#Tribe Gate | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

lacommunarde · 2 years ago

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Summary: Zhang Qiling shows up at the Special Investigations Bureau post his ten years behind the Bronze Gate, worried about Zhang Family Amnesia otherwise called loss of soul. It turns out Shen Wei knows exactly what happened to the Zhang clan to have them guard the Bronze Gate and that Houtu's Great Seal was sealing the same place that was behind the Bronze Gate.

for @guardianbingo square: soulfire

“Chief Zhao, there is a young man here to see you. He appears to be human. But… you’ll have to hear him out,” Zhu Hong announced when Zhao Yunlan entered the office one morning later in the year in 2015.

He stopped and frowned. “Did he ask for me specifically or would his case best be seen by me?”

Zhu Hong tipped her head. “He asked for the head of the office…” she paused and pressed her lips together. “And he is concerned about experiencing something he calls ‘loss of soul’ that he is certain he will experience and wants to prevent.”

Zhao Yunlan took in that information. Shen Wei should probably be here for this case too, but he had a class. And if it was urgent. “What information did he give you regarding what loss of soul is? Is he currently experiencing it?”

Zhu Hong frowned. “He didn’t say. You’ll find he’s a man of very few words. He’s sitting in an interview room now.”

Zhao Yunlan asked, “Anything special done to it?”

“No, he didn’t request nor did it seem necessary. He went willingly.”

Zhao Yunlan nodded and headed to the interview rooms.

The man looked up as he opened the door and surveyed him briefly. If he had any thoughts on Zhao Yunlan, neither his face nor his body language showed them. “Are you the chief of this office?”

He was very thin and graceful, and, for all he was wearing a pair of black jeans and a dark sweatshirt, held himself like someone far beyond how old he appeared. In another life - okay, not in another life literally, but figuratively speaking, before he met Shen Wei - he would have wanted into this young man’s pants.

But a glance with his third-eye said that both the young man’s shoulders no longer had any soul-fires at all. In fact, he looked more like Shen Wei had before, but as though someone had taken a human and converted them into that, not like he’d been born like that. And there was something there that looked like it may have been a soul-fire, but there was something very unusual about it.

“Yes, you wanted to see me?”

“I heard you might know how to prevent loss of soul.”

Loss of soul… meaning he had once had them. Zhao Yunlan pulled out the chair opposite the young man and sat. “Are you concerned about that?” he asked, giving the young man his best inquisitive gaze. If he was here for any reason other than that, few people could stand up to that gaze.

The young man didn’t say anything in response but merely met his eyes and did not flinch. And Zhao Yunlan could read from them that this young man was terrified of that.

Ah. Shit.

“What happened to the ones that are already gone?” Zhao Yunlan asked, dropping the pretense.

The man must have been waiting for confirmation that he would be taken seriously because he suddenly seemed like a stress position victim who’s just been freed. “One happened years ago. I believe it must have been in the 1960s. The other, I was found in 2001 after that one. There was another in 2004, but that was due to… something else. I recovered after that one. But it is a thing that happens to my family, the heads of family are specifically susceptible. We call it loss of soul and after three real ones, it results in us needing to be taken down…” The man swallowed. “I don’t want that to happen around the two I am living with. They are very important to me. They came to pick me up after I was… away.”

Zhao Yunlan blinked with all the information he was getting. The young man looked so forlorn and disconnected from his body there for a moment that Zhao Yunlan felt the need to make conversation to reconnect him.

“Ok. Let’s start at the beginning. What’s your name?”

The young man was silent. Ok then.

“What can I call you?” And since he’d mentioned his family in relation to the loss of soul: “And what’s your family name?”

“I’m Zhang Qiling. My friends call me Xiaoge.”

Zhang… oh. Oh boy, Chu Shuzhi was going to have a shit-fit.

–

That was Zhao Yunlan’s first thought at any rate. His following thoughts were that he didn’t know as much about the Zhang family as he would have liked, not to be dealing with this. They tended to keep all their records in hard to reach places and keep records of them out of the easier to reach ones. From what he did know - they were ancient, they were tomb-raiders of a type, and they were also, as far as he could tell, a martial arts cult that had mostly died out over a century ago from in-fighting. Inbred too, but that seemed to be part and parcel of a lot of cults that did tomb-raiding. The notes he had read had recommended just avoiding them on sight, and if one had to deal with them not to expect much cooperation.

“I’ve heard of your family. I’ve also heard that your family tends not to cooperate with outsiders.”

“I’ll cooperate.”

“Then, Xiaoge, I’ll try to help. What happens in a loss of a soul?”

“We…” He scrunched up his face and for a second looked even younger. Zhao Yunlan wanted to put a blanket around his shoulder. “Lose ourselves. The first two are temporary, but the memories we lose then are never recovered, but at least we recover who we are after them.”

Ahh, so what happened to them was some form of amnesia, leading up to an amnesia after which… what?

“It is said that we don’t recover from the last one. The previous Zhang Qilings all tried to bring down the world when that happened, and there was none of the person they had been left to them anymore.”

That sounded worryingly familiar… “What do you mean trying to bring down the world?” Zhao Yunlan asked.

“Trying to destroy the world.” He surveyed the face Zhao Yunlan gave him. “I think that they act like the creatures from a place… that I just got back from guarding. And the creatures there want to destroy the world too.” He frowned. “Wanted. Something changed while I was guarding it. By the time I came out, they no longer wanted to.” He peered back at Zhao Yunlan again and ahh, he wanted answers to that too.

Zhao Yunlan’s brain was jumping to conclusions about what place that place was and he did not like what he was seeing. “What place?”

“There is a gate and it is my family’s duty to guard it. I will not say beyond that.”

“May I check something?” Zhao Yunlan asked.

Zhang Qiling stared, gaze full of suspicion.

Zhao Yunlan pulled out his wallet and pulled out a talisman from it. A recent addition, one designed to check ghost tribe energy, beyond where his eyes could check most of the time. “A talisman. It will do nothing to you. Merely checking something.”

Zhang Qiling thought about it. “Will it tell you the location?”

“If I wanted that, there are less noticeable ways to get it.”

Zhang Qiling thought about it some more then nodded.

Zhao Yunlan activated the talisman and then put it on him and then closed his eyes to better open his third eye. He nearly staggered from what he saw.

He opened the door and called down the hall. “Call Shen Wei. Tell him it’s an emergency.”

Zhang Qiling widened his eyes but otherwise sat still.

–

“So what is he?” Zhao Yunlan asked, watching Shen Wei pace around the neighboring cell, clearly upset.

“I… Yunlan, I may have done something awful in the name of guarding the Seal.”

Zhao Yunlan nodded. It met the conclusions he had come to following hearing Zhang Qiling talk about guarding a Gate.

But Shen Wei was fretting and he couldn’t have that. Even if they did have a human-turned-ghost-tribe-ghost in the next cell over. “Darling, I’m not angry. I’m just looking for an explanation. Let’s start with why does he have ghost tribe energy?”

Shen Wei sighed and came over to the seat opposite Zhao Yunlan and sat. “Following your life as Shen San, I couldn’t do much watching of anything, neither you nor the Seal. I’d killed you, you see, and was nearly responsible for you not coming back again.” Shen Wei had that tone in his voice, the one that said he’d moved beyond fretting into a real blaming himself for everything wrong with the heavens and earth funk.

“Darling…” Zhao Yunlan put a comforting hand over Shen Wei’s.

“Therefore, I infused someone with my energy and gave them the duty of watching it for me when I could not. A few generations later, I found out that not only were they affected, but their children and grandchildren were too. By which I mean they were more like ghost tribe ghosts than I had originally anticipated. They were stronger, longer lived, and more affected by the three corpses… So I, out of my own fear that they would become like youchu, put in place the intermarriage. That way, at least, they could keep an eye on themselves and train themselves not to let the three corpses take control. It seemed the kinder fate to me killing them all.”

Zhao Yunlan nodded. Thus far it made sense. But how did that lead to this young man’s problem?

“And the steadily disappearing soul-fires?”

“The person in charge of the family took up a ritual. I don’t know how they discovered it. Possibly somehow from studying the Seal itself. Enough to build their own. So it is connected to the outside world without having them go through Difu and the Huangquan. The purpose of it was that it let the one in charge be more connected with the Seal, and to guide their family according to what the Seal needed. Supposedly. There are more infused with ghost tribe blood than just the person in charge. The stronger ones among them take up turns guarding the Seal, but similarly, they become similarly in danger of losing their souls when they go behind it, but unlike the one in charge only then. For a while, I tried to institute a rule that no one may guard it more than twice, but there were still those who lost themselves after even one go. So it became something of an honor to make it out not just once but twice and then to be willing to go back. If they lose their souls behind the Seal, they stay there and their ghosts run the perimeter of the Seal every so often.”

Zhao Yunlan had a distinct memory of a certain incident with the Shadow Blitz. “Were they what I called when I used the Shadow Blitz?”

Shen Wei looked downright miserable, and if that wasn’t enough to answer Zhao Yunlan’s question, he answered aloud. “Yes, they were likely the ones that came up. Plus a few normal youchu who were playing at soldiering for a few years, before they got bored of it.”

“Understood. So do you have any suggestions on how to maintain his remaining soul-fire. Apparently he’s already lost two. And the last one is weird. And he’s already full of ghost tribe energy.”

Shen Wei winced and bent his head in shame. Zhao Yunlan hated when he had that face on. He wasn’t about to chide Shen Wei for what he had done in a moment of needing support to guard the Seal, so he held out a hand for Shen Wei’s hand and, when Shen Wei put his into Zhao Yunlan’s, began massaging his hand. “I could do it as I did for you, but that would involve regular infusions.”

Zhao Yunlan hoped a glance at him confirmed for Shen Wei that he would rather give up his own left shoulder’s soul-fire again than have Shen Wei “give infusions” from himself.

Even if it hadn’t made it clear, Shen Wei was off onto other suggestions. “Alternatively, we could try using a bit of the Guardian Lantern. If he was behind it at the time, it might take better than if he was outside. The downside is that that hasn’t been tried before and we don’t even know if it will stick.”

“Is there a downside to trying it?” Zhao Yunlan asked.

Shen Wei looked up sharply. “Apart from killing him?”

Ok then. “Is there a way you know of to tie his own previous ones to him?”

Shen Wei’s face went a shade darker. Whatever he was about to say wouldn’t be pleasant. “There is, but it would involve making him fully ghost tribe first.”

“Which he wants to avoid.”

Shen Wei nodded. “Plus, the only thing that would get him through it would be as strong a connection to someone as I have to you.”

So more or less impossible.

Shen Wei paused for a moment. “But the upside of that would be that he would never lose it.”

“Let’s go discuss the options with him.”

They went into the cell. Zhang Qiling looked up, first at Zhao Yunlan and then his eyes fell across Shen Wei. There was recognition there and a moment of terror. Then, he studied him further and his expression settled into confusion.

“Are you not…?” he started.

Shen Wei poured a cup of tea from a teapot off to the side.

“He is in the SID too and I think can answer your questions best. I’ll be outside to leave you your privacy.”

Zhao Yunlan closed the door behind him.

“May I sit?” Shen Wei asked, setting one of the two teacups in front of Zhang Qiling.

Zhang Qiling nodded, and Shen Wei sat down across from Zhang Qiling.

“You have been behind the Seal?”

“Your Seal and the Bronze Gate are the same?”

Shen Wei tipped his head. “They go to the same place.”

Zhang Qiling nodded too, not taking his eyes off Shen Wei.

“My condolences.”

Zhang Qiling eased up a little. “You are not …?” He trailed off again.

Shen Wei picked up the tea pot and let Zhang Qiling see him heating it by hand.

Zhang Qiling seemed increasingly intrigued. “You are one of them, but also not.”

“The need to destroy everything went away due to recent events. I can only imagine you felt those events behind the Seal.”

“I noticed something.”

Shen Wei couldn’t help smirking at the tone. “The others all gained the opportunity to get souls and even enter reincarnation should they want. You were apparently not granted the same.”

Zhang Qiling glanced away. “I’m alive. I did not want to enter reincarnation.”

“That is what I want to talk to you about.”

Zhang Qiling looked back up at his eyes. “No question.”

Shen Wei sighed. There was no easy way to drop this. “You aren’t alive anymore. Your last soul-fire is already extinguished.”

Zhang Qiling shook his head. “Not true.”

Shen Wei poured them both another cup of tea and then gazed at him again. “The soul-fire you now have is technically borrowing someone else’s.”

“I am not.” But there was a moment of panic in his expression that looked startlingly like his own whenever he had reached for his pendent.

“Not taking that person’s, not to worry.” Shen Wei corrected himself. “Merely aligning yourself so deeply with him that you can feel his heartbeat even from miles away.”

Zhang Qiling blinked, shifted uneasily and stared down at the teacup.

Shen Wei lowered his voice and said, “Let me hazard a guess that you have felt the need to consume whoever this person is for putting themselves in any danger, even only the slightest.”

Zhang Qiling closed his eyes and nodded.

“Have felt the need to crawl into his bones and stare at him for hours and keep him away from all others out of a desire that no one else should get him.”

Zhang Qiling nodded again.

“Have desired to…”

Zhang Qiling sighed, “I know he will die first. Even if he dies a natural death, and not by anything else, he will still die first, and increasingly that thought fills me with…” He trailed off, meeting Shen Wei’s eyes.

Shen Wei nodded. In a gentle voice, he said, “I understand.”

Zhang Qiling’s shoulder fell. “Am I one of them then?”

Shen Wei nodded again.

Zhang Qiling sat back in his chair, looking away for a moment and blinking and for a few moments Shen Wei could see his chest moving with his breath. “Can you help?” Zhang Qiling said after a few moments.

“Unfortunately, right now, you lack the easiest way to help. But you are without that, so it makes other methods actually viable. But it will take some time to see if it’s even possible. In the meantime, I would like to meet with your person.”

That caused a reaction that Shen Wei wasn’t surprised by in the slightest. “No.” Translation: over Zhang Qiling’s dead body. “He is in a different city and doesn’t know I’m here.”

Ah. The interpretation of that was that he wouldn’t want Zhang Qiling here either. Shen Wei turned to glance at Zhao Yunlan through the walls.

Zhao Yunlan, who had been using the time and his cellphone to find out everything he could from a cursory glance on what came up when he looked up Zhang Qiling in addition to watching his reactions, came in. “What’s his name? Can you tell us that at least?”

“...”

“Listen. I promise we are not going to call him up or anything like that. We merely want to know a bit more about him. Maybe look him up online.”

Zhang Qiling still had his eyes narrowed as though suspicious.

Zhao Yunlan sighed. “Come on. Don’t make us have to call the department that keeps tabs on all the tomb-raiders. Because I imagine that’s what he is, your friend. But to be honest, this department doesn’t care about tomb-raiders, other than to tell you which tombs are strictly off limits and which you want to be respectful of. We certainly don’t care about arresting tomb raiders at any rate.”

Zhang Qiling’s face went dark and he glanced at the floor. “Wu Xie.”

Zhao Yunlan nodded. “Okay. The good thing is that name means nothing to me. But let me do a little research to make sure he’s on the up-and-up and then as soon as we’ve made sure, we can see about fixing your problem.”

Zhang Qiling nodded.

Zhao Yunlan, once out in the hallway, typed in Wu Xie’s name to see what that pulled up. Not a lot.

“Lao Chu,” he decided to say. “I have a job for you. Have you heard of a tomb-raider by the name of Wu Xie? Might be connected to an antiques store called Wushanju?”

Chu Shuzhi made an expression as though he had been taking a drink of coffee and Zhao Yunlan’s words made him do a spit take. “Why are we getting involved in that fuckery?”

“Oh, so you know of him already?”

“He sells very quality antiques, but might have some tomb-raiding skills. Supposedly very good at tomb traps. And uhh, he made a scene a few years back with a famed antiques auction house.”

The only famed antiques auction house he kept track of that wasn’t on Antiques Street was… “The Xinyue?”

Chu Shuzhi nodded.

There was something about that nod. Zhao Yunlan thought back to events that might garner the description of A Scene in Chu Shuzhi’s eyes. “That incident?”

“The one that trashed the Auction House? Yes.”

“So this Wu Xie was involved in that?”

“He was one of the trio doing the trashing.”

Zhao Yunlan’s mind called up Zhang Qiling talking about the two he lived with. “Let me guess another was called Zhang Qiling?”

Chu Shuzhi’s eyes narrowed and he got the same expression he got when he was hungry for forbidden knowledge. “What’s this about Zhang Qiling? From the mysterious Zhang clan?” Then he frowned. “Is the head of the mysterious Zhang clan related to that incident somehow?”

Good to know that either Zhang Qiling wasn’t there or not that many people knew he was. Zhao Yunlan’s money was on he was there, but not that many people knew he had been.

As for Chu Shuzhi’s reaction: “I see you’ve heard of them. What knowledge do they have that you want?”

Chu Shuzhi shook his head. “Not ‘want’ necessarily. I just have met a couple of them and they seemed very unusual for humans. And they have bells that they use to hypnotize people. They were apologetic about having tried it on me, though that might have had more to do with it not working on me. They’ve also developed a method of longevity, but it’s none of the usual methods.”

Zhao Yunlan nodded. “Yes, we’ve already found out how their longevity works. It’s non-duplicable.”

Chu Shuzhi considered. “So still want me to look them up?”

Zhao Yunlan nodded. “I want to know any sign of if he’s aware of what Zhang Qiling is or if he’s using that fact at all. I want to know if he properly respects him and properly knows what he’s dealing with.”

Chu Shuzhi typed something in and then made a very strange face at the computer. “Lao Zhao, we might have a problem.” He spun his monitor around. “This is Wu Xie. He looks a lot like a ghost tribe ghost Xiao Guo and I went up against during that incident. If anything, I’d say this guy is even handsomer, if you get my drift. Not as much so as Shen Laoshi, but still.”

Drift gotten.

“You think he might be a ghost tribe ghost?” He leaned closer to Chu Shuzhi’s monitor.

Chu Shuzhi frowned back at his computer. “No… he’s actually grinning like he wants to be brothers with everyone and… somebody caught a video of him, hang on.” Chu Shuzhi hit play. Zhao Yunlan and Chu Shuzhi watched. The video was of a man grinning at the camera, giving a peace sign and then sneaking off to do something over someone’s offscreen’s protests, something with a bucket and a garden hose. He saw what Chu Shuzhi meant - here was a man who was many things, but a ghost tribe ghost wasn’t one of those. But Zhao Yunlan also saw that he had definite elements that looked pretty in a very Shen Wei way in his features.

“He’s a gremlin, but not a ghost,” Zhao Yunlan agreed. Chu Shuzhi nodded, but the question hung in between them. “But I’ll see if Shen Wei has anything to say about why he looks like the ghost you fought.”

He went back down to find Zhang Qiling standing up and leaning on a wall, arms across his chest, staring at Shen Wei. Zhao Yunlan couldn’t exactly read him, but that expression seemed unblinking and the way he had his eyes trained on Shen Wei said that Shen Wei had just revealed something of interest that had Zhang Qiling staring at him from a distance.

“Zhao Yunlan,” Shen Wei said when Zhao Yunlan entered. “He’s caught up on what I did to him. I have invited him to spar with me sometime. He has also revealed things about his family that I will tell you, but no one else.”

Zhao Yunlan nodded at Shen Wei and then looked over at Zhang Qiling. “You haven’t told me everything.”

That earned him a blink that read like a shrug.

Ok. Fair.

“You didn’t tell me your Wu Xie also had ghost tribe blood and appearance.”

A frown. And then an even deeper frown of confusion, and then worry.

So, he didn’t know.

“He swallowed a qilin blood tab when I first met him. That’s what we call our special blood. It gave his blood certain properties - a weak bug repellent, but more than much of the remaining family has. Possibly some slight longevity. But no appearance change.”

Bug repellent blood could be useful, and Zhao Yunlan intended to ask Shen Wei about that later, but Zhao Yunlan had to agree with Zhang Qiling: it didn’t sound like anything notable in appearance.

“Unless…” Zhang Qiling’s frown deepened, and then he sighed. “I need to text someone.” He pulled out a phone and typed in a few things and hit send. A couple minutes later, there were a series of messages that he got. He read them. The crease in between his eyebrows deepened. “Here.” He handed over the phone.

Zhao Yunlan took it to see that the conversation with whoever this was had gone,

Xiaoge: Does Wu Xie look like someone else?

Glasses: … Why? Who’s asking?

Xiaoge: Who does he look like?

Glasses: Is there someone there who looks like him? Give me your coordinates and stay put.

Xiaoge: Not around now. Is it someone dangerous?

Glasses: The ones with the facemasks died. They were Wang clan. The other one shouldn’t bother you again. He was involved with the Underwater Tomb incident. He’s the one Wu Xie’s uncle weasel wanted him to be like.

Zhao Yunlan read it and frowned as well. “Wang clan?”

Zhang Qiling shook his head. “Wu Xie went up against them while I was gone. They… I don’t know much about them but they infiltrated everything, including my family. They… I think they wanted to bring down my family, and get inside the Gate. Wu Xie took them down. I think at great cost to himself, but no one will tell me.”

Shen Wei sat back. “How did they know about the Gate?”

Zhang Qiling gave a blank stare and shook his head again.

Shen Wei sighed. “No one will tell you because…”

Zhang Qiling pressed his lips together. “Possibly because Wu Xie doesn’t want me to know.”

Shen Wei glanced at Zhao Yunlan. Zhao Yunlan nodded back. “He probably did things he would rather you not find out about.”

Zhang Qiling closed his eyes. “I would be fine with it.”

Zhao Yunlan gave a huff of a laugh. “Would you really?”

Zhang Qiling met his eyes. “Knowing it is done and that there is no one I can kill to keep him safe?”

Ok. Point.

Zhang Qiling’s phone buzzed. There was another text from Glasses. “Where are you? All good?”

Zhang Qiling glanced at Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei. Zhao Yunlan nodded. Zhang Qiling texted back. “Dragon City. All good.”

“Wu Xie with you?” came the reply.

“No. Wushanju.”

“What’s of interest in Dragon City?”

Zhang Qiling saw the text and pocketed the cell phone again. His pocket buzzed a few more times, but he ignored it.

“You don’t want to tell him either?” Zhao Yunlan asked.

Zhang Qiling shook his head.

“Who is Wu Xie’s uncle weasel then?” Zhao Yunlan asked.

Zhang Qiling frowned as though trying to remember and then shook his head. “Memory issues. Wu Xie’s third uncle is dead now though.”

There were a few other buzzes on Zhang Qiling’s phone. “I’m tired. Is there a bed? If not, I can sleep in here.”

Zhao Yunlan said, “I’ll show you to a bed.”

They left him in a room by himself with a bed on one wall. If it more closely resembled a cell than a room, Zhang Qiling didn’t comment. But he did look visibly comforted by the fact that Zhao Yunlan didn’t lock the door.

Zhao Yunlan cornered Shen Wei. “Well?”

“The person this Wu Xie’s third uncle wanted him to be like must have been a ghost tribe ghost and probably did something to his face as he was growing up.”

Shen Wei nodded. “It’s a shame we can’t know if that extended to other aspects other than just his appearance.”

Zhao Yunlan pulled out his cell phone. “We can’t contact Wu Xie. We can however contact the person Zhang Qiling was just texting with.”

Shen Wei’s eyes went wide and he nodded.

Zhao Yunlan rang the number he had seen on the phone. It rang through. Then, however, a text appeared from that number: “Who is this?”

“Someone Xiaoge came to see in Dragon City.”

“...”

“You are the reason he was asking those questions?”

“Yes.”

“Why do you want to know?”

“Does Wu Xie know Xiaoge has tied himself to him? Is he likely to abuse it?”

Following that text, Zhao Yunlan’s phone rang. It was from the number he had been texted. He picked up.

“Do you even know the first thing about Wu Xie? About Xiaoge?” the voice on the other end said.

Zhao Yunlan decided to answer that question with a couple facts Xiaoge had related. “Your Xiaoge came to see us to see if we could prevent a final loss of soul.”

“Final?” The voice sounded sharp with barely concealed alarm. “Ahh. Final.” There seemed to be more there that he deliberately wasn’t saying into the phone, but the hollowness in his voice said he guessed at what that could mean.

“However, he has already lost his third.”

“Is he still… you said he came to see you? He still has initiative to do so? Or did somebody bring him to you?”

“He came on his own initiative.”

The voice gave a little hitch, as though it liked the unvoiced option even less than Zhang Qiling being initiative-less. “And he’s still willing to be taken in?” he said it softly, as though voicing something he didn’t want to be the case and wanted to keep secret.

Zhao Yunlan decided to give him the good news. “With him aligned with someone, we can do something that could grant him a soul, but it depends on what Wu Xie’s character is like whether it’ll work or not.”

“... Where are you?”

“Didn’t Xiaoge already tell you?”

“Some things are better discussed face-to-face.”

“Dragon City Special Investigations Bureau.”

There was a small choking sound on the other end. Then: “On second thought, I don’t want to meet. But I’ll answer your questions: Qi Yu was your not-human. I don’t know what he was, but decidedly Not Human would be my best guess. He’s not around anymore. I don’t know what happened to him. He is the one Wu Xie was made to act like and look like. Something involving the plan to take down the Wang clan. Don’t ask about that last one. Trust me. Wu Xie had to be chaotic enough that they couldn’t predict him by any of their means. So he’s a gremlin, but he’s a good kid. Furthermore, Xiaoge trusts him, and I trust him with Xiaoge.”

Zhao Yunlan listened. “You don’t want to meet with me or with the SIB?”

“I would rather keep as much distance between me and your SIB as possible. I don’t want to know your opinions on various choices I have made. And I don’t want you saying I am not allowed to make my choices.”

That made sense. Zhao Yunlan certainly had not wanted anyone telling him what he could and couldn’t do while he was still human. Actually, that was a question. “Are you human?”

There was a laugh under the voice on the line’s breath. “I don’t want to know if I still count as one or not, Mountain God. But if possible, please help my friend and I will thank you however you want.”

Ah. So this individual knew who he was as well.

“I will try.”

“Good.”

The cell phone hung up.

Zhao Yunlan gazed at Shen Wei. “You heard?”

Shen Wei nodded. “It sounds like this Qi Yu was the ghost tribe ghost.”

Zhao Yunlan recognized the expression starting on Shen Wei’s face, evidence of the self-blame starting that would no doubt get much worse before Zhao Yunlan had a chance to kiss it away. So, to head it off before it could get Shen Wei into that mood, he said, “Or something like it. He could have been a Zhang family member who just hit the roll of the dice wrong.”

Shen Wei’s eyes glimmered with thanks for the effort, even if he didn’t believe it.

Zhao Yunlan continued, “Either way, this Wu Xie was just made to look and act like him. He’s a ‘good kid’ according to whoever Glasses is.”

Shen Wei looked immensely relieved. “So we can proceed with getting Zhang Qiling a soul-fire. Do you have any thoughts on how to do it?”

Zhao Yunlan said, “We could always try marching him down to the Guardian Lantern and then seeing if his body will take it from either of us.”

–

Only a few hours later, when they went to explain to Zhang Qiling, he got a call. The name, even though they couldn’t see it from where they stood, caused such an expression of longing on his face that there could be no doubt whose number it was. He met their eyes and picked it up.

“Xiaoge. I’m sick,” they heard the voice on the other end of the line say. The voice sounded utterly devastated. If Zhao Yunlan was to hazard a further guess, whatever the person was sick with, it was fatal.

A flinch followed by a bone-deep tremble went through Zhang Qiling.

“I need you.”

Zhang Qiling nodded, making a small sound.

The other end hung up.

Zhang Qiling turned towards them, eyes skimming Zhao Yunlan before settling on Shen Wei. He trembled again. “I need to go.”

“If he dies with you like this…” Shen Wei started.

Zhang Qiling gave a half-shrug. “I’ll take his body with me into the Gate.”

“We can still…”

Zhang Qiling shook his head. “I need to accompany him until the end.”

Shen Wei nodded. “Go.”

Zhao Yunlan stopped him before he could pass by. “Try to find a way for him to live first, or even find out when he’s dying. Often, things are curable now. Or it might not be for a number of years.”

Shen Wei turned to Zhang Qiling with an expression of apology. “As he said. Do check first.”

Zhang Qiling nodded, but the expression of despair that had come over his eyes on hearing that Wu Xie was sick had not left them. He nodded at both of them again, and then brushed past them on his way out of the SIB.

–

A couple months later, a white van pulled up in front of the SIB. Lao Li stared at it. It felt like it had been somewhere normal cars and civilians should not go. He glanced in it to see a fluffy haired, fat middle aged man in a graphic design t-shirt and a leather jacket, who waved at him when he noticed him looking, then turned back into the van to say something to someone in the car. He apparently lost the debate because he sighed loudly and then rolled his head back against the headrest and shrugged.

The back seat door opened, and the lanky figure of Zhang Qiling climbed out. From the passenger side, another figure, not as lanky and graceful as the first but handsome got out and came around the car to Zhang Qiling’s side, looking into Zhang Qiling’s eyes with his own wide ones. “Let me accompany you?” he said, in a soft tone that allowed room for Zhang Qiling to say no if he wanted.

Zhang Qiling nodded. The window rolled down and the man in the car still said, “Naive, Xiaoge, if neither of you come out of there or at least contact me in an hour, I’m calling in reinforcements.”

The one referred to as Naive nodded. “Xiao Hua and Black Glasses.”

The man in the car laughed, “And President Zhang, Warehouse 11’s, and the Mini-Me trio and Huo Daofu’s contingents too if I can get them.”

“Got it, Pangzi.”

“Naive. You keep our Xiaoge safe, you hear me?”

“Wu Xie. Pangzi. Don’t worry,” Zhang Qiling responded then turned to look at Wu Xie.

Wu Xie met his eyes and nodded. Together they walked up the steps to the door. “Hi, he was here a couple months ago meeting with your chief about a loss of soul.”

Zhao Yunlan strode from his office. “Zhang Qiling! You’re back!” he greeted.

Zhang Qiling gestured at the man standing next to him. “This is Wu Xie.” The expression of happiness in his eyes said it all. Whatever had happened, they had found a way for Wu Xie not to die yet.

Zhao Yunlan surveyed him. A hundred percent human by his third eye, but giving him the weirdest deja vu. Wu Xie was grinning like, well, if he didn’t know better, he’d say like himself while he was still human and schmoozing with everyone he declared to be his brothers out there. But Wu Xie’s face definitely had key elements that read ghost tribe ghost. If anything, he would say it even had elements of Shen Wei’s face in it. Not that Zhao Yunlan would ever confuse the two of them, but it was still disconcertingly like looking at an echo of Gui Mian.

“So what was it last time that had you calling your friend here away?”

“My lungs.”

“You found a cure?”

That got a grateful grin. Small and fortunately, flat teeth. “Yes. Are you…?”

Zhao Yunlan stuck out his hand. “Zhao Yunlan, Chief of the Special Investigation bureau.”

Wu Xie reached out and shook it. “Wu Xie, head of Wushanju Antiques Business.”

Zhao Yunlan couldn’t help it. “I take it I don’t need to tell you to avoid any tomb business in Dragon City?”

Zhang Qiling interrupted, “You don’t need to.”

Wu Xie gave Zhang Qiling the saddest puppy eyes Zhao Yunlan had ever seen. Puppy eyes on his features just wasn’t fair to anyone they were aimed at. Zhang Qiling turned towards him, held his eyes, and smiled at him.

Zhao Yunlan began to wonder if they had forgotten the rest of the world existed. After several seconds of this, he had to clear his throat.

Wu Xie turned to him and then his smile fell away and suddenly he looked a lot more like someone who’d been in the tomb raiding world and could make the decisions Zhao Yunlan gathered they had to make. Whatever he was going to say was going to be a veiled threat. How cute.

“I want reassurances first that you will let him go when he wants. If it doesn’t work, there is to be no holding him against his will or we walk.”

That the threat was used for that. A slight softening of Zhang Qiling’s features said he appreciated that it was said. Actually, strike that, the expression in his eyes said he was in awe that it was said. Something had clearly happened in Zhang Qiling’s life that made this necessary. Wu Xie knew it. Zhang Qiling, judging by the fact that he was displaying gratitude but no discomfort or anger, did not know it as a thing that had happened to him, merely as a thing he had learned. Zhao Yunlan wanted to know in more detail what it was and who had done it. But that profound amnesia must be what he meant when he said he would never recover the memories.

“We will,” Shen Wei’s voice sounded from the end of the end of the hall. “If it doesn’t work, we will not hold him or you.”

Wu Xie turned to see who had just spoken and gaped at him, taking in his features. “What the fuck?” he breathed.

“Qi Yu may have been what Shen Wei here was,” Zhao Yunlan responded to the thousand questions crossing Wu Xie’s face.

Wu Xie spun around, eyes slotting that into place and that making a revelation in Wu Xie’s brain. “Oh. Huh. That actually explains a lot.” He closed his mouth and considered. “And you mean to do for Xiaoge here what you did for your friend here?”

Shen Wei said, “In a manner of speaking.”

“Are you related to the Zhang family system then?”

Shen Wei opened his mouth with an expression of self-admonition. Zhao Yunlan interrupted before he could get a single syllable of that out. “In a manner of speaking.”

Shen Wei met Zhao Yunlan’s eyes before saying to Wu Xie. “I was born behind the Seal, another entrance you call the Bronze Gate.”

Wu Xie’s jaw all but hit the floor and then realized he was gaping like a fish, swallowed and picked his jaw back up. “Then…” His mind seemed to be working at a million miles an hour.

Zhao Yunlan nodded. “Yes.”

“Am I…?”

Zhao Yunlan shook his head. “You’re human. But also…” He peered at him again and the nearest he could tell to what the “but also” was was that he smelled weird, like someone who had spent too much time in a mustard seed. “You smell like you went somewhere humans shouldn’t go.”

Wu Xie’s expression flashed with a pained grimace, and a scar on his neck jumped as he swallowed. Zhang Qiling’s expressions once again softened and looked like he wanted to hold Wu Xie and keep him safe from whatever that was. “There was a family called the Wang clan. They wanted to take the Zhang family down and get inside the Bronze Gate and take over everything really.”

Shen Wei frowned. “Were they human?”

Wu Xie wrinkled up his face, considering. “Probably. But they might have done things to themselves.”

“It tends not to be a good idea to go into the land beyond the Seal then. It does things if one doesn’t have ghost tribe blood.”

Zhang Qiling nodded and met Shen Wei’s eyes. Wu Xie’s eyes darkened and he gazed at Zhang Qiling’s back as though his eyes could bore holes in it.

“Shall we go try it then?” Zhang Qiling’s eyes rotated towards Wu Xie in a way that Zhao Yunlan could guess meant that he planned to leave him behind.

Wu Xie caught wise to it no slower than Zhao Yunlan did. “I’m coming with you. I’ve been to the Bronze Gate twice and I am not leaving you-.”

Shen Wei said, “This time it is not necessary to enter the Bronze Gate, and I think you’ll find that what is beyond it no longer exists. Am I right?”

Zhang Qiling shrugged. “There are still beings beyond it, but they have changed.”

Zhao Yunlan nodded. “When they are ready to enter the reincarnation cycle, they can, but they still have to be willing.”

Shen Wei turned to him. “The Seal location no longer requires that we take them either into the Bronze Gate on through the Huangquan, merely to the entrance to Difu.”

Wu Xie snorted a little. “Is this another old tomb under a river? The number of them that label themselves Difu that we’ve been through.”

Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei met eyes, Zhao Yunlan’s sparkling, and Shen Wei gave a fond smile and his go-ahead. Zhao Yunlan did not need to be given it twice. He grinned at Wu Xie. “No. Literal, actual Difu.”

Wu Xie’s smile fell into an expression of hungry interest. Zhao Yunlan was glad he had told the tomb raider no tomb raiding while in the city, including what was under it. And he was also glad he had already checked Wu Xie’s humanity because that expression on those features was enough that if Guo Changcheng had walked in right then, Wu Xie would likely have gotten zapped.

And then he’d have to deal with Zhang Qiling.

He pulled out his wallet and pulled two talismans from within it. “You are going to hold this in your mouths while we are down there, because Difu is still Difu, and you are still alive.”

Wu Xie took one talisman and studied it.

Zhao Yunlan turned to Zhang Qiling and gestured at him with the other. “You too. I don’t want to take any chances.”

Zhang Qiling nodded.

“Ok, let’s go.”

“We have a car if it’s far,” Wu Xie suggested. Zhang Qiling tipped his head, and Wu Xie nodded as though answering a question. Zhang Qiling gave a small smile.

“We’ll take you there on foot,” Zhao Yunlan said.

Shen Wei opened a smokey hole in the air. “It’s not far as we travel.”

Wu Xie brightened. “A, that is so cool. But, B. What I was telling Xiaoge was that we actually have a third member of our group, and he would like to accompany us too if that’s alright.”

Zhao Yunlan asked, “The one in said car?”

Wu Xie grinned sheepishly.

Zhao Yunlan decided he liked Wu Xie. The kid had the same gremlin tendencies as he did. “Call him.”

Wu Xie held up a phone and said into it. “It’s safe. And they are taking us into literal Difu to restore Xiaoge’s soul.”

The voice on the other end of the phone swore. “Naive, you have the most fucked definition of safe imagined, do you know that? Fuck your uncles. Fuck your ancesters. I’m coming in there and making sure it is actually safe because between you and Xiaoge you’d go somewhere even worse than that thrice-fucked fake gate under that mountain in Tibet and it’d be just my luck if it’d be somewhere with the black-haired snakes or corpse bugs or god only knows what else.”

They began to hear him in person as he entered the building. “Between shibies and miluotuo and the goddamn Bronze Gate, the two of you would consider it safe just as long as the other one was there. Never mind what the two of you would be doing to your poor Pang-ye.” Pangzi appeared at the entrance to the room. Wu Xie and Zhang Qiling both looked simultaneously cowed and still warmly smiling. Clearly, they both loved the third person a lot.

He surveyed the room and then stuck his hand out at Zhao Yunlan. “Hi, I’m Wang Pangzi and I’m here to keep these two alive. And you are?”

Zhao Yunlan looked at him and found himself thinking that he was expecting Daqing’s human form to look a look more like this Wang Pangzi, just judging by how he could see Daqing upbraiding him similarly only a few years back for once again getting into a dangerous situation and worrying the black cat sick. “Zhao Yunlan, Chief of the Special Investigations Bureau, and also one of the two people who is going to try this experiment that will hopefully mean your friend doesn’t have to worry about loss of soul again.”

“I’m coming too. Our Iron Triangle - that’s what we are - all has to be there for it to have luck.”

Zhao Yunlan could think of a number of points to argue with that, but instead, merely took a third talisman out of his wallet. “Fine. You’ll need this. Once we’re down there, you must keep it under your tongue.”

Pangzi took it and frowned. “What are we going up against that requires one of these?”

Zhao Yunlan demonstrated how to fold it. “It’ll disguise you as a living person so none of the ghosts get ideas.”

Pangzi rolled his eyes. “Do we need anything else before we set foot in there?”

Shen Wei shook his head. “No, it won’t take that long to find out if it works or not and we won’t be going that far in.”

Pangzi studied Shen Wei again and clearly had a lot of questions. “Face mask, do you think?” he asked Wu Xie.

“Later,” Wu Xie told him.

Zhao Yunlan added, “And same thing I already warned Wu Xie here about - no tomb raiding while you’re in or under Dragon City, got it? Or I’ll have to come pull you out, and then you won’t like the punishment.”

Pangzi got a show-frown on his face and then started in on, “Wherever did you get the idea that we were tomb raiders? Huh? We own an antiques shop and even that we have largely retired…”

Wu Xie sighed. “Pangzi, they don’t care, and I’ve already promised. As long as we can make it so Xiaoge no longer has to worry about loss of soul.”

Pangzi nodded. “Fine, fine, fine! I promise!”

Zhao Yunlan gestured at Shen Wei’s smoke portal. “Shall we?”

Zhang Qiling darted through the portal before either Zhao Yunlan or Shen Wei could move. Wu Xie and Pangzi, on the other hand, shouted, “Xiaoge!” and Pangzi had to catch Wu Xie to keep him from darting through after him. “Baby, open it a little wider so we can all get through together,” he told Shen Wei. Shen Wei spread it over each of them and pulled, and they were all through near the Seal near the entrance way to Difu.

Wu Xie blinked around him and surveyed the surroundings. Pangzi wasn’t much better. Zhang Qiling was only a short distance away from where they landed and was staring at the river Huangquan with a deliberately thousand-yard-stare expression.

“Ok, under your tongue with the talisman. Now,” Zhao Yunlan told them all, pointedly projecting his voice over to Zhang Qiling. They all did.

Wu Xie stared at Zhao Yunlan. “If we are all required to because we are all living, are you not…”

Shen Wei answered, “Nothing in its right mind would bother either of us individually. Nothing in any mind would when we are together. But they still might be lured in by you and think they are clever enough to avoid us.”

Zhao Yunlan chuckled. “I would still but that caused an issue last time. You don’t want to meet with the Yan kings. Trust me on this one. As tomb robbers, you do not want to come to their attention. So therefore, I’m not putting one under my tongue today.”

Wu Xie stared at him. “Why would they…?”

“They sense me weirdly when I do. It causes political issues. Damnit. I’m going to have to learn politics, aren’t I?” He looked at Shen Wei fondly. “Baby, can I…?”

“You already know the answer to that. It is no”

Wu Xie glanced between the two of them and tipped his head. Pangzi saw and glanced at Wu Xie then meaningfully at Zhang Qiling. Wu Xie noticed and said, “Shut up, Pangzi.”

“Wasn’t saying anything. Merely wondering.”

“Loudly. Besides, let’s get him free from being tianshou’d first, then he can decide.”

If Zhang Qiling heard them, he wasn’t indicating.

Zhao Yunlan nodded at Zhang Qiling and then made eye contact with Shen Wei, indicating that he might want to go see what was troubling Zhang Qiling.

“I’ve been here before,” he said as Shen Wei slid up.

“I’m sorry,” was Shen Wei’s response.

Zhang Qiling shook his head. “Don’t be.” He turned to face Shen Wei. “Lead the way.” Shen Wei met Zhao Yunlan’s eyes and together they started walking in the direction of the new Seal.

It lit up as they got close. Zhao Yunlan took a deep breath. The last time he had been here specifically, Shen Wei had…

Shen Wei edged up to him, eyes guilty. Zhao Yunlan glanced at him and smiled. The message in his eyes was clear, and when they got back up, he would reiterate it verbally: Shen Wei was to discuss things with him first.

A gasp sounded from Wu Xie as he came close. “It’s gorgeous.”

“It looks like the goddamn Gate, Naive,” Pangzi retorted.

“But it feels different, Pangzi.”

Zhang Qiling added to Wu Xie’s remark, “It doesn’t feel like that place.”

He was right. It did not feel like that place, the Profane Lands, because the Profane Lands were gone. Zhao Yunlan glanced at Shen Wei and then turned to Zhang Qiling. “Are you ready?”

Zhang Qiling turned to him and nodded, thought about what Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei had said about willingness earlier and verbalized it, “Yes. I am ready to get back a soul and stop losing who I am.”

Zhao Yunlan grinned and stepped into the center of it, using his knife to cut his fingertip and then holding it out above the center. The Guardian Lantern rose up to meet him.

“Zhang Qiling, come forth.”

Zhang Qiling stepped over into the center of the Seal and made a small sound of longing.

“I imagine you can feel what you are lacking more here than anywhere else, am I right?”

Zhang Qiling nodded.

“You’re not going to like this next step,” Zhao Yunlan murmured, just to him.

Zhang Qiling shrugged.

Zhao Yunlan took Zhang Qiling’s hand, sliced it, and put it into the flame. Even if he knew it wouldn’t burn, Zhang Qiling did not. He was expecting resistance.

There was none. Not even surprise.

At least not on Zhang Qiling’s part. There were two indignant shouts behind him from Wu Xie and Pangzi.

Zhao Yunlan turned to look at him, eyes full of questions as to why a typically very surprising thing didn’t get surprise and a negative reaction out of him.

He merely held his hand in the flame and studied it. “It’s not hot.”

“Screw ‘it’s not hot.’ It’s not taking,” Zhao Yunlan commented. “I thought all it would need would be your heart’s blood.”

“We’re taught to use our blood to protect against things. It might have affected how much we can call on it.”

Shen Wei stepped forward. “Let me try.” His voice meant business. Zhao Yunlan turned to him and caught sight of his long hair and his… ahh. Shen Wei must have thought it might take better if he was letting out his ghostly aspects. Perhaps the intention was to show Zhang Qiling them and have him do it too.

However, judging by the expression on Zhang Qiling’s face, he had been unaware of this aspect of his blood. And judging by the expressions on both Wu Xie and Pangzi’s faces, this wasn’t just something he had forgotten.

“You can probably do this too. It might make it take better.”

Zhang Qiling surveyed Shen Wei’s features. “How?”

Shen Wei held out his hand and in it a little pool of energy formed. “Can you do this?”

Zhang Qiling concentrated within him, made a face of discomfort and began letting out breath audibly, and then sighed, shaking his head as though terrified of something. “I’m sorry.”

Shen Wei met Zhao Yunlan’s eyes. The expression met agreement: he could physically. They had both seen the glimmer of chaos energy flowing through his body when he’d tried.

“You’ve been around them. You have the energy. You know you do,” Shen Wei said.

Zhang Qiling’s frown deepened, and he met Shen Wei’s eyes. “Why is admitting it needed for me to do this?”

Shen Wei said, “There must be a change in you. However, for you, that cannot just be giving up your desire. From what I’ve gathered, your family taught that you can have no desires while you serve them. Therefore, you must first admit you have a desire. And then.”

“A desire.”

“Xiaoge, he’s telling you to be selfish for once in your life.” Zhao Yunlan met his eyes and then glanced meaningfully at Wu Xie. “What do you want to do?”

Zhang Qiling could blush, it turned out, but he gathered Zhao Yunlan’s meaning, took a deep breath and turned his gaze on Wu Xie. Wu Xie started forward but Zhang Qiling shook his head and instead walked over to Wu Xie, and, still standing on the Seal, met Wu Xie’s eyes.

“Do you know what they’re talking about?” Wu Xie asked.

Zhang Qiling smiled a slow small smile and looked anywhere but at Wu Xie’s eyes. His eyes fell across Wu Xie’s lips. Selfish. Ok, he had always wanted to feel those lips on his, no matter if he felt Wu Xie belonged with someone who wouldn’t keep dragging him on mission after mission to find their own history and who would be able to remember shit like their first meeting. He wanted him.

In a swift motion, Zhang Qiling grabbed his face with both hands and kissed him.

When he brought his lips away, Wu Xie’s eyes were surprised, but not unpleasantly so. “You want me too? In that way? Since when?”

“Since you decided to come with me to get my memories back at the Zhang Family Pavilion. Probably since before then.”

Wu Xie nodded, smiling sappily at Zhang Qiling’s back, and then turned to Pangzi with his eyes bright and wide as Zhang Qiling went back out to the center of the Seal, gesturing at Zhang Qiling with a growing grin on his face.

“That work?” Zhang Qiling said.

Zhao Yunlan couldn’t help the smile that came over his face. “That should work.”

Zhang Qiling nodded and met Shen Wei’s eyes. Zhang Qiling swallowed and shimmered with ghost tribe energy again. This time, he was able to get it to pool in his hand.

Shen Wei gave a nod and flicked his eyes towards the Guardian Lantern again.

Zhang Qiling took a deep breath, turned towards Wu Xie and gave a small smile, and then swiftly put his hand in the fire again.

The flame caught, dancing up his arm and catching his hair and face up in it. Zhang Qiling’s body seemed to shimmer. He made a high, pained sound.

“No! Xiaoge!” Wu Xie and Pangzi both cried out, lunging forward only to be caught by Zhao Yunlan’s powers and kept out. The fire would either take or not. But if it was to take, Zhang Qiling couldn’t be worried about whether it would hurt Wu Xie. Nevermind that Wu Xie had an expression of absolute anguish on his face that Zhao Yunlan was certain resembled his own when Shen Wei had... when Shen Wei had. What was it with guarding the Seal that did that to them? But this time, there wasn't any risk that Zhang Qiling could throw himself into actual death.

With his other hand, Zhao Yunlan pulled Zhang Qiling back from the Guardian Lantern. Zhang Qiling’s head lolled back on his shoulders, predictably either unconscious or in a deep meditation while the flames took. He had asked Shen Wei about it, but Shen Wei had not been able to answer him as to which it was, merely that it was a lot.

The flames that had caught proceeded to locate themselves at the three points where soul-fires typically were. Then they formed smaller and tighter fires at each location, until they disappeared from Zhao Yunlan’s normal sight. Zhao Yunlan determined that it was complete and let go of Wu Xie and Pangzi.

Not a moment too soon.

Zhang Qiling stumbled then, eyelids flickering as he tried to regain consciousness. As he did, Wu Xie and Pangzi came running. Zhao Yunlan handed him over, and Wu Xie took him and lowered him to the ground. “Xiaoge! Xiaoge! Don’t have died. I know that smile and you’re not to make that smile and then do shit like this! Not again! My heart can only take so much of that.”

Zhao Yunlan met Shen Wei’s eyes. “Same, you know,” he whispered.

Shen Wei averted his eyes, but nodded. “I promise.”

Pangzi’s voice joined in with Wu Xie’s saying something about how he could do the Heimlich Maneuver but he’d leave the CPR to Wu Xie.

“Tell them,” Shen Wei mouthed.

“It might be a while. It took Shen Wei here a full week to wake up after he gained his.”

“Xiaoge! Please. We’re both willing to stay with you through anything. But I don’t think either of us could bear you being hooked up to a bunch of IV tubes in a hospital again.”

Pangzi added, “We could set up one ourselves. Have Huo Daofu set up the IV.”

Slowly, Zhang Qiling’s lips curled up into a smile, and he blinked twice more before opening his eyes.

Pangzi hugged him strong enough that Zhao Yunlan was momentarily worried for Zhang Qiling’s bones. But then he let go, and Wu Xie put his arms around Zhang Qiling’s waist and tucked Zhang Qiling under his chin. “Xiaoge, did it take?”

“It took. All three of them are in their rightful place,” Zhao Yunlan said.

Wu Xie made a loud whoop and hugged Zhang Qiling tight again, and Pangzi ruffled his hair and then hugged both of them.

Zhao Yunlan looked around them and saw there were several sets of eyes watching them. From a respectful distance, but still, much longer and that distance might no longer be respectful. “We should go.”

Shen Wei nodded and opened his portal. He grabbed Zhao Yunlan, who was more than happy to be pressed up against Shen Wei at any opportunity and then grabbed Wu Xie’s shoulder, as that was sticking out of the cuddle pile such that grabbing it was the least awkward part to grab, and portalled them through to the SIB floor.

“Chief Zhao!” came the call from Guo Changcheng. “Is everything alright? I felt like…”

Zhao Yunlan winced. Someday, he was going to have to explain to the kid his connection with the Guardian Lantern. However, today was not that day.

“Everything’s fine.” He turned to look back at the cuddle pile pulling themselves apart now that they noticed the scenery had changed. However, even after pulling apart, Wu Xie and Zhang Qiling still stared into each other’s eyes. “Did you mean it?” Wu Xie asked. Somehow, Zhao Yunlan guessed they would be at that for a while.

“If you need to, you can use the office you slept in,” he called back over his shoulder.

Then, to Guo Changcheng: “Everything’ll be absolutely fine.”

They chose to wait until they weren’t in the building anymore. Though they were told they absolutely had to stay for a few days for check-ups to make sure everything took properly first, they had decided and got permission to go get celebratory take-out and beer. But, at least according to the call he got later from both Pangzi and Glasses, they didn’t go much further than the backseat of their van before Zhang Qiling pulled Wu Xie in for another, much longer lasting kiss, and more while Pangzi decided to go get the three of them food to allow them their privacy and save his eyes.

Which, fair. After all this and the reminder of that day and how long it had taken for Shen Wei to wake back up, he couldn’t wait to get Shen Wei home and let himself get ravished by his own now-souled no-longer ghost tribe ghost. And then after that, he’d ask if Shen Wei had left any other things they should both know about while protecting the Seal.

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tani-b-art · 1 month ago

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Let’s talk about genealogy…

I’ve been doing something that’s been a bright spot for me this year! I’m researching my family’s genealogy! And let me tell y’all, just from starting only this year, it’s been a fun-rough! But so rewarding!

So, I’ll give a long yet brief little review of my journey thus far!

The spelling of names was the first hurdle I ran into. I’ve run into my great grandmother’s last name spelled two ways and then found her mother’s (my great-great) first name spelled one way on a website and spelled 5 different ways between obituaries)! Heck in my case, I’ve come across my grandmother’s obituary and her sibling’s obituaries where they all spelled their parents’ names differently! Official census may have this recurrence too — the enumerator could’ve not asked for official spellings from the family and just wrote it how they think it would be spelled. And you also have to factor in our maternal grandparents’ maiden names pre marriage etc. For the longest, I’d been searching for anything using my great-grandmother’s obituary with her last name spelled one way and researched and researched and researched some more only to discover that on the official census, the last name is spelled completely different!

With that being said, I’ve used findagrave.com, familysearch.org. How I even got to those sites were from asking others on online groups I’m a part of AND simply typing my relatives names in a search engine. I’ve had successful hits and unsuccessful ones but recently, I’ve gotten more successful hits.

If you are blessed to have your grands and even great-grands still with you, talk to them (which I unfortunately did not do when both my great-grandmothers were still alive-don’t make my mistake but in my dynamic, both my great-grandmothers spoke Louisiana Creole only so there was a barrier there but I could’ve very well asked my grandmother who was bilingual in English & Louisiana Creole/Kouri-Vini to help translate; thinking back on this, it would’ve been so nice to have these talks with both my great-grandmothers and to hear them confirm all the discoveries I’m making today) and write down what they tell you. Speak to your momma and daddy and aunties and uncles, cousins. Go to their house and look at pictures, look at the photo albums and ask questions! Go to your family reunions and take pictures of your relatives and take pictures of any photos a relative may bring and ask them who the people are in the photos.

Keep obituaries (those are super, super important & helpful and relevant because these are the first line of recording that can start the groundwork; if you have nothing else). Record and write down any and everything that’s told to you. Paper and digital copies of what you’re tracing (please don’t just keep a copy of any of what you find just electronically or just on paper, do both). I’m no expert but I’m just sharing to help others.

I haven’t done this just yet (I’m currently in another state) but the city’s Clerk of Court or state’s archival buildings too hold loads of information. Marriage licenses, birth certificates, christenings, property documents (deeds, purchases of all kinds).

The sites I’ve used so far are familysearch.org and findagrave.com. These have been jackpots for me! I’ve been able to get records of my ancestors from US Censuses dating back to 1940 and 1900 and there’s still more to go back further! I actually found my ancestors who were born in the 1750s! That was emotional for me—every find has been from my great-great-great-great grandmother and grandfather to seeing their children who are my great aunts and uncles! Especially when I found my great-great and my great-great-great grandmothers’ records! My great-great, a woman who we always had an original, old, physical picture of and my 3xs great grandmother who I had had a photocopy picture of from our first family reunion years back and to finally match their faces on all the documentation that linked back to them both—the records actually has these same photos I have…was rewarding! I sat for a good 5 minutes and cried happy tears!

Prior to these sites, I had only fairly solid information on my grandmother’s maternal side of my lineage, now I have more from the maternal side AND paternal too! And as I keep researching, more is coming up! It’s going back to the 1700s with more to go! So that’s beyond exciting! AND my family’s roots are all up in Louisiana! Through and through. No one ever left Louisiana since 1750ish (and I’m not finished)! Black Indigenous American Creole Louisiana roots run deep!

Our ancestors have been here for so long. Very deeply rooted history we have as Black Americans.

Look at that…all I initially really had in mind was to start my little family tree on my grandmother’s side with the 6 photos (with obituaries for my 3 grandmothers on both sides) I had of relatives and look where I’m at now! Started off with photographs and misspelled names and entered question marks for their birth years…as of today, I have correct spelled names and birth dates as well as departure dates, marriage licenses, census with their names and children’s names! It’s pretty amazing! I feel like an archeologist—excavating and unearthing all these beautiful treasures of them…of me!

Let’s talk about genetic ancestry testing……

*The 60 Minutes segment aired October 7, 2007.

*Henry Louis Gates’ segment was November 2010.

I always never quite understood how saliva alone could be the evident tool itself to be able to trace ancestry all the way back on the entire continent of Africa. Yet alone, how could that absolutely or partially determine which tribe you possibly share heritage with. I’ve seen comments where people say Gates was just joking, but all chances of a joke or not aside, this isn’t something to make a mockery out of. People truly are having confidence in this testing and genuinely want to discover their history, ain’t no time for comedy and humor.

The notion of Black Indigenous Americans “are lost because we don’t know where we’re from” has always been the catalyst to wanting to connect ourselves back to Africa and so, the excitement for Black Indigenous Americans to find their roots back to the continent of Africa would absolutely be high and this DNA testing would be the solution.

But I’ve always questioned — how can I (me personally, I cannot speak on anyone else) trace what could be an enormous amount of gap years from now to Africa if I’m not even considering to piece the centuries of years on American soil? If I’ve never done my American lineage yet, I’ve never done my genealogy of who my great-great and greats were here on American soil…how can I skip completely over 200+ years of direct lineage to simply get names of my great-great-greats or get their place of birth and anything else about them before I ancestrally trek the continent of North America and swim an ocean to cross to Africa?

Do you know your grandparents’ full names and date of birth and place of birth?

Do you know your great-grandparents’ full names and date of birth and place of birth?

Do you know your great-great grandparents’ full names and date of birth and place of birth?

Do you know your great-great-great grandparents’ full names and date of birth and place of birth?

If you don’t know the answers to these, then the first efforts should be genealogy-here. Not genetic testing that allegedly isn’t much accuracy at all. That’s just me.

Black Americans certainly have very traceable paper trails with all the detailed recording that’s been done on our ancestors. Census, ledgers, books, bill of sales, ads, etc.

If you don’t know this or haven’t delved into researching this at all, then you’re missing centuries and decades of your American ancestry that absolutely matters. That DNA testing should actually be records tracing for Black Americans. Fully. Because it takes so much effort and time (and money on occasion) to conduct this as it is. It takes alot of time and mental, physical and spiritual energy. The swap is the easy and apparently inaccurate path. But that genealogy will have you on a long road but a more accurate one with evidence. That was a huge reason for me not ever doing the 23andMe.

Everyone will go about tracing their genealogy how they need to and with what they have. And my advice, to Black Indigenous Americans is to start with your genealogy. Your American ancestry that is very immediate, here, in your homeland.

If anyone has done their ancestry through paper records, share what your success and setbacks and progress have been. What new discoverers have you made? What confirmation did you confirm? What did you disprove? Are oral stories matching up? [heads-up: there will be some families that unfortunately have no paper trail or the paper trail will abruptly just stop and the tracing ends there but that doesn’t mean you and your lineage stops because you are your ancestors’ continued legacy].

I hope you have fun doing it! It’s exciting and frustrating and relieving and confusing at times and absolutely rewarding! It’s tedious work! The pride you’ll feel and the proudness you’ll get for your bloodline! It’s worth it!

Black Americans, we were & are never lost, we were just misdirected. (And, we simply didn’t know this path was even the option). You just have to find your way that your ancestors left behind. They left behind their ancestral print for us and are our guiding light to find our path.

Your heritage, lineage and ancestral footprint is right here in America.

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