Lin Ke and He Ling had already left, Bai Huo re-filledthe two wine glasses on the table.
”I, I’ve never been good at studying.Unlike my older cousin, he was always better than me at everything. But I have aspecial skill that he doesn’t.” Ma Zhong leaned in close to Bai Huo andsaid with an air of mystery, “I see things that others can’t.”
”So, you can see chains on mywrist?” Bai Huo asked.
”Of course, how could I not.”
”Really now, so is it silver orblack?”
Ma Zhong stammered but couldn’t answer.
”So, you’re actually a swindler.”
Ma Zhong pulled Bai Huo’s sleeves: “Ah don’tgo, ah, that’s not it, my eyes aren’t always reliable, I just quickly glimpsedit under the moonlight, I didn’t get a good look.”
”It’s been snowing heavily all day, whatmoonlight?”
But after saying that, the two simultaneously raisedtheir heads, only to find that the heavy snow had stopped at some unknown point,and the layers of dark clouds had split open, leaking a sliver of moonlight.
There really was moonlight.
Bai Huo was stumped for a moment, but thecolor of this moonlight wasn’t quite right. It wasn’t a clear white moon, but ahazy red moon, it looked like a blood-colored gauze had covered the moon. Asit’s colloquially called, lunar halo.
Ma Zhong pointed and hissed: “A bad omenah.”
”How did you come up with fiveyears?” Bai Huo asked.
”That, I really divined that from yourfacial features.” Ma Zhong laughed mischievously and explained,“Little comrade, you’re not like ordinary people, you’re…”
Bai Huo looked at him doubtfully, his fingers underthe table clenching.
”You’re in the same profession.”Ma Zhong had a look of ‘you can’t fool me’.
Bai Huo relaxed and snorted. Under the table, hisfingers loosened.
”Don’t worry, I’ll never tell a soul,”Ma Zhong’s swollen eyes worked hard to squeeze out a sincere expression. “ZhongYe can’t do anything else, but if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s staying loyal!”
”Excellent!” Bai Huo turned his head,“Boss, he’ll cover the bill!”
”Wait, wait a minute…” Ma Zhongpounced on Bai Huo’s thigh, saying miserably, “Big brother, don’t do this,I have to take care of my aging parents, you can’t help people half-heartedly.How… how about I tell you another piece of industry news, then will you giveme money for the meal?”
Bai Huo was thinking about the little dragonat home, he sighed: “Uncle, you have five minutes, if you don’t tell mewhy you came here, you can stay here and wash dishes.”
”Talk, I’ll talk.” Ma Zhong stood upand began to undress.
”What are you doing?” Bai Huo recoiled.“I have principles.”
“Where, where, found it, fortunately it didn’tbreak.” Ma Zhong chuckled and pulled out a quail egg-sized glass bead fromthe inner pocket of his thermal underwear. “Have you ever seen one ofthese?”
Bai Huo was disgusted and didn’t reach for it:“What is it?”
”So, you haven’t seen it yet,” MaZhong said proudly. “There’s a blood-sucking worm in it, it feeds on bat blood.It’s a magic device of us geomancers, it can point out the location ofanomalies. I came to Xi City after receiving its guidance. “
Bai Huo stared blankly.
The evening light wasn’t very bright. In theglass bead, a sesame seed-sized blood worm could vaguely be seen slowly squirmingtowards a certain direction. Although it looked disgusting, Bai Huo immediatelydetermined that this bead and the compass had the same principle behind them.It could be called a low-end version of the compass. Seeing this, Bai Huo’sheart burst into tears, who would’ve expected that humanity’s counterfeitingability would be so powerful.
”I don’t want to hide it from you, I reallydid come to Xi City with a purpose,” Ma Zhong resolutely said. “Youknow my older cousin, the famous zoologist professor, in fact, it’s all apretense. The entire Xiao family, from his generation back, have been lookingfor a legendary animal.”
”What animal?” Bai Huo had a badfeeling.
Ma Zhong looked left and right, thenwhispered: “Dragons.”
Bai Huo’s expression didn’t fluctuate, insteadhe laughed, looking like he’d just heard an extremely rare joke: “Dragons?Did all that studying turn them stupid?”
”Ah,” Ma Zhong said worriedly.“Why don’t you believe it? In 1934, a dragon crashed in Yingkou city. In1999, Wuhan city, the mystery of the falling trees on Mt. Mo. You can search itup, these things can all be found online now. There really are dragons in thisworld!”
Bai Huo said helplessly: “Yeah, yeah, whateveryou say, but what does that have to do with you?”
Ma Zhong exposed a rare bit of embarrassment:“I, from childhood, my aptitude has been mediocre, my cousin has alwaysbeaten me at everything. So, I thought, well, what if I found a dragon before hecould…”
Bai Huo understood, this guy was a con man, heinterrupted: “You just ran to Xi City because of that?”
”Yes, I peeked at my cousin’s research andnoticed that he’d mentioned Xi City quite a few times. Plus, the worm was guidingme here, I just wanted to take a look. Who knows, maybe I’d get lucky and bumpinto a dragon, bahahaha…”
Bai Huo: “…”
”Ah, the direction is settled,look.” Ma Zhong pointed to the blood worm, which had stopped squirmingaround in the marble, and said.
Bai Huo looked at it, his complexion changingslightly.
This direction… seemed to be his house?
Bai Huo suddenly remembered the day he’dsurveyed the crime scene with Luo Wen Xu. The compass had been pointing to thesouthwest, Wuluo Mountain. At that time, he’d thought that something even morepowerful had appeared, which had attracted the compass’ interest and made itchange directions. Judging from the results, that conclusion made sense. Adragon birth really was a heaven-sent event.
But what if, that wasn’t it?
What if there was never anything wrong withthe compass’ direction, and it was always pointing towards the murderer?
”Damn it!” Bai Huo’s faceinstantly paled, because he was anxious, even his voice was raspy. He jumpedover the table with one hand and ran out the door.
Ma Zhong was dumbfounded, a few seconds later,he shouted: “Ah, what about the bill…”
*
On the way, Bai Huo’s intestines turned greenwith regret. He shouldn’t have left the little dragon cub alone at home, such adefenseless child, if anything wanted to hurt him, it would be too easy.
From a distance, he saw that the house wasdark, and his heart sank.
”Fat chicken!” Bai Huo ran at fullspeed and kicked open the door. The living room was empty, no one was on thesofa, on the ground, broken glass was scattered, and the grilled fish on thetable had been knocked over.
In the dark room, only the sound of Bai Huo’sharsh breathing could be heard. The snow outside the window reflected a shimmerof light, which illuminated his pale face. Bai Huo turned around the house in arough search, and miserably found that not only had the little dragondisappeared, even the fat bird was gone.
By rough calculation, he’d left around fourhours ago, the child couldn’t walk steadily yet, so he couldn’t have gotten veryfar if he was by himself.
Looking at the snow in the courtyard, Bai Huostepped out. Fortunately, there really was a string of human footprintsentering and leaving the yard. Judging from the size, it should belong to anadult male. It went from the door straight to the courtyard, finally, it vanishedunder tire tracks of a car coming and going. Looking at the state of thefootprints, less than half an hour had passed.
”Hey, Coral?” Bai Huo reactedquickly, and immediately called the Dragon Association. He was wearing a thinknitted sweater, standing in the cold wind, his hand on his forehead, hiseyebrows tightly wrinkled. “Are any of the association’s people there? Ineed your help to find someone…”
A few meters away, a police jeep slowlyapproached, the lights flashing.
Bai Huo was too engrossed in self-blame tonotice: “Yes, a young water dragon, smoky gray, a newborn…Don’t ask fordetails, I’ll tell you later… A photo? No, I don’t have a photo, you…”
The jeep slowly pulled up to Bai Huo’s side, anda window rolled down.
Bai Huo turned to look, inside the vehicle,two small pairs of eyes met his: “…….”
Ji Bei was holding a humanoid baby dragon,leaning out of the window to ask, astonished: “Director Bai?”
”… How can I help you find someonewithout a photo? When did you pick up a dragon child? Why didn’t you report itto the association? You know this is a breach of principle, right? You’ll bepunished….” The female voice on the other end of the phone was still chattering.
”Forget it, I don’t need it.” BaiHuo clenched his teeth and hung up.
As soon as the little dragon saw him, his eyesreddened, and he reached out towards him through the window, feeling wronged, hisnose sniffling.
Bai Huo quickly took the child from Ji Bei,and wrapped him in his arms: “Shhh, are you okay?”
It was only then that he realized just how ice-coldhis hands and feet were – he’d been scared senseless.
Ji Bei turned off the engine and got out ofthe jeep with a stack of documents in his hand. Outside, the temperature haddropped to minus seven degrees. Leaving the heater, the temperature plummeted, JiBei staggered, holding the door to stand firm.
”Sorry, Director Bai. When I came over, Iheard a child crying inside the house, so I entered the yard withoutauthorization.” Ji Bei panted, looking apologetically at the little dragonand Bai Huo’s close embrace, “This is…your son?”
Bai Huo had stared vigilantly at Ji Bei sincehe’d appeared, only nodding slightly.
Ji Bei felt that he had really been too bold,he explained: “The child opened the door for me. I saw that there wasn’tan adult at home. I thought he was hungry, so I took him to buy some milknearby.”
“I’dstepped out,” Bai Huo nodded to him. “Thank you.”
The little dragon was lying on his shoulder, clingingto him tightly, a posture that shouted ‘Never leave me again’.
This made Bai Huo’s heart soften, and his toneunconsciously eased a few degrees: “Alright, alright, say thank you touncle.”
”No need.” Ji Bei’s cheeks were red formthe cold, he smiled. “Your child is very well-behaved.”
Bai Huo’s heart was filled with delight afterhearing someone praise his child.
The little dragon cub was truly clingy withhim, but he vehemently rejected outsiders. Even the fat chicken had been bittenby him. But he’d willingly followed Ji Bei, which made Bai Huo feel somewhatsurprised. At the very least, this child didn’t seem to hate Ji Bei.
Because of their innate superior senses,dragons had better intuition and perception of danger than human beings. Even newborncubs were sensitive to a human’s breath. Whether someone was malicious or not, thedragon cub could feel it.
Ji Bei was a famous detective. His bodycarried a righteousness that had been honed over the years. Such a man also hadpoor health, had no aggressiveness, and his personality was soft and easy toget close to. It made sense that he would be able to recruit the cub.
But Bai Huo still felt bitter about it.
”Did you come over for something, OfficerJi? Let’s go inside and sit.” Bai Huo asked.
Ji Bei waved his hand and smiled: “It’slate, I won’t disturb your rest. I’ll leave as soon as I report to you. It’s aboutthe progress on the most recent case, the captain should’ve already called totell you about it. I came here to give you some abnormal data we’ve collectedon the third case. Our team repeatedly analyzed it all night, but they couldn’tfind anything. I heard the captain say that Director Bai is a very thoughtful man,so I thought you’d be able to give us some new ideas if you read theanalysis.” Speaking of this, he handed the documents to Bai Huo.
Bai Huo felt surprised and embarrassed, but itwas hard to reject. Afraid that Ji Bei would faint from the cold any moment now,he promptly agreed, saying that he’d call him the moment he figured outsomething.
”Then I’ll head back first.” Ji Bei startedup the jeep and smiled. “Kids have poor resistance. You should go insidesoon, before he catches a cold.”
”I really don’t need to send you off? Whydon’t you call Captain Luo?” Bai Huo was worried, if something reallyhappened because he came looking for him, he’d be upset.
”No, he’s busy,” Ji Bei said with a self-deprecatingsmile. “I’m still a policeman, how can I be that delicate?”
Bai Huo nodded. “Okay.”
Bai Huo carried the dragon cub into the livingroom, then warmed up a towel to wipe him down asking: “What about the fatbird? What happened?”
The little dragon pointed out the window, and drowsilyleaned into Bai Huo’s arms.
*
In the snow, a police jeep wobbled along.
”Horns on my head, Tail behind me, No oneknows, How many secrets I have…” There was the sound of a ratherold-fashion nursery rhyme in the carriage, the singing voice sounded especiallyethereal in the snow.
Ji Bei had deliberately played the nurserysong in order to calm the child down. He’d really seemed to like it, holding hismilk bottle and listening attentively to it. If he didn’t know that it wasimpossible for such a small baby to understand, he would’ve thought that thechild was listening to the lyrics. Ji Bei liked children. It was easy to feelsleepy when driving alone, so he didn’t turn off the song on the return trip.
The street lamps were broken, and the road aheadwas bad. The snow was already up to half a tire. It was getting more challengingto drive; Ji Bei was already working the jeep like a donkey.
After driving out a few kilometers, he noticedthe forgotten scarf on the front passenger seat. The child had been clutchingit when he’d carried him out, and he’d refused to let go of it the wholejourney. But as soon as he met his father, the precious scarf was immediatelyforgotten. Ji Bei found it amusing. That Bai Huo didn’t look very reliable, whowould’ve guessed that he and his child shared such deep feelings? He was veryenvious.
While he was pondering, there was a ‘thump’ soundat the front of the car, as if he’d hit something.
”Huh?” Ji Bei stepped on the brakes.
It was 4 o’clock in the morning, the surroundingswere deserted. Except for the thick snow-covered road, there was no signs ofhuman activity. While Ji Bei stretched his neck, a strange black shadow appearedat the edge of the headlights’ range.
”Who’s there? Show yourself!”
No response.
Many years on the police force had trained him,he quickly became alert, reaching for the gun underneath his seat and unlockinghis seat belt.
Just as he got out of the jeep, before Ji Bei couldeven straighten up, the distant black shadow flashed. Something bit his neck usinginhuman speed. He only felt a sharp pain, and his eyes went dark, losingconsciousness.
——————————————————————————————————-
T/N:
in the same profession: 同行 -Idk what he means by this. Maybe he’ssaying they’re both con men, maybe it’s a euphemism
help people half-heartedly: If you’re gonna help someone, help them till the end
Damn it: A bettertranslation would be ‘Gosh!’ or ‘Darn!’, but what kind of person says thisafter learning that a murderer is after their kid. Wtf Bai Huo