[1] Apocalypse: Third Rebirth

Chapter 21: On one Condition

It took Liu Wei another month after our meeting to call me again. Well... calling is stretching it a bit. It took him a month to text me; 'got what you need, there is a condition'.

I know, men generally are not the most articulate, and apparently Liu Wei is less so than most. I can only imagine how a conversation between him and Wang Chao would go. There's got to be a lot of grunting and tipping heads.

Anyways, when he said that he has what I needed, I figured that he discovered absolutely zero on the Zhao's and was now trying to bribe me with weapons to figure out what they missed. I told him that he knew my address, and he showed up at my front door 30 minutes later... He had to be in my driveway when he texted me because my driveway is 35 minutes from the highway to my front door. I did the math... and I wasn't impressed.

"Hello, LuLu," he said as he got out of a silver car that looked like a Corvette but didn't have that weird thing on the trunk that made it look like a grocery cart. I'm sure you can picture exactly what I am talking about.

"Seriously Wei, a silver electric car? Are you planning on being part of the menu? If so, I can give you some pointers to attract their attention even more," I said as I leaned against one of the posts on the deck. "And that's a really small car for everything that I need and asked for."

He chuckled, took off his glasses, and started cleaning them with the handkerchief from his front pocket. Seriously, the man was putting my stress levels through the roof.

"I warned you that there was a condition, we have to deal with that before you get all the shiny guns."

My lip curled into a snarl when he said shiny guns. This man seemed to love pushing my buttons.

I turned around and went into the house to leave him to follow me. He did and led him straight to the living room. As one of my many favorite rooms in the house, this one had vaulted cathedral ceilings with exposed wood on it, a metal chandler hung down in the middle and there was another stone fireplace. This house was perfect at satisfying my desire to have a fireplace in every room.

I sat on one of two of the light grey oversized chairs that had their back to the fireplace and waited for him to pick his spot. He chose the couch across from me that matched the chairs and put a bunch of documents that I had never noticed before on the coffee table between us.

"I am not a big fan of conditions," I told him bluntly, he seemed more relaxed for this visit than he had before, but he was still wearing his black three-piece suit. This time he had on a white shirt underneath and a red tie. Still, something was off.

"How about it put it this way, it is a favor for me, but a condition for Wang Chao," he said, relaxing into the cushions and putting one arm on the armrest. After crossing his legs, he looked very comfortable in my living room, maybe a bit too comfortable.

"Favors or conditions, I am not a fan," I repeated, wondering where he was going with this.

"Wang Chao has me investigating the Zhao family, but I can't find anything that we didn't already know."

I nodded my head, expecting this, but hey, it was not my fault. "Do you want me to tell you everything about the Zhao's that you don't know?"

"No... well, yes, simply because that will make my life easier, but that is not the condition that Wang Chao has asked."

"Spit it out, you are not doing yourself any favors by dodging," I said. No matter what, I still considered Liu Wei to be one of the first friends that I have ever made in this lifetime. Might as well hear the man out.

"We would like the Old Master to come and live here, starting in October, of course."

I looked at the man as if he just asked for my right arm. He might as well have asked for that, I would have been more willing to accommodate him. "No," I said.