Chapter 42: City-Wide
Chapter 42: City-Wide
It was a familiar-looking city, filled with familiar-looking people, and covered by an all-too-familiar sky.
“This is…” Wang Chenghao drew a breath of cold air, “This… must be traces of activity from ‘those things’, isn’t it…”
In fact, if one looked closely, the entire City of Salvation appeared to be covered by a thin red layer just above the towering screens!
Qin Ye shifted his gaze, “Drive.”
“Sir, may I know if you’ve got a prior reservation?” An attendant immediately welcomed them upon arrival and asked with a chirpy smile on her face.
“Please enter. He’s in room 204.”
“What’s the matter?” Wang Chenghao asked curiously.
“Death by a thousand cuts!!”
He gently opened the door and stepped onto the deep blue rug in the room. A one-and-a-half meter long wooden tea table with carvings of peaches and cranes was set right in the middle of the room. Two large palatial chairs were placed on either side of it. A delightful brush made of the wood of a peony tree hung from an easel on the side. Coupled with the intricate carvings on the antique, palatial lamps, it had to be said that the display of Chinese extravagance in the room was far more exquisite and luxurious than that in the Fenglai Hotel.
Surprisingly, nobody said a single word.
The young man and the old man resembled each other. Both sported a square, chiseled face, buzz-cuts and thick eyebrows. Both of them appeared spirited and sharp.
Zhang Baoguo’s body had already begun to tremble from the first moment he saw Qin Ye. His eyes were filled with a deep, profound complexity. It was as though he saw his own past and his own youth in Qin Ye’s eyes. Finally, he sighed, “Yet despite twenty long years, you haven’t changed a single bit.”
“Same old, same old. You’ve been good too, haven’t you? Promoted again?”
“Mr Qin.” Zhang Baoguo didn’t sit. Instead, he bowed deeply and sincerely to Qin Ye, “About what happened back then… I truly and sincerely thank you.”
Mr… Qin?
His father had specifically instructed him to be here today. He had even rescheduled his college student union’s debate session today just because of this. His father’s exact words had then been - By hook or by crook, you have to be here today!
However--
Yet as soon as his father addressed the guest, all possible explanations flew out of the window, and he was left completely flabbergasted.
He had never heard his father address anyone else like this!
And it was obvious that he was being so respectful to someone ostensibly younger than him - who was possibly even at the same age he was!
“But… you’d also broadened my horizons and allowed me to see a whole different world out there!” Zhang Baoguo’s voice was filled with agitation once more, “I know that… it’s difficult for people like you to remain hidden within society. Especially a free-spirited person like you who’s unwilling to join hands with the government. Yet despite the risks of being exposed, you’d still extended a lifeline to me… I…”
The young man handed his father a silken handkerchief. The expectancy in his eyes had vanished by now.
Does Father want me to repay this man for what he had done?
“How is this…”
Zhang Baoguo smiled helplessly and shook his head as he quickly glanced at the young man beside him, “Zhang Linhua, what are you waiting for? Why haven’t you paid your respects to your godfather yet?”
Zhang Linhua was dumbfounded.
Godfather?!
Riding on his father’s coattails, he had already grown used to the life of strutting around the city as though it were his own. Yet now, a man who was ostensibly the same age as himself purported to be his godfather?!
“I…” Zhang Linhua’s heart was simply overwhelmed with shame and anger. He opened his mouth several times, thinking to speak, yet no words came out at all.
What do you mean ‘appear’?!
The veins on Zhang Linhua’s temples throbbed as he slumped back down onto his own chair.
His question was laden with heavy implications. Qin Ye smiled and glanced at Zhang Linhua. Zhang Baoguo sighed wistfully in his heart. Since his attempt at making Qin Ye the godfather of his son had failed, Zhang Linhua was simply unqualified to remain around for the latter part of their conversation.
Suppressing the indignation in his heart, Zhang Linhua left the room. Several seconds later, after the room had quietened down once more, Qin Ye finally responded, “Do you know about the Special Investigations Department?”
Qin Ye grew sullen, “They’ve already taken control over regional defense?”
“Medicine, citizenry, engineering… You can say that the supernatural is practically a pervasive, all-encompassing force. As soon as the Special Investigations Department is involved, all of the other governmental departments and agencies have to give way, without question!”
“Even us!” Zhang Baoguo replied affirmatively, “They’re even exempted and detached from all supervisory bodies. If we had to employ an analogy… Do you remember the imperial guard from the Ming Dynasty?”
So that’s how it is… Qin Ye held onto his cup of tea, and his eyes quivered slightly. The Special Investigations Department ran deep, had a complex organizational structure, and possessed incredibly extensive authority. The Clear Creek County branch that Qin Ye had a brush with was merely the tip of the iceberg.
“How’s the situation in the City of Salvation? What if I were to say that I’d like a list of their operatives, and a detailed map of where the reported supernatural incidents are located, preferably one that even includes the power levels of each of these supernatural incidents. Do you think you could obtain these things for me?”
“For survival.” Qin Ye explained placidly, “I don’t want to start a conflict with them. You know full well that I can’t afford to expose my true identity. Categorically avoiding all of these potential dangers is the only way I can guarantee my survival. Old Zhang, I’m not underestimating your authority here. It’s just that the moment my identity is exposed… I’m afraid even you might not be able to do a thing with your level of authority.”
“Let me show you something.” He felt about behind him and brought out a brown leather bag. From there, he pulled out a primly folded, one-square-meter map and a stack of other information. Qin Ye scanned through the items, only to realize it was a map of the City of Salvation.
Qin Ye opened the documents, and a simple scan of the documents caused his eyes to widen in shock.
20 May. A case pertaining to a bizarre death in Peace County. The deceased’s body dried up and became nothing more than a piece of human skin after just one day. Three days after the Special Investigations Department took over, they uprooted an old acacia tree and dredged up a broken funerary urn. No further supernatural sightings were reported in the area thereafter.
The map didn’t initially have any red markings at all. Yet ever since May this year, red marks began to sprout up all over the city, as though it was a plague slowly engulfing the entire City of Salvation!
Qin Ye flipped the page, “9 August. A night watchman at the Ten Millennial Public Cemetery located in the suburbs claims to have heard someone performing an opera in the middle of the night. The next day, two corpses that had been turned inside-out were discovered on a top of the hill in the cemetery…”
“Why?”
Someone-- No, some ghost… was making a move against the City of Salvation!
Is his domain not only restricted to the Westriver Province? Could he also have an influence over the Insignia Province as well?
“It’s still under investigations.” Zhang Baoguo shook his head, “All these things fall within the ambit of the Special Investigations Department’s scope of duty. Everything, including their agents, and the details of their deployment and movements, are top secret. Furthermore, I think it’s safe to say that the more proliferate the outbreak of supernatural occurrences, the more likely their identity and particulars would be kept under wraps. We’re not even talking about people on the level of my authority as the Deputy Attorney General anymore. Even the top provincial level bureaucrats aren’t given access to such information.”
What he was asking for was simply impossible.
“I would’ve liked to stay as well.” Glossing over the somewhat melancholy atmosphere in the room, Qin Ye looked up and smiled faintly, “Old Zhang… let me ask you something - what happens when a husky sneaks into a pack of wolves?”
Zhang Baoguo nodded his head, yet he couldn’t help but feel as though his heart had been pricked.
How did he suddenly come to be described as a pack of wolves here...