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\u201cYou can\u2019t be serious,\u201d Sun said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s official policy,\u201d the bureaucrat said. \u201cIf a Defender uses force against a regular human, the Defender is suspended from active duty and placed on no-pay leave until the Oversight Committee clears him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMs Song, it\u2019s the Ghost Month,\u201d Fu insisted. \u201cYou know how busy it gets. I need every man available\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe guidelines are clear. Not even the gods can break the rules.\u201d<\/p>\n
The conference room grew cold and close and quiet. The three people seated around the table studied each other, waiting for a move.<\/p>\n
Song was right, Sun knew. Nobody cared what happened to beasts. But if the Defenders were completely unaccountable to the people, the consequences would be unthinkable.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor what it\u2019s worth, I\u2019m confident the investigation won\u2019t take too long,\u201d Song said. \u201cMr Sun has been completely cooperative and the circumstances are clear-cut. He will return to full duties soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow long will that be?\u201d Sun asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cFour weeks,\u201d Song said.<\/p>\n
\u201cFour weeks? We may not even have a city by then!\u201d Fu said.<\/p>\n
She shrugged haplessly. \u201cIt\u2019s policy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fu and Sun left the room in silence. They continued walking in silence until they stepped out the front door of the Defenders\u2019 Guild. As the first rays of the morning sun warmed Sun\u2019s skin, he strained his ears and listened for sirens.<\/p>\n
All quiet. For now.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happens now?\u201d Sun asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ll get the bounty for the jiaolong,\u201d Fu replied. \u201cAs for the criminals\u2026 you sent all of them into a coma. The public needs to be assured that you did the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t even use\u00a0qi<\/em>\u00a0skills.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter. Protocols must be observed.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m off the street, then?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes. And we can\u2019t help you with your girlfriend. I\u2019m sorry. But we\u2019ve got nothing to work with.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s not my girlfriend.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhatever. It\u2019s the Ghost Month, and everybody\u2014the police\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0us\u2014busy. We get tens of missing people a week during the Ghost Month. Both the Defenders and the police will be too busy to investigate cases. And most of the missing will turn up in a beast\u2019s belly sooner or later.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t do anything, then?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot as a Defender. Not until you are cleared for duty.\u201d Fu paused. \u201cHowever, the Defenders would not necessarily refuse to act if they receive an anonymous tip about the whereabouts of a girl who may have been kidnapped by rogue cultivators.\u201d<\/p>\n Sun pursed his lips. \u201cI suppose I\u2019ll have to make the most of my present circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIndeed.\u201d<\/p>\n From the Defenders\u2019 Guild it was a short stroll to the police headquarters. Inside, Sun flashed his badge at the first policeman he saw, then asked for and received directions to the Secret Societies Wing. A few more questions pointed him to the office of Detective Luo Wang.<\/p>\n The detective himself was inside, frowning at a screen and mashing away at his keyboard. He looked up as Sun entered.<\/p>\n \u201cDefender Sun,\u201d Luo said. \u201cDo you have anything to add?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, but I have a few questions.\u201d<\/p>\n Luo wrinkled his nose in disgust. The first time they\u2019d met was in the interview room on the first floor, where Luo had endured the self-imposed trial of questioning Sun.<\/p>\n \u201cHey, I took a second shower earlier,\u201d Sun said.<\/p>\n Not to mention an intense\u00a0qi<\/em>\u00a0healing meditation session to flush out the surviving germs.<\/p>\n Luo snorted. \u201cAre you here to ask about the men you put down?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes. Who were they?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat information is part of an ongoing investigation. I can\u2019t help you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDo you still remember I was running my own investigation? Those men are part of it now.\u201d<\/p>\n Luo leaned back into his chair and crossed his arms. \u201cReally.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou sound skeptical.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t doubt your story, but I don\u2019t see the connection.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDid you really think I randomly ran into three criminals in the sewer? What were they doing there anyway? It looked like they were guarding a storeroom of illegal goods.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf you hadn\u2019t hospitalized them, we might have answers.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey were armed.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRegardless, there is nothing on them that connects them to the alleged kidnapping.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cActual<\/em>\u00a0kidnapping.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe only have your testimony that there were\u00a0qi<\/em>\u00a0pearls.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOnly because by the time your cultivators showed up, the pearls had dissipated.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBad luck. And you still haven\u2019t explained the connection between your criminals and mine.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf you told me who they were I might have answers for you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLook at it from my perspective, Defender. All I have to go on is that you claim that the kidnapped woman\u2014Ms Liu\u2014left a trail for you to follow in the sewer, that this trail included a single finger-sized groove in the wall, that this groove pointed to a tunnel in which those three men were allegedly guarding. I can\u2019t build a case on that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cExplain the camera and the guards, then.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSecret societies always keep an eye their contraband. We know they have hidden caches in the sewers. You simply stumbled upon one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy did they challenge me then? I wasn\u2019t interested in their cache. I was climbing up the ladder when they decided to pick a fight with me. If they\u2019d let me go, I wouldn\u2019t have bothered them. I think someone ordered them to stop anybody who passed that way. And I need to know who that someone is.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re asking me to divulge information about an active investigation to someone outside the police.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a Defender.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCurrently suspended. And you asking for information about the men you fought with. The Oversight Committee isn\u2019t going to look kindly on it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not interested in your investigation. I just need a couple of facts and I\u2019ll be on my way.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf word gets out that I leaked confidential information to someone with a vested interest in my case\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNobody here but us.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd the detectives who saw you coming in.\u201d<\/p>\n Sun sighed. \u201cDetective, what exactly is your issue with me?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat are you going to do with the information?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUnder normal circumstances the police handles secret societies. Defenders step in only when cultivators are involved. Yes?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes,\u201d Luo said guardedly. \u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSuppose someone discovered that a secret society was complicit in kidnapping Barrier Technicians. If so, it would be a matter of national security. The Defenders would be obliged to help the police crush the secret society responsible for such an act. If the Defenders were allowed to unleash their full power, the secret society would be destroyed overnight. I\u2019m sure that\u2019s an outcome you can live with.\u201d<\/p>\n Luo frowned mightily. \u201cI can\u2019t give you any information that affects my investigation into your case.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want it either. Just tell me: who did the criminals work for?\u201d<\/p>\n Luo pondered the question for a moment.<\/p>\n \u201cDu Yang.\u201d<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n Previous parts:\u00a01<\/a>,\u00a02<\/a>,\u00a03<\/a>,\u00a04<\/a>,\u00a05<\/a>,\u00a06<\/a><\/p>\n
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