Chapter 36: Chapter 34: Interrogation in the Alley

While the inn had been fairly decent looking place, if one ignored the dying courtyard full of shriveled shrubs and withering weeds, the short path out into the kitchen area was a stripped down looking dirt path with a few feeble fat-petaled flowers that lead to a building made of sooty stone with the heavy scent of roasted pork floating out from it. Bo thought the idea of a completely different unattached building devoted to making food seemed weird.

“Do you remember what the girls look like?”

 

“Of course I do!” Bo replied indignantly as they walked right into the kitchen as though they too were employees.

 

Everyone inside was too distracted by the fat roasted hog that they were eagerly chopping up and eating. Two young ladies stood a few feet back from it, arms wrapped around each other as they held up jugs of alcohol. “Don’t be greedy, there’s enough for everyone!” One of the girls said cheerfully.

 

“Hey, you two!” Bo called out to them.

 

Over a dozen heads turned towards them in confusion. One older man set down his plate to meekly smile at the two, “excuse me, but this isn’t an area for guests. Are you lost?”

 

“No, we’re looking for two people,” Rui Yifu answered with cold politeness.

 

Bo pointed at the two girls and was about to speak when recognition appeared on their faces. They yelled and immediately dashed out of a back door, with Bo giving chase, hopping over a stool and skittering around a surprised cluster of older women to hurtle out the door.

The two girls were running down a narrow alleyway, having to move in single file as it squeezed around them.

 

They had a head start on Bo, but he was faster than them. They exited the alleyway with him nearly at their heels. The alley spilled out onto a marginally wider road that was pitted and pockmarked with various trash that had been tossed from the mismatched buildings lining either side. Bo took a deep breath and put as much strength as he could into his legs, closing the distance to the girls and hurling himself at them with a cry.

 

All three fell head over heels in a cartwheel of flailing limbs and fabric before Bo managed to right himself quickly enough to land awkwardly on his knees instead of his head. Part of him wanted to curl up in a little ball of pain but he surmounted that desire with the knowledge that if he did he would never hear the end of it from that painted face crossdresser.

 

Standing up he found both girls were still trying to reorient themselves so he grabbed them both by their arms and they both replied by beginning to scream at the top of their lungs. Their screaming was cut short and they both slumped down, nearly pulling Bo with them. Behind the two girls stood a very unamused looking Rui Yifu.

 

“What did you do?” Bo asked in surprise.

 

“I stuck them with silencing needles,” Rui Yifu replied curtly. He then gestured for the Bo to drag them near the wall of one building. “They cause paralysis for a very short time too, so they’ll be unable to move.”

 

Bo was a bit concerned that Rui Yifu had such objects on him but decided that would be a concern for another time, pulling both girls over to the shadow of a building while their eyes darted around rapidly in their heads.

 

Setting up both girls so their backs rested against the wall, Rui Yifu pulled the needle from one of the girl’s necks. It slid out slowly and smoothly, barely longer than the length to the middle knuckle on Bo’s hand. The girl’s eyes bulged and she made strange ragged noises before she shrank away from them, clinging to the other girl. “What do you want!?” She asked in a raspy voice.

 

“We want to ask you some questions,” Bo answered, crouching down in front of her. “We don’t want to actually harm you.”

 

“You don’t,” Rui Yifu muttered ominously.

 

“Last night I saw you two sneaking around with water,” Bo ignored Rui as he spoke. “When we asked your boss he said the place doesn’t give away free water, so what’s going on here?”

 

“I’m not telling you anything!” The girl shook her head, tears already falling over her cheeks.

 

“We had a little girl with us, didn’t we? You knew that, right?” Bo pressed.

 

Both girls eyes filled with growing horror.

 

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“So what happened to her?” Bo asked simply, leaning his face closer to the unsilenced one. “What happened? Who were those men? Where did they go?”

 

“I… I can’t… I can’t tell you,” the girl said, shaking her head. “I can’t, we can’t. We’ll be in trouble-”

 

“And you aren’t already?” Rui Yifu asked mockingly. He moved closer to the two girls and crouched down as well. “Who do you fear?”

Both girls shook their heads, the silenced one a little slower than the other.

 

Rui Yifu fiddled with something in his hands and Bo watched as his fingers unfurled around a fat little stone monk. He remembered seeing them before in the Li family shrine. He could not completely recall what had happened because as soon as he had noticed them he had been blinded by bright blue light that left him reeling with blinding stars in his eyes for the rest of the night. But this time the monk seemed to be gradually changing in Rui’s hand, its mouth slowly opening into a sharp toothed grin.

 

Bo had a bad feeling.

 

“Listen, we just want to know, that’s all!” Bo told the girls. “That girl was very important to us. Wouldn’t you be upset it the same happened to you two?”

 

“How many others have you done this to?” Rui Yifu asked.

 

The talking girl’s lip quivered and her head shook, “I… I can’t, you don’t… I can’t…”

 

Rui Yifu took the silenced girl’s hand and pressed the stone monk into it, curling her stiff fingers around it. The girl began to twitch and jerk around, but Rui Yifu held her hand tightly keeping it locked around the stone as her veins stiffened and raised as black worming cords slowly traveled up her arm. Her eyes were red and full of tears as her mouth opened with a soundless scream.

 

“What are you doing!?” Bo asked in alarm. The other girl watched in mute horror.

 

Rui looked at Bo, “I’m helping you. I have another one of these.”

 

“Please stop!” The girl said, grabbing Rui’s arm and tugging. “Please!”

 

Rui said nothing, and the silent girl’s agonized squirming continued. The skin of her held hand was beginning to turn grey, splitting to reveal dark bloodless muscle where black veins writhed.

 

“I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you!” The talking girl sobbed, “Some men approached us and offered to pay us if we could find someone for them to take! They didn’t give us names we just took the money and did what they asked! But then in the evening a woman came to us and offered us even more money! She just told us which room to target and that’s what we did! That’s all we did, please! Please just stop! She’s my sister and she’s all I have, please!”

 

Bo’s hands also reached out as he tried prying Rui Yifu’s fingers away, “Rui, enough! You’re going to kill her!” He said urgently as the black veins disappeared into the silent girl’s sleeve. Her head was lolling as her eyes rolled into the back of her head.

 

Rui Yifu released her hand, pulling the stone monk free. Bo could see thin black cords snapping off from the girl’s hand where the stone had touched the skin and eyed the object with disgust and hate. Rui then reached around the girl’s neck to pull away the other needle before getting up and walking away without another word.

 

Bo checked the girl’s hand as her sister cradled her unconscious head and wailed. The skin was losing its strange greyness, the veins were fading, and the holes were gradually sealing themselves up. As he did so he began to think to himself. This was not a random kidnapping, this was someone purposefully targeting them. But why? He could not think of anyone who would do such. Unless it was something related to Liu Xie.

 

“She will be fine,” Rui Yifu called out without looking behind himself. “It didn’t reach her heart. Come on Bo.”

 

He looked back at the girls and the only thing he could think of to say was, “I’m sorry.”

 

The conscious girl did not even look at him, still clinging to her sister and sobbing.

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