"Are you okay, young man!?" The man in a suit asked Wu Xiaoming while looking back at the hallway.
"I'm okay, but - "
"I need to go. Stay safe." The man in a suit took a quick glance at Wu Xiaoming while cutting him off: "Remember, this is no place for you - you civilians. Stay away as best as you could! And I don't mean just this floor - I mean the entire hotel!" He turned and bolted away without another word.
Wu Xiaoming tried his best to stand up straight, grabbed his things and walked out into the hallway, just in time to bump into a policeman and a security guard from the hotel.
"You, sir, should not be here!" A middle aged, slightly bald man in a light beige suit barked at Wu Xiaoming: "And what have you done! You'll need to pay for this - "
"Please, sir. Let the police handle this." A familiar male voice interrupted the middle aged man. "If this is really trespassing and - "
"I'm going to inform upper management and tell them to press charges!" The man in a light beige suit barked.
"Alright, sir, if you'd please come with us." A policewoman said to Wu Xiaoming: "Are you a guest at the hotel?"
"Yes. " Wu Xiaoming sighed and raised his hands.
One of the officers came over and extended his hand at Wu Xiaoming: "If you don't mind, I'll be taking your backpack." This was Du Bai, Wu Xiaoming's childhood friend.
"You'd better listen, my friend. " The policewoman, Jennifer Williams narrowed her eyes on Wu Xiaoming.
"Alright." Wu Xiaoming handed his backpack over - inside of which were his soapberry wood staff, his glass canister and the spices he bought.
"I'm gonna press charges! I'll sue the fuck outta you!" The slightly bald man barked as the two police officers brought Wu Xiaoming into the elevator.
The elevator ride down was filled with awkward silence. Jennifer Williams was not willing to talk to either Wu Xiaoming or Du Bai, while Du Bai seemed like he wanted to start a conversation a few times but eventually decided not to.
But, after calling the incident in and talking with the slightly bald man as well as whom Wu Xiaoming assumed to be someone from upper management, Du Bai finally could not take it while driving Wu Xiaoming away.
"You've got to be kidding me, Xiaoming!" Du Bai's bark at his childhood friend broke the silence in the police car: "Spraying dog urine at a hotel? Breaking through a wall? At this time of the night? What the hell man?"
"Black dog urine." Wu Xiaoming corrected his friend, who might now be his arresting officer.
"Like it matters!" Du Bai growled: "I thought you went clean? After all you've put your father through, I thought you'd - what were you even thinking?"
"I was doing an exorcism." Wu Xiaoming explained: "You know - I can't really get my hands on black dog blood, or male virgin urine. So I had to use the next best thing - black dog urine!"
The frown lines between Du Bai's brows were deep enough to catch a fly: "What - what the hell are you even talking about? Are you on drugs again?"
"No! No!" Wu Xiaoming grabbed the metal net separating the front seat and the back seat: "Don't you remember the old tales? Black dog blood and male virgin urine are full of Yang energy that could repel and even destroy malevolent spirits. There's sm really nasty one haunting that hotel. Didn't you guys find someone who died of strange circumstances there last week?"
"Forensics said it's suicide." Du Bai scoffed.
"But it's weird, isn't it?" Wu Xiaoming insisted: "The guy was new to this place, fully packed, a lot of cash in hand, and even had a cruise booked for later. Does that sound like someone who would want to off himself just randomly in a hotel? And how did he kill himself? Choking himself by hand? Walking into some random room and falling? You know that's not possible. At least highly unlikely."
"That's classified information, how did you know that!?" Du Bai raised his voice. But at least Wu Xiaoming knew, at least one of these wild theories he came up with on the spot worked.
"Not important." Wu Xiaoming shook his head: "The thing is - you HAVE TO let me go! I barely even started, and that thing might kill again!"
"Hold on." Du Bai pulled over to the side of the road, fighting the tightness in his lower abdomen, he might have drunk too much coffee today: "Are you telling me, you think there's gonna be - another death?"
"I don't think - I know." Wu Xiaoming almost put his face against the metal net: "Again - black hand marks on the back of the neck? And maybe some other parts of the body as well? Does that sound familiar to you?"
Du Bai frowned but did not respond. What Wu Xiaoming said contained too much detailed secret information not released to the public. This friend of his was many things, but connected to the law enforcement on this level, he surely was not. Yet there was no other explanation as to why his friend would know all of that. The rumors about his friend he heard on the streets and from family came to mind. He had been quite different ever since his OD scare.
"So? What do you say? Can you let me out? I REALLY need to finish this. Because I only sprayed a little bit of urine around and it would have only pissed the spirit off - "
"No." Du Bai took a deep breath and shook his head: "I can't let you do that, I need to book you, and contact the owner. If they want to press charges - "
"Come on - " Wu Xiaoming groaned: "How about you book me later, until I wrap things up?"
"Are you freaking insane?!" Du Bai stared at Wu Xiaoming: "That's - " Right this moment, he could not get another word out. A numbing coldness spread through his entire body. His legs froze, his arms were losing strength, and his breaths were getting weaker.
"Shit! Where'd you put my urine!?" Wu Xiaoming barked and banged on the metal net, he could not get through, even though the net was losing its original shape with the impact. He tried to open the doors, but they were locked. "Hold on! Damn it! Du Bai! Hold on!"
As his life force was drained from him, Du Bai's vision grew dark, and more of his bodily functions gave out. His breathing was almost undetectable, and his heart was about to stop.
A warmth pooled around his crotch, then spread down his legs. At the very next moment, an ear-piercing scream exploded right before Du Bai's face, a dark shadow manifested in the air, then shot out from the driver side window, into the night.
Du Bai gasped as the control over his own body came back to him. He opened the door, fell out of the squad car. He dragged himself to open the back door. Wu Xiaoming caught him as he sat down on the ground, checking him up and down.
"What - what happened?" Du Bai asked, his voice barely audible.
"Well, you - looks like you drank too much water." Wu Xiaoming chuckled as he pointed at Du Bai's crotch.
"What - " Du Bai looked down: "God dammit!"
"Hey, it's probably for the best." Wu Xiaoming chuckled: "Props to you for keeping your oath though?"
"What oath?"
"Waiting till marriage."
"Well…" Du Bai scratched his head: "I mean - it didn't take much effort, really. I've been so busy - "
"Hey, are you a wizard now?" Wu Xiaoming's face turned serious: "Can you throw fireballs?"
"What?"
"They say if a guy's past 20 and he's still a virgin, he would become a wizard. At your age, you must be a pretty high level one."
Du Bai sighed, then stood up: "Get in the fucking car, I'm booking you!"
"No! Please nooo!" Wu Xiaoming cried.
This was only joking on their parts, of course. Du Bai did not really arrest Wu Xiaoming. He just gave Wu Xiaoming a notice to appear - IF there would be a vandalism case, he would need to show up in court. Wu Xiaoming offered to sit down with him and talk about it, Du Bai was hesitant at first but then agreed.
"So - for tonight, you can stay here." Having made a pot of tea in the kitchen of Wu Wentao's house, Wu Xiaoming handed Du Bai two fire talismans: "There's a guest room, or if you feel unsafe there's always the sofa and I can keep the canister of black dog urine by your side."
"Ugh - I'll think about it." Du Bai, now in a pair of Wu Xiaoming's spare pants, sighed and finished his cup of tea: "Are you sure it's safe here?"
"As safe as it can be. But I still do recommend a visit to a qualified temple, or church, or someone who can help." Wu Xiaoming shrugged.
"When did you start to get involved with this kind of things, Xiaoming?"
"It's a - a long story."