Poison City

A name Marcus had not heard before, but apparently Luo Zhuge had. His facial expression changed, and he almost shot out of the sofa at Kevin. Marcus and Keryn rushed to Kevin’s side at the same time, just in case he wanted to do something.

“Hey!” Keryn and Marcus barked at the same time as they raised their hands at Luo Zhuge, displaying their willingness to fight.

“How did you know that name!? HOW!?” Luo Zhuge’s eyes were almost ready to pop out of his head, veins pulsated on his forehead. It was quite a dramatic change, if not for the fact that Luo Zhuge claimed his presence had other people on the line.

“What - ” Marcus was both confused and perturbed by this question.

“What do you mean?” Keryn asked, not Luo Zhuge, but Kevin: “Why’d you bring that name up, I - oh! OH!” She stopped halfway before fixing her eyes on Luo Zhuge: “What happened to your family - what happened to your parents again?”

Luo Zhuge fell back onto the sofa, deflated and distraught.

“What - what does that mean?” Marcus turned to Keryn and Kevin.

“Blue Envelope 1149.” Kevin handed the folder to Marcus: “THE case Captain Ko wanted us to look into. But only now did we get a chance to read it, in full.”

Marcus took the folder and immediately started skimming through it. Kevin and Keryn added notes on the inside as well.

A family of three, father, mother and an older teenage son. The entire family was murdered in ways that were beyond brutal and cruel. The photos were included in the folder, and even a quick look made his stomach rumble - blood was everywhere, seemingly intentionally spilled all over the wall and the ground; random pieces of the body parts were scattered in every corner, while more recognizable parts like hands, feet and legs were nailed onto the wall, along with what remained of the victims’ skeletons. And the family’s names: John Pearson, the father; Marie Pearson, the mother; and Chris Pearson, the older teenage son.

“There’s no mention of an ‘Alex’ here.” Marcus frowned as he looked up from the folder at Kevin, then he took a look at Luo Zhuge: “Not in the official files anyway.”

“Yes. But - in the back.” Kevin extended his hand and flipped the files to the last few pages - photocopies of handwritten notes: “You recognized this handwriting, they’re from - ”

“Yeah I know.” Marcus interrupted Kevin. He knew who wrote these notes the moment he saw them, he just did not want to let Luo Zhuge know that their captain handled this very case many years back. “So, there’s two survivors, Alex Pearson, and - ”

“And Lia, my little sister.” Luo Zhuge laughed. There was no fun or joy behind his laughs, though. They were dry, cold, desperate and even a little insane.

Chills ran down Marcus’ back. There was nothing really that scary, but it was more than ominous in this small little house with bad lightning. Everyone present except waited with bated breath for Luo Zhuge, or Alex Pearson to finish what he was about to say. Though it seemed he may not have much more he was willing to let out.

“... and if you’re curious about where she is, I can’t tell you that. ” Luo Zhuge scoffed: “So - did that pathetic little file change your mind? Did my - my family’s tragedy make my proposition wiser and more relatable now?”

Marcus exchanged looks with both Keryn and Kevin: “It kinda does, actually. But since you know about all of this - ”

“- we’re wondering if you could answer some questions for us.” Keryn finished Marcus’ sentence: “And it is vitally important, your answers could solve a lot of mysteries. I guess - this would be important to you as well.”

“And I have some really useful information for you as well.” Marcus nodded: “For example, the old ruins, and someone who lives in that place.”

“... that sounds - interesting enough.” Luo Zhuge grimaced and considered for a moment: “What do you wanna know? Bear in mind I’ll choose not to answer if you - ”

“Why?” Kevin asked directly: “Why’d they choose to do that to your family? Like you said, your family were ‘Carriers of Notes’, what would bring about such a drastic measure? Murder is - is one thing, but the brutality - ”

“Because my family was chosen for a ritual.” Luo Zhuge’s fingers sunk into the armrests of the sofa. Words flowed out of him one at a time through his teeth: “That’s it. There was a ritual the group used, in order to choose the most suitable sacrifice. They had been using that for a while, and the group had always succeeded. But the power of the ritual went up to people’s heads, and a family that’s been eyeing my family’s notes did something and make that ritual target my family.”

“Was that - was what they did a sacrifice?”

“Sorta, but it’s also a message.” Luo Zhuge coughed and stood up, stretching his arms and gritting his teeth as he did so: “They did it that way because my family decided to run and not willfully offer us… And - the secret contact my family trusted betrayed us.”

“I’m sorry. Really.” Kevyn shook his head.

“Meh. I don’t fuss over it any more.” Luo Zhuge shrugged: “So, about that information you offered - I have a question for you as well.”

“Please, shoot. But no promises on actually giving you an answer though.” Marcus narrowed his eyes: “Try us.”

“What are you trying to do about this?” Luo Zhuge rubbed his nose bridge: “I guess - the fact that you’re hiding in here means that they came for you, right? Or at least their henchmen did.”