3. Mountain Hall.

Dian knew that running was futile. He had worked for this organization before, and nobody was ever truly capable of escaping them. He was probably the only one to have held them off for four days. Once one became a target, getting to the next day was hardly possible.

He was not seriously running, though. He may have disappeared because he panicked, but he had long since gathered his thoughts and decided that he would not run anymore. He was tired, guilty, bruised, and confused. In fact, his efforts to run were so sloppy he was a bit disappointed that it had taken them four days to find him.

"They've learnt nothing all these years," 

He muttered under his breath.

The previous events were not adding up to him. He was considered a genius in the Bronze Orchid, but even he could not clearly understand the situation. He was also not sure if he killed them or not; all he knew was that he had no intention of doing so. He would achieve nothing from it.

Yet he did not rule out the possibility. After all, when he regained his senses, he had the sword in his hands, and everyone around him was dead.

He panicked, so he ran, but then, eventually and slowly, he started to reconcile with his reality, because it seemed too clean for a setup, extremely perfect and impossible. Was he compelled? He had not known a drug strong enough to do that yet.

He finally accepted the possibility. Then came the guilt. He was not the type to care much, but Master Chen was like a father to him. Only the worst of evil would be at ease after committing such an act. He owed the biggest apology to Chen Kamman. That was the second reason why he ran: he could not face him.

He could not even begin to imagine how badly he had hurt him. He beat himself up for it so harshly that he could not hide anymore.

 He sent a message to Bangkok, the head city of Bronze Orchid, and told them, 

"Meet me at Mountain Hall."

He was one of the aces of Bronze Orchid, the third Grand Master Aoki. Having the title of Grand Master at such a young age was a serious achievement in such a competitive organization. So he knew all the bases and roots, where they would check, and who they would talk to. He had been doing this for so long.

Even the organization knew that they could not find him without his help. So he came to them.

Maybe he wanted to see Chen the most, maybe he wanted to see how he was coping, or perhaps he wanted to pay for his sins. But he went back with one thought in his mind: by morning, he would not be alive.

If that was the case, he would rather die in Chen Kamman's hands. He had every right to kill him.

He arrived before everyone else, picked a seat, and sat outside in the open air, then waited.

Mountain Hall was given its name because it was built at the peak of a large mountain. Thousands of kilometers of land surrounding the mountain were Bronze Orchid's property. How they came about it is a story for another day, but it was definitely not through clean means. 

The mountain was located on the outskirts of the city. All cars belonging to the Order of the Bronze Orchid were also driving out of the city, fast.

The first to arrive were the low-ranked members. They did all the grunt work. They had been dispatched to contain him in case he was planning to make a scene.

The Mountain Hall was not a luxurious building as people would assume; it was a series of large warehouses making up one large property. They stored everything valuable, from money to drugs to high-end cars to illegal cargo. It was no surprise that it was a heavily guarded area, with millions of surveillance cameras and thousands of guards.

One could not approach the Mountain Hall unannounced, let alone sneak into it. So, the security at the entrance was quite shocked to find out that Dian Aoki had arrived hours ago and was already waiting inside.

"Where did he come in from?"

The group dispatched to capture him wasted no time in rushing in, driving up the mountain with unprecedented speed, armed to the teeth. From a distance, with giant warehouses surrounding him in all directions, a single man sat still, waiting for them.

Their cars screeched to a halt, blocking his exits, but Dian was not planning on going anywhere. Even amidst all that fuss, he continued to sit still. He even smiled.

Over twenty men poured out, all rushing to apprehend a single unarmed person. They dragged him by his arms and threw him to the ground, pinning his limbs firmly. Dian did not resist. He only laughed and teased.

"Why are y'all so aggressive? I promise I won't run."

"How can you bind me when I came of my own free will?"

He complained about the tightness of the ropes they were binding him with.

The men, unable to stand his chatter, resorted to a gut-wrenching punch against his chin.

"Ugh...!" he grunted painfully.

"Keep your mouth shut, you traitor!" 

A man he could not see hissed harshly after punching him. He was blindfolded, and then they took him elsewhere.

"All this commotion for me? Am I really that important?" He sneered at the thought.

His jaw stung with pain from the punch, and he was unable to move a single part of his body, so he let them drag him along the hard concrete pavement. These men had once worked for him. It must have been fun seeing him in such a situation. When they suddenly stopped, they threw him to the ground once more, but rather than take off his blindfold, they started to beat him up.

For a straight hour, they beat him to a pulp. His face was barely recognizable afterward. He was a pretty man. Too pretty, indeed. When he first came to the manor, Chen, a boy who never spoke to anyone after his mother's death so that people thought he had gone mute, had whispered unconsciously, visibly awestruck, eyes wide with wonder: "So beautiful!"

His hair, which curled naturally and slid effortlessly when held between one's fingers, was now caked with blood and mud. His lips, which were normally so pink, and his eyes, which changed color to golden in the light but were originally glistening grey, were now bloodshot and swollen.

His pale, clear skin had bumps and pink bruises. His lips were cut open, and blood trickled from them. He had a couple of broken ribs and fractures.

He could have easily fought back, but he did not.