Darker Side of The Moon (Angel Devourers #1) WangXian FF

81

The sky had gotten dark, but Lan Wangji still had a lot on his plate. In exchange for the information that he wanted, Sebastian, his friend and Interpol contact, a French man, wanted him to review some cases that seemed bothersome enough. Drugs, child slavery, the usual suspects. He agreed to give him his opinion, and his opinion only. That was why he was stuck in the office until late this hour. 

He tried a couple times to call Mo Xuanyu, but the youngster didn't answer his phone. Either he left the phone somewhere, or he was busy doing something, or he was onto something not good. So when he got the information he needed on his phone, he quickly opened and scanned them quickly, only to be stunned.

He read and reread the information, which was probably already at least five years old, because there were no available updates or information about their whereabouts. They seemed to have disappeared overnight after that famous takedown that shook the whole world.

Lan Wangji had a feeling that Mo Xuanyu's so-called family was not just ordinary people. But to find out exactly how they became so extraordinary was a shock, even for himself.
 
Shen Qingqiu used to be a lawyer who was famous for his pickiness with his clients. He only chose people who were wronged, rich or poor. And he did many expose on the high and mighty. He was also one of the known associates of The Grim Reaper.
 
Luo Binghe was the son of an infamous Triad leader, who didn't want to continue his father's unscrupulous business. When his father died, he took over the empire, got rid of the bad seeds, and started his career as the leader of the underground who controlled the crime behind the scene. Just like what Hua Cheng did. One of the known associates of The Grim Reaper.
 
Liu Qingge, code name The Mechanic. He was tricked into working for the gang who was known for its automotives revamp speciality, mostly because of his flawless work. He stopped working for them just before they were destroyed and their crimes were exposed. Then he started to dabble with Artificial Intelligence. Also one of the known associates of The Grim Reaper.

Lan Wangji had no idea that he was associated with three of the known associates of The Grim Reaper. He was really shocked. He always thought that the three of them were somewhat not ordinary people, but he never knew that he was mingling with the people that he had been looking for, for years. And there they were, right under his nose, of all places.

But what did Mo Xuanyu have to do with them? According to logic, the youngster was not even supposed to know them.
 
There was still one more page left. 
 
Lan Wangji swiped left and he froze.
 
It was the latest intel on The Grim Reaper.
 
His real name.

Wei Wuxian.

If he was less than an upright man, he would not be this harrowed over the possibility that Mo Xuanyu was somehow connected to The Grim Reaper. He would just keep pretending that he didn't know, and move on with his near perfect life. Maybe marrying Mo Xuanyu in one or two years just as he planned.

He was smoking his nth cigarette and watching the ceiling while in deep thought. He loved the youngster, that much is true. He could pretend to be blind to his companions, no problem. He just needed to know what was the connection between Wei Wuxian the Grim Reaper, with Mo Xuanyu the illegitimate child of Jin Guangshan. Oh, he had his suspicions, but it was so out of the box that he would think that it was the youngster who sprouted that nonsense. But was it really nonsense when he witnessed firsthand what the youngster was capable of?

He poured the amber liquid that he kept in his office into a glass and drank it, when his phone buzzed with an incoming message. Lan Wangji took his phone right away, thinking that it was probably the youngster who was looking for him. He smiled softly, but when he saw the content of the message, his eyes hardened and he felt a fury that he never felt before.

The message was actually a photo of a sleeping Mo Xuanyu with his hands tied and a short sentence.
 
If you want him back, meet me at the Nebulosité 8 p.m. Don't be late. No cops, obviously.

First thing Lan Wangji did after he threw his phone at the wall in anger and disbelief, was retrieve it back and call Liu Qingge. When Liu Qingge said that the youngster left in the morning, he called Shen Qingqiu, who sounded like he was… crying. But Shen Qingqiu told him that they were separated after they ran an errand and Mo Xuanyu wanted to be by himself for a while. So when Lan Wangji told him about the photo and the message, Shen Qingqiu was quiet, then he told Lan Wangji to come over as quickly as possible because he wanted to discuss surveillance on the Nebulosite. They even called Liu Qingge back to track the message. Thankfully the car was done, so he could reach them in about half an hour.

Lan Wangji arrived at BingQiu's house fifteen minutes after he ended the call with Shen Qingqiu, and when Luo Binghe opened the door for him, his face was grim. They walked to the living room where Shen Qingqiu was talking with someone on the phone, and Liu Qingge was sitting in front of an open laptop. 

"Give me your phone." He asked for Lan Wangji's phone.

Lan Wangji gave the cracked phone and Liu Qingge installed a program inside to track everything if the sender of the message contacted him again.
 
Shen Qingqiu put down his phone and looked at Lan Wangji.
 
"This should be discussed first before we tell you, but there's no time, so here it is. We went to check Momo's condition this morning at Dr. Xue's residence. I'm sure you know Dr. Xue, he was Binghe's associate and he told us that Momo was… sick. And he only has a month to live with the treatment that he already had. Do you know what treatment was that? We can't find anything about the treatment anywhere."
 
This was not the first time that Lan Wangji heard about Mo Xuanyu's sickness, but it still stung anyway.
 
"If you're talking about the hemophilia, I have no idea about what kind of treatment that he took." Lan Wangji suddenly felt helpless. What was he doing all this time? "I thought hemophilia was easy enough to take care of? Injecting the clotting substance every few days?"

Shen Qingqiu looked at Luo Binghe, who had an indecipherable look in his eyes. After some time that the two of them seemed to talk with their eyes, Luo Binghe sighed and nodded. Shen Qingqiu turned to Lan Wangji and he started to talk with a quivering voice.

"Momo has this… illness, that Dr. Xue did not even know what kind of. He said that Momo only had a month, top, to live, with the treatment that he already received. But we don't know what treatment it was, and we thought you'd know, since you're… very close and all."

"What kind of illness?" Lan Wangji suddenly felt cold. A month to live? He felt the bile start to rise from his stomach, but he willed it down and held on. Just hold on now, he will need you to be strong and focused. Just like Hanguang Jun. He needed to treat this like a case.
 
"It was a… strange disease that liquefied his inside." At least it was close enough, rather than to say, hey man, did you know you have been sleeping with a literal corpse now? That would surely scar a man for life.

The look on Lan Wangji's face was so scary, but first thing first. He looked at his watch and it was almost seven p.m. So he asked Liu Qingge to fit him some kind of listening and recording device, and ask them to go with him, covertly, to the meeting place.