Chapter 159: Coin killer.
In the evening, Liwu and Weijun stepped out of an old church that had not been part of their tour. It was where Weijun insisted they go, and cleanse their spirits, after coming into contact with the cursed coin. She was smiling because her hand was holding her hand tight, and cradling a small bottle of holy water in his jacket pocket. He was also looking at everyone suspiciously, as if they had ties to the cursed coin.
They joined the rest of the team at a bustling pub for dinner and drinks. Their team mates had already claimed a wooden table near a hearth. Tankards of beer clinked, plates of beef, cheese, gravy, biscuits and other foods arrived. Laughter filled the air. For a moment. Liwu allowed herself to relax.
Weijun, however, was already in full storyteller mode. He put his right hand over his chest and dramatically declared, "Today, I save Liwu’s life."
She nearly choked on a fry. "How? All you did was eat as if your life depended on it."
He waved her off. "Details, details. What matters is the coin. I discovered it, I took it from you and stopped it from falling into the wrong hands."
Liwu rolled her eyes. "You were lucky that it landed in a water fountain!"
The team leaned forward, intrigued.
Linlin raised a brow, "There is only one coin that intrigues Liwu in the world. That eerie cursed coin. Please don’t tell me you came across it or some kind of event related to it."
"Yes!" Weijun boomed. "I thought it was just one coin but now I think there are many. We went to the town because Liwu wanted to read about the coin in the library and then a cursed coin just rolled to my feet. If not for me, who knew what tragedy would have followed my Liwu."
Liwu waved a curly fry in the air. "Correction: I picked up because it was laying on the ground. You were busy salivating after chestnuts."
Weijun ignored her, basking in the attention. "I could feel it as soon as I saw it that this was no ordinary trinket. It is something sinister that ends fate of men before their time is up."
The team burst into laughter.
"He sounds like Majesty." The chief snorted.
Xuanji smirked. "Was the tragedy that your fate with a new type of strudel was about to be affected? Liwu has been texting us all day. She said he bag is now a bakery thanks to you."
Liwu groaned. "Don’t remind me. I have never done so much food pastry shopping in my life. If I gain weight in the next one year, blame him. My body and blood with be strudel, sach..."
"Sachertorte." Weijun chimed.
She nodded. "That and a dozen other pastries which he purchased in huge volumes."
Weijun raised his mug proudly. "Hey, heroes need fuel and all I was doing was charging up for that moment."
"Fuel for a nap." Liwu chortled. "He slept on the train for the rest of journey back, and then dragged me to a church to have the curse of the coin sprinkled away."
Su Jin shuddered. "Even talking about that coin gives me the shivers. Let’s discuss something else..."
"No, no..." He Xiao Yi put down the fork and wiped his lips, "Let’s discuss the coin. Three appearances, followed by death. That’s no coincidence. That’s a system host at work. Maybe a professional killer or something. Maybe a serial killer."
Two young women sitting behind them gasped. He flashed his badge. "We are all cops."
The women nodded and went back to their dinner.
Chief Abby raised his glass for a third beer, while He Xiao Yi dived into the coin. "Clearly, it is not just one coin. We should get our hands on the one in storage and analyze it. Maybe it carries toxins, radiation or some hidden mechanism."
"Or it is just a lynch pin that results in a big tragedy. Think final destination people." Xuanji declared.
Someone turned on the jukebox, making the already loud pub even louder. So the team pulled their chairs forward and leaned forward, eating while deducing the coins.
"It is colder than normal metal. My hand felt like winter when I was holding it." Liwu shared. "So, either it was in a freezer minutes before I touched it, or the metal is not something from earth. I support the system host theory."
Weijun leaned in, eyes gleaming. "We know a dog with a system. Maybe someone has coins that have a system! They are given a mission and sent out like drones."
Liwu slapped her forehead. "My husband has eaten too many strudels."
The team roared with laughter.
Su Jin raised her glass. "To Liwu, for surviving her husband’s appetite and cursed coins."
"To Liwu!" they chorused, mugs clinking.
Liwu smiled, despite herself. These people were her family in chaos--bickering, teasing, but loyal.
"So, has anyone heard back from IA?" Weijun asked, as they lowered their glasses.
They groaned, one after the other. And then, one by one, they all confirmed that they had never been summoned or called.
Weijun twisted his lips, pondering on what that meant for his wife and her colleagues. "That’s a good thing, right?"
"You would think so. "Chief said with a sigh, shaking his head. "If the investigation was closed, we would have been told. The fact that we haven’t heard of this means its still ongoing. They are probably waiting for someone to get scared and change their testimony."
He Xiao Yi laughed. "They are playing themselves. The fact that we are still getting cases from the Presidential office despite the IA investigation, means we are in the clear."
The conversation went on, steering from investigations to their adventures in Austria. Weijun was not the only one that had been affected by the food tasting bug. Su Jin told on Xuanji, leaving the rest in laughter.
"When going on vacation with these two, we need a diet plan for the following month." She said, while concluding.
As the night deepened, someone tossed a coin from somewhere in the pub and it landed right in front of Weijun. He shrieked like a girl, picked it up and threw it at Xuanji!
Liwu burst into laughter. As it turned out, she had paid someone money to throw the coin at her husband. "I thought you were the coin killer. What’s wrong, Mr. hero?" she taunted.
Patting his chest slowly, Weijun glared at her. "Not funny Liwu. People have divorced for smaller reasons than attempted murder through jokes."
The whole table burst into laughter.
Austria had started out tense, but the free vacation was fun. Of course, when they returned home, they would have to dig into the mystery of the coin.