Daomu Biji: The Southern Archives

Zhang Haiyan ate a cookie and laughed. His military rank was so much lower than Zhang Haixia’s, so if Zhang Haixia was considered a small character, then he was afraid he was even less important. But he had never paid attention to this kind of thing before. Compared to everything that had happened, weren’t ranks and levels all a joke now?

“Miss Dong, to be honest, I have a lot of questions,” He said. “My first question is: Did the South Sea Archives really exist?"

Miss Dong moved to speak, but Zhang Haiyan interrupted her, “Do you know that the South Sea Maritime Affairs Office told me that they’ve never had any affiliated institutions called the South Sea Archives and they’ve never even heard of it? I checked through all their information, and there’s really no record of it. Do you know what’s going on?”

Miss Dong lit a cigarette, “That’s why I said you’re a low-level agent.”

Zhang Haiyan looked at her and said to himself, are you going to use rank to evade the question? Even if I’m not qualified to know the truth, it seems ridiculous to use such a big scam to lie to their own low-level employees.

“The South Sea Archives never had anything to do with the South Sea Maritime Affairs Office. We only said that because the South Sea Archives’ origin was too complicated for you people to understand. It’s just easier to tell you that it’s a government-run agency.” Miss Dong pushed the ashtray over, indicating that Zhang Haiyan could smoke if he wanted to. “In fact, the origin of the South Sea Archives is very complicated. The fact that it wasn’t an official agency doesn’t mean that it didn’t exist.”

“If it wasn’t run by the government, was it a privately-owned agency?" Zhang Haiyan asked. “Was it a gang? Did we belong to a subordinate organization of the Green Gang (1)?”

“I’ll have to tell you a story.” Miss Dong stood up and opened the cabinet behind her, revealing a passage inside. When she motioned for Zhang Haiyan to follow her, he lit a cigarette and walked over,

Miss Dong continued, “Next, I want to show you the truth about the South Sea Archives. You’re still an ordinary person, so you can choose to leave now. These things aren’t easy to take in. After you know of them, many things will change.”

Zhang Haiyan laughed. He had been on the reef full of plague-infected patients and had survived without food and fresh water. He swam thirty kilometers and scaled ships to kill people before jumping into the sea and leaving. He had cut the flesh under his tongue so that he could put blades in his mouth. All these things had long made him someone who wasn’t ordinary.

Moreover, if the South Sea Archives was gone, then what did that make him? Did it even matter whether he was ordinary or not?

He had to know the truth.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Miss Dong said. “When ordinary people do some extraordinary things, they always think that they’re out of this world. I’ve seen too many people like you over the years. Let’s go.” Miss Dong walked in first, with Zhang Haiyan following close behind her.

The first thing he saw was a lot of human skin masks on both sides of the passage that had various beasts tattooed on them. “What is this?”

“Do you know why most people in the South Sea Archives have the surname Zhang?” Miss Dong asked.

Zhang Haiyan shook his head. He only knew why those who had the surname Zhang had the character “hai” in their names (2), but he had never been interested in why their surname was Zhang. In his opinion, the higher-ups didn’t want their surname to attract attention, so they chose a common surname like Zhang. It was a lot better than having a surname like “Baili” (3), which people would naturally know had a story behind it.

“There’s a Zhang family in northeastern China, who live in Baishan. They do a special kind of business.” Miss Dong stopped in front of a human skin mask. Her eyes seemed to go distant, as if she was dreaming of something that happened a long time ago.

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TN Notes:

(1) The Green Gang was a Chinese secret society and criminal organization. They were prominent in criminal, social, and political activity in Shanghai during the early to mid-20th century. Wiki link here

(2) “Hai” means “sea” in Chinese. Foreign/overseas Zhangs would have “hai” in their names.

(3) Baili (百里) is an ancient Chinese compound surname that was rarely found in modern times.

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Tiffany’s notes: We’re going to know more about the Zhang family. Hehehe.