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"Come here often?" The man had long hair approaching scruffy, and his goatee bordered a smile that felt improper.
Honestly, Shen Wei did come here often, until recently.
Dragon City University had been his sole employer, until one morning a talking cat knocked on his door. He opened it, and blinked quite profusely at the animal rattling on in human language to him, not sure if it was all just a continuation of some dream. But eventually, the hefty cat forced his way into Shen Wei's apartment, jumped elegantly onto the pristine countertop in the kitchen, and hit his paw down twice onto a letter he'd brought.
It was a notice of employment for the Special Investigation Division, a unit of the police force that Shen Wei had never heard of before, for a job in which he'd never filled out an application.
The cat's name was Da Qing, and Da Qing informed him that due to the numerous strange cases of which Shen Wei had been party to, and his confidential research work on Dixingren and their abilities (the fact Da Qing was privy to such research did lend credence to the possibility of this cat actually working in the government), people at the top had decided to recruit him to work on investigations of Dixingren abusing their powers in an official capacity.
In the past, Shen Wei had met a few of the SID agents. Supposedly, they had a device to make people forget they'd seen them after a case was done, and for all Shen Wei knows perhaps the agents had used it on occasion. But he was an observant man, he had been documenting Dixingren abilities he'd witnessed for as far back as he could remember. Even if an agent managed to make him forget one or two moments of extraordinary powers, it didn't eliminate a lifetime of knowing the reality of the world.
When he was a youth, he saw a figure in a dark cloak, outside the window of his bedroom. Governed by logic, even in those days, he wrote it off as perhaps the remnants of a nightmare, or mistaking a tree in the darkness of night for a person. But that first sighting lit the fire of his curiosity.
Perhaps even if he hadn't seen the figure, he would have become enamored with the idea of human evolution, of the possibilities that could exist, and eventually would have joined the secret government research--at which point his peers would have to tell him of the existence of Dixing, and the people who came from that place.
But he had seen the figure.
Shen Wei raced out of his bedroom that night, quite certain he'd felt a very real attention focused on him--that when he'd seen the figure, the stranger was staring back. When reached the yard, he saw the solid figure disappearing in a wispy shadow, and then the shadow disappeared entirely. Shen Wei knew that shadows were never solid objects by then, he knew what he saw could not have been a trick of the light, he knew that what he witnessed could not be explained by his knowledge at the time. So he went to work investigating.
The years of investigation led naturally to his major, then his career, then his research. Now, the SID had decided his actions would place him among their ranks.
The man smiled fondly at the blush spreading across Shen Wei's cheeks at the cheesy pick up line. Before Shen Wei had time to gain his bearings, he reached out and grabbed Shen Wei's hand--taking the initiative of shaking it.
He introduced himself as Zhao Yunlan.
Shen Wei opened his mouth and closed it a few times, still furiously overwhelmed at this man's audacity--at the charmingly attractive smile being shone on him like a beam of too-bright sunlight.
Zhao Yunlan barreled on, as if Shen Wei's hesitance were simply nerves, and he wanted to preserve Shen Wei's valuable time. "You're with the SID, aren't you?"
"Excuse me?" Shen Wei's suspicion prickled, no longer seeing this meeting as spontaneous, or simply a handsome stranger recklessly coming onto him while they happened to be in the same place. Zhao Yunlan simply knowing about SID, meant he was either a. Another officer or government employee and should have contacted the SID ahead of time to arrange a formal meeting for official business, b. a Dixingren or Yao who clocked Shen Wei as a new agent, and again they should have contacted the office for a formal conversation if they wanted to make an introduction or ask for help, c. a Dixingren or Yao involved in illegal affairs, possibly trying to make the first move and throw Shen Wei and the SID off their case before evidence led to them, d. a human civilian who should have no business even knowing the SID exists if the agents have been doing their jobs and wiping memories. Not that Shen Wei doesn't understand, from a civilian's perspective, the curiosity. But Shen Wei would never have gone and introduced himself to an agent so directly!
Zhao Yunlan kept on smiling, as if the beauty of it would blind Shen Wei to the severity of this situation.
Shen Wei kept his brows furrowed, his frown deepened, and he did not relent on the severe set to his stare. He waited for this suspect to break, to admit to wrongdoing like Shen Wei really was a police officer and not the mild professor he still dressed as--he'd just finished teaching a class.
Zhao Yunlan laughed. But frustratingly, it was not a nervous laugh as if intimidated, but the laugh of someone quite touched by something precious or cute. He found Shen Wei's attempt at intimidation cute!
There was certainly nothing cute about Shen Wei's demeanor. Even though his time as an officer has just started, he's been giving students stern looks for years and they've always made the recipients submit and cower away. He's given this look to plenty of miscreants on campus, and even strangers in the city when he's witnessed someone behaving impolitely or worse--always, Shen Wei's presence has been sufficiently intimidating to drive bad actors to tamper down and feel some regret.
It's possible this man, whatever his background, really was into Shen Wei--sexually, romantically, both, something--and desired greatly to find out what happened if the stern warning of Shen Wei's body language wasn't heeded.
Shen Wei hadn't spent much time in the SID getting practice physically restraining, or combatting, people. He was still too new at the department. But he practiced martial arts and boxing, and had developed quite decent strength and skill. He was no lightweight, he could fold this man like paper if he wanted to.
As if Zhao Yunlan saw the thought, his eyes sparkled and darted away for a moment--unfortunately not in shame, but more like overwhelm at how delighted he was to be in Shen Wei's presence.
Zhao Yunlan's hand was so warm against his own, Shen Wei's was sweating in the grip, terrified this man might interpret the reaction--correctly--as physical attraction. He was still flushed, and it only intensified the longer he failed to intimidate Zhao Yunlan. Mercifully, Zhao Yunlan's hand finally released his, and he scratched through the crow's nest of hair on his head as Shen Wei glanced away from bashfulness as much as shame.
"I'm sorry, I should have explained who I am," Zhao Yunlan said, his smile turning apologetic. But his eyes remained full of delight, clearly he enjoyed having made Shen Wei squirm. "I didn't mean to make you think you're bad at this job, or anything. I'm sure you'll do amazing in the Special Investigations Department."
Shen Wei found himself still speechless, unable to determine what to say. He noted mentally, Zhao Yunlan hadn't actually explained who he was yet.
"How do you know so much about me?" is what Shen Wei finally blurted out of his lips, before Zhao Yunlan could lead the conversation somewhere else.
Zhao Yunlan smiled opaquely. "I'm friends with Da Qing."
Somehow, they'd gone through the introduction, and parted after, without Shen Wei getting answers from the mysterious man.
One of Shen Wei's students came up, crying that Professor Zhang needed his assistance immediately. Shen Wei rushed off at once--one of Zhang Ruonan's students was a Dixingren, and both were involved in the recent case SID was tied up in.
Shen Wei still didn't know if Zhao Yunlan was a civilian, or Dixingren, or Yao. If Zhao Yunlan really did know Da Qing, then it was possible he was a yao, or Da Qing had severely failed the SID policy of keeping certain things secret if he was blabbering on about the department to some human friend he made.
It complicated matters further when, upon Shen Wei asking the cat about it later at the office, Da Qing just said, "Who?"
The mystery of Zhao Yunlan was a less urgent matter than the SID's current case. Shen Wei was not stupid, and even among the other SID officers, he tended to notice subtle things that some of the others overlooked--he didn't think he was particularly sensitive to people's emotions, and yet sometimes the motives of others fell together like puzzle pieces into a clear picture.
The team realized someone was killing Professor Zhang's old students, and that killer was a Dixingren, hence why SID took charge of the case. Shen Wei had been colleagues with Zhang Ruonan for long enough that he could see she was tangled up in the motive somehow, knew more than she was admitting to Guo Changcheng and Zhu Hong when they asked her follow up questions.
Professor Zhang was close to a young woman, Wang Yike. She was from Dixing. Zhang Ruonan was protecting her. They were protecting each other.
That was the heart of it. The painful realization.
Shen Wei had always seen himself as a regular law abiding citizen. He'd skirted around the SID wiping his memory a few times, of course, and in Dragon City University he'd looked into what a colleague was working on for the government, research that proved the existence of Dixingren and their mutations, before he'd been formally brought into the project. And he'd witnessed many mutants use their powers, ever since he saw that cloaked figure and taken up the personal mission to find more people like that stranger, witness their powers, confirm for himself that such things existed in the world--many mutants which he never bothered mentioning to anyone. People who had nothing to do with SID cases Shen Wei had stumbled into over the years, people who he now knew technically were in Haixing illegally, officially, it was his duty as a SID officer to turn over to the Black Cloak Envoy to return to their world underground.
Shen Wei had only been a member of the SID for a handful of months, and he'd been so busy catching up on all the things he didn't know, reading all the official procedures and policies to make sure he's competent to the degree Shen Wei always aspired to be, so he told himself there was limited time. His days are too busy to go about filing reports on old sightings he had of Dixingren here, and besides, most of them were not hurting anyone.
Shen Wei wondered if the SID would dismiss him, if the higher ups that supervised both the SID and the confidential research he was involved in, would blacklist him, if they discovered his sympathies.
He found his heart torn--Shen Wei did not want to tear the women apart, he did not want to condemn the younger one for trying to protect the older. Maybe he never should have taken up this position, this legal responsibility--could he even have refused the SID's call? If Shen Wei were still a civilian, and maybe he was deluding himself, but he felt perhaps there could have been a way to help his friend Zhang Ruonan, and her companion Wang Yike, flee and find themselves somewhere peaceful to live out better days.
They had met by happenstance. Zhang Hao had befriended Wang Yike, and helped her to pursue the small joys of a normal life on this earth. Wang Yike desired to protect her savior in return, and in failing one day, sought to eliminate those that had hurt Zhang Hao, and those actions attracted the authority's attention.
As it was, Shen Wei was tied too deeply into legal systems, Shen Wei doubted he could act in a fashion both quick and subtle enough to ensure their safety and his own. Someone would have to face consequences for their actions.
The Black Cloak Envoy materialized from a wisp of black smoke that appeared and then grew until his solid form emerged. Shen Wei, who'd been watching just as stiff and nervous as the other SID members--even more so, really, because it was his first time meeting the infamous Lord, although he felt he did an adamant job of appearing composed and unruffled--felt his heart sink deep into a pit.
This figure was the same as the cloaked stranger who once materialized outside of his window, gazed at him, and then disappeared. Shen Wei had not forgotten a detail of what he'd seen, that night long ago, and what he saw now was undeniably an echo.
Nevertheless, his coworkers did not know of that precious memory, and Shen Wei hoped--his heart pounding so hard he hoped no one else could hear it, though Da Qing probably could--the figure never realized he'd been observed in return that night.
"Black Cloak Envoy," Shen Wei bowed in sincerity, the picture of politeness. His coworkers followed his lead, and for a moment Shen Wei felt the situation had stabilized and would continue the way he'd imagined this meeting with the Lord might.
"'Sup?"
Shen Wei straightened up at once, needing to see the Lord with his own eyes to confirm that is what he heard--and to check none of his coworkers, who'd spent an hour hammering on how frightening the Black Cloak Envoy was, didn't just lose their senses and say something wildly inappropriate due to nerves.
At Shen Wei's confused blinking, the Lord moved forward and grasped Shen Wei's hand warmly in his own. The touch was familiar.
The whole world narrowed to the man in front of Shen Wei--the laughable mask not hiding his goatee, or that inexplicably fond smile.
"You?"
Zhao Yunlan's smile grew. "As I said earlier, I'm glad to see you here."
Shen Wei could have fainted, were he a man of less durable substance. Instead, he was just as frozen, except for the blossoming pink across his pale cheeks, as their last encounter on Dragon City University's campus.
Finally, he couldn't contain himself anymore, and let loose regardless of the embarrassment. "You're the Black Cloak Envoy?" He knew he was growing redder. Shen Wei desperately wanted to ask why, in all of existence, the Lord had been flirting with him the last time they ran into each other.
Or, as his heart was finally stabilizing, why the Lord watched him so long ago, and never bothered officially introducing himself years ago?
"Never mind," Shen Wei overwrote himself, as the answer to his spoken question was obvious--of course Zhao Yunlan was the Black Cloak Envoy, everyone else present was terrified of him and remained so. The Lord showed up to do his duty, just as the SID told Shen Wei he would, and until business was finished it was improper to waste time on Shen Wei's private concerns.
Except, he had one last private concern that would require voicing.
Zhang Ruonan was hurt, an accident during Wang Yike's use of her powers. As so often happens, eventually Wang Yike's pursuit of vengeance over the harms Zhang Ruonan suffered, resulted in Wang Yike hurting the one person she most wanted to protect.
The SID members had gotten to the pair in time for Zhang Ruonan to be aged to her twilight years, but not yet dead. Then it had been time to call the Black Cloak Envoy, for the Lord to take the Dixingren away for her crimes. Shen Wei had held his tears in, pressed up his glasses to hide behind and stiffen his expression into granite, and resolved to beg on their behalf for mercy. Even if it meant his own loss of job, or even charges levied against him--if he did nothing, he would not be able to live with himself. It hurt too much, seeing them in the interrogation room, Wang Yike finally able to touch Zhang Ruonan's face, the younger girl sobbing as she exclaimed, "I'm sorry." Professor Zhang smiled gently in return, never letting go of Wang Yike's ungloved hand, and barely above a whisper told her, "This is the best ending, for you and I." Shen Wei refused to grieve until they truly reached their end.
"Before you do your duty"--Shen Wei started, feeling braver now that he realized the Lord was also the bizarre but friendly stranger who'd flirted with him, and shown the capacity to act quite relaxed and agreeable--"is there anything you can do for Professor Zhang? She's on the couch in the back room, and I fear her time left is short, due to Wang Yike's powers."
Even if Wang Yike had to face the consequences of the murders she committed, Shen Wei hoped to at least see that her loved one was spared.
The smile on the Lord's face softened, the expression turning more solemn. "I can neutralize Wang Yike's powers now, so that the harm stops now. But I can't undo the damage already caused."
The Envoy can't return Zhang Ruonan to what she once was, what she might have been if she never let a Dixingren into her life, never grew close to Wang Yike.
"Please," Shen Wei nodded, and brought Zhao Yunlan to the room where the pair was resting together.
The Lord put a hand on both of the women's shoulders, and dark energy went from his palms and into them. Then it was simply over, Zhao Yunlan withdrew his touch, then his eyes met Shen Wei's with a look of confirmation.
Shen Wei didn't know if Zhao Yunlan could read minds--or even if, ultimately, it would be better or worse for him in Zhao Yunlan could. The other SID members had certainly talked about the Black Cloak Envoy like his powers were endless, no feat one could imagine being beyond his capability.
But legends and the tales spun about them could often be exaggerated, and Shen Wei still wasn't sure how to rectify the man he saw before him now--not as imposing in his power as the SID had led him to believe, but there was a regal aspect to his figure that betrayed the weight of his position--to the reckless flirtations of a few days ago, or to the mysterious stranger who'd watched Shen Wei long ago until one day Shen Wei caught sight, and then Shen Wei never saw another glimpse.
Shen Wei clasped his hands tightly together in front of him, as he watched Zhao Yunlan gather Wang Yike to her feet, after she said one more goodbye.
He blurted, "Is there any way for you to view this case with mercy, my lord? Wang Yike did not hurt anyone in Haixing, until humans committed crimes of their own--crimes our legal system did not catch or stop in time to provide justice. The young woman had few options for recourse, and being a Dixingren she could not have come to us for help without risking arrest, and SID's jurisdiction does not include the crimes she'd have sought help for."
"What are you trying to say?" Zhao Yunlan asked, his countenance patient.
"We humans have no control over the punishment she will face in Dixing. I am aware that once we hand criminals to you, the responsibility and decisions are transferred to Dixing. I am trying to say... I ask you to please speak on her behalf, if you can."
In his heart, silently, he wished to ask that Wang Yike's sentence be not just merciful, or short enough to end before Zhang Ruonan died of old age, but somehow that she be allowed to return to Haixing when it ended. Shen Wei knew better--the law forbade any Dixingren from living here, unless they worked for SID or another governmental body. All of those Dixingren he'd encountered over the years, and guarded the knowledge of inside the safety of his own mind, they were all people the Black Cloak Envoy couldn't just look away from if he learned about them. It was his duty, even more than Shen Wei's when he could perhaps quit the SID if he truly desired.
The Lord was supposedly millennia old, and charged with maintaining order. His duty was so deeply ingrained he might as well be an immortal with divine purpose. Someone like that could not simply bend the rules for one young woman, just because the Haixing laws had failed to protect Zhang Ruonan or give Wang Yike a way to ask for help.
"You would ask for mercy, for one of us?" Zhao Yunlan said, his voice so soft that Shen Wei wasn't sure if he was supposed to respond or not.
If Zhao Yunlan could hear Shen Wei's thoughts, his heart, then he might have felt how strongly Shen Wei felt the question was absurd. How deeply he saw them as simply other people. Not monsters--not Wang Yike with her hands that could absorb life, not Chu Shuzhi and his puppet strings, not the countless people he'd witnessed for much of his life, not even the cloaked figure that'd spied on Shen Wei and been able to disappear into the wind.
Shen Wei would defend even the Black Cloak Envoy from those monstrous research colleagues who wanted to experiment on Dixingren, without a thought to the people they'd be hurting or worse. He swallowed down a bitter laugh, realizing it would not be long before he blew up his position in the research lab, refusing to allow their work to continue unless there was drastic change enforced. Shen Wei had deluded himself, the week he started SID, into thinking somehow as a member of SID he could push the government to push regulations onto the research into mutant powers, force the scientists to respect Dixingren human dignity, give Dixing the power to prosecute citizens of Haixing if they did harm upon Dixingren.
Perhaps he was naive to still think that dream was remotely a possibility. Looking at Zhao Yunlan, feeling as if somehow the man could see him, see within him, Shen Wei was desperate to believe he could do some good in this world--for all worlds--before it annihilated him completely.
"I will do all that I can," Zhao Yunlan promised. The power of his words untangled some of the knots within Shen Wei's chest.
Then the Black Cloak Envoy and Wang Yike dematerialized into a pit of darkness, and the darkness itself disappeared soon after. The SID members around Shen Wei dispersed, but Shen Wei remained frozen in place a while longer, as the fears inside him finished unweaving from the one singular purpose--concern for Zhang Ruonan and Wang Yike--to the older, more long standing concerns of his life.
Now that Shen Wei knew the identity of the cloaked stranger who drew him into this bigger world, the most critical desire within him was to follow the thread of Zhao Yunlan until the reasons he secretly sought Shen Wei out all those years ago became clear.