The Last Dainv

Police sirens blared in the distance, getting closer to where the gunshots were heard and to the small forested park they were in. Multiple tires screeched throughout the neighbourhood, telling the team that they needed to get out as fast as possible.

Rachel burnt off the bits of blood that splattered on the ground caused by Gale's reflection and the man's legs being cut off. Kyle picked up the man and quickly nodded to everyone to follow him.

Moving silently through the streets, they went directly through the roads towards Walmart. In just a few minutes, they reached the lot.

Kyle dropped him beside his big SUV. Parking lot was still empty except for two cars parked by the entrance. The streets were still devoid of pedestrians.

Gale leaned against the car while Kyle and Clyde crouched in front of the captive. Rachel stood with her arms crossed, watching. Jeanne and Marine kept watch at the edges of the parking lot just in case his buddies came back for him.

"Name," Kyle said.

The man glared up at him. "Huang Bo."

"You got an English name?"

"No."

"Alright, Bill. How long you been in Canada for?" Clyde asked.

Huang Bo, newly named as Bill, coughed up blood on the side. "One week."

Rachel crouched beside Clyde. "One week and your English is that good?"

Bill scoffed. "That racist to think Chinese cannot speak English. Most Chinese have better English marks than you stupid Canadians. Our children study harder than your Canadian kids."

Clyde punched the man's arm softly, but not too hard to cause noise, making Bill wince. "Hey, buddy. Only friends get to insult our cheeky fire princess."

Kyle leaned in closer. "Why were you stealing money from the bank?"

"It not about money," Bill said. "It about what's inside those lockboxes."

"What were you looking for?" Clyde asked.

"Prototype dust vial from Alexei."

Wasn't that Spotlight's leader? Gale glanced at Rachel, noting her lips slightly tug at the corner. He still hadn't had his revenge against that asshole too. For sending them to the Tomb, if Gale ever saw him, he'd give him a hard punch to the gut or maybe even kill him.

"Alexei Krylov?" Rachel asked.

Bill smirked. "Who else?"

"What does this prototype do?" Kyle asked.

"It have compound that bypass Qi pool. Minimize dust contact on flesh." Bill winced as he shifted. "Alexei developing it for Jiuling. Was good deal. Both sides benefit. Then your shitty Ann family ruined everything."

Rachel shrugged. "Not my call."

"Your grandma stole most of product and ruined the rest from lab in Oshawa. Kill all assistants. You see yourselves as vindicated, princess?" Bill laughed but ended up coughing.

"This dust strain really that different from what you guys have right now?" Clyde asked. "Last I know, Tangmen do their own dust research and shit."

"Much different. We don't know how Alexei produces it. Drug pass through up to 95%. Tangmen only have 65% passthrough."

Kyle whistled. "That's huge. But..."

"You think Alexei could make that on his own?" Clyde asked.

"Don't matter. Only results matter," Bill said.

Marine and Jeanne shook their heads.

"Then this is all an arms race for the inner Jiuling sects and families?" Rachel asked.

"Your princess at least slightly smart," Bill grinned.

"I did see a document in grandma's office..." Rachel muttered.

"What document?" Kyle asked.

"A document titled 'Mel' that was backing Spotlight, or at least that's what aunt Leah told me."

"You thinking someone's pulling the strings behind Spotlight?" Kyle asked.

"She's not thinking that. She's saying that. No way that Alexei rose up so high in the Silver Lion hierarchy as a mundane," Clyde said.

"But what would be the point of having such a high passthrough rate for Alexei? They wouldn't just accept to research that for the Jiuling for money unless..." Kyle trailed off.

Clyde turned his eyes to Bill. "Unless Spotlight was being backed by a certain Jiuling sect."

Bill's mouth twitched slightly.

"Bingo," Kyle said.

"Unfortunately, we don't give a shit right now," Clyde said.

"That's a problem for the higher ups," Kyle said.

"Right. Then how is Yuxuan related to this prototype?"

"What else?" Bill's nose wrinkled. "He wants to redeem himself. Bring them prototype. Show them he's still useful. Show them kicking him out was mistake."

"Wutang kicked him out for using poison arts," Kyle said. "Why would bringing them a drug prototype change their minds?"

"Because Wutang leadership hypocrites. They say poison art dishonorable, but they happy to monopolize prototype and increase disciple cultivation base. Yuxuan know this. He bring them prototype. They welcome him back with open arms. Redeem his failures and assign him to the medicinal pavilion."

"Where's the prototype now?" Gale asked.

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Bill looked at him for the first time since the interrogation started. His eyes looked him up and down. When his pupils went back to Gale's face, there was a slight dilation in his iris as his eyes widened.

"Answer," Gale said again.

Clearing his throat, Bill said, "Prototype now with teammates. Probably in hiding now till morning to move."

Standing up, Gale looked to Kyle. "Should we chase?"

"Nah," Kyle replied. "Prototype's actually not our main goal, right?"

"Right."

"Rachel, this is more Aurian related problem rather than a mundane problem. Either you could call it in to your grandma or Gerard to handle, or we just ignore this whole thing." Kyle yawned.

"Unless you wanna contract the Path twins directly for a big lump sum?" Clyde asked.

"Do you guys ever not think about money?" Rachel asked.

"Never," Kyle and Clyde said simultaneously.

"Ugh," Rachel shook her head. "It doesn't matter to me. Let the Jiuling do what they want with the prototype. Problem is, why the fuck is Yuxuan trying to take over distribution networks?"

Bill chuckled. "Distribution network may have clues on manufacturing method of prototype."

"So Bonnie was after the distribution because she wanted to protect the mundanes from the drugs being distributed while Yuxuan was after the distribution for the recipe?" Clyde asked.

"I mean, they got good motives," Kyle said.

"Stupidly logical motives, gotta admit."

"Hold on, you said 'teammate'. You saying this is a Jiuling operation?" Kyle turned to Bill.

"Path Twins using brain now. Very smart," Bill smirked.

"Well shit, this just got a whole lot more complicated," Clyde said. "If he's here to redeem himself, and these idiots are following him that are also from Jiuling, there's no way they didn't send an elder with him."

"What's an elder?" Gale asked.

Marine answered from her position by the side of the lot. "Basically someone that's protecting Yuxuan. A babysitter with teeth. For Jiuling, elders are always above Harmonic. Possibly even Mystic depending on how important the mission is."

"That would explain how Lily got caught in an ambush," Jeanne added. "Either Yuxuan was hidden completely or buffed to the shit by that elder. Unfortunate for Lily."

"It doesn't matter," Gale said, crouching down to Bill's level and meeting the cripple eye to eye. "Yuxuan made our friend lose control of her ether pool. What did Yuxuan make to cause that?"

Bill's eyes darted everywhere, from left to right. For a second, silence, until he turned his eyes back to Gale. "Don't know. Poisons normally don't work on Awakened. Body filters them out same way it filters mundane drugs. But, Yuxuan able to develop something different."

"How?" Kyle asked.

"No idea. It was only reason grand elders allowed him chance to redeem himself. They think his poison art might actually be useful if he can make it work against cultivators same way as Tangmen does," Bill said. "Before that, they just thought he was embarrassment to sect."

"Are the Tangmen aware of his poison?"

"Not yet. Wutang keeping it closed doors. Very secret. Only inner disciples know about it." Bill paused. "But I know one thing for sure. After Spotlight taken out, Yuxuan became more erratic. Unstable emotionally. Even his own men don't usually know where he usually stays anymore."

"Spotlight's fall hit him that hard?" Rachel asked.

"Alexei was his main contact in Canada. His path to redemption. When Spotlight collapsed, Yuxuan lost his primary asset." Bill laughed bitterly. "Now he scrambles like rat trying to find cheese before trap closes. Every day he talks about redemption. Pitiful trash."

Clyde leaned in. "Tell us where he usually is."

"Usually he's home here in London, Ontario. Has apartment near Western University. But not here tonight." Bill's eyes turned up between the twins. "He has two possible locations. Either he in Parkdale, Toronto, or he at Hillcrest Mall in Richmond Hill."

"Parkdale or Hillcrest Mall," Kyle repeated, glancing at Rachel, Gale, then Clyde.

"I'm just foot soldier. They don't tell me everything."

"Then how can we trust you when you easily answer everything?" Rachel asked. "You've basically given us all we need."

Bill shifted his weight to turn his body to meet her face. "I'm already fucking caught. Look at me." He gestured at the stumps where his legs used to be. "There no way Wutang will take me back as cripple. Jianghu has no place for broken soldiers. Only way to make living now is with the Path."

He turned his gaze to Kyle and Clyde, smirking. "You twins have reputation. Don't kill people who cooperate. Path also ok with Jiuling failures. Better deal than crawling back to China and begging on streets."

Kyle and Clyde exchanged shrugs.

"Fair enough," Kyle said. "One more question. Is Yuxuan connected to Sombra at all?"

"No." Bill shook his head firmly. "Sombra has been on our ass whole time. Stole couple of our dust shipments from BC actually. We lose three crates to them last month alone."

"So Sombra and Yuxuan are enemies?" Clyde asked.

"Not enemies. More like... competitors who hate each other. They both want distribution networks, but for different reasons." Bill's tone lowered. "Sombra more focused on mundanes rather than Aurians. I warn you. Watch out for those ones."

"Why?" Gale asked.

"They not fighting for money. They fighting for something else."

"What something else?"

Bill clenched his fists. "I got approached by one of their people before. Few days ago, actually. Weird guy in hoodie who knew my name even though I never met him."

"What did he want?" Rachel asked.

"He promised me eternal paradise after taking one snort of their drug. Said all my problems would disappear as I will meet their god and he shall give me what I long for. Said I would find peace from him that cultivation could never give me." Bill scoffed. "Didn't care less though. Bad drugs can ruin your cultivation. I'm not stupid enough to take random substances from strangers."

A drop of sweat fell down Gale's forehead, either from the tension of this investigation or from what he just heard. Based on what he knew from the corruption in Kair, the corruption whispers of tempting realities. Could this be the vector that Erin was talking about? Though, he wasn't sure what would be the point of corrupting mundanes in the first place.

Clyde softly slapped Bill's cheeks as his eyes were drooping down. "Buddy, you got anything that Yuxuan has touched before? Something with his scent on it?"

Bill looked to his right pocket. "My wallet. There's a fifty dollar bill there that came from Yuxuan. He gave it to me for food money yesterday."

Gale reached around Bill's body and pulled the wallet from his right pocket. It was white leather with blue trimmed edges. Flipping it open, he found the fifty dollar bill tucked behind a few credit cards.

Bringing it closer to his nose, he sniffed.

Two scents.

The first was dirt and metal. Earthy, with a mineral undertone that reminded him of iron ore and a few medicinal ingredients that still had soil on them. It was strong, present throughout the entire bill.

The second was oil and smoke. Subtle, lingering mostly on one corner of the bill where fingers had gripped it. It smelled like viscous smoke that came from a dirty smoker, holding onto an acrid quality that made his nose wrinkle.

It was easy to tell which one was who, but just in case... Gale leaned over to Bill, close to his neck.

Bill flinched back. "What the fuck?"

"Hold still." Gale inhaled deeply, identifying Bill's scent profile. Dirt, metal, and medicinal. The same as the primary scent profile of the fifty dollar bill. Sweat and blood layered on top of it, which was the most recent as it was the strongest.

Now, that confirmed that the oil and smokey scent was Yuxuan's.

"You got a read on it?" Rachel asked.

Gale stood up. "Yeah. I got it. But let me check something first..."

Presence Between spread outwards as he closed his eyes. Tendrils stretched out across London, Ontario, passing through all the buildings and streets from the edge of north to south, west to east.

Thousands of mundanes, sleeping or watching late night television or working night shifts. Dozens of Awakened scattered throughout the city, most of them isolated signatures that posed no threat, either sleeping or also watching TV.

He filtered for the oil and smoke scent. Pushed his perception to its limits, searching every corner of London that his tendrils could reach.

Nothing.

No one in this city smelled like oil and smoke matched the scent profile exactly. Just in case he missed any, might as well ask the stupid thing inside of him.

Guide, find anyone that matches the scent profile? Gale mouthed.

[Query accepted... taking Presence Between's data...]

[Analysis complete.]

[No signatures detected with identified scent profile within Presence Between's reach.]

However, he did find multiple signatures that had similar scent profiles to Bill. Dirt, metal, with medicinal undertones. Their signatures were fuzzy just like he found before, but they were clearly the same ones. But that didn't really matter. They could run. Their target was Yuxuan, and he clearly wasn't in this city.

He opened his eyes.

"Yuxuan is not in London."

"Dark Hunter is clairvoyant too?" Bill asked.

"No," Gale said immediately. What the hell? Even the Jiuling knew his nickname? That was an issue.

"Ok, where we going first?" Kyle asked.

"Better to just get to Toronto and I can search him out from there."

"You got it, boss," Clyde saluted.

"Jeanne, Marine, just follow Kyle. We'll stop by the edge and then move from there."

"Got it," Jeanne said.

Marine nodded as well.