Wing Bo, dressed in a sharp custom suit, arrived at the bar in Yide City with his assistant. Upon entry, the waiter at the front scanned them for bugs with a portable scanner that beeped at a regular rate and then escorted them down the hallway. 

The bar was divided into two sections. The main club on the first and second was for regular party-goers. On the first floor, the walls were decorated in detailed metal panels and designed with the intent to display wealth, not something normally seen or attended by the lower class. After going through a wooden double, they entered another corridor.

The waiter led Wing Bo and his assistant to a private elevator, entered his keycard, and pressed on the fifth floor, a VIP only location. They arrived at another lobby where another waiter greeted them and bowed.

Wing Bo entered another fancy corridor, but this one was different. There were scantily dressed women on raised platforms doing exotic poses. He ignored them as he walked by, having already seen enough to last his lifetime, and continued following the waiter. His assistant was less resistant, and took the time to examine every woman they passed by.

Once they reached their destination, the waiter opened the door to a suite with lounge seatings. There were a dozen men and women in the room. The men were the lawyers and the women were escorts, except for one middle aged woman in the room.

“Mr. Wing, no cellphone allowed,” the waiter instructed him.

Wing Bo nodded, passed his phone to his assistant, and walked inside the room while his assistant waited in the corridor. 

“Mr. Wing, so glad you could make it,” said the woman, Attorney Nan Shian.

The event was invite-only, and only the top lawyers of Yide City received invites. Through connections, he was invited to the event where he could find potential partners to assist with transactions in Yide City. 

“Pleasure Ms. Nan, thank you for the invite,” Wing Bo replied, shaking hands with the other five lawyers in the room. 

He ignored the escorts, who were used to be seen as accessories, but they were a bit saddened because they preferred younger looking Wing Bo over the middle aged lawyer. He wasn’t handsome, but his face was interesting to look at.

Wing Bo sat down in the lounge, and everyone greeted him and explained their area of expertise. One was a well-known trial lawyer and the rest were corporate lawyers.

“You have to excuse the scale of our operation,” said one of the lawyers. “Yide doesn’t have a lot of big companies, but there are many companies that are offshoots from the major companies.”

“Do you deal with Governor Ning often?” asked Wing Bo.

The lawyers looked at each other as though communicating with their suspicious eyes. 

“It’s still our first party together, let’s not talk about business,” Ms. Nan suggested. She took out a little suitcase and opened the case with several round opaque blue jars. “In celebration of Mr. Wing joining our group, I got everyone a small gift.”

The group casually chatted, drank expensive whisky, and snorted up the cocaine inside the jars. Some of the escorts received a portion from their client if they were well-behaved. They snorted up the powder greedily as though they were in withdrawal.

Wing Bo opened his jar, poured out a small line, and then snorted the powder up his nose. The sensation was stinging at first, but then his head felt buzzed. Wing Bo hated to put any sort of drug in his body, but it was part of the initiation process. It was the only way for them to trust him; by committing the same crime together. Everyone knew they were being filmed by the owner of the bar, Mr. Bai.

“Is Mr. Wing attached to anyone?” Asked Ms. Nan.

“I’m single, and I prefer to be that way for a while,” said Wing Bo.

“You’re only a little over 30? Still very young,” said Mr. Gong. “My advice, don’t get married.”

Mr. Gong had two marriages, and his divorces had emptied out most of his savings. Out of everyone in the room, Wing Bo felt that Mr. Gong was a good candidate to assist with the real estate acquisition.

“Mr. Gong, don’t you have a present for Mr. Wing?” asked Ms. Nan.

“Ah, yes,” said Mr. Gong passing Wing Bo a key card #615. “She’s the prettiest in my office.”

Wing Bo knew what the gift was as soon as he received the key card. Later that night, Wing Bo left the suite and took his phone back from his assistant. Along with the phone, there was a small note.

The note: “The camera footage is copied into Mr. Bai’s phone. There are copies sent to Mr. Gong and Ms. Nan.” 

Wing Bo nodded, sent his assistant away, and took the elevator up to the sixth floor. Inside the room, there was a young woman in a business suit lying unconsciously on the bed. Judging by the smell, she had been drinking in the bar on the lower floors. The practice was rather common, to lure naive and young innocent women during an after-work dinner outing.

He loosened his tie and casually stretched his neck left and right as he removed the tie. A tiny glint of reflected light from the far right corner caught his eyes, but he turned back to the girl. She was pretty, but maybe it would have been better if she wasn't. Otherwise, she wouldn't be in this situation.

****

The world was uncleaned, and Wing Bo had been aware of that ever since he was born. His parents were a normal middle class couple, but an accident took them both away when he was seven. He spent time in an orphanage where he suffered sexual abuse from the caretakers. It was where he learned that no one could be trusted in the world.

Then, at the age of twelve, something happened that changed his life forever. The Blue Moon organization took over the orphanage and locked down the facility with all the twenty-two male children from the age of 10 and 15 and the three caretakers. All the kids under 10 were taken elsewhere.

The remaining children were confused and frightened by the men with heavy firepower by their side. They were lined up in three rows in their dorm and looked at the man leading the group, Mr. Lang.

“I’m sure you know how difficult it is to live in this world,” Mr. Lang opened up. “I’m not here to save you. I’m here to give you an opportunity.” Mr. Lang paced around and pretended someone had asked him a question.  “What sort of opportunity you asked? Well, an opportunity to personally kill those three caretakers.”

The children were in shock. All of them had suffered abuse one way or another.

“Now, I want everyone who wants revenge to step forward,” Mr. Lang waited for their response.

The young Wing Bo took the first step. After that, more and more kids joined in until everyone stepped up. 

“Good, but unfortunately, there are too many of you,” said Mr. Lang. “There are only three of them, and 22 of you. Underneath your pillow, there is a small knife. I’ll wait outside until there are three of you left.”

It was the start of Wing Bo’s nightmare. After two days of almost starving to death, he and two other boys survived the battle royal and joined the Blue Moon organization that day.

“The motto of our organization, don’t trust anyone,” Mr. Lang advised. “Don’t trust me, don’t trust your superiors. Only trust yourself. It is the only way you will survive in this organization.”

At the time, Wing Bo didn’t understand how an organization could survive with an odd motto, but he learned something very quickly; it was easier to trust people who were liars, murderers and thieves. He knew they would backstab him at any moment, and he would backstab them if he was given the chance. After years in the organization, morals did not exist, only survival.