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...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Five years had passed, allowing life to carry on peacefully until an unexpected event brought someone back into everyone's lives.
No one moved an inch, this lunatic had managed to hide a grenade and pulled the pin out while he was standing in the middle of the police office. The phone rang constantly but they couldn't answer it, he would release his grip if anyone so much as looked, in the wrong direction. Lin Jing was not a negotiator, he hadn't a clue what to say to this guy and the last thing anyone expected was a stranger to walk in with pizza boxes looking for the person who ordered them.
"OK, who ordered the mushroom pizzas, was it this office or the one next door, because they get cold fast, and then I get the blame for not delivering them quick enough?"
"Stop, don't move. Stay where you are." Lin Jing shouted.
"Oh, so you ordered them, pay up or I'll give them to somebody else."
"No, I never ordered them, just stand still." Jing said as he glanced at the grenade.
"Nope, if they're not yours, I need to find the customer ... What's that guy holding? Is that a realgrenade? Let me put my boxes down, I've never seen a real one, only the plastic replicas. Is that the bit that stops it from going off? How firm do you need to hold it, I mean is it difficult to grip? How long has he been standing like that, he's bound to have a sore hand after gripping it so tight for such a long time?"
"Who are you pizza man?" The criminal asked.
Yunlan dropped his right hand down to catch the grip of the whip before he threw it towards the grenade which was sent through the air and smashed the window, on its way out of the building. There was a dull bang outside before the remainder hit the ground and the office staff gave in to shock, collapsing onto their seats while the lunatic tried to escape, but was caught when the whip wrapped itself around his ankles and Yunlan smiled as he bent over and placed him in handcuffs. Lin Jing stared at this unconventional person who obviously was some kind of policeman, and he asked his name.
"Zhao Yunlan, part time negotiator, part time pizza delivery," and laughed as he hauled the man to his feet and handed him over to the detectives.
"That was a dangerous, no reckless thing to do, that grenade could have gone off in here or killed someone outside." Lin Jing stated, now that he had come to his senses.
"No, not so... The grenade was a fake and the guy had injuries to his fingers. If it was real, he wouldn't have been able to hold it for the last twenty minutes when you couldn't answer my phone calls."
Jing had no answer for that statement and he asked about the whip instead.
"Unconventional weapon you used. Do you carry it with you all the time?"
