“ - over the years. He came to visit me a few times - making sure that I was not starving and I had a roof over my head. He had friends, my family had friends. Not many of them could or were willing to help, but I managed. And eventually, when I told him about my plans for revenge, he denied me, and told me about his deal with these people. This - this ‘council’. And that led to us having a falling out, and we’ve never talked until today. I think for a period of time he might have thought I left the city. I had plans though - I guess it was just fate that I didn’t follow through.”

  “Did you try to get revenge? Or at least against those who ordered the hit?” Marcus hesitated, but still decided to pose this question.

  “I did. But it was not successful, and it almost killed me.” Liaowu shook his head: “And I was lucky - that and your master was a kind hearted, wise man. He got me out of trouble a few times. And eventually I had to lay low and build my life up first. It eventually led to this today. I’m ashamed to say it but I haven’t been very helpful to either him or you.”

  “You got us outta there.” Marcus shrugged: “That saved all of our lives. And we couldn’t have done that without you. So you’ve done a lot.”

  Liaowu went silent for a moment before shaking his head and chuckling: “You’re a good kid, Detective Marcus Cai. But you don’t need to say that to me. I know that there’s more I should have done, could have done better, if I was not so caught up in resentment and revenge when my circumstances weren’t ready. I just - wish I had done more.”

  “Well, WE are doing something right now.” Marcus turned to fix his sight at the road ahead. The path they were on was getting more uneven and crawling with more and more vegetation.

  The sun was beginning to rise, as beams of warm light lit up small but expanding patches of sky from the east. As the surroundings became brighter, the position of the unnamed graveyard became clearer to Marcus - on the other side of the bridge on which the train ran. It was a place of abandoned, half built buildings covered in gross, crooked trees, bushes and one lone rusty metal water tower that looked like it would collapse at any minute. This place was close to his precinct but technically outside of it, so he had never come near it. He had, however, heard occasional tales about bodies found around this area.

  Right now, a somewhat worrisome cloud of black mist floated above the location. It was slowly turning and spinning like a thick gray plate hovering in the air.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “This place is no good.” Marcus turned his Qi vision on and off just to make sure he was not hallucinating. The mist was visible to the naked eye but only ominous and apparent when he focused his Qi on his eyes. “Maybe park at a safe place and wait for me to come back.”

  “Nah. I’ll come with you.” Liaowu shook his head: “Can’t always stay in the car.”

  “But - there might be hostiles over there. And I don’t know if I’ll be able to look out for you.”

  “Don’t worry.” Liaowu shook his head: “I may not look like it, but when the time comes I’ll know how to fight. Don’t you underestimate me.”

  Marcus fixed his eyes on the middle aged man. His facial expression was stern; his grip on the steering wheel was tight but not too much; his breathing was fast yet steady. There was no sign indicating that he was a mythic martial arts practitioner.

  “Are you sure?” Marcus still couldn’t help but ask: “I’m not questioning you - I just - I am just not sure if we go in there together. I won’t be able to cover you.”

  “Like I said, don't worry about me.” Liaowu chuckled: “You just mind your own safety. Heck, maybe I can cover you when we’re fighting. You look way too proper, like you’ve never been in a truly hairy and nasty and chaotic situation before.”

  “... well, if you put it that way.” Marcus chuckled along and shrugged.

  The road went across the bridge on which the train ran and went in a slightly southern direction. It ended right at a large patch of dried up grassland with large bare spots covered in dark red and black dirt and irregular black pebbles scattered around. The unnamed graveyard was ahead of them, a few degrees to their left. They stopped and parked beside a leafless tree. The terrain on the rest of their way was too rough and unpredictable, it was a better idea to go on foot.

  “Here.” Liaowu pulled out two metal wrenches from under his seat and handed one to Marcus: “This is for my self defense when things get hairy. Maybe it could help.” He then found a backpack in a hidden compartment at the back of the van and took it with him.

  The unnamed graveyard had no barriers other than the environment it was in. No entrances or signs. It was as Marcus would imagine - unplanned, no maintenance, a mess of a barely walkable place.

  Marcus’ left foot kicked something hard in the bushes. He brushed the grass aside, only to see a side-leaning tombstone, with unintelligible etchings on it. He immediately backed off and bowed to it gently : “My apologies. I did not mean to disturb your peace like this.”

  “Detective, I don’t think there's a need for that. The place is - dead bodies are all over the place.” Liaowu whispered as he knelt down and pressed a patch of grass down, revealing a broken tipped over tombstone buried in the mud, and a rotten wooden plaque on its side: “If you need to apologize to every grave then I’m afraid we’d need all month.”

  Marcus sighed, then moved on forward.

  Liaowu was right, the further in they went the more they encountered tombstones of different sizes, overall integrity and stages of weathering laying about, so many so that quite a few times there was no other way than stepping on some of them in order to move.

  “The whole thing’s planned like this. I’m afraid.” Liaowu frowned.