Chapter 84: 4.22 Third Blue Star - Trap?
Inside the car.
There"s a mature Gui Lan in the mirror"s reflection. Yun Li was astonished that he immediately looked behind him and saw that very same face from the mirror. This is Gui Lan"s appearance not Hei Lan"s. Yun Li"s intuition was right. Hei Lan was indeed Gui Lan. But he was confused, just before he was so sure that the one on the reflection in the mirror is a different face but Gui Lan didn"t use any ability. He heard no other movement aside from Gui Lan moving in the back seat.
Sigh~~ It was a long sighed. "I thought it would be A"Ye who would recognized me first. But it seems that he couldn"t see me as clearly as I though he would." whispered Gui Lan.
Seeing Yun Li"s bewildered expression, Gui Lan decides to explain it. But before that he laid back on the free seat staring at the car"s ceiling. His explanation was like narrating a book. His voice and tone is monotonous.
"The reason you suddenly saw my real appearance is because the effect of the authority I"ve used faded the moment you were so sure that Hei Lan is me. I"ve put authority on everyone so that the appearance they could see before them is not me Gui Lan but Hei Lan"s appearance. As for the reason why is it because of that man?"
Yun Li understood which man Gui Lan was talking about. "Is it that person who almost got everyone killed 15 years ago?"
"Yes. I failed to kill him. He is still alive. Don"t tell anyone about this. Not about that man or about me. Especially avoid A"Ye. He might read your mind and find out the truth. Then I would have any more fun things to do by then~" said Gui Lan as he smiles.
"I will follow your orders, Young Master." replied Yun Li.
Then he remembered the scene where the prime minister said to stop looking for Gui Lan. At that time Xie Ye had almost gone crazy if not for the rest of the adults calming him down. Since that day Xie Ye rarely meets the Prime Minister. He is afraid that he might end up killing the old man. Thinking about this carefully the prime minister must have angered Xie Ye on purpose. This is to avoid meeting the young man in case his mind was read. After all, the prime minister was most likely informed about Gui Lan"s current situation.
"Who else knew about this?" asked Yun Li.
"Father. Old uncle Ke. Professor Sen and then you. Only four of you. It would be better if only a few people knew about me. At least until I eliminate that man from before. Anyway forget about this for now. I"m going to sleep. Wake me up when we"re back to the inst.i.tute." said Gui Lan who closed his eyes. He was so tired that he fell asleep right away.
Yun Li whispered, "Sleep well, A"Lan."
Ever since this day Yun Li rarely escorted Hei Lan in visiting the case. He only does the job when Xie Ye is not around. Every time he gives excuses that he is busy with work or something. Xie Ye rarely met Yun Li since this day. The latter didn"t think deeply about this as he was focusing all his energy in observing Hei Lan.
After spending a few more times together that the awkwardness between Hei Lan and Xie Ye faded. Though they still continue to bicker most of the time, there are times they even eat meals together. Gone out to look after the case with just the two of them. The feelings between them were visibly ambiguous that even the other people from the unit notice it. But no one dared to comment after all one is a cold hearted man who doesn"t even smile and the other is an always smiling person with personality problems. Both were scary and even stronger than any of them. They could sometimes even see their own Chief Yi getting bullied by Hei Lan so often.
On the other hand Xie Ye didn"t dare cross the line he made between him and Hei Lan as he still hasn"t found proof which evince that Hei Lan is Gui Lan. He chose to retain the distance between the two of them. Instead he treated Hei Lan as an intimate close friend. But everyone could obviously see that Hei Lan likes him. After all this madman"s indifferent eyes only softens when looking at him.
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Time skip. 6 months later...
A dazzling morning.
An esper"s corpse was once again found.
The location is an abandoned barn at the outskirts of the central city. The deceased is a middle aged man. He was fully naked and his body was hanged inside the barn with piano strings tied on his hands and leg joints. Suspended in air with strings as if he is some kind of puppet.
When the main members of SID appeared. A group made up of the following members: Yi Zheng, Li Guang, Li Xing, Hei Lan and Xie Ye.
As they entered the barn the full scene of the naked man hanging in the area with strings, like a lifeless broken puppet, appeared before them.
Hei Lan"s eyes straight looked at the dead body before him. His eyes were wandering all over the deceased body with cunning eyes. Everyone thought that he entered a state of trance and waited for him to speak.
His blue eyes paused to the groin part of the corpse and frowned. "It"s small. Like a shriveled mushroom. It looks ugly." said Hei Lan.
CHOKE!!!
Once he spoke those words most men in the area except for the innocent dense one choke on their own saliva. Even Xie Ye couldn"t help but cough a bit in warning.
Cough!
The silly puppy strikes. "What small? A mushroom? This is an abandoned barn. There will definitely be some wild mushrooms growing here. Do you want to pick some?" asked Yi Zheng with an innocent expression on his face.
Everyone was speechless with what their chief said and their jaws were left hanging in astonishment. Beside Yi Zheng, Li Xing squeezed the bridge of his nose as he let off a powerless sigh. On the other side Li Guang was covering his mouth trying his hardest to hold back his laughter. Only Xie Ye and Hei Lan stared at him directly like looking at an idiot.
"Tsk! What a fool." murmured Xie Ye as he walked away a bit to lit his cigarette.
Hei Lan pats Li Xing"s shoulder in comfort. "Do your best." with a rooting and mocking expression on his beautiful face.
"Please act as if you heard nothing, Sir Hei. Sigh~" said Li Xing.
"Eh~ but this is interesting itself~~" said Hei Lan as he sn.i.g.g.e.rs while looking at Yi Zheng who is now blushing in embarra.s.sment as he now understood the meaning of Hei Lan"s words just now.
Tomato faced Yi Zheng, "Please do your work, Sir Hei." said Yi Zheng everyone could even hear the sound of his teeth grinding together in anger.
Seeing that Hei Lan"s eyes lingers a bit longer on Yi Zheng annoyed him. "A"Hei! Just where are you looking at anyway." said Xie Ye who finally gestured to Hei Lan to do his work. "Do what you came for."
"Tsk! Stingy b.a.s.t.a.r.d. I bet yours is small too." said Hei Lan.
p.i.s.sed off Xie Ye retorted. "Do you want me to r*** you for you to know whether It"s big or not?"
Hei Lan didn"t answer right away but stood in front of Xie Ye instead. He stood straight before him with his hand on his hips and a daring expression on his face.
"Do. You. Dare~~~" a provocative sultry voice comes from Hei Lan"s mouth with a mockery imprinted on his bewitching face.
The two once again stared at each other but this time there were sparkles exchanged in between their eyes and a threatening atmosphere rising up around these two. Li Xing and Yi Zheng had to break them off before they started fighting for real.
"It"s this way Sir Hei." said Li Xing while gesturing for Hei Lan to leave with him.
Yi Zheng was more forceful as he dragged Xie Ye out of the barn with a reason that he couldn"t smoke in the premise of the crime scene. While Li Xing accompanied Hei Lan to check on the corpse. Yi Zheng accompanied Xie Ye outside smoking together.
Outside the barn.
Xie Ye was looking out at the horizon as if thinking about something. There is only the sounds of officers working near them and the smell of cigarettes they are holding.
"Dage can I ask you a serious question?" asked Yi Zheng.
Xie Ye only glanced at him once before saying, "Talk."
"Do you hate, Sir Hei Lan?"
"..." Xie Ye didn"t replied right away. He took a while to finish his cigarette before answering. "If I hate him I would have killed him for being suspicious. Though I don"t like him either. He reminds me too much of Gui Lan."
Yi Zheng speaks, "It"s been 15 years and 6 months. There is still no news about A"Lan. Not even you and Xu-ge were able to find traces of him. Even the Prime Minister said to not find him anymore. It"s obvious that Hei Lan likes you. Dage why don"t you..."
His words were cut off when a loud sound of wooden breaking was heard. Xie Ye punched the wooden wall behind Yi Zheng. His crimson eyes glaring at him full of anger and anguish.
BAM!!!
"Shut. Up!" a cold warning voice from Xie Ye was heard.
Yi Zheng stood stiffened to where he was. He immediately shut his mouth afraid of incurring Xie Ye"s wrath instead. He could only watch Xie Ye walk back inside the barn to meet the rest and Yi Zheng simply followed after him to finish their work.
Inside the barn.
Hei Lan and Li Xing noticed the apparent change of mood from Xie Ye. Yi Zheng was the only one who approached the two for work.
"What"s wrong with him? Did he eat something wrong?" asked Hei Lan.
Yi Zhen hesitated to reply. "Well~..."
Li Xing interrupts their conversation seeing his lover"s weird expression.
"Sir Hei said that this case does not involve the reaper but it involves people from the syndicate." said Li Xing.
Listening to this Yi Zheng and Xie Ye took immediate interest in it.
"What is it?" asked Yi Zheng urgently that he almost grabbed Hei Lan"s shoulder.
Forgetting that the latter had a problem with cleanliness and someone touching him. A deep frown appeared on Hei Lan"s face seeing that Yi Zheng was about to grab him. Luckily someone blocked it for him, it was Xie Ye.
"Watch your hand, fool!" scolded Xie Ye.
Only then Yi Zheng remembers Hei Lan"s obsession with cleanliness.
"Sorr-..."
Yi Zheng froze when he saw Hei Lan"s icy gaze on him. His eyes were unfeeling and indifferent. He could even feel the looming danger about to approach him. He could only take a step back in fear. Hei Lan"s gaze was too scary. Xie Ye had to cover Hei Lan"s eyes to calm him down.
Xie Ye whispered, "Calm down your temper."
They heard Hei Lan take a very deep sigh.
Sigh~"I"m a bit okay now. I will tell you what I saw back in the office. This place is too dirty. I want to take a bath first." said Hei Lan as he walks away from the barn.
After seeing Hei Lan in the distance, Xie Ye hit Yi Zheng in the head before following after the one who left first.
Holding the huge b.u.mp on his head, "It wasn"t on purpose though." murmured Yi Zheng.
"Let"s go. I have a hidden first aid kit in the car. Talk, continue the talk in the office." said Li Xing.
"Okay. Let me give orders first." replied Yi Zheng.
After issuing some orders and leaving Li Guang to control the scene, he left the place with the other three. This is to return back to their headquarters.
Ever since Hei Lan had worked with SID as a special officer, Li Guang"s actions were handled. He fears him too much that the latter isn"t willing to stay in the same place as him for long periods of time. Li Guang faded from the scene of their little team.
Once the rest of the main group left, Li Guang went to some corner and called someone. He was speaking on the person on the opposite side as if he was reporting.
"They"ve taken the bait, Master." said Li Guang.
[That"s good. Keep up the good work.]
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[A/n: I will ma.s.s release at March 5. For now please enjoy the daily updates.]