Yang Yi didn’t know who the best mercenaries were, but if Zhang Yong said the Saints were the best ones out there, then Yang Yi supposed they were. And if Zhang Yong was able to receive the highest approval there was by the Saints, by the same logic Yang Yi supposed Zhang Yong was a top elite, as well.
Zhang Yong paused for a while, then he let out a long, sorrowful sigh.
“But, as all extremist groups do, the Saints were destined to fail and perish in the end. They could have survived if they weren’t so stubborn, but I didn’t think Nate and his men would change. As for me, I didn’t share their ideologies and ambitions, which was why me leaving was the best option for all of us.”
As though approving of Zhang Yong’s choice, Yang Yi nodded and inquired, “So that’s your experience as a mercenary?”
But Zhang Yong didn’t answer Yang Yi’s question. Instead of continuing the story, Zhang Yong started reflecting back on the time when he was a mercenary, “Looking back, sometimes I regret not having fought with those nutcases until the very end. Dying with your fellow comrades isn’t a bad a way to go. If I knew what my life would be like later on, I might have just stayed with Nate and the others.”
Yang Yi didn’t really know how to respond to that. After all, he couldn’t empathize with Zhang Yong because he didn’t know what happened to Zhang Yong later on. Zhang Yong kept speaking anyways. He was more inclined to share his experiences than to make sure Yang Yi was following.
“I sort of just bummed around afterward,” Zhang Yong said, “After I spent all the money I had, I had to look for work again. My motive at the time was really just to earn more money for myself, so I quickly got myself a job as a hitman. It wasn’t the life I was looking for, but I was a hitman for two years.”
“A hitman?”
“Yeah, a hitman. Not the professional ones, but I wasn’t far from them either. As you know, I was a mercenary before, so the way I killed was more direct and less subtle. “
“What difference does it make?”
“Murders can be completed very differently, Yang Yi. A professional killer only needs one silent hit to finish the job; a kill can be made to look like an accident and all evidence which suggests otherwise can be removed without any trace. But like I said, I just kill. If I can kill with a gun, I kill with a gun. And if the target was close enough, I just walked up to them with a knife in my hand.”
“Huh. I suppose there is a big difference.”
“That’s right, which was why I only got to do very simple jobs like assassinating mobsters. If you needed someone to make a politician die of natural causes, you would have to look for someone else. Jobs like that require the work of a team and years of planning beforehand. Those were the kind of large projects that needed to be done by real professionals, and I couldn’t compare to them.”
“I’ve gone off topic again, haven’t I?” Zhang Yong laughed, “This isn’t about my past experiences. It’s about telling you stories about people who resemble you. Anyway, there was this hitman I knew. He and I used to meet up from time to time.”
“Alright,” Yang Yi said and kept listening.
“He was flawless in everything. Again, I see a lot of similarities between him and you, but he was the smartest person I’ve ever known. Even though he always worked by himself, he never failed any mission that was given to him. He knew everything, but he didn’t understand how valuable life was. Whether it be the life of an infant or the life of an insect, he saw no meaning in any of it.”
“Isn’t that normal for a hitman? For them to not have any humanity?” Yang Yi asked in a confused voice.
However, as though mocking Yang Yi’s question, Zhang Yong burst out laughing, “Normal? Hell no!” He said loudly, “It wasn’t normal because out of nowhere, this man decided to kill himself in front of me! We were having breakfast one day and as this hitman was eating his oatmeal, he had a spoon in his hand, he suddenly said to me, ‘Life is so boring’ and then he killed himself!”
Zhang Yong raised his voice a bit, “Life is so boring! Imagine that you are sitting with someone you know and without any preamble or lead up, that someone suddenly tells you that living is boring!
“And as soon as he said that, he took a knife with his other hand and cut his carotid artery right in front of me. I was just sitting there, watching him as he finished eating his oatmeal while blood kept dripping from his neck. It was unreal. He just kept eating until he eventually collapsed, bled out and died.”
“What? He just died? Like, just like that?” Yang Yi’s jaw dropped a little. That story escalated way too quickly.
“Yeah, he just died there in front of me. I was just as shocked as you are now because, from my understanding, he really had no reason to end his life. He was rich, healthy and at a much better place in his life than most people living in the world, but he died just like that. I didn’t save him, because I couldn’t save him.”
Zhang Yong looked at Yang Yi as he started to sound a little emotional, “I wouldn’t really call him a friend of mine, but I really did think of him that way back then. I honestly didn’t expect him to do it at the time, but I figured it out later: if you stop caring for even your own life, the idea of committing suicide starts to become much more plausible for you. From his point of view, dying was much more peaceful than living like a doll without any emotions.”
As Yang Yi started touching his neck subconsciously, Zhang Yong’s eye contact with him became more intense. His voice was again firm like when they started the conversation, “That hitman had trained ever since childhood. He was a like tool whose only purpose was to kill and Yang Yi, you are a natural killer just like him. Both of you are very intelligent people; you are decisive, quick-witted and can remain calm in all situations. You possess all the crucial qualities to become a successful hitman, but if you keep treading on the path of murder and insanity, you won’t be able to walk backward later. Let me ask again: is this really the life you’re looking for?”
“It’s not the life I want, but I have no choice,” Yang YI replied grimly, “That being said, I will take in what you have said and try to respect lives under all circumstances, whether it be the lives of others or my own life.”
Seeing that Yang Yi was taking his advice seriously, Zhang Yong smiled and continued his lecture in ethics, “It is a blessing for the human race when smart people like you become scientists or doctors. Sometimes smart people become gamblers, but that doesn’t really affect the well-being of our society. But when smart people like you become maniacs who show no regard for anyone’s life, it only means catastrophe for all of us. Yang Yi, I fear people like you because I have seen people like you turn mad before. I’m telling you these stories because I don’t want anything to do with a madman.”
In a rather perplexed manner, Yang Yi pointed a finger towards himself. He understood Zhang Yong’s concern, but as of right now, he still couldn’t see himself becoming the person Zhang Yong was warning him about.
“I’m pretty normal myself, at least that’s what I think,” Yang Yi joked in an optimistic tone, “But I’ll take your advice and not turn into a psychopath. I like being normal.”
Zhang Yong nodded and gave a warm smile. “Good, good. Go change cells later. We’ll start our training there,” he said and stood up from his seat.
But as Zhang Yong started walking out of the room, Yang Yi chased him down since there was still something he wanted to ask, “Before we start training, can you tell me more about that hitman friend of yours? I might need a hitman in the future, so I think it’s a good idea to start learning about them now.”
Zhang Yong replied apologetically, “Unfortunately, I don’t think in the current time that you can find anyone as skilled as the hitman I mentioned earlier. To be honest, I didn’t know much about him at all. All I knew was that he didn’t have a name, but was referred to by his code number twenty-two. Apart from that, he was trained by a hitman group called the Shadows, which is a group that no longer exists. Anything else is beyond my knowledge.”
Yang Yi didn’t know who the best mercenaries were, but if Zhang Yong said the Saints were the best ones out there, then Yang Yi supposed they were. And if Zhang Yong was able to receive the highest approval there was by the Saints, by the same logic Yang Yi supposed Zhang Yong was a top elite, as well.
Zhang Yong paused for a while, then he let out a long, sorrowful sigh.
“But, as all extremist groups do, the Saints were destined to fail and perish in the end. They could have survived if they weren’t so stubborn, but I didn’t think Nate and his men would change. As for me, I didn’t share their ideologies and ambitions, which was why me leaving was the best option for all of us.”
As though approving of Zhang Yong’s choice, Yang Yi nodded and inquired, “So that’s your experience as a mercenary?”
But Zhang Yong didn’t answer Yang Yi’s question. Instead of continuing the story, Zhang Yong started reflecting back on the time when he was a mercenary, “Looking back, sometimes I regret not having fought with those nutcases until the very end. Dying with your fellow comrades isn’t a bad a way to go. If I knew what my life would be like later on, I might have just stayed with Nate and the others.”
Yang Yi didn’t really know how to respond to that. After all, he couldn’t empathize with Zhang Yong because he didn’t know what happened to Zhang Yong later on. Zhang Yong kept speaking anyways. He was more inclined to share his experiences than to make sure Yang Yi was following.
“I sort of just bummed around afterward,” Zhang Yong said, “After I spent all the money I had, I had to look for work again. My motive at the time was really just to earn more money for myself, so I quickly got myself a job as a hitman. It wasn’t the life I was looking for, but I was a hitman for two years.”
“A hitman?”
“Yeah, a hitman. Not the professional ones, but I wasn’t far from them either. As you know, I was a mercenary before, so the way I killed was more direct and less subtle. “
“What difference does it make?”
“Murders can be completed very differently, Yang Yi. A professional killer only needs one silent hit to finish the job; a kill can be made to look like an accident and all evidence which suggests otherwise can be removed without any trace. But like I said, I just kill. If I can kill with a gun, I kill with a gun. And if the target was close enough, I just walked up to them with a knife in my hand.”
“Huh. I suppose there is a big difference.”
“That’s right, which was why I only got to do very simple jobs like assassinating mobsters. If you needed someone to make a politician die of natural causes, you would have to look for someone else. Jobs like that require the work of a team and years of planning beforehand. Those were the kind of large projects that needed to be done by real professionals, and I couldn’t compare to them.”
“I’ve gone off topic again, haven’t I?” Zhang Yong laughed, “This isn’t about my past experiences. It’s about telling you stories about people who resemble you. Anyway, there was this hitman I knew. He and I used to meet up from time to time.”
“Alright,” Yang Yi said and kept listening.
“He was flawless in everything. Again, I see a lot of similarities between him and you, but he was the smartest person I’ve ever known. Even though he always worked by himself, he never failed any mission that was given to him. He knew everything, but he didn’t understand how valuable life was. Whether it be the life of an infant or the life of an insect, he saw no meaning in any of it.”
“Isn’t that normal for a hitman? For them to not have any humanity?” Yang Yi asked in a confused voice.
However, as though mocking Yang Yi’s question, Zhang Yong burst out laughing, “Normal? Hell no!” He said loudly, “It wasn’t normal because out of nowhere, this man decided to kill himself in front of me! We were having breakfast one day and as this hitman was eating his oatmeal, he had a spoon in his hand, he suddenly said to me, ‘Life is so boring’ and then he killed himself!”
Zhang Yong raised his voice a bit, “Life is so boring! Imagine that you are sitting with someone you know and without any preamble or lead up, that someone suddenly tells you that living is boring!
“And as soon as he said that, he took a knife with his other hand and cut his carotid artery right in front of me. I was just sitting there, watching him as he finished eating his oatmeal while blood kept dripping from his neck. It was unreal. He just kept eating until he eventually collapsed, bled out and died.”
“What? He just died? Like, just like that?” Yang Yi’s jaw dropped a little. That story escalated way too quickly.
“Yeah, he just died there in front of me. I was just as shocked as you are now because, from my understanding, he really had no reason to end his life. He was rich, healthy and at a much better place in his life than most people living in the world, but he died just like that. I didn’t save him, because I couldn’t save him.”
Zhang Yong looked at Yang Yi as he started to sound a little emotional, “I wouldn’t really call him a friend of mine, but I really did think of him that way back then. I honestly didn’t expect him to do it at the time, but I figured it out later: if you stop caring for even your own life, the idea of committing suicide starts to become much more plausible for you. From his point of view, dying was much more peaceful than living like a doll without any emotions.”
As Yang Yi started touching his neck subconsciously, Zhang Yong’s eye contact with him became more intense. His voice was again firm like when they started the conversation, “That hitman had trained ever since childhood. He was a like tool whose only purpose was to kill and Yang Yi, you are a natural killer just like him. Both of you are very intelligent people; you are decisive, quick-witted and can remain calm in all situations. You possess all the crucial qualities to become a successful hitman, but if you keep treading on the path of murder and insanity, you won’t be able to walk backward later. Let me ask again: is this really the life you’re looking for?”
“It’s not the life I want, but I have no choice,” Yang YI replied grimly, “That being said, I will take in what you have said and try to respect lives under all circumstances, whether it be the lives of others or my own life.”
Seeing that Yang Yi was taking his advice seriously, Zhang Yong smiled and continued his lecture in ethics, “It is a blessing for the human race when smart people like you become scientists or doctors. Sometimes smart people become gamblers, but that doesn’t really affect the well-being of our society. But when smart people like you become maniacs who show no regard for anyone’s life, it only means catastrophe for all of us. Yang Yi, I fear people like you because I have seen people like you turn mad before. I’m telling you these stories because I don’t want anything to do with a madman.”
In a rather perplexed manner, Yang Yi pointed a finger towards himself. He understood Zhang Yong’s concern, but as of right now, he still couldn’t see himself becoming the person Zhang Yong was warning him about.
“I’m pretty normal myself, at least that’s what I think,” Yang Yi joked in an optimistic tone, “But I’ll take your advice and not turn into a psychopath. I like being normal.”
Zhang Yong nodded and gave a warm smile. “Good, good. Go change cells later. We’ll start our training there,” he said and stood up from his seat.
But as Zhang Yong started walking out of the room, Yang Yi chased him down since there was still something he wanted to ask, “Before we start training, can you tell me more about that hitman friend of yours? I might need a hitman in the future, so I think it’s a good idea to start learning about them now.”
Zhang Yong replied apologetically, “Unfortunately, I don’t think in the current time that you can find anyone as skilled as the hitman I mentioned earlier. To be honest, I didn’t know much about him at all. All I knew was that he didn’t have a name, but was referred to by his code number twenty-two. Apart from that, he was trained by a hitman group called the Shadows, which is a group that no longer exists. Anything else is beyond my knowledge.”
