Zheng Shuang snarled at the shivering Li Shanpao with his eyes wide and livid as if he wanted to swallow him whole, “Think closely! What else did your teacher leave you recently?” “Two pieces of talisman!” Li Shanpao gasped with a shaking voice, “My teacher had made them and he instructed me to keep them safe. But he did not mention their uses and how they could be used!” Zheng Shuang took out two strips of talismans from the table and showed him. “Are these the ones you refer to?” he asked and his detainee replied quickly with a “Yes”. I slipped a quiet word into Zheng Shuang’s ear, and I took the talismans with me and left.

We left the police station and adjourned to another soiree of barbecue skewers. Oddly even to ourselves, we had found ourselves plunged into a never-ending craving for barbecue skewers ever since we had tasted grilled wolf meat at Mongolia. We were then rejoined by Zheng Shuang and we spent the afternoon discussing on how we should deal with Bai Chuanwei. “These two talismans look identical to each other, but Bai Chuanwei did not teach Li Shanpao how to use them,” I began deducing and said, “But Li Shanpao has long been his student. He would surely know how to use them if these were the talismans that they usually use! I’d guess that this means that these talismans are new to them both! Bai Chuanwei must have procured them or made them recently! This begs the question: what are the recent changes in their lives?” But none of the others understood what I was trying to imply. They stared blankly at me in bewilderment. “I am quite sure,” I revealed to them with a smile, saying, “That the talismans are used to summon the spirit rodent!” To their revelation, Zheng Shuang, Yuan Chongxi, and Lin Feng emitted loud “Ohhhs” as they finally understood my plan: we could use the talismans to ensnare the spirit rodent!

“So,” Zheng Shuang asked anxiously, “When will we begin?” “Bai Chuanwei will surely notice us if we decide to move now,” I answered in response, “We’ll act tonight. He might be sleeping and might not notice his spirit rodent missing. I will use my spirit cat Smoky to subdue the rodent and force it to lead us to Bai Chuanwei! We will settle everything tonight! We will not let him escape!” “How should we assist you?” Zheng Shuang inquired again. “Based on the locations he normally operated in, I’d hazard that he is hiding somewhere in Fengrun District,” I said, “Would you have any jurisdictional problems operating in other districts?” “Not a problem, the police force there are also under the same command,” replied Zheng Shuang. “Very good then,” I replied, nodding, “Have your men ready. But no flashing lights and sirens this time; we’ll only need your men to follow us and make the arrest once we find Bai Chuanwei.” “Time?” Zheng Shuang asked again. I peered at my watch and pondered. “9 P.M.,” I said at last, “Have your men wait for us at Dongguan. Tell your men to be very careful; this enemy is extremely dangerous. There’s no need for any more information from him; we do not need him alive. For the sake of everyone’s safety, I’ll recommend that you shoot to kill!” Zheng Shuang nodded his assent and left to make the preparations.

With that, our meeting came to an end. We busied ourselves preparing our gear and weapons and my companions asked, “How should we begin?” “We cannot begin summoning the spirit rodent too early. Bai Chuanwei might notice its disappearance especially if the rodent had to travel far to reach us. It’s best, I think, to summon it only when we are entering Fengrun District!” At 9 P.M., Lin Feng drove us towards East. We reached Dongguan and Lin Feng hit the horn to signal the cavalcade of police patrol cars to follow us quietly behind.

It was a 70-mile drive towards Fengrun District and we said nothing during the journey, although ripples of concern and angst stirred within us. When we were finally very close to Fengrun, I had Lin Feng look for an empty area and stop the car. I took out one of the talismans and set it on fire. Smoke swirled gently through the air. I took out my Spirit Gourd and released Smoky while instructing the police cars to shut their lights and wait.

We laid patiently for almost half an hour, suddenly, Smoky hissed angrily and pounced! As expected, the spirit rodent was swiftly subdued by its nemesis. I took out my Spirit Gourd and rapped hard on the spectral rodent, expelling two fragments of its soul and drew it into my gourd before I unsummoned Smoky. It was too dark for the policemen waiting in the patrol cars to notice what I was doing, let alone witnessing both spectral beasts. But they immediately sprang to attention when I returned to the car and followed closely behind us as we drove and follow the spirit rodent. But the rodent, without two fragments of its soul, had lost part of its cognitive abilities; it frequently dove towards directions that looked hardly improbable and dubious that many times I had to unleash Smoky upon it to recover it and set it loose again to refresh its memory. This did little to help our situation; a journey of barely tens of miles had become a detour that extended into a few hours.

Dawn was nearly upon us when the rodent finally led us to a lonely little shack. With fragments of its soul missing, it was moving with the lethargy of a person suffering from amnesia.

I waved a signal to Zheng Shuang; hinting to him the cue to begin his attack. He immediately led a band of armed policemen and charged at the house, surrounding it to make sure no one escaped. But we noticed that the shack had no back door, the Bai Chuanwei would never be able to escape easily! They made sure the perimeter of the shack had been covered and Zheng Shuang asked if they should offer a surrender to anyone inside. But we had explicitly agreed to kill Bai Chuanwei for everyone’s safety, I grimaced at Zheng Shuang’s sudden outburst of compassion. I ripped my sword out of its scabbard and muttered a spell. I pointed the scabbard of my sword at the shack and my sword shot with the speed and intensity of a lightning bolt into the house! Lin Feng, Yuan Chongxi and I stormed the house immediately. But to our dismay and disappointment, the shack was empty! There were no signs of anyone! Instead, the mark that my sword had found was the spirit rodent! The poor rodent turned into a jian (form assumed by ghosts or spirits after being killed again in Chinese folklore) instead! Humans and animals become ghosts after dying, but ghosts that die again would become an entity known as ‘jian’ in Chinese superstition! The entire operation had been for naught! Zheng Shuang and his men came in after us. Realizing that the shack was empty, a few of them could not suppress the look of disappointment on their faces. Nevertheless, we looked and searched around, and found only some scraps of talismanic strips and some discarded instruments. All signs showed only one thing: Bai Chuanwei had long fled before we came!

At length, we decided to call it a day and prepare for our somber journey back to Wu Zhong after a fruitless night. But the rest of the policemen noticed our close friendship with their leader. I was suddenly addressed as ‘Brother’ as if I became one of the men in blue and I was even coaxed into riding with them in one of the patrol cars on our journey back. All the way back, I was peppered with inquisitive questions and inquiries by the policemen and policewomen while enduring their curious stares. I was drowned in an amnesiac blur as they pelted one question after another that I was so relieved when we finally reached Wu Zhong.

We went directly back to the Wu Zhong police station. The director was waiting for us; anticipating a report of success from Zheng Shuang as he had always delivered without fail. But this time, Zheng Shuang could only shake his head sullenly. The director was stunned at first, but he quickly regained his composure and patted Zheng Shuang’s shoulder, wearing an encouraging smile. “Fret not, my boy! It’s just a minor setback!” He turned his gaze towards us. It was the first time we met and Zheng Shuang hastily made the introductions. But despite not having met him in person, I knew full well that all our reports about our operation in Inner Mongolia were vetted by him. He spoke to us warmly, conveying his apologies that we were embroiled into the entire saga against the whole organization of the evil cult. I shook my head and returned the gesture, saying that I was the evil cult’s target and it was I who should be apologizing instead.

Zheng Shuang took almost half an hour to finish his report, and sitting in his office, the four of us began discussing our next option. But there was nothing else we could do. Our trails had all been cut off. “Brother Yan, what do you think we should do then?” Zheng Shuang asked. “I am afraid I’m out of ideas for now. We can only wait, I’m afraid!” “But we would lose the initiative!” Lin Feng exclaimed, slapping the table hard. “So the tables have turned and we are now the hunted?” I could only shrug my shoulders helplessly at his remark. “What else can we do?” I said, “Bai Chuanwei is now on the run. It’s fair to say that he will not reappear in Wu Zhong any more, at least for now and it would be extremely difficult to locate him. He is in the shadows while we’re in the open. He sees our every move.” Yuan Chongxi rubbed his chin. “Surely even the acolytes of the cult have to eat! And that would require funds. Bai Chuanwei would have to find ways to refill the coffers of the Creed. This is our chance, I say!” I stared at him. Even the dumb and dull Yuan Chongxi would display a rare moment of brilliance if there was food just around him!

Then again, it would not be easy nonetheless! Zheng Shuang shook his head at Yuan Chongxi’s remark. “Be that as it may, Chongxi, but things are hardly so easy.” “Why not?” Yuan Chongxi pressed, his eyes gaping wide in denial. Shaking my head too as I patted his shoulder to motion for him to calm down, I explained, “Do you know how to pickpocket someone, Brother?” “Of course,” Yuan Chongxi replied, his curious anxiety subsiding. “Would you dare pickpocket someone when a policeman is nearby?” The answer seemed to strike a chord and Yuan Chongxi fell silent.

Suddenly, I heard soft noises coming from the door. Frowning with suspicion, I signaled for my companions for silence. I rose from my chair and shuffled quietly to the door of Zheng Shuang’s office. I pressed my ears to the door when I reached the entrance and heard voices outside saying, “Ah? How come it’s quiet now inside?” which was followed by a sharp shush.

A grin lined across my face and I reached for the door handle and yanked it hard. With a whistle of the door hinges opening, the door opened!