[Seventh-Night Tales] You Call Your Nemesis a Coworker?

A flash of lightning tore open a crack in the sky screen. Its light briefly illuminated the room, the smiling face of Ziche Fuzhao, the blood staining his hands and tinting all ten fingers red, as if his hands had plunged into a wound, and the few steps between them.

For an instant, Wuming forgot where he was. Rain fell from above, while time turned with the motion of metal parts. Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Two different sounds rang out, driving time toward the millennium, carrying him toward another body, like the Y2K bug causing the original data to collapse from within the program, erasing the original person's karma until nothing remained, leaving him standing in the world, utterly blank and clean.

The lightning faded, and darkness returned to the room. Ziche Fuzhao leaned against his windowsill and said, "In Fengyan Village, you told me we were different: you said you hadn't killed anyone. But, Wuming, my boy, are you really any less familiar with killing than I am?"

Reader's note: The preceding story is Millennium, about the killer Wuming Pa on a rainy night in 1999. This story is Wuming In Liyuting in 2000.

Adversary: First, a foe or enemy, the opposing side. Second, the other party in a lawsuit. Third, a spouse. Fourth, facing someone; face-to-face. Fifth, normal; correct. Sixth, suitable.

Also titled Yes, We Call Our Colleagues Adversaries Here.

Theme: Adversary: First, a foe or enemy, the opposing side. Second, the other party in a lawsuit. Third, a spouse. Fourth, facing someone; face-to-face. Fifth, normal; correct. Sixth, suitable.