The Tale Never Ends Chapter 155 Trump Card: Zheng Shuang

I had but the deepest loathing for such ways of tormenting people ever since our last bout with Bai Chuanwei, one of the Thirteen Apostles of the Creed. That was because ways to cause pain to people could only be concocted by those with the vilest and most insidious of intents. Moreover, I detested troubles that were messy and required a lot of grunt work. But everything hinged on the answers that the boy would give us.

Bewildered, he scratched his head. "Urm... I bought this small cauldron from a stall at the market. It's a long time ago. But the methods to use it were taught to me by an online friend I met through Internet forums." Rubbing my chin, I uttered an "Oh?" with interest as he continued again, trusting us fully, all thanks to our small-time fame, "Most, if not all, of the discussions at the forum, is about you. The things that you all do. Of course, most of us are merely amateurs in such matters. There have been fellow users who claimed to be mediums or shamans too, but their fake identities are easily punctured. Even I know more about these things than they do, for crying out loud! But this particular user was quite knowledgeable in matters of the paranormal, hence we talked quite a lot."

"What have you learned from him so far?" I asked. I was still rubbing my chin, intrigued as to who could this person be. The boy wore an earnest and passionate expression as he began talking about this friend of his, "Well, I wouldn't say learn, per se. But we discuss a lot, really, so we picked up a few things from each other." I felt a dread creeping into me and my blood feeling cold suddenly. "If this friend of his is indeed a person with sinister designs, he could have easily corrupted the boy through their communication!"

But the boy went on, "Some of the things I learned from him included how to summon spiritual entities to do our bidding and the inscriptions on talismanic paper strips to tame and subdue ghosts and spirits. I've not tried them all before, but they are all true, I guess..." "NO, THEY'RE NOT!" I snapped and the boy gaped at me with his eyes as large as eggs. "Surely not?!" He gasped.

The boy knew too much for his own good and it was clear that he would never take our word for it, even with our warnings. Still, I hissed to him, as forthcoming as I ever was, "What you've seen online are all lies. DO NOT EVER test the methods you saw. Remember what I say. More so, if you value your life. REMEMBER!" He stared at me frightfully, his eyes quivering uncertainly as he yelped an incomprehensible affirmation.

Our conversation with the boy finally ended with a request for his mysterious friend's online ID and another few heavy warnings, before we promptly left.

We were on the way of going back to the Center, when Lin Feng asked me, his eyes still on the road ahead, "Why did you ask for the friend's online ID for? You wish to become a friend to approach him?" Chongxi peered at me with a blank look, hoping for an answer as well. His IQ seemed to suffer a plunge everything if there was no food. I chuckled and wound down the window to light myself a cigarette. "Of course not! Have you not remembered what happened with Bai Chuanwei? Now that the boy's almost in trouble, I doubt this friend of his will ever appear at the forum anymore. No one is foolish enough to paint a target on his own back." "This begs the question: why the online ID at all?" Lin Feng scratched his head and pressed.

I exhaled a mouthful of smoke out my window. "D*mn, you guys have become fools today? Surely you remember we still have a trump card!" Chongxi, with a sudden recovery in his IQ, yelled from backseat suddenly, "I KNOW! ZHENG SHUANG!" "CORRECT!" I boomed from the front, giggling with glee. "This online ID may only be a glass hammer to us, but its value is entirely different in Zheng Shuang's hands!"

"But this is hardly something that concerns the police," Lin Feng muttered hesitantly, "Can we really trouble him to work on this? This seems something beyond their jurisdiction?" I shook my head, saying nothing, but fished my handphone from my pocket. I searched for Zheng Shuang's name in my phonebook and tapped on the "Call" button.

It did not take long for Zheng Shuang to answer his phone as he always did. "Zheng Shuang, I need your help with something..." And I told him everything. At the end of my account, I said gravely, "I understand that this is actually beyond your jurisdiction and it might be a bit difficult for you." But Zheng Shuang's jovial voice rang from the other end, "No problem, Brother. What we need to do, is to make sure that our stories tally well in the end. We can just report it as a possible case of evil cults again! Or maybe the remnants of those we've arrested before! I'm sure it'll work. No one expects the infestation of such vermins could be wholly eradicated, see?" "Very well," I chuckled and said, "Just get to it then. I'll wait for your good news." I ended the call, and Chongxi and Lin Feng guffawed.

But Lin Feng's confidence quickly deflated. We had barely walked into the Center, when he asked again, "Wait, Shiyan. Something's still not right." "What's not right?" I asked. "Well... Just saying, what if this mysterious online friend has discovered the procedures for the magical rituals by accident? Would that not be a waste of time? We would have a lot of explaining to do, especially to the police after all the hoo-ha?!"

Chongxi and I exchanged quick glances. He was slurping on his instant noodles. "You might not notice, Brother, that it's only one-to-one-thousand that one can chance upon a magical ritual. Or one that actually works, to say the least. Even if the person is indeed so lucky, he or she would also have to know the incantations to recite! Only a person who is initiated, a fellow member in our line of business knows all these. The probability is just as much as winning a lottery!"

"So Murphy's Law might just be proven after all!" Lin Feng grumbled irately, scratching his head. I shook my head. "I understand why you still don't get it. But listen closely. I would not have paid close attention to this matter at another time. But we are in a critical stage; one that you have yet to understand. Do you remember what I said to you all as to the reason for my father's refusal to ascend?" My question was met by the blank looks and nods from my companions. I continued, "That is the very reason. The demons and paranormal entities in the vicinities are growing restless because of the upcoming Crucible of Heaven. Many of them, especially the evil ones, are viewing this as a chance to increase their powers and longevity. It's no way that this case is a coincidence to happen now. My best guess is that these are all part of a greater scheme. We cannot be more careful by letting something like this to pass our notice."

With the story of Father and the Crucible, the realization about the gravity of the events came finally to Chongxi and Lin Feng. We talked about the upcoming Crucible and the possible implications. There might be other immortals-to-be who could also be taking the test this time. But there was one thing we could be sure: the Crucible of Heaven this time was especially for Father. Ironically, he never wished to ascend to true immortality, at least for now. This begged another question: what would happen to the beasts and demons hoping to hitch Father's ride? It would be interesting to see the Crucible's stroke of lightning smiting upon them in all its fury, including the evil and vile entities who had tethered their hopes to Father. They would be in for a tremendous disappointment, if Death did not claim them first.

For more than two decades, Father and Mother had showered me with nothing but undivided love and care. Although highly unlikely, I could not help but feel an incident or someone might appear to manipulate Father, especially at such a critical hour with the Crucible of Heaven in the offing. Hence, it was up to me to help Father and make sure that nothing would go wrong.

With the truth now finally made known to them, my companions immediately offered nothing but their full cooperation and help. In times like this, I could not stress enough my gratitude to have such friends who constantly lived up to our "one for all, and all for one" brotherhood.

The evening passed by with more talks and banter until Edelweiss came back from shopping with Mother and we decided to go for dinner. We locked up the Center and went to a nearby restaurant. As soon as we had just placed our order, my phone rang suddenly. It was Zheng Shuang. "You're still at the Center, are you? I've traced the login ID of our mysterious friend." I threw quick looks to my companions as I spoke into my phone, "We're at a restaurant now. How about you come here too?"

I told him where we were and he arrived not more than ten minutes later. He charged in the restaurant like a thunderous locomotive that the waiter at the door turned pale, thinking if he was going to be arrested. "H-how can I help you, Officer?" he asked a fully-uniformed Zheng Shuang who entered hastily, panting for breath as he peered around for us. With a dismissive rebuff by the wave of his hand, Zheng Shuang found us at last and left him frozen at his spot, coming to us directly.

One of the patrons at the table beside ours whispered, "Heavens, he's coming for them! They must be wanted for something!" "I'm sure they are!" said another.

But Zheng Shuang marched to us and drew himself a chair, sitting down nonchalantly as he barked at another waiter, "Another set of tableware please."

Chapter end