01.45am Sunday

Exhilaration.

That's what Wei Ying felt, after too long an absence behind the wheel of a car.

He'd learned to drive as part of the school curriculum, passing first try, but again it caused arguments at home. Jiang Cheng still passed on his second try, but nothing except the best could pacify Madam Yu.

And then when he'd left the only home he knew, he had to learn to rely on public transport, quickly adapting because not driving freed up more time that he could spend with A-Yuan.

So tonight, driving was a gift, a much needed distraction from the mountains of problems just threatening to bury him alive.

He parked ruthlessly in the underground parking lot at the National Park and Recs centre, still feeling bubbly and excited.

Da Tuzi needed a minute, or five, to recover from that white-knuckled ride back, and by the time he got out of the car, he had to steady himself as he caught up to Wei Ying, who was holding the elevator door open for him.

Xiao XingChen pressed the button to go down, eyeing the laptop under Wei Ying's arm. A wry smile decorated his face as he noticed Da Tuzi's condition.

"Who drove here?" He can't stop grinning.

"I did." Wei Ying grins back, obliviously. He found weaving in and out of traffic so exciting, keeping an eye on anything getting too close, and the experience managed to wake him up fully.

Xiao XingChen simply smiles more.

Baoshan Sanren is waiting for them in her office, the one with the welcoming fire. Wei Ying feels cold suddenly, seeing the ghosts of himself and Lan Zhan sitting on the couch together that day, so close that he may as well have been sitting in Lan Zhan's lap. Was it only a few days ago?

Tuesday felt like so long ago.

"We'll get him back." A soft voice says, close to his ear.

Wei Ying looks up to see his grandmother patting his shoulder, looking back at him with sympathy. He can't really speak because of the lump in his throat, so he nods and goes with her to her desk, where three chairs are placed next to each other.

He sits in the middle and turns the computer on, when Warm Sky, AKA Mo XuanYu walks in, obviously having run there.

Wei Ying shows him how Lan Zhan had taught him to find the tracker on his wrist.

"That was a good shout, wearing those," Baoshan Sanren nods towards Wei Ying's bracelet.

Wei Ying nods back, pushing the computer towards Warm Sky. He just wished the bracelets hadn't needed to be used like this so soon.

Mo XuanYu lets his fingers type faster than the eye can see, and immediately locates Lan Zhan on the screen.

"It's the Wen Laboratories...no surprises there," Mo XuanYu says, and then he suddenly pauses, zooming into the screen. "Hold on, maybe not..." he narrows his eyes to squint at the screen.

Wei Ying leans closer to him, trying to figure it out.

The blinking red dot isn't moving, so Lan Zhan must be stationary.

"If that's to the right of the actual laboratories, then isn't that the underground parking? Are they gonna move him? Remember, they've knocked him out." Wei Ying grinds his jaws out of frustration.

Just seeing that needle, and my, how he loathed them to begin with, and then to see how thick it was. Needing it to be strong enough to pierce Lan Zhan's skin...thinking about it made him shiver.

He was going to find the fucker that dared to hurt his Lan Zhan. Both the ones that had used the needle on him, and the ones that had held him down. Of that, Wei Ying had no doubts; Lan Zhan was so strong, he would have fought back. The only reasonable explanation for his kidnapping was that whoever it was had the element of surprise, ambushing him when he was alone.

"Both the needle and the container for whatever they injected him with are being tested now." Baoshan Sanren says, watching him carefully.

Wei Ying's face was pale with tension, and he was wound up tighter than a Jack-in-the-box toy. He needed an outlet for all that stress, and Baoshan Sanren had the best idea on how to expel it.

"He hasn't moved for five minutes. My guess is that it isn't just a carpark."

"Yeah, Wen Qing told Wen Ning to get us out of there, and he took us through it. There was a long concrete corridor with doors going off it. If he's not in a vehicle, then he might be there, somewhere." Wei Ying tells them.

"Then, this is where I shine, Baby!" Mo XuanYu wears a cheeky grin while he opens another tab on the side and effortlessly hacks into the council's records for blueprints. He searches for medical facilities and quickly types in what he wants.

Wei Ying's eyes follow the movement of his fingers, and he can see the blue dragon tails on his fingers dancing in sync with his motion, and strangely, it calms him.

"Okay, I may have to do something dodgy here," Mo XuanYu adds, his fingers typing faster than Wei Ying can make out. "And a teensy bit illegal." He snickers to himself.

"And that wasn't?" Wei Ying asks wryly.

"Well, that was just your basic getting-to-know-your-back-alley type digging. But this guy's wearing really tight trousers, if you get my drift. There's no way we'll get that 'flower' to open without easing the way." He pulls out a packet of watermelon gum and taking one red foiled piece out, offers it to his spectators.

Wei Ying accepts, but his Grandmother just rolls her eyes.

"And, it might take a while. All I'm getting is redacted stuff, so we'll have to dig deeper." Mo XuanYu snaps the gum furiously in his mouth, the only sound in the quiet room aside from the lively fire.

"Like, how long?" Wei Ying asks after five minutes of disjointed grunting.

"This ain't like a TV show," Mo XuanYu murmurs. "All that CSI shit, those detective shows? They HAVE to fit in all the action into a one hour slot, tops. This?" He gestures towards the screen. "This is live, and as real as it gets, Sweetheart. If I say it's gonna take time, then it's gonna take time!"

"There's something else you can help me with, A-Ying." Baoshan Sanren quickly jumps in when Wei Ying looks like he's spoiling for a fight, and going to push it.

"Okay, sure. What is it?" Wei Ying is already standing up.

"Come with me, I'll explain on the way." She tells him. To Mo XuanYu, she says, "if that dot moves even one millimetre, I want to know." Her tone is extremely serious.

Mo XuanYu nods absentmindedly, fully concentrating on his task.

Wei Ying follows her out to the elevator, where she presses a number of the floor where he's never been before.

It's the lowest one, yet.

*******************

The elevator door slides open to a dark, dank basement floor, smelling of bleach and mould. There's a dampness in the air, though the walls are jagged concrete. There's hardly any lighting, and it's all very dim.

It's such a contrast to the luxury merely floors above them, that Wei Ying has to mention it.

"Run out of cash, grandmother?" Wei Ying asks her cheekily, and she lightly smacks the back of his head.

"It's like this for a reason," she tells him, striding forth with purpose.

"Oooh...tell me more." Wei Ying wraps an arm around her shoulders, catching up with her.

"A-Ying, it's important to me that you know me inside and out, so to speak," her voice falters, and she stops walking, not making eye contact either.

"It's okay, grandmother. You can tell me anything." Wei Ying assures her. "I will be okay with it."

"You can't promise that, not when you don't know everything," she snaps and then looks apologetic about it.

Wei Ying waves it away, unconsciously. Tonight is a night for flared tempers and patience running away with them.

"But I sort of know you already, grandmother. I don't know how to explain it, but when I'm with you, it's like I'm with my mama. If you want to chase me away now, it'd have to be pretty bad, that's what I'm saying." Wei Ying wraps his arms around the shorter woman, noting how easy it was to forget about her height, because her personality spoke volumes, making up the difference.

The way he's tucked her head under his chin feels right, and even though he wins on body mass, this feels like she's the one hugging him.

"I'm here to stay," he tells her again. "I've just found my family, and I'm not gonna let them go just like that. Even if you have a whole ass torture chamber down here, I'm not going to hold it against you. If you ever do something I can't accept, I'll tell you and we can both ignore that part, if it works?"

Baoshan Sanren rubs his back warmly.

"Well, you might have hit the mark with torture chamber," she laughs awkwardly. "That Jin asshole is here, and Xiao XingChen is prepping him for interrogation. I thought, since he's tried to attack you twice, you might want to do some karmic washing instead of standing over A-Yu."

Wei Ying leans back to look at her.

"Damn straight I do. We should wring everything we can out of him, whatever that can save Lan Zhan."

"Good boy. I have to go make some phone calls, but I'll let you know if A-Yu finds anything out."

They walk on ahead, now with their arms wrapped around each other.

"Plus I have to practise." Wei Ying tells her.

"Practise?"

"Yeah, you know we found Chenqing? I'm guessing we're going to need whatever help that music gives us, and since it's quite exact, and I don't want to be checking the paper every so often, I'd better learn the tune outright. Besides, Mama wrote that the music must be learned and the notes destroyed as soon as possible." Wei Ying pats his trouser pocket where the black flute is resting.

"Alright. But promise me you'll ask for help if you need it?" She stops outside an ordinary looking door.

"Yes, I absolutely will, grandmother." Wei Ying doesn't even think about it; he wraps his arms around her once more, craving another hug.

"Good boy."

Wei Ying looks at the door and sees an array, one he hadn't previously noticed.

"Is that...a containment symbol?"

"Hmm. We don't have to lock doors around here. That way is far more efficient."

Baoshan Sanren turns and opens the door.

The room is dark, with a single spotlight cast upon the padded bench in the centre of the room. It is surrounded by four pillars from which a chain is secured, and shackles attached to those are rings around Jin ZiXun's wrists and ankles.

A red array is carved into the ground, shining red with a dark power.

Jin ZiXun has passed out, and when Xiao XingChen sees them, he pours a bucket of cold water over his prone body.

Jin ZiXun wakes up spluttering and cursing, pulling on the iron shackles, and making the chains rattle ominously. He gasps, a shuddering, wheezing noise coming from his chest.

The array glows with a sudden surge, and Wei Ying looks at his grandmother.

"Is it feeding off him?" He asks incredulously.

"Kind of? It's feeding off every nuance of pain he feels, and amplifying it back to him tenfold. Minimum effort, maximum results." She says this with hesitation, as if she's still scared that Wei Ying will run away screaming.

But he's not going anywhere.

"Don't worry, grandmother. Uncle XingChen and I can handle this," he says instead, earning a grateful smile from her.

"Very well, I shall leave you to it. Speed it up, though. We don't have much time, and he's not important," she adds, with a wicked grin.

Wei Ying knows that was more for their victim than them, so he plays along.

"Absolutely, grandmother. I'm guessing five minutes tops, before he's singing like a canary." He winks at her before she leaves.

Then he turns to Xiao XingChen, outwardly clasping his fingers and stretching them out experimentally.

"So, I've never tortured anyone, unless you count my singing. Promise you'll hold me back if it gets to be too much? I have no scope for judging." Out of the corner of his eye, Wei Ying sees the vermin on the padded bench start to shake.

Good.

The little weasel should get a taste of his own medicine.

"Well, I have to admit, my skills are rusty. I might not be able to tell," Xiao XingChen winks back.

"Damn, then I guess we're playing it by ear." Wei Ying grins, turning to the trembling man in front of them. "So you have a choice. Either you start talking, or we can make you."

"I'll talk!" He says straight away.

Wei Ying feels disappointed, and he's surprised and relieved. Only the disappointment seems to show because Jin ZiXun becomes even more desperate.

"Everything I know, I swear it's the truth. There's no point hiding anything, anyway, because tonight is the full moon. It's happening soon." His eyes are bloodshot and panicking.

"What's happening?" Wei Ying asks him sharply.

"Wen Rouhan and his brother, they're planning something. It has to happen tonight because whenever there's a full moon, the earth is saturated with magic. That's why they use moon glyphs." He hasn't stopped shaking, but Wei Ying doesn't care.

There's too much to unpack there.

"Is that why they took Lan Zhan tonight? And what do they know about the key?" He demands, stepping forward.

"I'm not sure, but they want to test his venom, and t-they think they've hit the j-jackpot with him. T-they need the key b-because of the H-heartStone." His eyes become pleading. "That's all I know, I-I swear!"

"Test his venom?" Wei Ying's tone has become dangerously low.

All he can think of is more needles, and that makes him angry. A red haze colours his vision, his fists clench, and in his mind, all he can see is someone hurting his Lan Zhan.

He won't stand for it!

He is going to hurt them very badly, even if one hair on Lan Zhan's head is harmed. He's going to rip them to shreds, with his bare hands, he's going to-

He's being shaken out of his thoughts, and he blinks, clearing his mind.

Xiao XingChen is staring into his eyes with a worried expression, and when Wei Ying manages to look past him, he's shocked.

Jin ZiXun is in a bad way.

A really bad way.

He's passed out now, and his mouth is open as if he tried to scream, but it was too late. Tracks of blood have left his eyes as if he burst blood vessels there.

Wei Ying gasps.

"I did that?"

Xiao XingChen nods.

"The array amplified your thoughts. I pushed you away before it got too bad, and he's still alive. But you better calm down."

Wei Ying can feel himself shaking.

Xiao XingChen moves his limp body from that room to one next door, where he doesn't have to look at Jin ZiXun anymore.

There's a couch and he makes Wei Ying sit down before pouring him a glass of water.

"Drink this."

Wei Ying obeys, and when his fingers shake too much to hold the glass, his uncle holds it to his lips.

"I cannot believe I did that," he whispers, looking down. He feels ashamed.

"Neither can I."

"You're laughing at me." Wei Ying looks at him, then.

"Well, no...not laughing. It was your first time, so try not to be too harsh with yourself." Xiao XingChen hesitantly pats his back. He is smiling, though.

"I nearly killed him." Remorse is a bitter pill. "I was just joking about losing control. I didn't mean it."

"You didn't kill him. That is the defining factor." Xiao XingChen insists. "A-Ying, don't beat yourself up like this. Interrogation is a useful skill, but it's okay if it's not your cup of tea."

"Yeah, I don't think it is."

Xiao XingChen is concerned because Wei Ying looks a little green.

"It's nothing to feel bad about. I know you're feeling bad, not because you don't think you're good at it, but because you caused someone harm. I'm only telling you this because after tonight, the situation is going to be very different, and if you can't stomach killing anyone, then it might be better if you stay here. Plus, it wasn't just the array."

"What do you mean?" Wei Ying wipes his eyes with the back of his hands.

"I think you projected your thoughts onto him, and then because of the array, any terror he felt was multiplied too much. It won't be like that anywhere else. But I have to ask, has this happened before?"

Wei Ying thinks back. It takes a few moments and then he's nodding.

"Yeah, Lan Zhan said I did it to him, twice, and then my grandmother said that, too. But both of those times, it was good thoughts. I didn't want them to feel bad, so I thought of warm, comforting things, and it seemed to work. I didn't know it could be reversed." He's so shocked.

Xiao XingChen pats his knee.

"All skills, whether hidden or not, are a learning process. It's okay to make mistakes, you learn from them and move on. But I'm serious about tonight. If you can't stomach it, it's okay to admit that. Your grandmother and I will not think any less of you."

Wei Ying does think about it.

He pulls out Chenqing and assembles her. The flute vibrates in his fingers as if it recognises him, and he can't help thinking of her in that sense, like a long lost sister.

Would he be better off not going with them tonight? Undoubtedly.

Would he hate every second of being here, when he could be that much closer to Lan Zhan? And getting him out of there? Also, no doubts about that.

This question required him to be brutally honest with himself, and when he looks up into Xiao XingChen's face, his silver eyes are filled with determination.

"I'm coming with you. I'm going to get Lan Zhan out of there."

************

A/N

Dear Lovely Readers,

Are we still okay?

I'm only asking because I'm going through everything you're going through just as much, and I'm shocked every time I think, but you did it to yourself??? This is definitely that spiderman meme where he's pointing at himself and there's two of them. Cue shocked Pikachu face, as well.

Anyway, onwards and upwards,

Charlie.

P.S. save your chocolate, we're gonna need it! I'm honestly so scared to write further.