Wild Creatures

Chapter 82

01.45am Sunday

Exhilaration.

That's what Wei Ying felt, after too long an absence behind the wheel of a car.

He'd learned to drive as part of the school curriculum, passing first try, but again it caused arguments at home. Jiang Cheng still passed on his second try, but nothing except the best could pacify Madam Yu.

And then when he'd left the only home he knew, he had to learn to rely on public transport, quickly adapting because not driving freed up more time that he could spend with A-Yuan.

So tonight, driving was a gift, a much needed distraction from the mountains of problems just threatening to bury him alive.

He parked ruthlessly in the underground parking lot at the National Park and Recs centre, still feeling bubbly and excited.

Da Tuzi needed a minute, or five, to recover from that white-knuckled ride back, and by the time he got out of the car, he had to steady himself as he caught up to Wei Ying, who was holding the elevator door open for him.

Xiao XingChen pressed the button to go down, eyeing the laptop under Wei Ying's arm. A wry smile decorated his face as he noticed Da Tuzi's condition.

"Who drove here?" He can't stop grinning.

"I did." Wei Ying grins back, obliviously. He found weaving in and out of traffic so exciting, keeping an eye on anything getting too close, and the experience managed to wake him up fully.

Xiao XingChen simply smiles more.

Baoshan Sanren is waiting for them in her office, the one with the welcoming fire. Wei Ying feels cold suddenly, seeing the ghosts of himself and Lan Zhan sitting on the couch together that day, so close that he may as well have been sitting in Lan Zhan's lap. Was it only a few days ago?

Tuesday felt like so long ago.

"We'll get him back." A soft voice says, close to his ear.

Wei Ying looks up to see his grandmother patting his shoulder, looking back at him with sympathy. He can't really speak because of the lump in his throat, so he nods and goes with her to her desk, where three chairs are placed next to each other.

He sits in the middle and turns the computer on, when Warm Sky, AKA Mo XuanYu walks in, obviously having run there.

Wei Ying shows him how Lan Zhan had taught him to find the tracker on his wrist.

"That was a good shout, wearing those," Baoshan Sanren nods towards Wei Ying's bracelet.

Wei Ying nods back, pushing the computer towards Warm Sky. He just wished the bracelets hadn't needed to be used like this so soon.

Mo XuanYu lets his fingers type faster than the eye can see, and immediately locates Lan Zhan on the screen.

"It's the Wen Laboratories...no surprises there," Mo XuanYu says, and then he suddenly pauses, zooming into the screen. "Hold on, maybe not..." he narrows his eyes to squint at the screen.

Wei Ying leans closer to him, trying to figure it out.

The blinking red dot isn't moving, so Lan Zhan must be stationary.

"If that's to the right of the actual laboratories, then isn't that the underground parking? Are they gonna move him? Remember, they've knocked him out." Wei Ying grinds his jaws out of frustration.

Just seeing that needle, and my, how he loathed them to begin with, and then to see how thick it was. Needing it to be strong enough to pierce Lan Zhan's skin...thinking about it made him shiver.