A Gatekeeper And The Celestial Sovereign

"Where are we going exactly?" Tanaka asked, as he sat down in the middle backseat, squeezing himself between Fei Bing Bing and Bei Lao.

"Qi Zhou has been avoiding me since the Housewarming party." Frank said as he tapped in an address on Detong"s GPS, "We were doing so well until then, but suddenly she wasn"t answering my calls, and she rarely replied to my texts." Frank sighed, "In the end she messaged me saying she wanted to break up. It was so random and so sudden. Obviously I wanted a proper explanation, so I went looking for her, but I soon found out she had quit her job and she"d moved out of her place in Tiananmen. Basically disappearing-"

"So you don"t know where she is" Tanaka interrupted.

"I didn"t say that" Frank replied irritably, "I said she disappeared, but I can find her."

Frank placed Detong"s GPS on top of the dashboard. Immediately Zhao Detong revved up the car and began driving.

"I know a guy, a family friend, who can easily locate people. I didn"t want to become a creep who stalks his ex after a breakup, but since this situation calls for it, we"re going to my G.o.dfather"s house. He"ll track her for us."

Tanaka tutted, "What was the point of that long-a.s.s explanation, you could have just said that you don"t know where she is but you know someone who can find her, and we"re going to meet that person, geez."

...…..

"DING DONG DING DONG"

Charles Chan rolled out of his bed, his eyes were crusted over with sleep, his hair was messy and pointing upwards at all angles, and his chin was covered in dried drool.

He stumbled and nearly tripped over on some discarded food packets lying around on the floor. He grabbed some gla.s.ses off his desk and yawned as he staggered towards the entrance of his small flat.

As he opened the door he was startled as he saw Frank w.a.n.g and four strangers.

The moment his eyes connected with Frank"s and he saw Frank smile at him, he immediately moved to close the door, but Frank held it open with his foot.

He smiled at Charles, "Long time no see Uncle Chan, aren"t you gonna let me in?"

"You stinking brat, why are you visiting me, you only ever give me trouble. Especially when you call me Uncle!!! I"m not doing anything for you, just go!" Charles yelled as he did his most to push the door, but he still couldn"t close it as Frank held it firmly.

"O"come on Uncle, that"s no way to treat your best friends son. When I tell Mum about this she"s gonna be so disappointed that you didn"t help me out." Frank said loudly.

Charles groaned and just flung the door open, "Fine just come in to my small place and bring whoever you want right in. Disturb my sleep why don"t you!"

Fei Bing Bing and the rest gingerly stepped into Charles"s small flat. Bing Bing couldn"t help but wrinkle her nose, there was a strange odour coming from the place, and there were all kinds of trash on the floor. From empty food packets, to tissues, to random p.o.r.n magazines. The place looked like a dumping site.

Zhao Detong held his nose as the strange smell reached him, "Um so Frank... this is the friend- ah I mean G.o.dparent that can help us find Qi Zhou?"

"Don"t be fooled by his shabby appearance and unkempt lifestyle. He may appear young but Charles was a guest speaker at the police academy. Currently he works for the MSS[1] but prior to that he trained at M.I.5, he worked at M.I.T for a long time, and he also has experience working with Interpol and the F.B.I. He"s renowned for his computer skills and programming abilities. And he"s even known as a famous underground hacker called CITRUS." Frank said smugly.

They all gaped and stared at the small man who could easily pa.s.s for a 16 year old.

They watched as he disregarded their presence, scratched his b.u.t.t, farted, and crawled back into his bed.

Fei Bing Bing frowned, "Are...are you sure you have the right guy?"

Frank smiled, "Of course I"m sure." He went up to the figure that was curled up in the bed and shook him, "Teacher I need your help with something urgently."

Charles"s small head popped out from underneath his cover, "You"re calling me teacher?"

Frank smiled sheepishly, "Teacher I really need your help."

Charles sighed, "Need my help? And why should I help you with anything you brat?

Honestly if you weren"t your Mother"s son I wouldn"t have anything to do with you. I"m on my break, can"t you just let an old man rest!"

Tanaka blinked, "Old man, there"s no way you"re an old man."

"Actually" Frank laughed, "Charles is the same age as my Mother, they both grew up in the same neighbourhood, they"re childhood friends."

"…." They all gasped.

"Holy! Did you steal the elixir of youth or what!" Tanaka exclaimed.

"Uncle Chan! Teacher! Really I need you to do me a favour, please! It"s important." Frank begged.

Charles sighed and sat up straight. "Fine I have time to kill" he grumbled, "What do you want?"

"Well basically...." Frank began, "My girlfriend broke up with me and then disappeared and I"m worried something might have happened to her, so I"d like you to find her location for me?"

Charles"s right eyebrow twitched, "So you want me to find your ex girlfriend that"s skipped out on you? You want me, the great hacker CITRUS, MSS member and former M.IT. and F.B.I agent to find your d.a.m.n girlfriend?"

Frank nodded, "Basically yes."

Charles seemed like he was about to erupt into anger, everyone stepped back, including Frank w.a.n.g. But surprisingly Charles just sighed and nodded, "When you were younger you made me help you with your homework, then with projects and now you need help with girlfriends. Honestly you"re such a troublesome kid. Fine, I"ll locate your girlfriend, but in return I want the usual back, okay."

Frank beamed, "It"s a deal old man."

Charles frowned at the old man part, but then he smirked a little, "Since you kids are here I"m sure you can help me clean up this place. Also my shoulders are so stiff. I"d love a ma.s.sage later as well kids."

Frank immediately rolled up his sleeves, "Of course we will all help clean this place and I"ll give you the best ma.s.sage ever!" he said as he began picking up trash.

Fei Bing Bing and Tanaka wanted to complain, but when they saw the meaningful look Frank gave them they could only grumble under their breaths as they began cleaning the small apartment.

"I hope the place is spotless by the time I finish my shower" Charles laughed as he sauntered into another room, They soon heard the sound of water pouring.

"So what"s the usual?" Bei Lao asked Frank curiously, "he said he"d locate Qi Zhou if you gave him the usual."

"The old guy has always had a soft spot for my Mum. They"re childhood friends, both my grandparents and his parents are very close. Our families are practically inseparable, even immigrating from China to the United Kingdom together back in the sixties.

It"s always been obvious that Charles is in love with my Mum and he"s always the obedient type of guy that would do anything for her, yet he never confessed his feelings for her and he always kept his distance. I think because of his love for my Mum he"s always treated me like a son, and he"s always looked after me. Every time I asked him for something the usual payment is just a game of Mahjong[2]. All I ever have to do is accompany him to the Mahjong centre, and play a few games with him."

"What a nice Uncle, he puts up with all your c.r.a.p only for a few games of Mahjong, that"s familial love right there." Tanaka commented.

"Yeah" Frank smiled, "He"s a good Uncle, he helped me out a lot when I decided to come to China and study here."

"Don"t you think there"s something strange about him though?" Fei Bing Bing said as she put a pile of rubbish in a bin bag. "I mean he should be in his fifties yet he looks so young, and he"s had such a successful career yet he lives in such a small and rundown place like this."

"Charles just takes good care of his skin and I"m sure you"ve met many older folk that look young for their age. And he believes in minimalism, he doesn"t like surrounding himself with luxury and only believes in having the bare necessities. My mum told me he"s always been a person that dislikes having too many possessions." Frank justified.

"Yeah but I get a weird feeling from him…" Bing Bing muttered, she felt like there was something very mysterious about this man.

….

The shower stopped and Charles Chan entered the room. He surveyed the now sparkling apartment and nodded happily as he sat down at his desk and pressed a b.u.t.ton. Suddenly four screens, several keyboards and hard drives popped out of the desk.

Charles cracked his neck and crunched his fingers.

He smiled, "Alright let"s get started."

___________________________

SOMEWHERE

"AHHHHHH!!!!!!" blood dripped onto the stone floor.

Qi Zhou felt her head growing heavy, she had no energy left.

"Please stop Ma"am, I"m sorry, please forgive me!" She wailed.

"You impudent girl, forgive you! You don"t deserve it."

Lady Winter hissed as her long nails slid deeper into Qi Zhou"s exposed back. "I took you in as my student because I believed in your special physique. Despite your low talent I took you in to my Coven and made you a core disciple because of my faith in you. Even when you insulted an Elder in the coven, I was still lenient on you.

I gave you an easy punishment, all you were supposed to do was quietly live as a mortal for one year, reflect on your actions and then return to the main coven. But instead you offend the Gatekeeper, quit the store and try to run away! You were even caught by an apprentice mage at the Awakening stage, how humiliating! You ungrateful wretch!!!!"

Unbelievable pain ran through Qi Zhou"s body. She felt her internal essence churning up violently in her meridians. She felt all her qi points being blocked.

Qi points, also known as Essence points, are the main areas on the body that essence travels through.

When her essence points were blocked, Qi Zhou felt her control over Essence disappear. She could no longer summon her magic and her energy began decreasing rapidly.

She felt like she was at death"s door.

"You have disappointed me greatly Zhou-er. I have blocked all your Essence points and crippled you. No longer will you be able to use your internal essence or be able to absorb any external essence. You will live as a mortal and repent.

In the meantime I will send the Gatekeeper gifts and various apologies. Hopefully he"ll have a forgiving heart. For your sake." Lady Winter said darkly as she left in a flurry of cold wind.

Qi Zhou spazzed as the pain continued to travel across her body. Tears dripped down her cheeks as she hung suspended in a stone chamber…

________________________

Charles raised his hands high in the air in front of his keyboards. The atmosphere became tense as everyone antic.i.p.ated the legendary computer skills that were about to take place, but a second later Charles began to laugh and put his hands down.

"Sorry to burst your bubble but this isn"t an action film, you"re not going to see some complex hacking right now. Tracking someone is a lot easier than that, especially when you work in intelligence like I do." Charles explained as he simply clicked a tab on one of his desktops. The tab opened up to a window that displayed a search engine named H.I.V.E

"Tell me what"s her name, her previous address or workplace, or just any personal details you have on her." He ordered.

"Uh yes. Her name is Qi Zhou, she used to live in Tiananmen, reishu street, flat 32… she worked at 24hr coffee...ummm I actually don"t know any other personal details, she never told me her birthday or about her parents. She used to live in the US." Frank told him.

Charles tutted, "What a great relationship, you didn"t even know her birthday."

Frank flushed red with embarra.s.sment. "But that"s more than enough information." Charles rea.s.sured as he typed in Qi Zhou"s name, her previous address and workplace, on the search engine and simply pressed enter.

The moment he did a picture of Qi Zhou and other people who lived in her former neighbourhood or worked at the same store, all appeared on his monitor.

"The first one, that"s her!" Frank yelled

"Wow that was fast!" Tanaka gaped.

Charles smiled at the praise, "The perks of working in intelligence is having access to a large database. I"m sure you"re aware of state surveillance. Trust me when I tell you that the Government has a lot more information on you than you will ever be aware of. I have access to several databases like this one. Finding information about this girl is easy."

Bei Lao blanched slightly, "Is it okay for you to be telling us all about this? Aren"t these government secrets."

Charles chuckled, "Government secrets, pah! Ever since the Edward Snowden incident State surveillance is basically common knowledge. Globally everyone knows that their government is watching them, whether through listening into your calls or monitoring your search history. Surveillance isn"t some large secret. It"s just that many are so used to it they"ve either become desensitised to it or have ultimately just given up on preventing it. I work for the MSS having access to such information shouldn"t be a surprise. Trust me, there are bigger secrets and mysteries out there than this."

Hearing all that made Bei Lao feel nervous, his entire life was in some way being monitored and his information recorded by the government without his permission. It was a rather terrifying truth.

"Well then" Charles scrolled down his mouse, "Let"s find out where your girl is hid….hiding…."

Charles"s face slowly went pale and his words trailed off as he noticed a large "P" insignia that was next to Qi Zhou"s name.

A tab popped up on the screen.

"This individuals ident.i.ty is under category P, please type in required code for access to her information".

"Category P?!" Frank peered at the tab curiously, "What does that mean?"

"I think it"s best if you go." Charles mumbled

"Huh?" Frank was surprised, "Go? You haven"t even told me where she is yet."

"It"s best that you and your friends don"t get involved with people like her. You don"t need to find her. Just forget about her!" Charles said sternly as he switched off his desktop and computers.

"What?" Zhao Detong"s eyes were wide, "What do you mean by people like her? Who is she? What is category P?"

"It"s not something that you kids need to get involved with, count your blessings that she left you. Don"t involve yourself in something like this! Now LEAVE!!!" Charles bellowed.

[1] MSS stands for the Ministry of State Security, basically the Chinese Secret service. They"re responsible for political security, Counter-intelligence, and Foreign intelligence.

[2] Mahjong is a tile-based game that was developed in China during the Qing dynasty and has spread throughout the world since the early 20th century.