BOOK 6. The story carries on briefly from the end of the previous book. Shen Wei is doing what he loves best, teaching and hasn't met the new Zhao Yunlan. The mansion where the hologram lives is for sale but it never will be sold, the mysterious p...
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The staff were surprised when they arrived to see Yunlan's car minus the man himself wondering why he had left it parked in the carpark. Chu looked at Ying and he didn't know either, but sensed Shen Wei's presence coming closer and leaving after a few minutes. Enough time to drop off Yunlan and head off towards the university to start his classes for the day.
Yunlan walked in smiling on his way to the coffee area for a cup, and took it into his office while everyone watched, curious about his behaviour but unwilling to ask about the car being left overnight.
"Lin Jing, check the security cameras for me around my finishing time, the outside ones which cover the carpark and beyond and let me know what you find." He shouted to Jing.
"Chu, in here." And the staff were expecting another argument similar to the one they had missed last night. Chu entered quietly and closed the door because he also thought that he was in trouble.
"Chu relax, it's something I can't explain truthfully to the rest of the staff. Black Robe was here last night, he called and stopped me from leaving the building. There were three gunmen waiting to kill me the moment I went for my car with the joker in black hiding in the trees. Wei took me away and I spent the night at his house, and he dropped me off this morning."
Chu just stared into space, not expecting that they actually came to find and kill Yunlan, but why?
"Wei suggested that by killing me they would gain time, I would need to be replaced and they would have more time. We could be looking for an event which is scheduled to happen at a certain time. Any ideas because I haven't the foggiest?"
Chu was still thinking quietly when Lin Jing tapped the door and entered with the security tapes from the previous evening.
"Boss... I checked inside after I saw what happened outside, and the recording was a bit fuzzy at first but when it cleared... the three gunmen who were outside waiting beside your car came in and had a look around the office. They didn't touch anything, just looked and the guy in black followed them in. He was furious. They all left as soon as they found out that you weren't here. The car's fine, they didn't touch it, but I'll scan it for a device before you use it."
"Thank you Lin Jing, show the recording to the rest of the staff and explain it to them, I climbed out the toilet window and escaped that way, they never saw me." Yunlan glanced over at Chu who was trying hard not to laugh at the thought of him and the small window.
"What do we do now, they've tried once and they could try again and we don't even know what they are planning?" Chu said just as Lin Jing left and the door had another knock and Guo Ying stepped in.
"Apologies for interrupting My Lord, but I have been instructed never to leave your side."
"Very well Ying but here at work, call me boss otherwise how would you explain it to the rest of the staff." Ying nodded in agreement and took his place standing beside the office door as a sentry.
"Ying, while I'm under this roof, I think it would be alright if you sat at Chu's desk, you can still guard me from there, unless a crazed gunman runs into the office and aims for me then you have my permission to fly me off to wherever is the safest place for me to be."
Ying stared for a moment and then understood the humour behind the remark, as he half smiled while leaving Yunlan's office and returned to Chu's desk to watch everyone from there. Yunlan suggested to Chu that they should look for some kind of event which would involve money, or maybe technology that would require a gemstone as a power source, and it would need to be happening soon. Possibly local, in the city somewhere.
"Shen Wei has never been photographed as Black Robe, so where did they get that idea from? What I mean is, they would need to have seen a photo and apart from war photos, there aren't any others."
Suddenly Yunlan's old watch started buzzing like an alarm and he examined it to see why and Kunlun smiled back at him from the dial. Yunlan took a deep breath, in exasperation.
"Chu, could you close the office blinds please, thank you... Kunlun, come out and explain. Now."
Chu watched, fascinated by the hologram slowly appearing, whom he hadn't seen in years.
"Hello Chu, long time no see. Yes My Lord, I sneaked in this morning. I haven't been out for a very long time and was interested in your conversation so I kept quiet and listened but there is a photo of Black Robe and I felt that it was my duty to tell you because it could ... "
"Kunlun. Cut it short, Where?"
"In the library on the first floor, it's a portrait and any of the potential buyers would have seen it."
"So we could be looking for someone who had an appointment with the estate agent to view the house?" Yunlan asked the hologram now that his temper had died down after finding out that he was in the watch.
"Kunlun, Shen Wei described you as being highly sophisticated, could you do something for me. Can you access our security video from last night, and cross match it with the images of your potential buyers and see if there's someone of interest? And have you heard of smart watches? Google it if you haven't because you are now a smart watch, as in text messages and not personal appearances, unless it's an emergency or I ask you to show yourself, then you can come with bells and whistles or anything else that makes you happy. Understand?"
"I can stay in the watch then?"
"Yes Kunlun, now go and start searching."
Chu smiled broadly and shook his head, as he watched Yunlan sit back in his chair and run his hands through his hair, while taking a deep breath to calm himself.
"Coffee Yunlan?"
"Please, yes, a large one, thank you Chu."
Shen Wei's day was the complete opposite, peaceful well behaved classes, no stress and an invitation to a science fair. The principal thought that it would be good for the university to be involved, even if it was only as an observer. The event was to be held at the end of the month and was to showcase local talented inventors with their understanding of technology.
In a previous life, Shen Wei had been a genius in this field and had developed mobile artificial intelligence which wasn't perfect. It needed some of the finer points to be worked out, so this event would be something that he could understand but he had no interest in following the advancements or developments in that field and considered turning it down when there were other tutors with more suitable qualifications.
During one of Shen Wei's classes, he overheard a couple of students having a conversation as they walked past his classroom, and he stopped talking to listen, unaware of his own students waiting for him to finish what he was saying. They had stopped writing and were now watching him as he stared towards the back of the class and the exit door. Someone coughed and brought his attention back to the immediate problem and he apologised,
"I apologise, the conversation was too loud passing in the hallway, distracted me for a moment, let's continue... " and the students wondered who was going to get their knuckles wrapped for distracting the professor.
After the class was dismissed, Shen Wei took out the information sheet for the science fair to read what projects would be on show, and if any would include crystals or gemstones. He couldn't imagine any of the propose projects being dangerous to the general public, so he started to examine the possibilities that one of them could be adapted and used for another reason.
