Light Against Shadows

Chapter 15

Sitting at his desk, Yunlan was looking over some files.

Six days had gone by since he last met Wei, and neither of them had yet tried to contact the other.

He wasn't angry, but the uncertainty over what had happened distressed him. Was he really floating mid-air? How was that possible?

He never believed in ghosts and all those supernatural things, but he couldn't find any reasonable explanation either.

He tried not to think about it and focus solely on his work, but from time to time Wei's face appeared in front of his eyes.

He shrugged it off when he heard his boss shouting.
"Zhao Yunlan. They found one. Get your ass over there immediately."

They found one. Yunlan knew he had to be talking about one of the men recently disappeared. He got up and hurried out.

"Do you need help?" Hong asked.

Zhao rolled his eyes but he was too worn out to argue with her, so he turned and gestured for her to hurry up.

He drove to the hospital. The boss said the paramedics couldn't wait for the police and brought him straight there.

It was a long ride. The man had disappeared five minutes away from Yunlan's police station, but he had been found some sixty miles away.

Yunlan parked near the hospital entrance and quickly got in.

They asked immediately about the patient but the nurse they talked to stopped them from going further.

"The doctors are with him now, he can't have visitors."

Hong unzipped her jacket revealing the badge hanging from a steel chain around her neck.

"Police. We must talk to the doctors and see the patient under their care."

The nurse reluctantly told her that he would let the doctors know about her request.

He came back after a while and told Hong to follow him. Yunlan also went, but the nurse raised an arm.

"You must stay here unless you're also an officer."

The nurse shot him an inquisitive look.
Yunlan realised that he was waiting for him to show him his badge. He never used the chain, nor he ever pinned it anywhere, but it wasn't in the front pocket of his jacket where he usually kept it.

"Where the hell is it?" he murmured, checking all his other pockets.

Hong sighed ostentatiously. "Why don't you hang it around your neck like me? It's pretty handy."

"Necklaces are for girls," he said, checking the pocket at the front of his jacket again under the nurse's annoyed stare.

"I know you think everybody knows you, but sometimes even you need to show your badge."

Yunlan grunted something she didn't understand, then they heard a man's voice shouting.

"I'll be damned if that's not Zhao Yunlan! What brings you this far?"

Yunlan exhamined the man, quickly searching his brain for an indentity. Little man, round face, loud squeaking voice, he appeared to be of his same age. A younger version presented itself in the form of an old memory and he opened his arms.

"Zheng Yibo, you haven't changed a bit, how long has it been, twenty years?"

"Twenty-one since I lived in our old neighbourhood! I work here, you must call me doctor Zheng now."