8 A Month Vanished

"Ah, it's you again! Young man, having a fine afternoon?"

Again?

Lune stopped in his tracks at the end of the road at the elderly lady's sweet voice that casually called to him from his right, a voice that he simply had no recollection of.

An entire month has passed since he'd first arrived in the mortal world, and Lune had spent the time entertaining himself by exploring the lands and parts of the sea, with occasional periods of action every now and then. He had brought an end to a wandering undeads, forced a raging demon back into the underworld whilst he was roaming on a cluster of islands, and just a while ago, he freed a little spirit entrapped in a spell atop a lone hill.

Once the spirit was freed, it took the form of a small celestial bird just the size of his palm. It tweeted once, then twice, completing its name: Bulu.

Bulu then took flight, fluttering its bright feathers in Lune's face before leading him down the hill and into town where he stood now.

"Hmm, a good day isn't it?" the elderly asked, without waiting for Lune to answer her first greeting.

Lune turned to face the little woman standing by the brick wall next to her, her two, wrinkled and tanned hands resting on a crooked wooden cane.

Bulu chirped and lowered itself onto Lune's right shoulder, digging its short talons into the fabric of his dark maroon hoodie. It snatched a strand of his dark hair with its beak and tugged.

Lune brushed a finger across Bulu's smooth beak, and it proceeded to poke his hand non-stop. Was it...trying to tell him something?

And it wasn't long before Lune finally noticed the oddity through the old woman's qi, it was significantly different and lesser than of the mortals all around him.

This old woman was a ghost.

"You-"

The woman let out a chuckle and stepped forward with a few wobbly steps, a hopeful smile in her eyes. From the pocket of her worn coat, she drew out a thin silver necklace with a sparkling rose charm. "Heh, I've never thought that I'd meet such an incredible being even after death. Immortal master...please, help this little ghost out? I am worried for my granddaughter, I can't move on to the afterlife without knowing she's well..."

.

.

"Ai, Chan-Chan! Tell me how it goes, alright?" Jae urged him from the other end of the phone call. I can't be there to help you, mianhae. My noona and dear Yoyo would kill me if I don't finish my work-"

"I know, I know," Channing chided through his earpiece. He sighed. "Just...just do what you have to do. I got this."

"Tch. Fine," Jae muttered. "If only I could get my hands on whoever scammed your money, I would've knocked out a few of their teeth!"

Channing pulled his vehicle to a stop at the red light in the midst of the bustling city, watching slick black cars pull up on either side of him. He glanced up at this rear mirror where three more identical SUVs stopped behind him, flanked out on either side.

His bodyguards acknowledged him with nods of their heads, quickly using the time at the red light to attach their earpieces and wires to place.

An incoming call from his assistant interjected his call with Jae, who was still raging on how he would strangle the culprit of Channing's case and throw him off the bridge...

"Jae, I'll speak later."

Without another word, he ended his call and picked up June's.

"Young Master, we've found the coordinates of Manager Hong's location, I'm sending them to you right now. I've checked, it's a casino. But I'm afraid it might a little more than just a casino."

Channing plugged in the coordinates to his navigational device just as he received the message from June. "Got it," he responded. "No worries, I have already contacted Captain Wang. He and his team are in on this too."

A month has gone by quite quickly.

The city had recovered as fast as it could from the earthquake in just a short two weeks, and Channing had worked alone in his tower until everything opened back up. Immediately after, he began to focus on his pursuit to pull through with the investigation he started with Jae and Sam Liu to find out what happened to his money regarding the hotel's structure.

It was made known to them that the manager in charge of their building project, Manager Hong, was a huge gambler in debt, and he'd taken a huge chunk of the money given to him to pay off his debt and gamble away in the said club.

The past month hasn't been easy for him at all. There was so much work to be done and revised, there was this ongoing investigation that could possibly take a dangerous turn at any moment...and every once in a while, he distracted himself with the mystery of Lune's disappearance.

It was frustratingly confusing. For a whole month, he searched through the city's security footage system, hotel and airport records, anything he could find...but nothing. He was sure he was a foreigner, and he was adamantly sure that Lune was a human.

Yes. Putting aside all those strange phenomenons, Lune held every characteristic of what it means to look and be human, which is why it pissed him off so much when he couldn't find a single record in the world that had to do with him, even with Sam Liu's strangely enthusiastic assistance.

Relatives?! Occupation?! Hobbies??

Nothing.

And it all tore at him more than it should.

Why did he leave? He left nothing but his first name and vanished the second day they met. He recalled their last moments together, atop the hospital building, and grew self-conscious. Was it that his actions towards him come off so objectifying that it drove him away?

At least then...Channing wanted a chance to apologize.

It was this strange feeling...but he didn't know what it was-

"Young Master?" June's voice cut through his thoughts. "Are you there?"

"Hm? Ah, yes. Did you find a secure location for our witness? Hong must not find out that his subordinate leaked to us his information..."

"Yes, we brought Miss Xieling to a safehouse and deployed a guard to watch her."

"Good."

The light turned green at the intersection and Channing pressed on the gas pedal, following the map on his GPS to take a right turn, his escort of five cars following close behind.

"If all goes well...this whole case may just take one or two weeks to be wrapped up. Once we get back the money, we'll restart the project with Sam Liu...under a new construction company. Did you manage to find one yet?"

"Not yet. TIM Construction was one of the better ones, Young Master..."

Channing scowled. "There are so many companies out there, don't tell me you can't even find one?!"

"I- I'm sorry, Young Master. I'll get to it right away."

The call ended with a quick beep, leaving Channing to drive in peace.

After about thirty-plus minutes of driving, Channing and his men arrived in the town right below the capital, the scape taking on a more out-of-date style compared to the tall and bright buildings of the greater city.

A few turns and a darkly-decorated three-story building with the faded letters of the word 'CASINO' appeared over the tinted glass threshold. Two men stood at the entrance, one tall and one short, either approving or blocking entrance to guests.

Channing signaled at his bodyguards through the windows of his car and together they rounded the corner into the lot right behind the building, where they found Captain Wang standing with two officers at the corner of the parking structure next to their undercover sedan car.

Their entourage pulled up around them, and Channing stepped out of his vehicle in his black coat and cargo pants, the coat long enough to conceal the loaded weapon secured to his belt.

A total of four of his guards stepped out of their vehicles, leaving the last three remaining inside.

"Ah, Mister Yue! Good to see you here," Captain Wang greeted, his hand extended out in front of him.

Channing took his hand with a professional smile and shook it, responding, "Captain Wang." He glanced at his two officers, who saluted in greeting. All weren't in police uniform, instead, in attire suitable for partying.

He nodded back and them. "Just you three?" he asked.

The captain shook his head, placing his hands on his hips. "Ah, no. We're a total of five. Our little techie is has gone to take a look into the security cameras, and Mandie has already gone inside. And look-"

He pulled out a slip of paper from inside his coat, a wide beam spreading across his lips. "Boy, I've got us a warrant! Everything we do inside will be legally authorized. Good, eh?" The middle-aged man reached up and patted Channing on the shoulder, who grinned deviously in return.

"Are we ready?"

.

.

"This is the police. Hong Qin, drop what you're holding and put your hands above your head. You are under arrest for fraud and assault."

Captain Wang held out his badge in front of him, and his three armed undercover officers drew their weapons, the barrels pointed straight at the suspect.

The little bar he sat at quieted down and turned their heads towards the commotion, surprised by the presence of government authorities in their business. Some very simply surprised, however, others held a significantly fearful or dangerous look in their varying expressions.

The bartender peeked behind his tattooed shoulder with narrowed eyes, wiping the empty glass at the sink with his cloth ever so slowly.

Hong turned around on his stool, his expression filled with disdain. He leaned back against the countertop, taking a lazy sip of his alcohol and accidentally spilling some on his loose white shirt and black jacket.

"Police? Heh, and on what grounds are you arresting me on?" he sneered, followed by a hiccup. He reached up and scratched his messy brown hair with a sigh. "Look, just go back to where you came from, and let's not waste each other's time."

"Oh?"

Hong froze the moment Channing and his men appeared from the shadows, towering greatly above him. It was Channing's turn to sneer once he saw the culprit pale a significant few shades. The glass slipped out of his hands and smashed into pieces on the ground, drawing more eyes.

"You- you- you're him!" Hong raised a trembling finger up and Channing's face, his eyes wide with horror. "Yue!"

"Scared now, are we?" he mused. "Listen here, man. Either you do what the cop tells you to do and give back the money you stole...or we'll take things into our own hands... Do choose wisely. I won't let you off easy for all those lives that you've threatened on the day of the earthquake due to your greediness."

Hong stared at them for a long while, darting his eyes between Channing and the officers' weapons pointed straight at him. He seemed conflicted with himself, his expression so filled with regret and nervousness that Channing and Wang thought that he was going to give in.

But what followed did not go as planned.

"I...I don't want to go to jail," he murmured. "I'm not going to jail!" His voice gradually grew louder and louder, until he aggressively yelled, "You are not taking me to jail! So what if I took your money? Aren't you rich? You can get all that money yourself! How about you go and die-!"

Out of nowhere, Hong Qin pulled out a gun and opened fire, the loud bang rang deafeningly through the building.

Screams erupted from the vulnerable guests all around them, and Wang and his subordinates backed away, faltering in surprise.

It was chaos as innocent civilians evacuated the casino in a huge flock, making it hard to hear when Captain Wang shouted, "Drop the gun! You are only making this worse for yourself!"

"I don't care!" he yelled, waving his weapons in all directions. "Come at me if you dare! This is my home turf!"

And just as he said that the bartender turned around and pulled out a rifle, and Channing turned his head at the continuous clicks to see employees scattered around them with weapons drawn. There was a total of thirteen of them.

"Shit," Mandie, the female officer grumbled, gripping her pistol tightly with both hands. "We're surrounded."

"Get out of here!" Hong repeated loudly. "I'm warning you!" He fired his weapon once again, this time, the bullet struck right next to where Channing stood.

"Young Master!" his four bodyguards cried out at the same time.

But Channing maintained the smirk on his face, looking straight at Hong Qin in the eyes. "I know you don't plant to let us out alive," he said boldly, smoke rising from the hole in the ground.

Hong Qin burst out laughing, swaying on his feet back and forth. "Good that you know, you rich bastard! What are you going to do about it? Call your parents?" he mocked.

"Mister Yue!" Wang hissed to him. "What are you doing? We best negotiate. You and your guards are still civilians after all!"

"No...you heard him. He'll shoot us if we turn our backs to leave the building either way, and I don't want to leave this place empty handed," he whispered back. "And, what comes next will be considered as self-defense, alright?"

Captain Wang glanced at him with wide eyes. "What- what do you mean? What are you going to do?"

Channing slowly slipped his hand inside his coat, his hands wrapping around the handle of his gun. He cast a subtle glance back at his men, who caught his look with a slight nod.

Captain Wang darted his eyes between them incredulously, realizing what was going on.

On the count of three...

One...

Hong Qin scowled at them. "What are you whispering between each other for? Say it out loud if you have any last words!"

Two...

Three...!

Channing's group all dropped to the ground and whipped out their loaded guns, and the officers quickly followed suit, though taken aback by the fact that they were armed. And with this opportunity of the opponents' stunned silence, they opened fire.