-~*~-
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At the police station
Upon reaching their work place the first destination they went to is the interrogation room. The officers there had already received orders from last night on duty officers and had prepared the room for Luyao and Yanyi.
Luyao takes his seat at the table while Yanyi decides to stay behind. "You're not joining in?" He asked, chatting while the suspects were on their way.
"I just… I just want to listen for today. If I have any question I'll bring it up but for the rest, I trust that you're able to handle it." She states her eyes are not looking anywhere towards Luyao.
"We'll find him. I'll make sure of it." He said in confidence. Even a tinge of determination in there. Yanyi takes a quick glance before turning her head away. Nodding as she looks away from the table.
Sooner than later the first suspect was brought in, the magician. His name is Quin Veila and he is around 27 years old. He seated himself in front of Luyao. His eyes did wander briefly to where Yanyi is but Luyao quickly started with the question to ensure he is not distracted.
He was first asked as to how exactly his performance was conducted. He is to provide all and every detail he can. And he did.
Quin — "Most of my tricks involved illusion as the main medium with a few ounces of distraction for the audience. I can relay the exact details for the box tricks if that's what you are asking for?"
Luyao — "Please do."
Quin — "There are a total of two platforms in the box supposedly. The lower and upper platform. The volunteer would be placed in the lower platform which had been raised from the ground level to be inline to where the box opening is."
Quin was then given a piece of paper and pen to draw the mechanism and how it is supposed to work.
Quin — "Then an assistance of mine from the back stage would wait for my magic word and lower the platform to the ground. Simultaneously, the upper platform would be lowered to where the box opening is. It was empty and thus giving the illusion of disappearance."
Luyao — "Do you know about the existence of a third platform?"
Quin — "No. Not to my knowledge."
Luyao — "How so? The box is used for other shows across Yucoria isn't it? So how come you have no knowledge of the third platform?"
Quin — "Well, truth be told. Just before we started the tour in Kinsel, our box mechanism had actually broken due to constant use. So we had placed a new order for the Kinsel performance from a very well known shop for magicians."
"What is the symbol on top of the box? Do you know anything about it?" Yanyi suddenly asks. Her body has now turned back to where Quin is seated. Eyes staring right down for him. Though there is no sense of hostility. Yet.
"The symbol? You mean the Butterfly Lily symbol? Actually that is not even ours. We had realized it too late when they had already carved it on top. Due to rushing and circumstances we had forgotten to place a specification of the box." He explained. Though it didn't seem to please Yanyi yet as…
"What's the relevance of the butterfly lily to the box then? Why is it carved in the first place?" Quin didn't sense the hostility and regarded this question as quite the normal related question.
"Actually, the symbol is quite widely used for that shop. If you have a chance to visit it you would notice that it has so many carvings of butterfly lilies on each prop. It's like an emblem of some sort. I didn't make a big fuss of it as the shop may have thought that it was normal to put carvings into their props if there's no specification."
Yanyi didn't continue with anything for now. She just said "hm" and gave Luyao the green light to continue.
Luyao — "Is this performance a one trick thing or have you done it a bunch of times?"
Quin — "It is not a one trick thing. In fact we had done it so many times across our tour nothing had ever gone wrong. Though, this is the first time that we had used a different box."
Luyao — "So the only difference is the box?"
Quin — "Yes."
"Is there any new recruitment for your assistants?" Yanyi yet again asks her own question. Luyao didn't bother to continue until it was answered. It is quite important in this case.
Quin — "For permanent assistance, no. They are all still working with me. But it is not easy enough not to find people who are willing to throw everything away to travel the world on a tour. So almost every time, we would recruit some temporary assistance. They would only be working until the tour in a specific area is complete. Though they aren't responsible for the illusion management as it is easier to give to the veterans."
Yanyi — "How many are there?"
Quin — "For permanent assistance we have 7 of them. Temporary we have 5 currently, 2 females and 3 males.
Luyao — "Where exactly is the location of this shop you ordered from?"
Quin — "It was ordered by one of my permanent assistants. I was a bit busy with coordinating the performance for the whole tour in Kinsel that I put them on duty. They should be able to provide you with the address."
They have now reached the end of the questionnaire and ask for the cooperation of Quin and the rest of the assistance to stay in Kinsel until the case is over. For which he obliged. He was then to be escorted back to the waiting room.
Before he leaves he stops near the entrance and looks at Yanyi. She is now staring down towards the floor. Her brows are furrowed. "Wish you well with the case and… I hope that you'll find your didi."
There doesn't seem to be any malicious intent in them.
They then proceed to interrogate the rest of the permanent assistance with generally the same question as Quin with some extra. They are…
What are their roles for the performance?
What exactly do they handle during the show?
What do they know about the magic trick as being a backstage crew?
Where does the bunny blood and corpse come from?
And the last one was asked by Yanyi which is "What are they doing hours before the show begins?"
Generally they all seem to be doing or in charge of pretty normal and ordinary routines. In fact they had all provided collectively the name of the store where the box was ordered from. It seems like the place is not that secretive if everyone knew about it.
The same question was asked to the temporary assistance and just like the permanent assistance, they all answer it the same. That is until the bunny blood and corpse came into the picture.
4 out of 5 of them answer negatively just like the others. The last one did in fact have some info on them.
He had mentioned that hours before the show began, he had gone to the wet market to buy some bunny meat to keep in their home. However the store was so busy that by the time they had bought it, it was 30 minutes before the show started so they had to bring the bunny meat with them.
During the intermission, they had looked for it to put it in a more suitable place but it went missing. They had genuinely thought that it might have been mistaken for trash and had been thrown out. They didn't know that it was placed in the box.
After that session was over it was already past lunch hour and they were all free to go. Not outside of Kinsel for the time being.
Luyao and Yanyi went back to their office and discussed the current discovery with the previous info that Luyao got last night. "Judging from the information, there's no solid definitive proof that any of them is involved. Though I doubt that you would want them to be free yet."
Yanyi nodded. "Our best bet right now is the magician shop. We can stop and have a talk with the manager of the carver for the box. To use a butterfly lily in their shop, it must mean something."
"Why are you so adamant with this flower?" Luyao cannot hold out his curiosity anymore. Before Yanyi can give a valid explanation, Max came running through the door and said the following.
Max — "A carriage was attacked in the middle of the city just now!!!"
Luyao — "Okay? Why not give it to other officers? Why barge in here?"
Max — "That…"
Before he could say anything, Yanyi had already made the deduction in her mind. The only reason as to why Max is here instead of anywhere else is that it involves a noble carriage. But the fact that he was here is even more unsettling.
She piece it together.
Her heart sank.
Without thinking, she let go of all the papers in her hand and went out. Using her signia kunai to leap off roof to roof. "YANYI!!!" Luyao screams after her.
He had also made the calculation. "SEARCH THE ENTIRE CITY FOR ANYONE WITH A CHILD SIMILAR TO THAT OF ZHANG EKER! NOW!!!" He commands Max before using his own jian sword to catch up to Yanyi.
He caught up to her and eventually found her standing by a knocked down carriage of a very familiar emblem. His family emblem. "Motherfucker!"
The two horses had escaped from their reign. Three men in the familiar Ryuichi guard uniform lay unconscious on the ground.
The carriage had been turned to the side. The emblem of House Ryuichi is as bright as the sun for all to see.
Yanyi opened the door and found that the inside was ransacked.
Empty.
No occupant.
No Eker.
She then went down and kneel beside one of the unconscious men. She pulls him up and grabs his shoulder with all the force she can muster. Shakes it so hard his head goes back and forth.
"Oi! Oi! Wake up… Where is he? Where is my brother?..." No response.
Her teeth tighten around her lips before screaming "WHERE IS HE?!! WHERE IS MY BROTHER?!!!" The man didn't respond. He is unable to be awake for now.
Luyao, who had seen her outburst, was about to console her before she got up and yet again went away. This time in a very familiar direction. He didn't waste time. 'Please handle this Max.' He said in his mind.
The moment Yanyi arrived at the front gate, she kicked the door open. It startled everyone who was in the courtyard. Their young lady had returned home with a very grim and pale face.
Irene, who realised about Yanyi's weird sudden arrival, was about to greet her before she was pushed away. She had darted to her bedroom, the living room, the guest bedroom, the kitchen cabinets. Everywhere while screaming.
"EKER?!!! EKER?!!! EKER?!!!"
It was filled with pain. With hoarse and sore throat.
She was in pain.
Irene knew it.
She eventually stood in the middle of the courtyard, looking around the place she had called home and a sanctuary of protection for them. If a person's eyes can be even more wide than currently, she did exactly that.
Slowly she sank to her knees, wailing in pain. Her scream for her baby brother is now a scream of utter agony. Lixian, Qixiao, Irene, everyone is trying to console her. Touch her and ask about what had happened.
The moment any hand touches her, her screams become even more ear piercing. Almost like touching her is a taboo. A huge one.
Suddenly a force grabs her from behind and engulfed her body entirely. Like a phantom pain coursing through her body, Yanyi smacks every way possible to free herself from this force.
It didn't let go.
It takes it.
He takes everything she has.
He's in pain as well.
Slowly, he placed his lips near Yanyi's ear before whispering something to her. A quiet, "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry, Yanyi… We'll find them. We'll find them, okay…"
The screaming stops. Luyao, who had moved away from her lips and is currently embracing Yanyi still didn't let go.
Suddenly, like a child who just had a nightmare, Yanyi sobs and cries to her heart's content. She wailed in pain while holding Luyao's uniform tightly. As if letting go would kill her.
She is gripping onto the last hope she has.
The others who had attempted to help watch from the sideline. Never and I said never in their lifetime had they ever seen their young lady, sister, best friend cry in pain.
Like everything is ruined for her.
A child who had lost everything.
A child in pain.
Soon enough, Yanyi eventually succumbed to exhaustion and fell unconscious in Luyao's arms. He didn't let go nor move. He stayed there for a good 10 minutes.
He was also in pain watching her cry.
He didn't want to see her in pain.
Never in his life.
Never again.
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-~*~-