Chapter 3 - Easy To Kill
As the clock struck 11 in the night, the last police car carrying the drug peddlers took off from the 'Rising Ravens' clubhouse's entrance.
"Thanks for your cooperation, Mr Qin." Wan Yi Jun shook hands with the owner of the club to offer his gratitude.
"No officer. We are the ones who are supposed to thank you." Qin Kai, a man in his early fifties, corrected Wan Yi Jun as he spoke.
"It's true that Rising Ravens stand as a hub for entertainment, but 'drugs' are out of our charts. We tried to forbid them, but they will always make a way to sneak them in and that's why we requested your help." The owner honestly admitted.
"Hmm. Hope everyone starts to think like you, Mr Qin." Wan Yi Jun concluded and turned towards his team's second in command, Lao Yating, a young man in his mid-twenties who approached him with a perturbed look on his face.
"Did we miss anyone?" Wan Yi Jun inquired.
"No, captain. But…" Lao Yating hesitated to spell out the words as his eyes moved to the person who stood behind his captain.
Wan Yi Jun followed Lao Yating's line of sight and ended up looking at Zhi Lan who stood with a pair of teary eyes.
"Oh shit!" He cursed without even paying attention to his surroundings, surprising his teammates. For the eagle team, their team captain was a gentle beast who got a strong control over his temperament.
"Yating, can you wrap this up?" He requested and moved towards the woman before the situation got out of his hands. In the middle of the mission, he totally forgot about Zhi Lan's existence.
However, just as Wan Yi Jun turned to Zhi Lan's side, she began to walk away from the spot as if she didn't want to hear any of his excuses.
"Lanlan, stop. Let me explain." Wan Yi Jun grabbed her arm and tried to stop her from leaving. Though Zhi Lan halted her steps, the dejected look on her face was enough to tell that she was mad at him.
"Oh please. Captain Wan doesn't like to talk about his work." She harshly retorted by using his own excuse.
"Believe me, I was planning to meet you tonight. But the last-minute assignment that we are supposed to take care of...it happened to be this place." Wan Yi Jun tried to explain to the woman whose trust has been broken by him.
"You could have informed me earlier." Zhi Lan's words indeed had a hue of pain and anger. " I wouldn't have waited like a fool and let others laugh at me."
"I'm sorry, Lanlan. I really want to come. But.." He struggled to find exact words to express his thoughts.
"My friends, whatever they said was right. You never cared about me…not even for once." Unable to endure the heartache, Zhi Lan lashed out whatever she kept hidden inside her heart, without any break.
As she began to blame him, strings of tears fell from her eyes, putting Wan Yi Jun in a difficult position.
He never thought that his behaviour tonight would cause a mess and tear apart Zhi Lan's blind trust in him.
"It's not like that, Lanlan. You are my friend and-" Even though he tried to console Zhi Lan, she wasn't ready to hear him out.
"Friend?" She asked bitterly as a sarcastic smile glistened over her teary eyes. "Do you still consider me as a friend even after knowing how I feel about you?"
"Lanlan, we already discussed it." Wan Yi Jun crossed his arms over his chest as if he is putting a guard against Zhi Lan who decided to talk about the emotions he avoided all these years.
"No. We never discussed it. You just told me that you can't answer my question." Zhi Lan refuted and took a step closer to Wan Yi Jun who refused to face her as if he is trying to hide from her accusations. "I want to know why you keep on rejecting me…" She grabbed his arms and interrogated him in a trembling voice.
"It's not just 2 or 3 months, Yi Jun… 10 years…freaking ten years."
"Your father will never approve of us." Wan Yi Jun stated in a grief-stricken voice and removed her palms that has been clutched onto him.
"That's ridiculous. My dad never says no to my decisions. He has always supported me, loved me. Yi Jun, I'm sure that he will accept you as a son in law." Zhi Lan shared words of comfort when she listened to Wan Yi Jun's reason to reject her.
Well, she can't blame him for keeping his boundaries with his superior officer's daughter.
"We knew each other even before you became a police officer, dad will understand it...Once you meet him as my boyfriend, every misunderstanding that exists between both of you will get resolved. I can assure you that." Zhi Lan tried to be optimistic. Even though her father was known as a strict and upright police officer, at home he was just like any other father who cherishes his daughter.
"Your father hates me." Wan Yi Jun almost yelled at Zhi Lan who was trying to persuade him. "Your father despises me, more than anyone else in this world."
"No. He will not. Why would he do that? you are one of the efficient officers under him. He will only cherish-" Zhi Lan rumbled, but she was immediately silenced Wan Yi Jun.
"Oh really? Then what would be the reasons for my frequent transfers?" Wan Yi Jun snapped back, rather in an annoyed tone. "The moment, I graduated from the police academy, your father has been meddling with my life as if I've done some grave treason. Zhi Lan, your father doesn't want us to be together. Please understand."
Even after hearing Wan Yi Jun's side of the story, Zhi Lan was not ready to doubt her father, so she argued back.
"No...my father won't do that."
Hearing her denial, Wan Yi Jun took a deep breath to calm his mind and grabbed Zhi Lan's shoulders and looked directly into her deep eyes.
"Do you think I'm lying to you?" He asked in a tranquil voice to which Zhi Lan held no answer.
"I already have enough problems and I really don't want to get into any more trouble, because of you. So please do me a favour and stay away from me." He released his arms from her and took a step away from her.
Zhi Lan remained silent for a long second as if she is mulling over his words and opened her mouth to confirm his stance on their relationship.
"So I assume that's a "No" from your side, right?"
"Hmm. It's better that way." Wan Yi Jun replied and urged to return to his team who were waiting for him.
"Go home, it's already late."
"There will be a day when I can prove that you were wrong about my father, Yi Jun .I will look forward to that day. See you soon." Zhi Lan professed before walking towards her car waiting for her in the entrance.
Once Wan Yi Jun made sure that Zhi Lan has got inside the car, he strode back to his team.
"Captain, there is a problem." Lao Yating who was holding his phone, pointed out as soon as he saw his superior. "Bing Wen cross checked the identities of those drug peddlers and reported back. But captain..."
Watching his reluctance to speak the rest of the report, Wan Yi Jun's fair forehead creased into lines of worry. Before setting out of the mission, he assigned Bing Wen the technical expert of the Eagle team to look into the identities of the foreigners checked into the "Rising Raven".
"They were indeed from east Taisun city. But Bing Wen failed to find the links connecting them to any mafia clans in Taisun." Lao Yating reportedly said.
"It seems like you were right, captain. Someone purposefully pushed us into this mess."
Wan Yi Jun agreed with a gentle nod as he listened to Lao Yating's report. Just before he headed to meet Zhi Lan, the Eagle team recieved a message from one of their secret sources regarding smuggling of Z category drugs from Daisun city, a prefecture famous for being the territory of the deadliest mafia groups in the entire subcontinent. Usually, cases related to drug smuggling are handled by narcotics division or general police force, however the name "White tiger" was the main reason why the case was handed over to Eagle team, who focuses on national integrity and security.
"I cross-checked Mr Qin's info and our intel. It clearly states that three members of the White tiger have landed in the imperial to oversee their drug cartel. But the people we took in custody are just normal drug peddlers. Even the stuff they were selling wasn't from Taisun, but some cheap imitation." Lao Yating continued with his report when he saw Wan Yi Jun's nonchalant demeanour.
"We got permission to carry this mission at the epicentre of imperial, only because white tiger is involved in the case. Captain, how are we going to explain this to-"
"We'll find a way. As for now, trace back the information's source." Wan Yi Jun suggested as he lead his way to their car.
Since their leads has been met with dead-ends, there was nothing to do other than tracking the source of their information.
Once the Eagle team's car took off, three shadows emerged from the eerie darkness where they police team stationed earlier.
"Phew!!!! We somehow escaped from them." The youngest man among the group, let out a sigh in relief and looked at the tall girl clad in black.
"Ne chan, how did you know that the police are searching for foreigners? Especially those who are from Daisun?" He enquired with a pair of curious eyes.
"I tipped them." The girl casually informed while her eyes glued to the Eagle team's car.
"Nani!!!!" The youngman's jaw almost dropped in horror and astonishment.
"I was curious to know the efficiency of Imperial's police force." She replied and turned to walk towards their car without giving much explanation.
"And what do you think?"
"They are easy to fool." The other man among the trio, finally opened his mouth and made a condescending remark as he got onto the driving seat of their matte black land cruiser.
"But that Captain...he knew... I mean he found that it is a false information." The young man stuttered as he pointed out.
"Well, that makes him even more easier to kill." The girl affirmed and raised her arm to remove the black hair wig on her head.
In a glimpse, her signature - silver colored hair cascaded her shoulders, like a sparkling waterfall, giving light to her notorious nickname.
"The White tiger's head."