The Tale Never Ends

Chongxi scratched his nose. “How rough can these guys be?” He muttered, ending with a derisive chuckled that Zheng Shuang could only scowl in response.

It was almost an hour later, when we were relating about our experiences in the past to Zheng Shuang over tea, when hurried footfalls began to resound from the corridors. Then came three rapid knocks on Zheng Shuang’s door. Three intolerant and terse taps on the timber that portended our unfriendly guests. Zheng Shuang rose from his chair with a flustered but displeased look on his face, replying testily, “Come in.”

The door opened with a click and a mob of officers, all clad in the uniform of the department of internal affairs, flooded the room. The squad leader of the officers gave a perfunctory salute to Zheng Shuang before he cast a fierce look at us.

The beer-bellied barrel of a man, who was clearly the leader of this team of officers, looked hardly young. With an acrimonious stare at us, he gruffly asked Zheng Shuang, “These are the ones?” Zheng Shuang nodded without a word and the man’s hand shot up abruptly with a cold sneer.

The younger officers behind him reached behind their backs. A trio of them came forward to pin us down by holding on our shoulders firmly. With a quick look over my shoulder, I saw cuffs dangling from their other hands as they drew closer menacingly. But just as they pressed down on us, I heard several zzzttts coming from their backs and suddenly, they fell backward awkwardly as if they were being pushed up against the wall. Another series of zzzttts came from behind them as their arms were twisted to their backs as if by an invisible force and everyone in the room was left gasping with shock. All three of the officers had themselves handcuffed instead!

Who else could it be if not for Xiao Qi, Xiao Si, and Xiao Wu? The three officers howled with pain at their arms being twisted and cuffed and I wondered if this was the first time they have had a taste of their own medicine after cuffing so many crooks and bandits throughout their careers.

Without being able to see the Ghostly Sisters, everyone was speechless and their burly captain was even more shocked and surprised that his hand darted instinctively to his sidearm. But he quickly realized that we had not even moved a muscle and he slowly withdrew his hand away.

Xiao Qi crept up to me and whispered, “Well, that’s all we can do, I’m afraid. This is a police station and there are restrictions here.” The three Ghostly Sisters immediately retreated back into the Spirit Gourd.

I shrugged at the captain and said, “So, what should I call you, Senior?” An irascible but suppressed snort came from the captain, saying, “Humph! Sergeant Second Class Zhan. You can call me Sergeant Zhan. The same Zhan as Zhan Tianyou (Jeme Tien Yow).” “I see. Sergeant Zhan,” I repeated, nodding my head, and said, “Well, I don’t think we’re proven murderers yet, are we, Sergeant? So, isn’t too soon to have us cuffed so prematurely? Technically, as a senior of ours in the system, I’m sure you understand we deserve more respect than this? Don’t worry. I assure you that we’re not the murderers you’re after. What’s more, we’d even give you our full assistance in solving this case.” I reached out an arm.

With another snort, Sergeant Zhan reaching out his, albeit reluctantly. “I’m only the deputy of this team,” he muttered dourly as he took my hand.

Just as my hand gripped the beefy hand of the sergeant, my mind went dark again as if I was hit by a building! The very familiar sensation hit me again and an image appeared before me. This time, I found myself staring up from below in a strange angle as if I was being carried in somebody’s arms, even though I could not see his face except for the long, billowy sleeves of his robes flapping as he handed me to another person. Then they drew closer to each other, whispering something. But I could not hear them. Their voice was either too soft or they were speaking in a tongue alien to me. Unable to see who this person was, I strained my eyes to take a closer look only for the head of a snowy-white fox popping into view and it looked down at me!

All the hallucinations snapped to a sudden end as Sergeant Zhan’s hand disengaged from mine and I was violently jerked back to the present.

The edges of my eyes twitched uncomfortably as I remained disorientated from the ordeal. But it did not prevent me from noticing the hint of fear in Sergeant Zhan’s eyes before it was replaced with a trace of suspicion. He must be feeling awkward and confused about the sudden feeling of fear swelling within him right after taking my hand. I recollected myself and said, “So, are we conducting the inquiry here or the District Headquarters?” “Since you’re willing to cooperate, we’ll just use the interrogation room here,” the brawny sergeant replied. This time, he sounded positively more courteous and gentle now. “I’m sure you’d understand how is this a necessary process, given you are all personnel of law enforcement.” I nodded and said to Zheng Shuang, “All right. Let’s talk in the interrogation room here then.”

Zheng Shuang seemed to take comfort in my nonchalance. With a nod to Sergeant Zhan, he turned to face me. “Shiyan, Lin Feng, and Chongxi. Come with me then,” he said. He led us out of the room quickly before he shut the door behind us. Then he grabbed my arm and whispered urgently, “Wait, an inquiry?! You’re serious? How are you gonna talk yourself out of this?” I stopped and gave a quick moment’s thought and said, “We’ll keep our story straight. Just tell them that it was Cao Xuedong’s girlfriend who first asked for our help to exorcise evil spirits from their house. We went to their place but we found nothing and we left. That’s all. Xiao Qi and her sisters will take care of the rest for us.”

We exchanged knowing nods and I released Xiao Qi and the rest of the Ghostly Sisters. I said to Zheng Shuang and the others, “There’s something wrong with this Zhan guy. I was hit with another bout of hallucinations when I shook hands with him just now. He could be another descendant of Tribe Nine Li. But there’s something strange about him; he seems different from Huang Li and the others. But he is almost certainly Chiyou’s descendant, that I am sure of. I’m sure of it!”

Chongxi replied hushedly with a frown, “Course he is. I have not been able to read anything off the faces of Huang Li and Cao Xuedong, but this Zhan guy is as clear as day! The narrow forehead and face heavily creased with wrinkles is a telltale sign of a selfish miser. A nastily stingy person.” I responded with a nod, thinking, So he really is different from Huang Li and the others.

A half-hour later, inside the Wu Zhong Police Station interrogation room.

“Name?”

“Murong Shiyan.”

“Gender.”

“Male.”

…

After a few opening questions customary of most inquiries and questioning, the sergeant stared into my eye and asked, “Where were you on the time when the victim was killed?” “In the same area. We were opposite, in Unit 105,” I replied. The sergeant’s eyes were steady as if he was already expecting my answer. “CCTV footage shows that you three had walked into Unit 104 when the victim was killed,” he said coolly. I nodded. “The girlfriend of the victim came to us earlier in the day, asking for our help to exorcise evil spirits from her house. But when we got there, we found nothing. So we left. And for the record, Unit 105 opposite is my home. That is why we’re there in the first place.”

There was an imperceptible twitch to the ends of the sergeant’s distrusting eyes, even though he could find nothing to refute my statement. He shook his head skeptically with me sniggering deep inside, for I was sure that they would never be able to disprove what I said.

The door opened suddenly, admitting another officer. A young police officer who looked positively nervous. He came in and whispered into the ears of Sergeant Zhan who stared at him strangely before he looked at me. “What were the three of you doing after you went into the house of the victim?” I took a moment to think and said, “Lin Feng and I examined the house and found nothing wrong. We then told Cao Xuedong, the victim, about our findings truthfully. As for Yuan Chongxi, he was so drunk that he could not even stand. We were carrying him all the time.”

The sergeant gave a curt nod. The young police officer who just came looked flustered and slipped out of the room. “What’s wrong?” I asked wryly, amused by the young police officer’s behavior. Sergeant Zhan shifted in his seat uneasily and said, “Well, I know for a fact what you guys are doing for a living. But I don’t understand why are you carrying an unconscious drunk to the victim’s house for?” “But we need him,” I muttered flippantly, “He’s the best in Fengshui among us.”

The sergeant’s eyes twitched again, speechless by my answer but clearly annoyed by my irreverent mood, although he refrained from voicing out his displeasure.

Just when we were looking at each other, his phone rang suddenly. He answered his phone with a respectful tone I have never thought possible from him, saying, “Hi, Chief. Yeah, I’m questioning the suspect…” He looked as if he was cut off by the caller who began telling him something as he listened closely until his eyes widened with shock in the end and he screamed, “WHAT?!”