Poison City

 

“Hi Kevin.” Marcus went outside and bought a cup of milk tea that he knew Kevin liked, then poured himself a cup of coffee and went into Kevin’s small and slightly depressingly dim lab: “I’m back. So - what can you tell me about - ”

 

“Blood Rainbow?” Kevin raised his head behind his laptop screen: “Marcus, I don’t know where you heard that. But please tell me you’re fine.”

 

“I - I’m not so sure, actually.” Marcus sighed, then handed Kevin the milk tea: “This I still remember though.”

 

“Thanks.” Kevin sighed as well and took the milk tea with a smile: “And, uh, I would like to apologize for - you know, not listening to you, for so long.”

 

“Oh boy, thank you.” Kevin shook his head with a wry smile: “I just hope it’s better timing. And, in no way am I saying ‘I told you so’, the thing is, all of the theories I told you were all just theories, from my connecting the dots, some of which were pretty far apart, and reading a hundred too many folklore books. And we both know, forensic technicians and detectives need to deal with concrete evidence and not rely too much on just hunches and gut feelings.”

 

“Just - just tell me, Kevin, no need to sugarcoat it for me.” Marcus put down his coffee mug: “Your theories seem to have served me more than my experience.”

 

“Okay.” Kevin nodded: “To start off - Blood Rainbow, tell me you didn’t see it. Because that’d be - ”

 

“I saw it - it was a red rainbow in the sky, and a little like an arch - ” Marcus shook his head: “But I was under the influence of some kind of drug or poison - I think it’s wearing off now.”

 

“And here you stand.” Kevin chuckled then shrugged: “Well what can I say. I’m glad you’re here. Okay, here’s the thing: Blood rainbow is a paranormal phenomenon - to be more precise, it’s something that happens before actual paranormal activities. There are quite a few documented, well, relatively well recorded mass paranormal incidents in Poison City history, and all but one of the records mentioned the occurrence of the Blood Rainbow. So far, my conclusion is they bring about the hidden paranormality to a region somehow. I’m not super familiar with it but I think there’s not much of a pattern to the paranormality it brings. Some missing people crawling in the streets crying and shouting, brutally murdered victims taking revenge on their killers and the accomlices, and portraits coming out of their paintings, etc. But we haven’t had reports on those for a while. Still, like I said. I’m so glad that you’re okay. May I know what you saw? If you feel like it.”

 

“Yeah, yeah.” Marcus rubbed his temples: “To tell you the truth, I didn’t exactly see it, what I saw was a shadow - casted by a flashlight.”

 

“That makes some sense.” Kevin nodded as he sucked on the straw of his milk tea: “My theory - and I’m pretty sure I am correct about this, ghosts and spirits can actually sense attention and gaze. So, if all you saw was just a shadow, it might explain - well, let’s move on, please tell me more about this shadow.”

 

“Well, okay.” Marcus took no offense from the implication and just treated it with a shrug and sip of coffee, even he did not know if it was because he felt he was indeed lucky or if it was because he was still kind of numb from the shock : “It’s, uh, half of a woman, I guess. At least that’s what I heard from the voice. ”

 

“Half on the upper part or the lower part? ” Kevin asked: “Or was it a sandwich situation?”

 

“Upper half.” Marcus scratched his forehead at Kevin’s weird sense of humor: “And she was crying for her eyes. Then - well, then she tore two local perps apart and - and - and started going through their innards.”

 

Kevin almost wretched from the description, and then he sucked on his milk tea: “Do you think - do you think she was looking for her eyes there?”

 

“I’ve been trying not to think about that.” Marcus let out a long exhale, then continued rubbing his temples: “And then I passed out, from the toxins and drugs used by a couple of thugs at the docks.”

 

“Wait, tell me everything from the beginning. ” Kevin scratched his head: “At the docks? Thugs? Give me the whole picture here.”

 

Marcus sighed, then proceeded to describe his experience last night. His memory was less than clear, and his recollection was incoherent and inconsistent at times. But with the patience and some helpful questions from Kevin, he was able to paint a relatively good picture of what happened. And for a few times, his attempts at describing and recalling the happenings were too eager, that his wounds started hurting again.

 

“What do you think?” Marcus took out a few pieces of ashes still in the rough shape of paper talismans: “I did not do this. I don’t even know how it works.”

 

“Burning them is not the normal way for sure.” Kevin took some of the ashes, held it close to his eyes and said: “You’d better ask Master Liaoran then.”

 

“Will do, when I get the chance.”

 

“Fucking hell, Marcus.” Kevin pointed at a wet spot on Marcus’ jacket: “You’re bleeding. Come on, let me address your wound.”

 

Marcus sighed for possibly the hundredth time today and unzipped his jacket. The gauze bandages on his waist were already soaked through by his blood, especially the part around his stab wound.

 

“This looks serious, you need to go to the hospital and get some stitches.” Kevin frowned as he pulled the medical emergency box from under his desk: “Were you attacked?”

 

“Maybe.” Marcus grunted.

 

“Just so we’re clear, I’m not at all interested in the politics behind this.” Kevin put on a pair of gloves, gently pulled the bandage up to take a look at Marcus’ stab wound: “And yes, this is between us.”

 

“Thank you Kevin.” Marcus nodded.

 

“Sure no problem. I’d still suggest you go to the hospital though.” Kevin cut the bandages open and prepared some more gauze to clean the wound: “I know you’re super tough and all, but infection’s no joke. It’d be a shame if the Steel Tiger gets brought down by an infected stab wound.”

 

“I’ll heat up a metal spoon.” Marcus chuckled while shaking his head, then he gasped through his teeth lightly from the pain.

 

“Not funny, sir.” Kevin dried Marcus’ wound with a piece of sterilized cotton and applied some more pieces of sticky bandage gauze on it before bandaging his entire waist up: “I have some oral antibiotics, but again, if you have a fever, just go straight to the hospital. And as little field work as possible, okay?”

 

“Captain Ko actually ordered me to stay behind my desk for a few days as well.” Marcus chuckled.

 

“Yeah. Good.” Kevin took the time to examine other wounds on Marcus’ arms, then just took off the gloves: “By the way, I think I might be able to find something on that woman you saw. I can try to pull some case files.”

 

“Who, Gloria?”

 

“No, the half of a woman.” Kevin handed Marcus a small box: “And the docks of the Mud River - there are rumors about more and more crime activities going on there. But as you can imagine, it’s a delicate situation.”

 

“Good, I’ll take a look at some case files when possible.” Marcus zipped on his jacket once again: “Let me know what you find.”

 

“I have some clean shirts in my locker. They might be a little tight, but better than this dirty jacket.” Kevin shook his head while staring at the wet spot: “Remember, keep your wounds clean. And change the gauze after five to six hours.”