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“I am so glad to see you, your Lordship!” Zhao Yunlan said loudly, making all the other officers present at the scene shudder.
The Ghostslayer was feared for a reason – he was an entity even the Kings of Hell couldn’t control, and since his blade could cut through everything, the perspective of dying by it made an impression even on the oldest officers of the Underworld Police. There were many who were afraid to look at him directly, some shuddered at his voice, others jumped at the sight of his dark robes appearing on the periphery of their vision.
Zhao Yunlan however, since he clearly had no fear of anyone and anything, just brightened up whenever the being appeared to join them on cases. Instead of remaining silent and professional, Zhao Yunlan kept on talking at him.
And what was worse, the revered Ghostslayer allowed it.
“I am glad to see you as well, Chief Zhao,” the dark figure replied solemnly, and the officers at the scene felt a cold chill running down their spines. The Ghostslayer’s voice tended to have that effect on people. Ghosts. Whoever they were at the moment – Zhu Hong wasn’t sure.
All she knew was that Zhao Yunlan had been her leader for a few decades and then suddenly he told them he was transferring, offering no explanation for this decision.
A special case, he had said, but from what Zhu Hong heard, he was just lazing around in a restaurant in the world of the living, antagonizing the reformed spirit running the place. He sometimes came back on the cases that required a special touch, and Zhu Hong was glad for that – no matter how flippant he seemed, Zhao Yunlan was an amazing leader. Ever since Zhu Hong had joined the force, she was constantly amazed by his cunning, by his ruthlessness and his effortless charm. Yes, he was a down-right bastard more often than not, and there were moments when she wanted to strangle him, but she always felt safer when he came along to their rogue ghosts hunts.
Unless, of course, Zhao Yunlan decided to make a nuisance of himself when faced with the Ghostslayer, like right now.
“No longer a chief, just a consultant, your Lordship. You could even risk using my given name, I certainly wouldn’t mind.” Zhu Hong fought off the shiver of... she wasn’t even sure why this interaction made her uncomfortable. It was clear that the Ghostslayer was not going to punish Zhao Yunlan for his disrespectful conduct, and it wasn’t like he was being very embarrassing, but it was... unpleasant to watch nonetheless.
“I wouldn’t dare to presume such familiarity,” the Ghostslayer replied.
Before Zhao Yunlan could add something more and even more atrocious at that, Zhu Hong decided to intervene.
“We are ready to move out,” she declared, and felt the wave of gratefulness coming from her colleagues.
“Certainly.” Despite his words, the Ghostslayer's hooded face didn’t turn away from Zhao Yunlan just yet. There was something... Odd about them, always had been, Zhu Hong supposed. And she didn’t like it one bit.
Thankfully, the enforcer of Hell finally turned towards the gate they were meant to pass through.
Next to him, Zhao Yunlan took out a cigarette from his jacket and lit it up with a flick of his fingers.
He was unfortunately, very attractive when he did that, Zhu Hong noticed with a bit of disappointment in herself. Even after all this time, this infuriating man made her heart stir just a bit.
She walked through the gate trying not to pay any attention to either of the leaders of their party.
--
The rogue ghost turned out to be exactly what everyone feared it to be – a vengeful, horrifying mass of resentment and hurt pride that wanted to punish the whole world for its grievances. What was worrying was that it certainly had the means to do it.
“Contain it!” The Ghostslayer ordered, swiping his scythe at the black mass of human limbs and hair that made up the rogue ghost's body. The beast dodged and howled at them all, making Zhu Hong momentarily freeze.
“On it!” Zhao Yunlan exclaimed back, and seconds later there was an amulet in his hand, glowing brightly with every word he uttered.
Standing on the other side of the room, trying to shield the civilians working at the company the ghost used to be employed at, she couldn’t hear the exact incantation, but she could see the ring of fire appearing around the beast, the flames of hell flickering dangerously.
Without his usual smile and careless attitude, Zhao Yunlan was terrifying. No wonder he was called the One Who Ghosts Fear – the focus in his eyes, the lack of hesitation, all of this made Zhu Hong just stare at him in something akin to wonder and fear.
Then, she woke up from it. She was here as the officer and she was a good one, too.
She reached inside her uniform and took out a vial – she wasn’t any good at spells, but where it came to magic concoctions, she was an expert.
She dropped the vial on the ground and crushed it with her foot, causing the liquid to transform into smoke, and raise up, obscuring her and the people behind her from the beast’s sight – even if the ghost managed to get out of the barrier, it would not find its intended victims that easily.
“What is that,” a woman crouching behind Zhu Hong whispered, her voice shaky.
“Your late colleague,” Zhu Hong replied, trying not to sound too accusatory. They didn’t know the full story of the ghost on the rampage, but usually such amounts of pure malice and hatred didn’t appear out of nowhere. Whatever this soul had suffered through in this company was sufficient to make it powerful enough to go almost toe to toe with the Ghostslayer himself. Zhu Hong would do her best to protect the people behind her, but it didn’t mean she was feeling very sympathetic towards them at the moment.
A loud explosion shook the building, followed by a pillar of hellish fire visible even through Zhu Hong’s magical smoke.
A second later, a burst of energy almost threw her back against her wards, but she managed to remain standing, if a bit out of breath.
The smoke still held, so she couldn’t exactly see what had happened, but a loud, surprisingly distressed “Zhao Yunlan!” shouted in the voice of the Ghostslayer made her brace for impact – if the beast managed to outpower the barrier, then it was certainly able to deal with the smoke too.
She gripped for another vial, this time with a much more potent concoction, when she heard relieved, celebratory shouts of her fellow officers.
Nonetheless, she waited. It wouldn’t be the first rogue ghost to use auditory illusions to get to their prey – at the beginning of her career she had had a case with a ghost mimicking voices of children to lure bereaved mothers to their doom. She had not been prepared for the ghost to suddenly use her teammate’s voice – had it not been for Zhao Yunlan back then, she would have been easily defeated.
Well, Zhu Hong was determined to not repeat her mistakes and so she remained still, listening for any sound of too many legs coming at her and the employees behind her.
There was nothing.
Her colleagues, or what seemed to be her colleagues were shouting to one another, trying to discern if everyone was alright, if the employees were unharmed, but she remained silent.
It was better to steer on the side of caution.
“Mountains and Rivers!” Zhao Yunlan exclaimed from somewhere, and that made Zhu Hong dispel the smoke almost immediately. This was the password the two of them had picked up a long time ago, as a way of verification. Zhu Hong felt a bit touched that he still remembered.
As the smoke cleared, she saw Zhao Yunlan leaning against the Ghostslayer, very obviously using up some injury of his to snuggle up to the enforcer of Hell. Looking at the protective curl of the Ghostslayer’s arm around Zhao Yunlan’s waist, his theatrics were not unwelcome.
“You are safe,” Zhu Hong said, not turning around to watch the people she had kept unharmed.
As the officers of the Underworld they were not here to judge and guide, so she had nothing to say to them now. Whatever they have done to cause the ghost to turn into a monster, Hell would judge them for it. Those who managed to change their ways would be spared, those who didn't...
The people filtered away from the corner with no word of thank you, shivering and whimpering. Feeling the anger well up inside her, Zhu Hong turned to look at the Ghostslayer who was now listening attentively to Zhao Yunlan’s drivel.
“I was sure that I could send him on my own, that’s why I didn’t ask for your Lordship’s help,” the shameless man was explaining, and though as usual, the Ghostslayer’s face was impossible to see, Zhu Hong was sure he was concerned.
“It was dangerous to do it alone. The backlash could have killed you,” the dark figure chided, and Zhao Yunlan replied with a bright smile.
“But it didn’t! Just a few bruises, all because you caught me in time, I need to thank you properly, your Lordship!” Predicting what was coming, Zhu Hong walked to her colleagues, to check them over and ask them about whose duty it was to wipe the memories of the witnesses, but it was still not far enough – she heard everything perfectly.
“You could come and join us for a meal, back at the Guardian Lantern. It’s a small, secluded place, very quiet. You will like it, I will have tea prepared especially for you,” Zhao Yunlan entreated and curious, Zhu Hong allowed herself to listen in, waiting for the rejection that was sure to come.
The Ghostslayer quite predictably said:
“Chief Zhao is generous. I wouldn’t dare to-”
“- it would be my pleasure, if you did,” Zhao Yunlan interrupted, suddenly not sounding flirty at all. He came off as oddly genuine, Zhu Hong noticed, and turned to look at these two still stuck in the small world of their own.
The Ghostslayer was obviously staring at Zhao Yunlan in disbelief, and Zhu Hong wondered if this was the moment the enforcer finally snapped and reduced her ex-boss to ashes.
“Then I would be honoured to come,” The Ghostslayer, the nightmare of the Underworld said, sounding solemnly fond.
Zhu Hong couldn’t help a sigh.
If there was anyone capable of flirting the Ghostslayer into obedience, it made sense that it was Zhao Yunlan, she supposed.
Then, she firmly moved away to convene with the rest of the officers, amusing herself with imagining the dark, imposing hooded figure eating a bowl of noodles at some small, cheap restaurant, with Zhao Yunlan talking his ear off.
Maybe she should visit too one day, it seemed that the restaurant was bound to become a very interesting place in the future.