BOOK 8. Zhao Yunlan is a detective in a newly formed department dealing with strange crimes, but there are only three detectives and they don't have an office. Chu and Daqing work for Yunlan but their loyalty is to Black Robe who agreed to live...
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Shen Wei was invited to attend a meeting with some ministers in charge of law enforcement and education for the city. There were concerns about the security of the students following some of the recent crimes which seemed to revolve around the university and immediate area. The ministers explained that the police were working on it, but were understaffed and unable to provide any extra services to deal with the problem. Then Shen Wei gave them a slight push mentally, and they listened.
"What about a smaller group who could be more personal in their approach? I'm sure you have a small team of three officers somewhere who are not very busy and could be spared. Give them a more suitable independent office of their own. I'm sure that's all it would take. Then if they require more staff they could do their own interviews and it would save money. What do you think ministers?"
The mental push was successful and with the help of the minister of education, they found an appropriate place which had been empty since the last occupants had left. All that was required now, was an official letter informing everyone and the meeting was brought to a close.
Shen Wei had heard about the restrictions of working from an office within an office, and hoped that this move would help his wish of seeing a new department become a reality. A special team who would be able to deal with the crooks who had skills that were unknown to most of the people. He knew how dangerous they could be and this would help bring peace, if the criminal element was removed. Daqing, Chu and Zhao Yunlan were already in place as the first to be involved in this new department and soon they would be in a much better position, working from their own independent office.
Tonight Shen Wei would return to the area where the home invaders were active, hoping that he could find and stop them, but he was tired and as soon as he'd finished his meal, he called on his power within and watched his usual clouds forming, as he slowly took on the appearance of Black Robe and called his guards. There were only six but they were priceless as a team and would easily give up their lives for their prince, but he would never expect that from any of them because he treasured life. They spread out and stayed in contact through telepathy, but so far they had found nothing, and Wei tried one last time to search before he would go home.
Black Robe found a secure place to stand where he would not be found or disturbed by ordinary people, and keeping his arms hanging limp, he turned his hands outwards and open, as if he was gathering in vibrations, noise, or voices and he listened intently. He managed to filter out everything confidential before feeling something familiar, it was the same energy as the burglar who broke into his home and he turned directly towards the source.
The guards followed his lead and arrived outside a small cottage on the outskirts of the city. Why here he thought, it was beautiful but old, with no sign of wealth within and they scanned inside for life. There were four people, one of them was unconscious and the other three were hurriedly coming towards the exit. The guards took position in a semicircle at the front entrance with Black Robe standing in the centre, waiting for the burglars to appear and when they opened the door to leave, they froze. There was a wall of black standing in front of them, inhibiting their escape.
"Look into my eyes ... why choose these houses, what was the reason?"
Black Robe's strong voice echoed in their minds and they were forced to answer.
"They belonged to the people with power, they would have expensive, easy to sell stuff and no questions asked. They might no even report the theft." The leader explained.
Wei had never considered this as a reason for the burglaries but he could understand why they thought that. The only thing that puzzled him was how they knew what houses to hit, and he asked.
"We have a list of addresses, but some are not worth the effort."
"Answer me ... who gave you the list?" Black Robe demanded.
But before the thief could say anything, all three burglars collapsed and silently dropped dead. Black Robe and the guards were shocked, there was no warning, no weapon that they could see and death was instantaneous. There were no life signs of anyone else in the area and Wei stepped towards them to scan, looking for the reason and found out that it was the same poison that had been used on Yunlan earlier that morning but this time, it was injected directly into their bloodstreams from a silver device they all wore on their wrists, like a bangle. Wei knew that this crime would need to be reported and he dismissed the guards after he checked on the unconscious owner who was only asleep.
Black Robe contacted the police anonymously and teleported out of the area before he was discovered, keeping him and his guards safe and still hidden. He knew that the case would be passed to the new office eventually when the police wouldn't be able to find the reason behind it, but he might be able to discover more before then.
Shen Wei made it back to his living room and changed out of his robe before exhaustion hit him hard and he collapsed with very little warning but Guo Ying felt it. He immediately teleported to Wei's home and found him lying on the soft carpet. Rather than try and lift him, he teleported him to his bed and made sure that he was comfortable for the night and checked on his breakfast supplies before he left.
Guo Ying had been his lead guard for as long as he could remember but he had a secret that no one else knew, and he wasn't likely to admit it. He could sense Shen Wei's feelings whenever he dropped his emotional wall which hid every painful experience in his life to protect his sanity. If he released a little memory at a time, he was able to accept and adjust his emotions, but Ying always knew that there were some instances that would have to remain behind that wall. So he was unsure if meeting this new Zhao Yunlan was good or bad for the prince.
In the morning, Wei awoke in his bed, "Thank you Ying," he thought, and felt very much better. Rested and ready to face his students this morning. He wandered towards his kitchen while being undecided about what to eat but found a selection of items left out to choose from, and he smiled. Ying. After his breakfast, Wei sat and listened to the news while he drank his tea, but there was no mention of the three dead bodies, so he assumed that the police had no idea what the cause of death had been. It made the purpose of the special unit seem more urgent and necessary because he knew that Chu would have been able to search for that substance, however, there would be no more theft now that the burglars had been stopped. The big question was, who killed them and what else was he doing in the city? Never mind, a shower and a walk to work would help bring him back to the immediate problems of his class for today. Before he left, he remembered to wear the tinted glasses, just in case he would run into Yunlan, because there were too many coincidences this week.
