Red Light

City at Night: Part 3

Nie Mingjue had gathered the three extra police officers from Wen Chao's guard detail and was currently headed into the parking lot.

He had seen a lot of things during his time as a police officer both good and bad but he sincerely didn't want to add 'city-wide riot' to that list. He understood the fury of the people. He was angry himself but destruction and violence on top of all the pain Jin Guangshan had already caused was not the solution.

He was already on his phone and talking with the Chief's office as he walked out of the Emergency Room doors.

"I'm at the Gusu Hospital with five other officers. Three of them are in riot gear. The remaining are armed and in civilian clothing. Where do you want us?"

He stopped dead causing two of the officers to run in to him.

"How bad do you expect this to get?"

Now the other officers gathered around the head of detectives. Listening to his side of the conversation.

"Agreed."

"Unlikely considering the situation."

"Of course. We will do our best."

The call ended. Nie Mingjue simply stood lost in thought for a moment.

"Sir?"

Nie Mingjue scanned the men.

"They don't think we can make it to a station. We're in a sort of island at the moment. Regular traffic coupled with protesters has a lot of Beijing at a stand still."

"So do we go on foot?"

"No. They want us to stay here. They believe if there are riots, the hospital will need us to help keep order."

As if on cue, the six men turned and looked at the massive metropolitan hospital.

It was a daunting task.

"We begin by contacting Dr. Lan. He'll connect us to his security staff. We will work in tandem with them. This is their turf and, if they know their shit, it will benefit us both."

They filed back into the building as Wen Mao watched thoughtfully.
-----

Wang Hao Xuan was in a sort of daze. His Uncle had told him stories about magical beings who granted wishes. He had loved those stories and had come up with so many wishes (just in case of course), his Uncle would laugh.

He had always hoped to find an Immortal or a dragon. Even if he wasn't positive what they would look like, he had kept his eyes open for them. Just in case.

Now he was beginning to wonder if maybe dragons and Immortals didn't disguise themselves as humans from time to time.

Two humans in particular.

He was pretty sure Song Lan was a dragon he was so big.

'Maybe dragons can't squeeze into smaller bodies?' he wondered. 'Xiao Xingchen must be an Immortal then. He is not big enough to be a dragon.'

He flapped his hand to see the tags he wouldn't let them remove wiggle with the motion. The grin on his face was irrepressible.

The Dragon and the Immortal wanted him to live with them. It was difficult to wrap his head around the idea. How did you live in a house? He had lived in shelters in the coldest months but that was many people in a large room.

He had seen it in the books his uncle had read him at the library so they could find relief from the worst of the summer heat for an hour or two. But looking at the pictures was different than living there for real.