jumped up high, hovering through the air over the police Maginot Line, and landed on the roofs of some parked cars. Lois and Tricia jumped up after them, landing on the top of the cars beside them, leaving the police behind. The brothers were quicker than the girls. They got to their car parked at the furthest side of the parking lot for easy and fast getaway. Lois and Tricia got into their car, too, and moved to the other side of the parking lot, trying to stop the brothers' car. The brothers reached their car, opened the doors, put Sally on the backseat and got in themselves. They moved their car out and sped toward the exit, barely missing a collision. Lois and Tricia followed them after a few cars; the police cars brought up the rear. They raced on Rt. 1 northbound.
Since the police cars sounded their sirens, many other cars pulled aside to let them pass. Although the cars yielded, the escaping and chasing cars still had to zigzag their way forth and could not go very fast like in movies. Lois knew that two of them were not capable of saving Sally from the brothers. Therefore, they just followed them to see where their destination was, and so did the police since the brothers had a hostage.
The brothers turned onto Rt. 440. After a long while, they exited and turned into a side street in Brooklyn. Then they deserted their car there, which was picked up by the police later. When police checked the name and address on the registration card, they found that both were shams. No such house number on that street, and of course, no one could live at a non-existing address.
After abandoning the car, the brothers ran among the crowds, carrying Sally. Soon the police lost track of them. But Lois still followed them as best as she could in their car. The three sisters had each planted a minuscule tracer in their hair in the shape of a barrette since Sally was missing last time. So Lois could still keep track of the brothers, though she could not see them. The brothers stopped for a while and then sped away as if in a car. Lois kept her car at a distance in the pursuit. How could they get another car--unless they flagged down a taxi? Now it seemed that they were going in the direction of Long Island. At length they stopped, but Lois kept going. They came to the mansion where Mr. Zi dwelled. A yellow cab went in the gate. Sally's tracer indicated that Sally was inside.  Another proof added to Lois's suspicion of Mr. Zi, a hard proof. Lois drove past the mansion, to avoid any skepticism. After half a mile, she turned and headed home.
 
***
 
Neither the FBI nor the police could find any hard evidence against Mr. Zi. They could do nothing within the perimeter of the law, except to continue the collection of any possible evidence. However, the kungfu circle had its own law. They used kungfu to maintain justice within their circle. They did not need hard evidence to take action. Any circumstantial proof was enough for vengeance. Once the two girls got back, Lois called their father, then called Mr. Chang and told him everything she knew, including the contents of the diary. She called Mr. Li, telling him that all the conditions added up were pointing to Mr. Zi as the big boss of the Black Panther and the killer of David. Lois told him that they were plannng a surprise raid tomorrow at Mr. Zi's residence and asked Mr. Li if he would like to join in the action.
「Definitely,」 he said. 「I want to avenge my son.」
Then Lois called Mr. Chen and told him what she had learned when she had visited Shaolin Temple and her suspicion of John Zi, and finally asked if he wanted to join them in the raid.
「Certainly,」 said Mr. Chen. 「When justice calls, it's my responsibility even if my wife's relatives are not involved.」
Late in the evening, Lois received a call from Mr. Li on her cell phone. He said that Mr. Hsu would like to join in the revenge for David, whom he looked upon as his own son and that he would ask the members in Hunter Corps to volunteer in the fight. So all the necessary arrangements were made overnight.

Chapter 28

Next day, a procession of trucks, vans and cars started for Long Island. An old shabby, but strong, truck led the way. Lois sat in the front seat to give directions. Mr. Chang and Mr. Li rode in Mr. Hsu's limo. Tricia drove her car with her father in the passenger seat to pick Mr. Chen. She would join the procession later. Thirty-two members of the Hunter Corps formed a small army, riding in trucks, vans and cars. All kinds of weapons were ready at hand for immediate use. They did not go in a line like in a funeral procession with headlights on. They drove randomly, but kept in contact with car phones and cell phones. No one would suspect anything. When near the destination, Tricia caught up with them and brought up the rear. They reached the massive splendid gate with embossed gold decorations, so beautiful that any beholders could not harden their hearts to destroy it, but if evil hid behind it, the surface beauty had to be destroyed to get at its rotten core.
The shabby truck accelerated and broke through the gate. People riding in the back of the truck cast sticks of dynamite at the guardhouse, which was blown up with two guards inside. According to the strategy, all the trucks, vans and cars scattered to surround the mansion. The members jumped out and sheltered themselves behind bushes, trees, vehicles, the arbor, and whatever they could use as shelters, their guns all aiming at the mansion. Lois leaped out of the truck, rushed in by the front double doors, and encountered Helen, the personal secretary of Mr. Zi.
「Where's the girl they kidnapped yesterday?」 Lois demanded.
「Killed already,」 Helen smirked.
Lois flared up and entered combat with Helen in the vast foyer before the semicircular staircase. The limo and Tricia's car drove around to the back on the wide path and careened over the lawn, stopping in the back garden. The masters and Tricia got out.
Mr. Zi, the brothers and a woman were sitting on armchairs on the lawn, watching the disciples practice kungfu. When they heard noise like an explosion coming from the direction of the front gate, Mr. Zi was about to send someone to check when he saw cars appear and the masters get out. They stood up. Mr. Zi stepped forward and greeted them.
「Where's my daughter, Sally, that the brothers took captive yesterday?」 asked Mr. Lin.
「Your daughter is my guest now. It's all a misunderstanding,」 smiled Mr. Zi. 「I'll have her brought out.」  He gestured to one of his men, who started to go to the back entrance.
「I'm here, no need to fetch me from your dungeon,」 a voice floated down from the second floor balcony. Everyone looked up. Sally was standing beside Mrs. Zi with a knife in her hand, looking as if she held Mrs. Zi as her hostage.  Mr. Zi's plot failed.  He had in mind to bring Sally out to threaten the masters with her life, but now his wife's life was in danger. Not that he would care so much about her life. He could find another wife easily, but that woman had conceived his son. That was what he cared about, a Chinese conventional idea--to have posterity to inherit and hand down the name and estate so as to satisfy the spirits of the ancestors in Heaven, or he was an unfilial son, or grandson, or great grandson.
「Okay. What do you want?」 Mr. Zi inquired.
「What do we want, Mr. Lungming Hua?」 Mr. Chang stepped forward. 「Do you still remember me?」
「I don't know what you're talking about. Who are you?」 He got a little distracted when he heard that name, but recovered his composure soon.
「I'm your brother-in-kungfu from Shaolin Temple. I can still remember you stealing food from the kitchen there, but that's really not the crime we came for. First, you killed your twin brother and assumed his identity, which you are using now.」
「That's none of your business,」 replied Lungming Hua, alias John Zi.
Mr. Chen walked ahead, standing beside Mr. Chang. 「My wife's sister left behind a diary, which denotes that you killed my brother-in-law, your twin brother, and you killed his wife, the twin sister of my wife. Do you think it's my business or not to demand justice for them from you?」
Lungming Hua was silent. Mr. Li took a few paces forward. 「You killed my son David. Do I have the right to avenge his death?」
Lungming Hua avoided eye contact with Mr. Li.  However, he turned to Mr. Lin. 「We are supposed to be friends. You promised that.」
「Yes, but within the law, I said that. You remember? You sent your man to kill my brother-in-kungfu, Charles Pan. What will you plead for this?」 Mr. Lin paced forward.
「What do I owe you, Mr.--?」 he addressed Mr. Hsu.
「I'm Erik Hsu. I have everything to do with you. First, as a citizen, I have a responsibility to fight you for the crimes of murder and drug trade, not to mention the minor crimes like filthy salacious business. Second, I belong to the kungfu circle. I must squeeze out the pustule to make our circle healthy and clean.  Besides, I looked upon David as my own son.」
「So we have to fight to decide on whose side justice is, like cutting the Gordian knot, huh?」 said Lungming Hua.
「We'll do it on one-to-one basis,」 said Mr. Chang.
Mr. Li turned to Mr. Chang and observed, 「I must fight that devil first. You promised me.」
Mr. Chang nodded and stepped back. Then Mr. Li said to Mr. Chen, 「This devil killed my son. A son is closer in relationship than in-laws. Don』t you think so?」 Mr. Chen just managed a wry smile at him. Mr. Li continued, 「Do you mind if I fight him first?」 Mr. Chen stepped back and so did Mr. Lin and Mr. Hsu. All Lungming Hua's men had gone to stand behind their boss since the other party arrived. Now Mr. Li and Lungming Hua began the fight without any further decorum.
 
***
 
Lois held up her right hand to issue her chi. Helen did the same, but when the two gusts met, Helen was knocked down on the floor. She was only on the fifth level, more than halfway below the level of Lois. Before she could get up, Lois leaped over and poked at her Null-Kungfu Xue, deleting her kungfu entirely. Lying on the floor, Helen wept, 「You ruined my life, you daughter of a bitch!」
「I just give you an opportunity to turn over a new leaf. Without kungfu you can still work and live comfortably. Now tell me where the girl is they brought in yesterday.」
「In a cell in the basement,」 she replied, though still sobbing. When they reached the cell, the door was open. No one was inside the cell.  But a few feet down the corridor, they could see a guy sprawling face down, an iron bar lying at his side. It must be the man who watched over the cell, but what happened? Lois shepherded Helen everywhere in the basement in a hastening search. Then they went up to the ground floor, then to the second floor. At last Lois saw Sally with Mrs. Zi on the balcony. Sally was holding a knife aimed at her throat.
「Sally, how are you?」 Lois asked eagerly. Sally turned and said, 「I'm fine, thanks to Mrs. Zi. Can you undo the Nonfunction Xue for me?」 Lois tried, but it did not work. She could not undo it because the brothers were masters. One cannot undo a xue hit by another with a higher kungfu level.
Lois looked down from above and saw a woman standing aside. She recognized her as Martha Fox. She pricked the Sleep Xue on Helen for safety and said to Sally, 「Wait here. I'll ask Dad to undo it.」 She jumped down from the balcony, gliding over toward the woman. Lois touched the ground before her. 「Hi, Martha. We haven't met for a long time. How are you?」
Martha Fox got nervous. She managed a grin. 「Hi, Lois. Nice to meet you here.」
「Can you come with me to explain to the police how you stole a car and lent it to me with cocaine in the trunk?」 asked Lois.
「I'd better not, if you don't mind,」 she said with a killer smile.
Lucky. I'm not a man, Lois thought. 「Yes. Maybe, we should practice a few rounds before you'll agree to do that.」 With these words, Lois assailed Martha. Martha was the girlfriend of the elder brother. Her kungfu was just above tenth level, equivalent to Sally's, but a bit inferior to Lois's. The brothers participated in the fight, the elder with Mr. Chen, the younger with Mr. Hsu. Mr. Chang and Mr. Lin stood aside, watching. Mr. Lin made a gesture to Sally, motioning her to jump down, but Sally spread her hands, palms up, which meant that she could not do that. Mr. Lin jumped up effortlessly as high as twenty meters, hovering through the air like a bird onto the balcony. He undid Sally's xue. He grabbed Helen under his left arm and held Sally's hand in his right hand. Then he jumped up and flew away from the balcony, landing beside Mr. Chang and Tricia, who had come up to stand with her father since there was no one she could fight with. He handed Helen to Sally, who put her into the limo. When Mr. Lin jumped so high effortlessly, Mr. Chang felt an admiration.  He thought, 「I can't do that so effortlessly.」
Mr. Li was a third-class master while Lungming Hua was in the second class, so gradually Mr. Li felt he was no match for his antagonist. He began to show his tardiness in defense and inability in counterattack. Mr. Lin walked forward and used his chi to separate them. Mr. Li stepped back. Lungming Hua stood there.
「No hurry. You can sit down to adjust your chi before you fight with me,」 Mr. Lin said to Lungming Hua, who asked, 「So, you eat your words to be my friend and want to fight me?」
「Sorry. It's for justice, which is above friendship. But I promise you that I will look after your wife and your future son as a true friend will do.」

Lungming Hua sat down in a yoga position to adjust his chi. When he felt ready, he stood up and sent out his chi toward Mr. Lin, who followed suit. This time when the two blasts of chi collided with a hollow bang, Lungming Hua fell backward three steps. For two reasons: One, he』d had a fight with Mr. Li already. Two, Mr. Lin belonged to the super-rank. Lungming Hua began to use Shaolin kungfu, the Arhan Style of fist moves, with some changes of finger thrusts and kicking up of the feet at intervals. Mr. Lin deliberately either ducked and shunned, or fended off his attack and at every chance he moved in to dart out his chi, which Lungming Hua had to elude. Lungming Hua aimed his right fist at the chest of Mr. Lin. This move was called 「Black Tiger To Steal The Heart」. (In fact, every move in this famous style always has a name for it.) Mr. Lin raised his left hand, let Lungming Hua's fist touch his palm and then pushed hard, sending him back a few steps. Lungming Hua took a stance and used both his fists to strike at both of Mr. Lin's temples. This move was called 「Two Wasps To Enter The Ears」. Mr. Lin spread out both his hands to fend off Lungming Hua's fists. This move was named 「White Stork To Spread His Wings」. Lungming Hua withdrew a step and took another stance to thrust forth two fingers, the forefinger and middle finger of his right hand apart like a fork at the eyes of Mr. Lin. This move was named 「Two Dragons To Pick Pearls」. If the fingers pierced into the eye-sockets and pulled out the eyeballs, Mr. Lin would go blind, but Mr. Lin used the same two fingers held together, pointing at Lungming Hua's wrist. If the xue on the wrist was hit, Lungming Hua's arm would be paralyzed. He recoiled and changed his moves. Their movements became faster and faster like the last time they had been practicing, but not as long. Mr. Lin jumped up five meters high and sent out his chi with both hands, aided by gravity, down on top of Lungming Hua's head. Lungming Hua had to emit his chi upward in resistance. His position put him at a disadvantage. So when the two gusts hit against each other, Lungming Hua was knocked down on the lawn. Mr. Lin descended on him like a vulture and poked at his Null-Kungfu Xue, ruling him out of the kungfu world, much less a master. Lungming Hua sighed and closed his eyes, acknowledging the defeat.
 
***
 
Lois mostly used her fingers and hands to assault; now the forefinger, now forefinger and middle finger together, all movements aimed at Martha's xues. Sometimes she gave a slap with her hand; her chi was so strong that Martha only had time to shirk, never got any chance to strike back. Lois』s finger moves were so complicated and deft, like playing a swift piece of music on the invisible harp with both thumbs and all the fingers, that Martha had difficulty following the moves with her eyes and could hardly defend herself against them. The set of Lois's finger movements was named 「Flying Snowflake Style」. Just imagine the snowflakes flying down so thick and quick, blown by the wind here and there, sometimes in whirlpools. Think of the complex pattern it forms. How can one shovel the down-flying snowflakes? It was now over fifty rounds. Lois was ready for the final blow. She crouched to sweep out her left foot at Martha's shins. Martha jumped up instinctively, without thinking, to dodge being hit. This was a false move from Lois, who now stood up to strike out her hands, left at Martha's chest and right at her belly. Martha's feet were already off the ground and it was very hard for her to make any further movement change in the air. She could only suck in her belly a little bit, but her chest was hit. She felt something salty coming up as she fell back on the ground. She spat out some blood. Lois poked at her Null-Kungfu Xue, then taking a phial out of her pocket and pouring out a pill from it, she fed the pill into Martha's mouth—a cure for inside injuries. Martha felt the pain in her chest subside and spat no more blood. Sally picked her up and put her inside the back of a van, having jabbed at her Sleep Xue.
The elder brother fought with Mr. Chen, who had recovered from his paralysis not long ago and so was really no match for the elder brother. At the twentieth round, he was struck on the shoulder by the elder brother and fell on the lawn. Just as the elder brother was about to strike again, Mr. Chang moved forward to issue his chi. The elder brother had to defend himself and could not deal another blow to Mr. Chen. Tricia rushed forth to help Mr. Chen to his feet and they both retreated to the side.
Mr. Chang learned a set of Damo Style sword moves in Shaolin Temple. Damo was a monk who came from India to China to spread Buddhism. Then he became the head monk of Shaolin Temple and invented a style of swordplay called Damo Sword Style. Since nowadays, people seldom combated with swords, Mr. Chang used his fingers and hands to imitate the intricate combinations of the sword movements. He thrust two fingers--forefinger and middle finger--as the tip of the sword at the elder brother, who used his hand to parry it off. Mr. Chang chopped the edge of his hand like a sword at the shoulder of the elder brother, who sprang away to dodge it. The chi from the chopping hand of Mr. Chang made a deep cut on the lawn. Mr. Lin stood aside, watching them fight. He recognized the style Mr. Chang was using. He went to a tree, broke a bough from it and tore off all the leaves and small branches. It looked like a rapier, but it could be used as a sword, anyway. Mr. Lin threw the bough to Mr. Chang, who caught it between rounds. Mr. Chang filled it with chi and wielded it like a sword in his attack. The elder brother whipped out two steel sticks from his sides, each as long as one and a half feet, resembling huge pencils. He brandished the steel pencils and moved in to assail Mr. Chang, who lashed his bough upward to fend off the pencils. The bough was much longer and the elder brother could not snap it with his steel pencils because it was filled with chi. Mr. Chang was a level above the brothers. Just like the chess players, the better one always wins. After a hundred rounds, Mr. Chang lifted his bough high in the air and brought it down on the head of the elder brother, who used his left pencil to ward off the bough and thrust his right pencil at Mr. Chang's chest. Mr. Chang drew his bough backward a little and brought it down on the pencil in the right hand of the elder brother with such force that the elder brother could no longer hold it. The steel pencil swooped to pierce into the soil of the lawn a few feet away. The elder brother knew that he would lose the battle eventually. He wanted to adopt the first and best strategy: runaway. He made a sharp whistle as a signal to his brother to escape, then throwing the pencil in his left hand towards Mr. Chang, he jumped up backwards, intending to land a distance away so that he could turn and flee.  Mr. Chang used his bough to slash at the flying steel pencil, sending it downward into the lawn. Then he jumped up after the elder brother, casting out his bough still filled with his chi at him, causing him to make a backward somersault. When his feet were in midair, he kicked back the bough, which Mr. Chang caught in the air. The elder brother completed his somersault and landed on the ground on his feet. As forward movement was often quicker than a backward one, Mr. Chang already stood before the elder brother, who waved both arms to strike alternately and desperately like a madman. This was not a normal karate move. So Mr. Chang had to whirl his bough before him to keep the elder brother at a distance. The elder brother suddenly turned and jumped high into the air again.  Mr. Chang jumped up, too, slinging out his bough afresh. This time the elder brother did not see it because he had his back towards Mr. Chang. As the bough came nearer and caused air movement, the elder brother began to feel it, but before he could change his course in the air, the bough filled with chi hit him on the back with such force that he fell to the ground.  He just rolled away, then jumped up on his feet and ran away as fast as he could through the trees. Mr. Chang chased, but soon lost him, because he was not familiar with the grounds.
Mr. Hsu and the younger brother had more than one hundred rounds by now. Their kungfu was on the same level. If left to continue fighting, they might spend another one or two hours without a result. Mr. Li leaped forward to attack the younger brother from behind. It was so unexpected that the younger brother was not prepared to cope with both combatants at once. Mr. Li's fist hit him on the back. He sprawled on the lawn. Mr. Hsu poked his finger at the Null-Kungfu Xue of the younger brother, who shouted, 「It's not fair play.」
「Do you think it's fair when you kill people even without any kungfu?」 asked Mr. Li coldly.
When all the bad masters were either conquered or escaped, Lungming Hua's disciples, who had been watching on the side when the masters were fighting, suddenly, at a signal from one of them, took out cylinders and spewed out needles at the victorious masters. The needles came like a shower. The five masters all issued their chi and sent all the needles back into most of the disciples. Only three of them standing behind the others escaped the sting of the needles. The three guys turned to run away. The members of Hunter Corps gunned them down. They were only wounded, not dead, being hit only on the legs.  Now all the members came out from their sheltered positions and began to apply first aid to the wounded and at the same time, secure them by tying their wrists and ankles.
Lungming Hua and the younger brother were herded into the mansion to their own living room. The conquerors began to question them. What they answered would be recorded.
「How did you kill your own twin brother?」 Mr. Chen asked Lungming Hua.
「I didn't even know that I had a twin brother,」 he said.
「How could you not know it? You shared the womb for almost ten months,」 said Mr. Li ironically. 「But it really doesn't matter whether you knew it or not. If you had never killed people, you wouldn't have killed your own brother. It sounds like you have all the rights to kill other people.」

Chapter 29

Lungming Hua was a lazybones by nature. He hated hard work, but wanted to enjoy life like the rich people. How could he get easy money? It made it easy for him to steal, to burglarize and to rob since he had master-level kungfu. Easy come, easy go. The easier he got money, the freer he spent it to enjoy himself, and the oftener he needed more easy money. When two governments had wanted him for the sale of the valuable stolen painting, he had escaped from America and stolen across the border into Mexico. He traveled south, burglarizing and robbing all the way down. It almost became his pleasure to do so. He felt that it was a real challenge to his kungfu.  He liked the challenge.  It showed how powerful he was with the master-level kungfu.  He could do whatever he wanted and no one could stop him.  One day he came into the capital of Brazil. He stayed in a luxury hotel and enjoyed himself. He sold his loot one by one till the last piece. Then he started his old business anew. One day he had dinner in the Chinese restaurant owned by John Zi. When he finished his dinner and went to pay at the register counter, he was so surprised to see the man standing opposite him. The man was really a counterpart of him. He looked at him like looking at himself in a mirror. Though the resemblance was one in a nonillion except for identical twins, he got lucky here. A wonderful, wicked idea struck him. He made necessary preparations.
The restaurant always closed at midnight. All the employees left first. John was always the last to depart. After he checked once more that everything was all right, he went out the back door and locked it. There was a parking lot behind the restaurant. He was about to climb into the car when a shadow jumped down from a nearby tree and hit his Death Xue. The shadow was none other than Lungming Hua. He put John in the trunk of the car and drove to the outskirts of the city. He found a secluded corner and burned the body to ashes. He gathered all the ID's and drove to his new home, the late John Zi's former home, which he already knew by following John in a rental car twice. When he got inside the house, he guessed the wife would be asleep since it was three in the morning. He explored the first floor, memorized what was where, then went to the second floor for further exploration. At last, he went into the bedroom. He pretended he knew where everything was in the house, but sometimes when the wife wanted him to fetch something for her, he had to ask, feigning that being busy made him forgetful. At the restaurant, he appeared as the owner, but he knew nothing about the business. The employees, though they wondered, dared not say anything about it. He soon hired someone as manager to handle the business for him. When the wife advised him to be frugal, he told her that he should not waste his time in one restaurant and that he had more important things to take care of.  Formerly John Zi would never say such things to his wife.  He often went out at night to resume his old job--a business without investment.  He wanted to accumulate his wealth as fast as possible. He kept his loot in the newly purchased safe in his newly refurbished study.
 
***
 
One night, he met the brothers. They were burglarizing the same jewelry store. So they had a fight over the plunders. When the brothers detected from the style he was using that he had learned kungfu from Shaolin Temple, they admired him and the three became friends. They divided the pillages among them.
Once when they met, the ambitious Lungming Hua suggested, 「Why don't we organize something like a party?」 So they named their organization the Black Panther. Lungming Hua appointed himself as the big boss, the elder brother the second boss, the younger brother the third. Later the elder brother had a steady girlfriend, Martha Fox, half-American and half-Chinese. She had learned kungfu from her mother, a Chinese woman, daughter of a kungfu family, who married a Mr. Fox. His girlfriend was the fourth boss. Since the police here urgently wanted them, they decided to move to America. Because the girlfriend often held different opinions from Lungming Hua, she insisted on going to separate places for development. The difference of opinions between Martha Fox and Lungming Hua never developed into a brawl because the brothers were always mediating. So it would be better if they lived in different places. Then the brothers moved to San Francisco and Lungming Hua to New York. The brothers only desired the accumulation of wealth like medieval outlaws. Lungming Hua secretly collected quite a few followers and taught them kungfu. His faithful followers found some indecent people as their followers and taught them kungfu secondhand. Lungming Hua wanted to establish a private kungfu army of his own, so he asked the younger brother to come to New York as a kungfu instructor. After five years of training, he went back to the west coast, leaving a group of hitmen with Lungming Hua.
Meanwhile, Lungming Hua found that John's wife was suspicious of him. He began to meditate a way to get rid of her. To his delight he came to know that she was suffering from heart disease. So he gave her medication that had the worst side effect to heart disease to expedite her death. He had enough money to buy the mansion in Long Island after the wife died. He moved there with his loyal followers as his disciples as well as his servants. He opened many small businesses to cover the fact that his money mostly came from the illegal dealings. He now had so many thugs under him that he commenced the drug trade and opened a small bank for the purpose of money laundering.
After his second marriage with an Italian woman--his first wife was really not his wife, but legally on the document to his usurped name, hence his wife in name--he found that his second wife was really sent by another drug-dealing party to spy on him, so he had to secretly kill her and bury the body in the back garden. Then he married the third wife, Melissa, who seemed never to ask questions about his business and only basked in his wealth and favors.
Mrs. Zi, (or should it be Mrs. Hua?) was an American woman with shoulder-length hair of a brown color, five foot seven inches in height, a hundred twenty pound figure, and tanned skin like a girl from the California coast. When she married Lungming Hua, she only knew he ran quite a few small businesses and had a colossal mansion. He only demanded to live in every possible comfort, never in luxury, which suited her. She herself was not a woman aspiring after the newest fashion, the fantasy jewelry or a showcase lifestyle. She felt proud of her husband, though he was much older than she, but she never had the slightest notion that this make-her-proud husband had a dark side until one or two years after the repentant marriage. He hired a maid for her and maintained the thought that the maid should be on his side since he paid her and that the maid should report to him if his wife had any misdemeanor. Melissa was kind by nature and treated everybody nicely, especially the maid, like a relative of hers. She took the maid into confidentiality and the maid was so touched she confessed that the husband wanted her to report to him any misdeed of Melissa. Why should a husband do such a thing to a wife? She was put on the alert. The maid slept in the servant quarters and had the chance to hear the gossip. She told Melissa every tidbit she gathered from the gossips. Melissa commenced her doubt of the non-misdeed of her husband, but she knew 「curiosity killed the cat」. She pretended to know nothing about his illegal doings. She learned from the maid, the day before the fiasco with her husband, that late in the afternoon a girl had been brought in and shut up in a cell of the basement. The girl was in disguise, which she was stripped of soon. She was the same girl who had been captured and stayed in the guestroom. The girl was the sister of Lois, whom she had once met. She developed the conception over the years that any opponents of her husband's were people of integrity. She should help the girl. Next day, as soon as the masters came, she knew the girl was in immediate danger. She and the maid went to the cell to the flabbergastedness of the watchman. 「I heard a beautiful girl was kept here. I want to have a look,」 she said to the watchman. 「Does Mr. Zi want her to be his concubine?」
Before the watchman could answer, the maid hit him on the head from behind with an iron bar. The maid took the key from the watchman and opened the cell door. Melissa told Sally to follow her to her bedroom. She explained to Sally on the way there. Then she took out an ornamental knife from the drawer of her vanity dresser and handed to Sally, who looked at her doubtfully. 「I hate hypocrites and I know John killed his second wife. I don't want to be the next victim. Men always think that they can override women because they are physically stronger. They despise women. They think they are superior to women, so women are their playthings, but they ignore the fact that they come into this world through the lower torso of women. Why don't they come out from the woman's mouth since they are so superior?」 She directed her dissatisfaction of her husband toward general masculine tyranny. Sally relaxed and came to know that Melissa wanted to fake the hostage role and they stepped onto the balcony with Sally holding the knife pointing at Melissa.  When Sally got down with her father, Melissa went back to her bedroom and lay down on the bed.  She did not want to know the consequences of the combat.
 
***
 
Lois went into the limo to slap Helen awake. 「Now you are facing the fork of your life path. One branch will take you to the endless days behind bars while the other will lead you to a new life. You must make the decision in five minutes,」 Lois told her solemnly.
「Just tell me what you want me to do. I'll consider,」 Helen said a bit nervously.
「Provide us with every evidence you know about anything illegal they did.」
Helen assented to cooperate. So Lois called in the FBI. When the FBI agents arrived, at Helen's guidance, they found enough evidence in a secret safe in Lungming Hua's study to put him in jail for life. They also dug up several bodies in the back garden in different rotten stages. One skeleton was proved to be his second wife.
After signing all the necessary statements, the masters, the three sisters and all the members of the Hunter Corps left before the media got wind and swarmed up there.
 
***
 
There was no more need to keep the two places secret. The rogues were given to the FBI. The kidnapped girls went to their respective homes. The return of the prodigal put Laura's parents in such a gleeful state of mind that they persisted in inviting Sally』s whole family to their house in celebration of the hilarious occasion. The only pity for Laura was that she could not continue to learn karate after so much hard work.
「You can still practice all the karate you've learned so far by yourself,」 Sally advised her. 「You don't have to give up.」 The joyous news was that she was allowed to go back to the computer company to resume her former position. The fellow employees held a party for her, too, on the first day she was back at work. The partying spirit really gets in the blood of American people. They can find every reason to have a party.
The return of Frank was received in a somewhat different way. His father criticized him for his laziness and dreams of easy money. His mother wept joyful tears and embraced him so tightly that he felt almost smothered. His sister, Monica, advised him to learn the lesson. After the first wave of mirth was over, his mother fixed a special plentiful dinner for him. He was stuffed to the throat like the Beijing ducks. Another day, the three sisters were invited to their house for a celebration to show their unforgettable gratitude. Frank got a mechanic』s job in another garage.
Michael Dong went to Los Angeles. His mother and stepfather lived there. His biological father died early when he was a child.
 
***
 
Lois kept the house into which the whole family moved and stayed till their burnt house was rebuilt. Mrs. Gallagher felt sorry that she would be left alone again after so many days of happy get-togethers. Tricia promised to sleep over as often as possible.
Christmas was around the corner. The three sisters and Alida were decorating the living room of their rental house. 「Hope we'll have Christmas next year in our own house,」 said Sally while putting the angel figure on the top of the fir tree. She kept on chewing gum and blowing bubbles, bigger and bigger each time.
「Probably, you'll have Christmas next year in your own house with Henry,」 said Tricia.
「What's wrong with that? You'll spend it with Sam.」 Sally would never let others have the last word even if she was busy with her mouth constantly performing the tricks to produce balloons.
「Who'll spend it with me?」 asked Alida innocently. She was hanging little golden bells on the tree.
「I'll be with you,」 said Lois, bending to hug her.
「You want to be a spinster?」 Sally had the ability of quick connections between things that other people had difficulties to put together.  She stopped performing for a split second to squeeze out words, almost swallowing the choking wad of gum.
「Don't worry about me. Someone will turn up in due time,」 Lois said grinning.
Sally was hanging some mistletoe, which Henry had bought yesterday somewhere, along the walls where no one would stand under it.  She had seen through Henry's ruse, but didn't want to be so impolite as to throw them away.
「Why not make a wreath of mistletoe and put it on your head so that every man can give you a passionate kiss?」 Tricia advised Sally.
「I'll make a wreath of mistletoe around my waist so that every man can kiss my ass,」 replied Sally seriously, as a bubble burst around her mouth.
「It won't be a white Christmas this year, either,」 sighed Alida. 「I hope Santa Claus will come as well.  I can't wait to open the presents.」
「Speaking of Mr. Santa Claus--shall I call him Santa Claus, Esquire?--I dreamed about him last night.  So in the morning when I woke up, I wrote a poem about him,」 said Sally, keeping the gum under her tongue now.
「Did Mom pluck your ears in the dream?」 asked Tricia.
「Nope. I did it of my own accord.  Here it is:
 
Christmas Eve again!
My annual duties call.
As my reindeer are sick,
How can I go round?
 
Who got a snowmobile for me?
I never tried that before.
Can a couple of dogs pull that thing?
It looks so heavy, really so heavy.
 
How stupid are the modern architects:
The houses don't have chimneys.
How can people keep warm inside
Without being choked by the smoke?
 
No worry about that,
They will survive anyway.
But how can I get in
To distribute the gifts?
 
Every year I shoulder a heavy bag.
It feels heavier and heavier,
Since I grow older and older--
I really need a revolution.
 
Okay, from this year on,
I'll get gift certificates
And slip them under the doors.
That'll make my work easy.」
 
The End