“Very well then.” Constable Tie replied with a nod. He reached beneath the desk, retrieving a long sheet of parchment, unwinding it familiarly. “I ought to remember these numbers by heart, especially since I just updated them a few days ago, but for the sake of pinpoint accuracy, it can’t hurt to be careful.”
Wuxian nodded affirmatively, but refrained from speaking. Constable Tie raised the parchment up at an angle, presumably for ease of viewing. The action reminded Wuxian of a librarian or scribe with poor eyesight.
“Right. I’ll begin now. Eastern district city watch’s monthly report. 89 men in active service, down from 94 the previous month due to either illness, injury or death. Of these, 45 are officers, 25 are deputy officers, and 10 are senior officers. There are also 9 inspectors, as well as myself at the rank of chief constable. I’m not included in the count.” Tie said, as he listed off the personnel counts rapidly.
He glanced down the parchment, spending a few moments in quiet thought, before adding, “Of this number, approximately seven-eighths are predisposed and have their hands full with various cases. Of the officers, only ten are available in total- that’s including those who have cases to work on, but aren’t entirely tied up yet. As for the inspectors, only one is available.”
With an eyebrow raised, Wuxian couldn’t help but remark. “You sure have your hands full.”
“The eastern district is actually quite safe. Most of the time, my people are working on inter-district cases. Though, I wouldn’t say no to having more men to work with.” Constable Tie replied, shrugging in response. “We’ve had better days, but lately, with the disease and the war picking up, more and more abnormalities have been surfacing by the moment. Normally, I’d have a few dozen men freed up for patrolling, but I’ve had to give up some of those duties to the city guard and focus my people’s efforts on investigation and sleuthing instead.”
“Well, what’s to complain about that? Isn’t investigation what your men specialise in?” Wuxian wondered aloud.
“Yes, but when my men patrol, they do it in plainclothes, unlike the outer city guard.” Constable Tie replied, a neutral visage adorning his stern face as he continued to look through the parchment.
Wuxian got the gist, waving his hand in dismissal. “I neglected to consider that aspect. Indeed, I can’t imagine a scenario where an organised gang operates in broad daylight without fear of being apprehended by the outer guard.”
Tie glanced up from the parchment with an ambiguous look.
“What’s the matter?” Wuxian asked.
Constable Tie didn’t respond immediately. “Something tells me you aren’t too familiar with police work.”
Wuxian projected an unconcerned look and gestured with his hand. “That’s why you’re in that uniform and I’m in this one.”
“Fair enough. Back to it then.”
Constable Tie shifted his hands to look more comfortably at the parchment, raising it to eye-level. “Seven cases this month. One arson, two homicides, two cases of petty theft, one account of armed robbery and one missing persons case.”
Wuxian couldn’t help but notice the discrepancy in numbers. For a force of 84 men to be occupied entirely by only seven cases, with two being ‘petty’ cases, it didn’t seem quite right. Constable Tie could tell what he was thinking from his expression.
“Most of them are working on cases from the previous few months.” He explained helpfully.
Wuxian nodded in understanding, expressing an ‘ah’ look whilst simultaneously feeling daft. Immediately after, he recalibrated his expression, wary of having his thoughts read as easily as constable Tie had been able to do so just moments prior.
“Alright, I think that’s enough.” Wuxian said with a slight shake of the head. “There’s no need to go over the provisions too. There’s little I can do with that information anyway.”
“Right you are.” Constable Tie responded cooperatively, rolling the parchment up and returning it promptly.
Wuxian leaned back in his chair under the constable’s gaze, a finger placed thoughtfully over his chin. According to what chief Li had told the constable, Wuxian was only here to aid in missing persons cases. Only Wuxian himself knew that his real goal was to locate and obtain the production methods to a potential miracle cure for the disease. Though constable Tie had been cooperative thus far, it would be a misstep to assume that he wasn’t also in contact with chief Li, able to alert the latter the moment he caught onto Wuxian’s true objective.
Besides, it wasn’t like he wasn’t aiding chief Li and the Nightwatch. He was just killing two birds with one stone. Whether or not the gu master or puppeteer was alerted by his actions, potentially withdrawing from the city… it wasn’t exactly a bad outcome for Wuxian. With the need for secrecy paramount, Wuxian turned to lock eyes with constable Tie, determined to keep up the act.
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“I suppose I’ll have to take a look at the sole missing persons case from this month then. No point in going back through previous month’s cases to cherry pick when there’s one that needs doing right before us, eh?” He jibed.
“Well, that’s convenient for all parties.” Constable Tie replied as he stood up from the desk and straightened his surcoat.
Wuxian followed with bewilderment. “You don’t keep your documents in your office?”
Constable Tie replied with the shake of his head. “I do, but for this particular case, it’d be easier if you speak directly with the person who brought us this case in the first place.”
As he spoke, he couldn’t help but look through the window. Wuxian followed his gaze, his eyes landing on the decrepit middle aged man sitting in the reception area.
“It’s him?”
Constable Tie looked over. “You recognise him?”
Wuxian quickly refuted. “No, I was just wondering why he’d been sitting there since before I’d arrived. There’s nobody else here so he couldn’t have been queuing, so I’d assumed he was just taking shelter from the cold.”
“An understandable assumption. He looks the part.” Constable Tie replied with a straight face. He paused mid-step, turning to look over at Wuxian who was tightening his hairband.
“Just to let you know in advance… this person is somewhat peculiar.”
“How so?”
“He won’t give you any specific details about the situation, only the name of the person who’s gone missing and nothing else. He says that he’s looking for a specific person to handle the case, but won’t tell us that person’s name. I don’t know if it’s because he only recognises the officer by their looks, or if he’s insane.” Tie explained.
Wuxian was puzzled, but equally as intrigued. “I suppose having him look at the faces of each of your people isn’t feasible.”
Constable Tie shook his head. “No. Most of them are deployed, with some of them undercover. There’s no point in jeopardising our missions for one man- especially when he could just be mentally ill or playing a prank, however unlikely those two possibilities may be.”
Wuxian was unfazed by the constable’s callousness. It was merely the most logical and rational thing to do in the situation and he himself would have done the same should their roles be reversed.
Without further ado, the pair quickly made their way back to the reception, their hard-heeled leather boots producing sharp clopping sounds with every step. They passed by the duty officer with only a brief nod of acknowledgement before stopping a few paces away from the decrepit man. The man himself didn’t react to their presence, continuing to look down in a trance.
Constable Tie waved his hand above the slip of dirty paper in a practised manner, catching the man’s attention. As the person in question looked up slowly, his gaunt appearance and yellowed eyes left a strong impression in Wuxian’s mind. Then, the constable stepped aside with a sweeping gesture.
“This is Zhang Baofu.”
The man in question looked up at Wuxian, as if examining his features. Wuxian stood still, allowing Zhang Baofu to get a good look at his face. After a few moments, the man looked away, as if he had not managed to find what he had been looking for.
Wuxian gave the constable a sideways glance. “I suppose that means I’m not the one he’s after?”
“Assuming Zhang Baofu recognises the face of the person he’s looking for, yes, I suppose not.” Constable Tie replied, clasping his hands behind his back.
Wuxian gave Zhang Baofu a good look, noting the fatigue and grime etched into the man’s face. The clothes he wore looked fairly normal, if not a little worn, coloured patches sewn over what were presumably rips and tears in the fabric.
“Well, we’re not going to get anywhere by just staring.” Wuxian muttered. “Zhang Baofu, can you describe your case to us in detail?”
Hearing mention of the case, Zhang Baofu seemed to become alert. His previous blank and unfocused expression became one of keenness, his pupils constricting to normalcy and his attention shifting to constable Tie first, then Wuxian.
“Okay.” The man nodded, seemingly regaining his vitality from nowhere. “This all started a couple of weeks ago. I was on guard duty at the east gate and stumbled across a lone urchin girl. After finding that she had nowhere to go, no friends, no family or relatives, I offered to let her stay at my house.”
Wuxian withheld his judgement, merely nodding to indicate that he was listening. Constable Tie was paying attention as well, seemingly cross-examining each word Zhang Baofu spoke with words in his mind.
“While I was on duty about a week ago, my house was broken into and the girl was abducted.”
Wuxian crossed his arms, raising a hand to tell Zhang Baofu to continue, only to be met with silence. Zhang Baofu had returned to staring blankly at the slip of paper, clearly having nothing else to say. Wuxian frowned, glancing over at constable Tie, only to be met with a shrug.
“That’s it?” He asked.
“As much as he’s willing to tell us.” Constable Tie replied. “We’ve tried asking him whether he has any inklings of who may be responsible, or if there were any witnesses and so on, but he just stays mum, refusing to elaborate.”
“Odd.” Wuxian remarked. His gaze wandered over Zhang Baofu’s frame, eventually landing on the dirty strip of paper.
“And what about that?” He asked, pointing a finger.
Constable Tie shook his head with a helpless look. “He won’t let us have it. Not even a single look.”
Wuxian touched his chin, continuing to look at the paper. “Perhaps it’s related to the specific person he’s looking for? Maybe it has a name or a sketch on it?”
“Perhaps. To be honest, if we weren’t so tied up already, I might have taken it by force.” Tie admitted, as if unafraid of Zhang Baofu hearing his words.
As if on command, Zhang Baofu immediately hugged the slip close to his chest, looking up vigilantly. Wuxian’s frown deepened, concerned by the man’s strange behaviour.
“Something’s clearly wrong with him. How could an active member of the city guard end up in a state like this after just a few weeks? He must be leaving vital information out of his story.” He paused momentarily. “Constable, I’m guessing you haven’t brought in any of Zhang’s colleagues for questioning yet.”
“I’ll get to it if that’s what you so wish.” Tie offered.
Wuxian nodded slowly. “Then I’ll take a look at what’s written on this slip of paper in the meantime.”
“How are you going to do that?”
Wuxian didn’t reply, only extending his right hand from out of his long-sleeved Nightwatcher uniform. As his fingers unfurled, a strand of luminescent qi extended out like a thread from an unfurling ball of yarn. Under the astonished gazes of constable Tie and Zhang Baofu, the latter having been shocked out of his daze, the strand extracted the paper slip from out of Zhang Baofu’s loosened grip and into Wuxian’s hand.
Seeing constable Tie’s look, Wuxian couldn’t conceal his amusement. “First time?”
Tie swallowed subconsciously, nodding.
Relishing the power trip for a brief moment, Wuxian internally reminded himself to stop being so pompous. He unfurled the slip and looked down. Reading through it the first time, nothing special happened, but as if like a magnet, the words on the paper attracted Wuxian’s gaze, preventing him from looking away.
His smug expression was instantly replaced with a look of incredulousness.