Chapter 78 - I Got A Fan

Wuming did not waste time and took the earliest flight to the north that very morning. The rest of that day was spent inside the airplane and into a bus that would take him the nearest to his mountain—well, it was not really his but he claimed it. He got off the nearest stop and zipped his jacket up. It was late in the evening when he finally got off the bus stop.

He did not even carry a flashlight with him when he started trekking up. He knew his way around here even in the dark. He was even whistling at the first few meters but all the climbing took a toll in his lungs and he kept quiet as he pulled himself tree after tree. Finally after twenty minutes of walking in the dark, he saw the silhouette of his little cabin. It was covered with trees and was painted with camouflage colors.

"Home sweet home," he whispered to himself and happily bounded to his house. He was never meant to stay in this little paradise. When he left Chengshi, his father bought him a house here where he could live the rest of his life. But that huge mansion was not meant for him. About six months later, he moved in this little shack he built himself and never returned there.

The mountain was peaceful. The mountain was quiet. He also made sure there were no wild animals in it. He opened the door and came face-to-face with his untouched furniture and things. His bedroom was just the way he left, it was where he woke up to the sound of birds chirping and the heat of the sun entering his windows. He heated water on his small kitchen and fixed himself a cup of tea. The house was powered by a generator but he only used electricity for the light.

He took out his old phone and dialed a bunch of numbers of his so-called "colleagues" in this field. He needed a starting point in all of this. Surely, The Mantis' house had already been raided and therefore that was out of the options. So who would you call when you need someone found? Nope, not the private inspectors. It was the spies.

Hss questions included: "Do you know anyone called a Mantis?… No? What about Butterfly?… Caterpillar? What about Beetle? Or Bee? Still, no?… Okay… know anyone who used animal codes for their men?"

Several cited La Hiena but other than that, nothing else. Until...

"What are you doing, Wuming?" the woman laughed. Her voice had always sounded like she was being flirtatious and meant to seduce. That was how she got her codename: The Mistress. She was known for swindling money off her targets, pretending to love them for a few hours before ending their lives. She was a beautiful blonde with a chest that deserved to be in the hall of fame. "Why are you listing animals? Seriously, who would use Roach as their codename? It's disgusting!"

Wuming had walked to his door and clutched himself. "I only know The Mantis, okay? I don't know if they are all insects. No one knew a spider, a moth, a dragonfly—"

"Wait, what did you say?"

"Uh, spider, moth, dragonfly?"

"I had a contract for a certain Moth a few months back. He had burns all over his body. He's in the organization called The Zoo."

Wuming insides knotted. "The Zoo?!"

"Quite clever, isn't it?" The Mistress laughed from the other end of the call. Even Wuming felt like he was warming inside just hearing her talk. "Animals for the codenames and you all belong to The Zoo."

"Damn," he whispered, impressed. "Do you know their hideout?"

"Duh, Wuming, do I really have spell things out for you? Of course in an abandoned zoo! Where else?"

"Here in North?"

"Uh-huh."

He scratched his head. He was thrown that he actually had a lead and his mind went blank for a second. "Well, thank you so much for that, Mistress."

She laughed and it sounded like little angels giggling. "You owe me dinner for that."

"Of course, of course. Give me a call in this number. I'll treat you a meal."

She made her voice sultry that made him imagine things he did not want to, "Okay, Wuming. I'll pay you a visit soon."

"Okay, enough with the laughing and the seducing I might just fall in love with you," he laughed. "Just get in touch with me. I'll come to you."

"No, Wuming. I'll come to you. Very soon," she whispered and the line went dead.

Wuming tossed his phone in the air and caught it. He shut the door and took out the bulky laptop that looked like it had come from the jurassic age. It had limited functions and an untraceable internet was one of them. He quickly searched for all the abandoned zoos in the north, and there was A LOT.

He was searching for about an hour before he came across this conspiracy thread that said that sometimes, they saw shadows moving inside the zoo's premises. Some said they heard music while passing through the property. Some said they could see smoke from the estimated lot of it. They think that a tribe or homeless people made it their home.

Wuming looked at his clock and found that it was past one in the morning already. He looked at the location and how long it would take for him to get there. Forty-five minutes. Now that it was near winter time, the sun would not shine until a little past six in the morning.

He wanted to leave it for the next night but he wanted to come back to Chengshi as soon as possible. Who knew what these people had in plan next? He packed up again. He packed light, as always—only the necessary things and his blades. He blew a good bye kiss to the knives he framed that were from The Mantis' before closing the door.

He started walking through the woods and below the mountain. He mostly jumped through the bases of the trees until he reached the bottom—it was good warm-up for his muscles. He pulled a little boat out the shed he also built and got on it. It was a little lake and he had no fear for anything under it—but he knew someone who had…

Just thinking about her made him want to laugh. Camillie—Kang Mei… he was not sure that day he went to the grandmother's house from the plane. He just knew he had to go there that moment. Little did he know he was going to meet her. Her eyes were tiny, her hair shoulder-length and colored into a brown-blonde-ish combination, but her cheekbones were beautiful and the heart-shape of her face…

One of the things he loved about going as Wuming, was that he was no longer a Qing. He no longer got special treatment. He could be more like himself than the heir of Enigma. He should have introduced himself as Wuming that day—but something about seeing their humble home and simplicity of life that he made him say his name was Wei. He did not intend to stay and neither did he intend to invite Camille to the party. But the moment he laid down the grass and smelled it, he felt sleepy and at peace for once. And when she gave him that umbrella to shield him from the sun's rays? It was the bow on top of the box.

He would come see her soon. He promised he would. So he had to finish and get out of here alive. He stopped rowing and it was almost pitch black. He let the boat bump on one side of the woods. He took his flashlight when he started trekking upwards again.

"Gracious," he said, taking a sip of water. He jogged and turn off the light the moment he saw the wall of the zoo. The walls were high enough that he would not be able to jump to reach the ledge. He found crevices and hauled himself upwards. While straddling the wall, he did not even need to take out his binoculars to find that the ticket booth had a light on and no one was inside.

He surveyed the place still. There was no sign of life apart from the sound of the crickets and the rustling of the trees against the wind. He dropped on his feet, still cautious with every step and he hid whenever possible. Humans, animals… they could be out to get him. It took him about a couple of minutes before he reached it.

He carefully opened the door, waiting for something to explode. But nothing came, or at least nothing he heard. Still, he wedged an old phone in the slight opening—he would not want to be trapped inside. There was nothing peculiar in the booth. There were old computers inside and rolls of tickets and file drawers.

There was a huge map of the zoo on the wall, its color faded. Taped to it was a little note.

"Hello, Wuming." It said.

Wuming looked around with a smile. "I got a fan," he chuckled and ripped it off the wall. On the rest of the paper, symbols were printed. It looked like hieroglyphics but not quite. It was filled with animals and symbols. "Man, you really have to make me work, huh?"

He pocketed the note and he stepped on something soft. And suddenly he could hear a computerized voice. "Hello, Wuming."

He looked at the speakers overhead but both did not look like they were working. He looked down and realized it was coming from the plush toy. "The moment you entered this ticket booth, an alarm was triggered."

Wuming groaned.

"You have exactly 1 minute to get the hell out of the place or you're going to burn down with it. Good luck!"

He did not know how long he had stayed inside that booth but that toy told him to run for his life.

And he did.

Author's note (because this will not fit in the box below):

Yes, yes. I had been hearing all the notes about Qing Chen's character. Thank you all so much for letting me know your concerns. We will get to know him more and BETTER really soon and we'll all find out why he was acting that way. And another yes, he will be a more decisive leader to both mafia and the hotel and a better husband to our dear Feng Xuan VERY VERY SOON.

This is why I am writing these chapters as fast as I can because his character development had long been overdue!!! And I also can't wait to share who he really is with you guys!

Thank you all so much for the support in this book! 2 chapters again tomorrow if time permits!

xoxo