BOOK 10. There are two tales at the beginning. Zhao Yunlan is searching for a lost artefact while Black Robe is searching for the same thing in a different world. One story is partly an illusion, while the other is very real and when they merge...
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Lin Jing had awoken Yunlan, he could tell by the loud bark down the phone but had no option now apart from hanging up, which would be worse, so he spoke to him.
"I've got a description of one of the men who broke into Shen Wei's house. The lady across the road saw them, there were three, but she could only describe one."
The neighbourhood watch was alive and kicking, Yunlan thought and for once he was glad.
"Very good Lin Jing, did she see anything else?" Yunlan asked now that he had calmed down and was more awake.
"Yes, but I don't know how accurate it is. She said that she saw a man in a black hooded cloak who came to the house occasionally, mostly at night but he wasn't a burglar," and Jing waited for the sarcastic remark but it didn't happen.
"Did he by any chance wear a mask or was her eyesight too bad to tell?" Yunlan thought there's no way it's the same person as in his dream.
"How did you know Boss? It was as black as ebony with some beautiful markings, but she couldn't give any more details than that."
"Lucky guess Jing, get a statement from her and bring the team back when they're finished."
When Chu entered Yunlan's office, he was wide awake and in mild shock and utter confusion. It wasn't possible, was all his brain could say to him and he looked up at Chu who could see that something had really rattled his nerves.
"Talk to me Yunlan, your doctor is listening, I will protect your right to confidentiality." Chu said mockingly for fun.
"Fool ... but I will tell you. It's about these dreams I've been having and my erratic sleeping problems. You've heard me talk about the caped crusader, he's not really called that, he's called Black Robe and now the neighbour across the street has seen someone like that going into Shen Wei's house several times. She described him accurately, even the face mask. Am I going nuts or something?"
"Coffee Yunlan? I'll bring two. Back in a minute."
Chu hurried out of the small office to make coffee but also to hide his shock. He knew all about Black Robe and his new host who had taken some personal time alone to get to know the Spirit, but finding out that Yunlan's link to him had been activated so soon, was unexpected. The guards and Black Robe knew that it would happen at some point but this was much earlier than in previous lifetimes and he wondered if there was a reason or was it just fate. Chu calmed down and took the coffee back to Yunlan who still looked dazed.
"Are you sure it's the same person. Tell me about the dreams?" he asked and hoped that maybe they would be able to find out where Shen Wei was.
"In the first one, he was in a forest and was fighting before he escaped but the assassins shot arrows at him, they missed and he killed one of them. Then he spent the night in a cold cave but heated it with a fire. Then he visited a village and an old woman called him a Prince. She talked about a released prisoner with a purple ribbon, and the last dream, I'm not sure what happened to make him faint but I was lying him down on the grass and I reached to remove the mask when the phone rang and woke me up. I do have some restful sleep sometimes but not very much because my brain keeps going back to this dream, as if it's following a story."
