Chương 74: Chapter 73 — Law Enforcement [VOLUME 1 END]

The train doors did not open automatically. Shen Yue's hand slammed down on the emergency release, causing the electromechanical system to click slightly, allowing her to manually open the door to exit. She did this all in a hurry, sliding the door open enough for just one person of her build to narrowly slip through before dashing out into the train station.

"Wait!" shouted Lin Che upon seeing her flee. He pushed his legs forwards to give chase, but his body was so overworked that he could not build up enough speed or maintain the stamina required to follow after her. He pushed the door open wider to let himself through onto the platform. The platform outside felt like it was missing something. It took Lin Che several long strides before he realised that the station was completely empty, save for himself and the woman running ahead of him.

There were no other passengers and no members of staff at the barriers — a major regional station at midday was just… empty.

"Shen Yue, come back!" he called, and his voice echoed across the station. She did not hesitate for a moment, instead widening the distance between the both of them. She stepped harder on the ground and circulated rampant Qi into her legs, causing her to unevenly speed up and slow down and take great care in not slipping over lest her sect elder's killer catch up to her.

Shen Yue turned a corner and halted in her tracks, which meant Lin Che caught up just ten seconds later — and he, too, ended up having a net gun shot at him. As the net wrapped around Lin Che, it quickly shocked him unconscious. The last thing he saw before the darkness was a group of eight people dressed entirely in black move to collect his body whilst they waited for his wife to also lose consciousness.

She was spasming in the net, still conscious as her body was familiar with electricity and was nowhere near as weakened as Lin Che's after the fight.

The room they put him in was a small, windowless cube of concrete, where it was impossible to tell if he was on the surface or underground, and equally as impossible to tell what time of day it was. Lin Che was sitting on a backless chair — more of a stool, really — with his hands chained to the table in front of him. He tried to channel his Qi into his arms to break himself free and discovered that, whilst he could still manipulate his Qi rather freely, these chains strengthened in line with himself.

His eyes moved upwards to the stern-faced man in his mid forties just opposite. Unlike Lin Che, he was free to move and free from any shackles. He shined a harsh light at Lin Che, causing him to grimace until his eyes adjusted.

"Name, age, and occupation," he said, rather directly.

"Lin Che, 27, analyst," he replied in turn, groaning as he squinted against the glare.

"Reason for entering Dalian?" the man asked, clicking his ballpoint pen and beginning to note down Lin Che's responses on a clipboard.

"Visiting family and doing some pottery." The man's pen paused mid-stroke.

"Pottery you say…" he raised an eyebrow.

"Is this related to the clay discovered at the scene of the crime?"

"No. Well, maybe, but I don't know if it is." He set the pen down against the table and folded his hands.

"Please answer my questions clearly to make things easier on both me and on you."

"Got it."

"Clan affiliation?"

"Lin Clan," he said, straightening slightly in his chair. The man looked a little closer at Lin Che.

"Speak honestly. Clan affiliation?"

"L–" Lin Che's shoulders dropped.

"None."

"So a rogue cultivator," he muttered to himself.

"That makes things easier, I guess."

"The woman who was with you — who is she?" The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Lin Che paused for a moment.

"I'm sorry — who are you?" The man didn't answer. He simply repeated himself, slower this time.

"The woman. Who was with you. Who is she?"

"Shen Yue of the Shen Clan, also known as my wife."

"Any history of domestic violence?"

"What? No?"

"Or threats, or coercion, or terror in the relationship." The man leaned in closer and lowered his voice.

"Be honest with me, Mr Lin — I already have her statements here," he said, waving a clipboard in Lin Che's face.

"No — none! We made a deal to come to Dalian together. I traded something to her famil—""She was sold to you?" The man's eyebrows shot up, and he was already scribbling before Lin Che could correct him.

"That is already a crime right there."

"No! Not sold. She…" Lin Che's voice trailed off. His mind flickered back to how Shen Yue said he wouldn't get much ransom off her if he were kidnapping her. Had she really been sold off? Sold to a mortal because she didn't have much value? No, that can't have been the case. Wong herself said that Shen Yue's constitution was her bloodline ability.

"Alright, back to the scene of the crime," said the man.

"We were alerted when a train carrying the scent of death had skipped all of its stops and diverted directly towards us in Dalian. Recent evidence suggests that over forty people had been killed within that train. Can you explain to me why that may be the case?"

"They—they were killed and turned into mannequins by someone named Ouyang Wong. She was an elder of the Shen Clan who followed us onto the train in order to kill me."

"And why would she want to kill you so badly?" Lin Che shrugged.

"Does someone who kills forty mortals need a reason to kill the new son-in-law of her clan? She probably just didn't like me and wanted a new mannequin to play with."

"You see, Mr Lin, what I have written in your wife's statement is something else. She said you were the one turning people into mannequins, and you violently murdered Elder Wong when she attempted to stop you — even going so far as to crush her skull into dust and to turn her into a mannequin core."

"I didn'—""We found bone dust across the floor right next to a headless body. And—" He reached into his pocket and fished out the small core.

"—we found this on your person too. Now, I don't want to make any assumptions, so please explain yourself." Lin Che retold everything that had occurred since he married Shen Yue, explaining that he came to Dalian to find out more about his family background from a lady who ran a pottery shop. He said he did not know her name, but he was confident that she existed, which, whilst questionable, was not that concerning a response.

They left him alone after that for what felt like a very long time and reset the grip of the shackles to allow him the slightest bit of comfort that they could. They kept the harsh light on however, although he much preferred it to the complete darkness the concrete room would have had otherwise. When the door finally opened again, it wasn't the same man. It was a woman this time, much younger, carrying a thin folder rather than a clipboard. She sat down on the chair the older man had previously occupied.

"Your soul signature was examined," she said, without preamble.

"There is great evidence of trauma which may or may not be indicative of possession trauma." She flipped the folder open and scanned through a couple of lines.

"That doesn't clear you entirely, but it matches your account better than hers." Lin Che nodded.

"We're placing you under house arrest," she continued, "pending further review until we understand more clearly what it is that transpired on the train. The security footage is not stored locally, so we are waiting for a response from the train company before making a proper sentence. You'll be permitted your belongings as a gesture of goodwill, and we will not be alerting the Shen Clan just yet." She reached across and unlocked the shackles at his wrists with a small key.

"Now, if you could follow me, I will be taking you to the safehouse."

The house they took him to sat at the edge of a residential district in Dalian. It was a two-story building with a small garden that seemed well-maintained for a place where supposedly no one was living. She opened the door and let him enter, and Lin Che immediately noticed the cameras in every single room. He turned to the lady who had freed him, but she simply smiled.

"Might I remind you, Mr Lin, that this is a place to keep you for house arrest. This is not a hotel service, and, as such, there will be eyes placed on you temporarily. Just be glad we aren't being secretive about it all." She turned and closed the door behind her without waiting for a response. Lin Che walked towards the kitchen, thirsty for a warm cup of tea. Instead, however, he met a familiar face: Shen Yue was seated with a cup of tea in her hands that she hadn't yet touched.

She looked up when he entered, and he could have sworn he saw her twitch ever so slightly. For a moment, neither of them said anything. Lin Che looked at her closely, unsure of whether she was shivering from the cold or due to fear from sharing a house with her sect elder's killer. He moved closer to her and passed her seat to turn on the kettle. A familiar female voice came through one of the speakers kept on the ceiling. It was the lady who had just left.

"We will be monitoring your relationship and ensure that no harm can be done to either of you from either of you."

"I don't intend on harming anyone," he said out loud, making eye contact with the camera.

"My wife is perhaps my closest friend — I would never hurt her." Shen Yue faltered at the world friend and opted to move to a different room. The kettle popped off and Lin Che poured hot water over his tea bag. He watched his wife's figure leave his field of vision as she went to another room — perhaps her bedroom or somewhere more private — and this time, he decided not to chase her. If she truly was afraid of him, the least he could do was give her space and show her kindness.

And once we're out of this house arrest, he promised himself. I will explain everything. Time loops and all. ======= Volume 1 End. =======