Black Phantoms [2]

There were no signs of rain in Hong Kong, though the wind was going strong.

"How's it going, men?" Xiajun bellowed as he entered the room.

Before he went back to his hotel room, Xiajun had decided to pay one of the top crime investigation agencies located in Hong Kong a visit. It was a short drive from the hotel he was staying at and it was yet to get dark, so he decided, why not?

All eyes lifted to catch a glimpse of the loud source of voice and when everyone realized who it was, they stood up and went to greet him.

"Detective Jun!" said one office worker. "How nice of you to visit."

Xiajun had no idea who this man was nor did he care so he just shook his hand and smiled. Everyone crowded around him and started asking all sorts of questions which really annoyed Xiajun.

"I'd really love to stay and talk, gentlemen," Xiajun said as he tried to seem apologetic. "I actually came here to see Qi Lei. If he's here at all, that is."

"Ah, yes. He's in his office, as always," a man to Xiajun's right spoke up. "I'll take you to him.

The crowd dispersed for Xiajun as he walked across the the room, winding around all the cubicles and guided along by the worker's help, he came to a door, marked 'Boss'. Again, an uncreative approach which made Xiajun smirk.

The man knocked on the door on behalf of Xiajun and then pushed it open upon receiving a reply. There, across the room behind a PC monitor, sat Qi Lei, the Head of Investigations.

A head bobbed up from behind the monitor, unveiling a middle-aged man in his 40s with a sorry excuse of a moustache and a full head of black, artificially dyed hair.

"Detective Jun!" Qi Lei beamed as he stood up. "My friend, what brings you here?"

Qi Lei walked around his desk and gave Xiajun a hearty hug, something Xiajun very much detested. But to keep up relations, he endured with the hug which seemed to be a little too tight and lasted a little too long.

When Qi Lei finally stood back, Xiajun was left with a sweaty imprint of his face on his coat. It was very humid inside the office, it appeared so.

"It's quite windy outside; why not open the windows?" Xiajun asked as he took off his coat, not because he found it to hot but because he didn't like wearing coats with sweaty imprints of another man.

He looked around the little office and cocked an eyebrow when he noticed there was no window in here at all.

Qi Lei ignored the comment and went back to his seat, clicking away at the PC to quickly close some tabs. "Come take a seat, my friend."

Xiajun didn't like to be addressed as anything other than 'Detective', but oh well, endurance is pain, after all.

"Of course," Xiajun muttered as he sat down on the small chair beside Qi Lei's desk. "Any new investigations you've been working on?"

Qi Lei sighed.

"We're rarely ever free," he said bitterly as he cleaned his desk up a little. "The Phantoms have struck again."

Xiajun's eyes widened as he leaned in. "Care to tell?"

As Qi Lei launched into a long description about their current case which involved many bodies being found in alleyways with the Phantoms' symbols painted on their faces, Xiajun realized that these people had no idea who was behind the Wu Yanlin case.

"Did you people hear about the case regarding CEO Wu's son?" Xiajun asked nonchalantly.

Qi Lei stopped talking mid-way and turned to face Xiajun. "CEO Wu? Of Y Corporation?"

"The very one."

Qi Lei leaned back in his chair and stared off into the distance. "Well, I did hear that he was injured due to a terrible fall on the stairs. Why, is something wrong?"

Xiajun contemplated if he should tell him that it was actually another doing of the Phantoms. But he decided against it.

"It wasn't an accident, I can tell you that," Xiajun sighed.

Qi Lei stared at Xiajun. "How do you know when no pictures of the injured man were disclosed? Did you get your hands on some!?"

Xiajun smirked and Qi Lei's eyes widened.

"Where from?" Qi Lei asked, as if in a daze.

"The very father of the man himself," Xiajun answered as he straightened his shirt cuffs. "I'm working on the case, after all."

"You ARE?" Qi Lei cried. "Good God... But are you sure it wasn't an accident? Who could've hurt CEO Wu's son? Have you the gist?"

Xiajun shook his head and smiled.

"That is something only I know best."