Poison City

 

“Hey, Marcus, are you alright?” After around ten minutes, Kevin got to the community care center before any police officers, and he was very considerate to have brought a metal jug of coffee and an insulated bento box: “I brought some food, in case you’re hungry.”

 

“Oh god, thank you Kevin.” Marcus took the bento and started shoving his mouth with food. Almost everyone thought the first thing one needed after a brutal fight was medical supplies. They were not wrong, just that a lot of them tended to forget about food - especially warm, fresh and energizing food, like tender and thin pieces of steak and some warm, steamed rice, with some sesame seeds sprinkled on top. After the first few mouthfuls of food and gulps of coffee, Marcus looked up and asked Kevin: “Wait, they just let you in? No additional questions?”

 

“Yeah, apparently they knew me.” Kevin shrugged and sat down by Marcus: “I suppose that’s all because of you.”

 

“Sorry.” Marcus sighed and shook his head: “I’ll explain in full.”

 

“Well, we have some time now.” Kevin shrugged and raised his eyebrows: “I don’t suppose you are going anywhere anytime soon?”

 

“You’re right.” Marucs chuckled: “There’s never gonna be a perfect time. So … you know when I was a kid, I spent quite a few years here in this district right?”

 

“Right, until it’s almost time for you to go to college, and your dad moved to the South-Western District and got you in a high school with a little better chance for you to get in one.” Kevin nodded: “But I guess that’s where you got to know the people in this district, am I right?”

 

“Yes. And even after I joined the academy, I kept in touch with them.” Marcus nodded: “And as you can guess, I got my starter courses on mystic martial arts from that experience. One of my earlier mentors was Bulu Wang, also known as …”

 

“‘Old Wang’.” Kevin said it with Marcus: “I see, he’s built himself quite a name, hasn’t he? I know very little about the community collective, yet I’ve heard of him.”

 

“Yeah, he’s a pretty high level executive right now, and is in charge of handling anything related to the social order and public safety of quite a large area.”

 

“Then I guess that’s why they would know me then.” Kevin shook his head and smiled: “If it was me, I would definitely spend some manpower to find out intel about those affiliated with you just in case. But you know, you can tell me more about your personal history later - what happened at the docks? Why are you injured?”

 

Marcus looked around, then described everything to Kevin with a lowered voice. He was not overly worried that people with “gifts” like the Taoists and Chef Tang would hear him, still he would like to keep the information to a smaller crowd.

 

The expression of excitement flashed through Kevin’s face for a mere moment, for this would no doubt prove some of his theories and help both him and Marcus make better sense of what was going on in the city. Yet his facial expression immediately turned sour and worried, for it would be easy to see how worrisome the situation would seem to anyone.

 

“Well, I can’t believe I’ll be saying this to you in this close succession, based on different incidents.” Kevin shook his head and patted Marcus on the shoulder while Marcus cleaned up his bento and chugged down the rest of the coffee: “But I’m just so happy that you’re alive.”

 

“Yeah, me too.” Marcus looked around one more time, then handed a small piece of metal to Kevin and whispered to him: “I don’t know what you can do with this, but this is a piece of the chain that got in my shoulder. There’s some kind of pattern on it, but I can’t make it out because the other part probably flew into the water already. ”

 

“I’ll see what I can do.” Kevin tucked the small piece of broken metal chain in his jacket: “Now, have you decided what you’re gonna tell the captain when he gets here?”

 

“Captain Ko must have known more than we imagined.” Marcus scratched his jaw, frowning: “He’s always grumpy, sometimes judgmental and too much of a stickler for rules as well, but his cavalier attitude is just… curious, to say the least.”

 

“Good point.” Kevin thought for a minute then agreed.

 

“And, one other thing.” Marcus turned to Kevin: “This time, no Blood Rainbows.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“I looked around in the sky, when those creatures from the water appeared, there’s no Blood Rainbow in the sky.” Marcus explained as he was thinking: “It’s not there, I am pretty sure. But those three men - they must be media of some kind, I mean, I have seen my fair share of Qi users. But I have never seen anything like them, well, maybe aside from those Taoists that came with Chef Tang.”

 

“I have heard of them before, and I have met a few in real life.” Kevin nodded: “But I have never seen them actually in action. What’s the difference between what they could do and your Qi from your mystic martial arts?”

 

“Well, all I could tell is that when the smoke skeleton attacked me, I could feel the same kind of cold energy invading my body.” Marcus thought for a while, then answered with hesitation: “It’s probably still some kind of Qi. Or Qi - like energy that derived from a different source.”

 

“Okay, and what about ghosts?” Kevin asked again while scratching his jaw: “I remember you mentioned to me that when you were attacked by those ghosts. Do they feel the same?”

 

“... you’re thinking that spirits are some kind of beings with Qi?” Marcus nodded: “That's…”

 

“That’s a bit of a stretch, I know. But I am indeed wondering what they are, the spirits, or ghosts. I mean, humans are able to function and exist thanks to our physiology, but what of ghosts and spirits?” Kevin shrugged, “And Qi, from what I understand, is something that comes from the body and flows through the meridians. So, where do ghosts and spirits get their Qi?”

 

“No, that’s not what I was trying to say.” Marcus shook his head: “I meant to say it’s a good theory. In fact, it might not be too much to say that they might be all made of Qi somehow. Think about it… ”

 

Just this moment, sirens came from a distance, and many men waiting at the community care center started moving - some of them left, and some of them moved to the gate, ready to meet the incoming police officers.

 

Chef Tang left the care center through a side gate, hopped onto a black car and left with the Taoists. Marcus could definitely understand this choice, he would do the same. And he was curious as to who those remaining were. Were they also members of the community collective?

 

“You might wanna be there, just in case there’s conflict.” Kevin hesitated for a brief moment then said.

 

“Yeah I know.” Marcus sighed and finished his coffee: “What’s your story gonna be?”

 

“This.” Kevin pulled out a rolled up and slightly dirty poster of the morning market: “I was in the neighborhood, I decided to stay for one night, then I got your text so I came early. No one could fault me for that.”

 

“Good.” Marcus chuckled: “And just so you know, I was here because I was following up on one of the missing children’s cases. ”

 

“What if they wanna know what you found?”

 

“...well, I’ll just tell them I found partially burnt clothes by the platform. ” Marcus looked up at the sky and sighed. There was no Blood Rainbow tonight, yet the moon appeared to be dim, and slightly red.

 

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