Serum

Chapter 13

Zhao Yunlan was back in Shanghai. The undeground parking lot, floor No. -3. A brightly yellow Audi A8 - a colour no one would choose - was right behind her to enhance the red of her tight and short dress. She was wearing high heels. She seriously thought she could outrun him in those? It was painfully laughable and he laughed and cried at the same time. He called to her and she turned and searched her small gold purse for her 9mm Diamondback.

Of course, he was faster, his gun ready to fire before she even aimed.

But then the image got blurry. He blinked several times and fired by instinct. He heard the bullet hitting flesh, a low painful moan and a heavy thud as... Low painful moan?

"No... no... no..." Yunlan frantically rubbed his eyes and when he could finally see clearly, it wasn't her  but him on the cold grey filthy concrete.

"Shen Wei!" he yelled and ran towards theman slumped on the floor, grabbing him in his arms and pressing his hand on the left carotid artery that's been hit. "Shen Wei, stay with me! Shen Wei!"

* * *

Yunlan woke up in cold sweat, still in Shen Wei's appartment. He looked at the time. Only 3 o'clock, he didn't sleep long. Did he take a blanket? He didn't remember but the blanket was covering him, so most likely he did. After the nightmare, he didn't have the capacity to think about it further.

* * *

"Listen, the airport security knows, this is our action, they'd only helped get as many flights as possible to far away gates. They're in no way to interfere unless we get anihilated or signal for help," as always Zhao Yunlan had started his speech with the worst case scenario. "That is to say, that won't happen. A bunch of younglings won't scare us, the only concern is the possible appearance of the Black Cloak Envoy." The Chief didn't mention to his team who the Black Cloak Envoy really is.
"In that case, let me talk. Me and Brother Black know each other a bit so I will try my luck, okay?"

The SID members had never heard about this before but there was no time for questions.

"Lin Meiling will be travelling with a pet cat. Don't ask me, I've never heard Da Qing talk about wanting to emigrate but I do suspect Lin Meiling of being able to manipulate animals so maybe our fatty will not be exactly in the right mood for us today. Or maybe it's damn cat's genius undercover plan, I don't know. I just hope we get them all safe and sound, okay? No unneccessary action. Just talking, if possible."

The team nodded and split to their positions.

An hour and a half later, the airport security informed them the students picked up their boarding passes and were heading towards them. Guo Changcheng confirmed it's Lin Meiling, Yong Qiu and Yue Ming. No sign of the Professor so far.

* * *

Yong Qiu held Lin Meiling's hand, darting his stare all around. "Tch!" he hissed quietly. "They're here. The big black guy 5 o'clock. The red lipstick woman at 8."

Lin Meiling trembled slightly, clutching the handle of her pet carrier tigher.

"What do we do?!" panicked Yue Ming, holding his head in his hands, dispair in his eyes. "Can we get on the plane even?"

"Of course, we can't, we're busted. Fuck. We have to get out of here..." he looked around for any available emergency exit. "Send the message," he nodded at Yue Ming who quickly started typing as they headed towards the signalled exit. The two tailing them sped up.

The students practically ran towards the green marked door but just as Yong Qiu opened them, they found themselves standing directly in front of the SID chief. "Boo!" was Zhao Yunlan's adult way of saying hello during a chase. Yong Qiu panicked, quickly closing the door again.