Gloria turned to Marcus, this time she really was surprised, a little shocked, even. Marcus never mentioned this person. If he had known already, everything would have been so much easier.

“Are you saying - Mr. Liaoran is - ”

“What his name was, is, is not important.” Chef Tang shrugged: “Liaoran is but a ritualistic name, with no ties to his birth identity. It belongs to that temple he resided in. It’s a temple no one has authority over and wants to be in charge of.”

“Wait - I heard of him as well.” Gloria raised her hand: “He’s - he’s the mentor of my boss - I mean my mentor.”

“Oh.” Chef Tang almost laughed out loud: “I see - good to know that he is not locked in his position and still trying to make a difference, fragile balance be damned.”

“Can’t say that I’m surprised. Those who made the deal obviously are not holding up their end of the deal - or at least not holding it as honestly as they should.” Marcus took a deep breath: “Maybe - maybe I’ll go ask him.”

“What else do we know about this - this Master Liaoran? ” Gloria scratched her head: “What can you tell us about him? I mean - can he even tell us if we asked? He’s a pillar, that means - there’s a ton of responsibilities on his shoulders.”

“I trust that you already know, he was one of the most powerful mystic martial arts practitioners of his time. No one really knew what style he started with, but it’s been proven that he is deeply knowledgeable and experienced in a wide variety of them.” Chef Tang sighed: “And I guess this is for the best, because whatever he teaches you, they will have a hard time tracing back to him. And even if they did, they wouldn’t be able to do anything.”

“I sure hope so.” Marcus sighed.

“And there’s one more thing I believe you’d be interested to know.” Chef Tang snapped his fingers: “Consider this a bonus, and a token of my gratitude and appreciation. Have you encountered watchers of sites?”

Marcus and Gloria looked at each other once, then Gloria answered on behalf of them: “No - I don’t think we have - ”

“Good then. Because that would be - suboptimal.” Chef Tang nodded: “These are remnants of the old days, we haven’t had any since the last 15 year cycle - they are powerful guardians of various sites of paranormal death of burials - they are, in theory, under the control of the highest power in the community collective, or the city. They are, in principle, stationed in every site spread around the city. But they are short-handed because they haven’t had any viable new candidate in a while.”

“But - how - ” Gloria wanted to follow up with a question before a staffer rushed into the room and whispered something to the Chef’s ear.

“Just go get that folder.” Chef Tang said to the staffer with a frown: “We’ll deal with this later.”

The staffer nodded and left the room in a hurry, just like he came in.

“Something wrong, Chef?” Marcus asked.

“A group of people of unknown loyalty attacked your precinct, Detective Cai.” Chef Tang looked Marcus in the eyes.

“What - what the fuck! How dare they!?” Marcus wanted to rush out, but was pulled back by Gloria.

“Your going back to your precinct might not do anyone any good.” Chef Tang also moved to block Marcus’ way partially: “It seemed either the city or your captain had sent in a team to deal with it. The place is in total lockdown right now, only specifically authorized personnel are allowed in. There were no casualties so far. Some officers were injured, a few of them were in critical condition. And some other officers were missing - your friends included. There’s no evidence that they are subject to any harm. Just hang on a second.”

“But - what for?” Marcus wanted to bash something or throw a plate or a tea cup to the wall, it was only the fact that he was in the shop keeping him in check.

“For what you came here for. I think it’s time that I deliver anyway.” Chef Tang sighed. 

The staffer that came in earlier came back, with a thin dark brown leather folder in his hand. Chef Tang took the folder, took a quick look at the files inside and handed it to Marcus: “This is all we gathered so far from those men. Not a lot. Far from enough. We were only able to verify some of the information. So - come back for more, though don’t be too hopeful. The measures put on them - they’re awful but they did the job.”

“Thank you. Thank you Chef.” Marcus bowed to Chef Tang, before rushing out of the noodle shop.

Shout outs to my patrons:

mant06

Jonathan

Thank you very much!