Over the phone, Ricky told Zheng Yang that his work was finished and that he was about to pay him a visit to talk about acting cool.
Zheng Yang had left his phone number at the clinic when filling out the registration form with his personal information, so he wasn’t surprised that Ricky had managed to get his number.
He had all the time in the world in the coming days and there was no law saying he had to absolutely walk every nook and cranny of the city, after all. Since Ricky was heading over to his place, he just agreed to head back right away and meet him.
He told Ricky to meet him at the dock, even going so far as to tell the older man not to bring any gifts.
In truth, Rovni and her goons had been waiting at the docks for more than 15 minutes, and they were standing right next to Zheng Yang’s boat. Rovni only told Ricky to make that call after realizing that Zheng Yang hadn’t gone back to the docks after he left Emily’s clinic.
Ricky hung up and said with a puzzled look on his face, “So, is this kid trying to hint that I should bring him a gift?”
Rovni paid no attention to the idiot. Venar clapped the younger man’s shoulder and said nothing as well.
“You think that gifts are free, eh?” he thought.
“Since you claim to be here to pay the kid a visit, naturally you’d be fretting about gifts.”
The trio waited for almost half an hour longer. Zheng Yang finally returned to his boat just when Rovni’s patience was running out.
When he saw the trio at the docks, Zheng Yang realized that the visit was probably about more than just talking about acting cool.
“That guy is definitely the woman’s lackey,” he thought. “What kind of person brings their boss along to talk about acting cool with a kid anyway?
Ricky shot an apologetic look at Zheng Yang before taking out his ID to prove his identity. Then, he stepped away and let Rovni do the rest of the talking.
“Mr. Zheng Yang, I’m Rovni.”
“As you probably already know,” Rovni said as she approached Zheng Yang, “the weird things that happened with Desmond last night are what we call paranormal incidents, and we’re in charge of taking care of such things. We would like to hear you talk about the dog from last night again.
“By the way, I would like to take a look at your boat and make sure that the dog’s body isn’t on board.”
Zheng Yang was not in the least bit irked when he heard what Rovni said. Instead, he flashed a beaming smile and earnestly invited them onto the boat. Furthermore, he even took the initiative to explain that he had just completed registering his boat earlier that day.
He could tell that they were from some official paranormal agency, which meant that they definitely knew a lot about the occult.
He was determined to get acquainted with such people.
He repeated his testimony from last night and took the initiative to open up the compartments under the deck for them to inspect, proving that the hellhound had indeed “gotten injured and escaped.”
“Another question, then.” Rovni looked Zheng Yang in the eye and continued, “According to the information we have, that rabid dog is actually a hellhound. That guy probably performed some kind of summoning ritual and had a demon possess his dog.
“A hellhound like that, even if it’s just a puppy, probably isn’t something that an average young man could easily injure. Furthermore, you seem to be totally unscathed.
“How do you explain this, then?”
Zheng Yang stayed silent for a bit before explaining in a serious tone, “My blade was sharp.”
“Please. That blade is anything but sharp.” Rovni rolled her eyes as she took out the machete from one of the compartments.
She’d already discovered that the machete was a very ordinary blade when Zheng Yang showed it to them earlier. It was the thick, blunt type farmers used for chopping wood and the likes.
It couldn’t even compare to the exquisite, sharp blades used by outdoor enthusiasts.
Zheng Yang gave another explanation. “I’m strong, and I’ve learned how to fight.”
Rovni nodded as if to say that she accepted his explanation. She then asked in an awkward manner, “You have superpowers, then?”
“Umm, should I tell her?” he thought.
“If I tell her that I don’t, will that mean that we can’t be friends, then?
“But if I were to admit to it, how could I go about proving my powers without exposing the spirit vessel’s secret? Having an exceptional physique doesn’t count as having superpowers after all.”
Zheng Yang stayed noticeably silent for quite some time before eventually denying the fact. “I don’t have superpowers.”
“It’s alright even if you do have superpowers, mate,” Ricky interjected. “You just have to register with us and not do anything against the rules.”
“Actually, I just happen to know a thing or two about the occult. If you’re willing, I’d be very happy to join your circle,” Zheng Yang said, feeling enticed.
Rovni thought this over for a bit, then elaborated what she’d told Emily—Desmond had bitten one of her colleagues, and there was the possibility of a mutated virus from that hellhound spreading because the dog had escaped. Zheng Yang had seen Desmond transform after all, so it didn’t matter if she told him more, given that he knew about such paranormal things to begin with despite allegedly being a normal folk.
Furthermore, her intuition told her that Zheng Yang definitely was involved with the occult, even if he wasn’t a superpowered individual.
At the moment, however, she actually hoped that Zheng Yang was indeed a superpowered individual.
“If you’d killed that hellhound and gotten rid of its body, then we wouldn’t have to go around places trying to find it,” Rovni added at last, feeling rather lucky.
“We’re going to search Desmond’s place next. If you’re indeed a superpowered individual, that would earn you the right to join me and head out alongside us.”
Zheng Yang was in a dilemma at the moment. This was his chance of getting into the circle of the occult, and he really, really wanted to search Desmond’s place with the trio.
However, he was also worried that the woman was duping him. The spirit vessel was his absolute secret, and he instinctively didn’t want to expose it.
“I’m sorry. While I’ve heard of the occult and I really would like to be a part of that world, I’ve never had the chance to do so.”
“Very well then. If you run into another incident like the one last night, you can call Ricky’s number and inform us about it.”
…
Rovni left, and Ricky didn’t get the chance to talk to Zheng Yang about acting cool. The trio then headed to Desmond’s place.
Zheng Yang sat on his boat and pondered for quite a while, but he still decided to keep his spirit vessel a secret.
The reason for this was that, according to the travelogue, the scroll for converting a spirit vessel was very rare, and successful converters were even rarer. As such, there was no way the likes of it could appear en masse.
Furthermore, that travelogue was apparently a very old book from an unknown era. That meant that spirit vessels were probably even rarer in modern times. As such, he had no intention of catching the attention of people or organizations that were up to no good.
Zheng Yang was no longer in a dilemma once he’d made up his mind. Since he now knew that Ricky and Rovni were both members of an official agency that was related to the occult, there was definitely the chance that he would cross paths with them again in the future.
At that moment, he received a text from Ricky telling him about a shopping website he could buy some clothes from.
Trade, shopping, auction, news, information gathering, social networking… he could do all these things on the internet on his satellite phone, and he quickly became very engrossed. .
Three days passed quickly.
On two of those three days it rained, and other than charging his phone at the security guard’s office, he’d spent those three days holed up on his boat surfing the internet. No one else came to bother him at the boat.
He created his own social media account and spent all the remaining hundreds of pounds he had on a portable gas stove, a package consisting of 24 canisters of butane, and a second-hand fishing rod and a huge net.