"Wearing that in daylight, don't you think you will stick out much?"
In his office, Wei Yenwu glanced at a man in black robe standing in front of him.
"Don't you have anything more… subtle?"
"..." The man stayed silent.
"Forget it, you can fly a banner over your head for all I care."
"There is no need for that, Mr. Wei."
The man took off his robe hood off his head. He revealed a stone cold expression to Wei Yenwu.
"Many of those scholars know of me. I have to do some dressing when I come here. And I am wearing clothes from Yen," He explained, "As long as I don't look at them and they won't see my face, I will be fine."
Wei Yenwu stared at the intruder while lighting up his pipe.
"When did the emperor's guards need to be so sneaky?"
"This level of disguise is necessary for my mission." The man said blankly.
"You can obviously choose a better time to come to me." Wei Yenwu put the pipe into his mouth, and then said slowly, "But I really didn't expect you to come to me in person. Let's talk about it."
"Indeed."
"What's the matter?"
The man took out a list from his pocket and laid it out on the table.
Wei Yenwu glanced at the names on the list, and then his eyelids twitched slightly.
There was no way for someone like him to look at the name present to him and not be enraged about it.
By the time this list was finished being analyzed by him, he held back his emotions. Nothing changed in his expression as he glanced back at the man.
"... It's too much." Wei Yenwu's tone was still calm, "These are all the guests that I invited."
"The emperor will pay for it," The man said.
"If the scholar disappears in Lungmen all at the same time, she will become a joke of the whole world."
"The emperor will pay for it."
"It's too greedy, and everyone will think it's wrong."
"The emperor will pay for it."
The man repeated the same sentence three times, and after three times, Wei Yenwu's face finally snapped.
"Is the emperor threatening me?" Wei Yenwu held down his hand, and glared at the man. His eyes looked like they belonged to a dragon.
The smoke from his pipe loomed over both of them.
"No, of course not." The man said that sentence for the fourth time, "The emperor will pay for it."
With that, he turned over the list on the desk.
"This was the reward for the task. Take a look."
Wei Yenwu fell silent.
The office was quiet. There was not a single noise made by both parties. Wei Yenwu finally started the conversation again.
"I admit this is very big, but it is still too risky. With so many scholars disappearing from Lungmen, I don't want to take the risk."
"You can think of a way to overcome it."
He fell silent again, thinking about something. Finally he came up with something.
"How about we agree on a middle ground? A max number."
"A middle grown?"
"A quarter." Wei Yenwu said slowly, "I can only agree that only a quarter can die."
"One-quarter is too little." The man shook his head, "Three-quarters."
"One-fourth."
The man frowned, "Half is just fine-."
"No," Wei Yenwu slammed his fist on his desk and interrupted the man's words, "I am not a person who particularly likes to bargain. I have already told you the max amount of people that I could agree with. So choose. If you agree, continue talking, if you disagree, then you can leave now."
The man's face showed a look of anger, but Wei Yenwu remained unmoved, smoking his pipe leisurely. He puffed out some to the man. The white mist hovered in front of him, which made him look more intimidating.
This also let the man know that Wei Yenwu really won't budge with this, so he gradually calmed down.
"In that case, one quarter it is then," The man nodded and said, "But you can't just fill up the count and put in people who are completely useless. The number of people I can agree with but they must be the best amongst them."
"... Is that so," Wei Yenwu said faintly, "If I do anything in this respect, would you be able to tell at a glance?"
The man snorted coldly. "It's good to know, just in case."
"I don't like to pretend to be confused," Wei Yenwu said, "Also, you have to be a little cautious."
"We are the emperor's guard. You have nothing to worry about."
"Don't be cocky," Wei Yenwu warned the man, "In order to take care of my image, I still need to intervene soon enough."
"What do you say?" The man was silent for a while, and said "Could you just not let your guards bother us."
"What do you have in mind? Giving them a vacation out of nowhere" Wei Yenwu said, "Are you an idiot?"
The man was a little annoyed.
"Then just not bother with us." The man said, "Or think of another thing."
"In the position that I am in, if you don't want to be seen through, there are not many things I can do," Wei Yenwu slowly put down the pipe and poured the debris into a trashcan next to him, "But I can give you a chance. Yesterday the Department of Meteorology told me that there will be heavy rains and typhoons starting tonight, which will probably last for about one week."
"So?"
"The waterproof system at District 20 is getting old. It is estimated that it can only last for two days before it will completely collapse," Wei Yenwu said slowly, "At that time, the L.G.D. will need to go help out the disaster in that area."
"So that's it." The man understood what Wei Yenwu meant, and narrowed his eyes slightly, "Governor Wei, you do things like this, I see. No wonder Lungmen is as good as it is now."
Wei Yenwu changed his tobacco, and then picked up the pipe. The white mist slowly rose again. He looked out the window.
"She still has a long way to go to be her best."
"When this matter is over, after you get the emperor's reward, she will get closer to her destined form."
Wei Yenwu ignored the man's attempt to butter him up, "You won't mess this up?"
"If such a simple thing can be messed up by me, I will beg the emperor to kill me," The man looked at Wei Yenwu and then laughed, "Of course I also know that this is not what you want to hear. Don't worry, Governor Wei, even if you are really annoying, this won't affect you. We will wear disguises in doing this."
"That will cause me trouble."
"Is it? Then I have no other way then." The man put on his hood up again and was ready to leave, "But everything is risky, Governor Wei, you should be very concerned about this. Be ready."
Wei Yenwu turned his head, looked at the man's back, and slowly said, "I should be the one saying that to you, don't die in there. It will make a hard mess to clean up."
"Don't underestimate me, Mr. Wei." The man pushed the door and left, however before he left he told Wei Yenwu something, "In Lungmen, can anyone kill me? To my memory, no one can. If you know one, please do tell me."
After the man left, Wei Yenwu stood in front of the list and slowly picked up a pen.
A quarter, huh?
He squinted his eyes slightly, looking at the names on the list. After a few seconds of contemplation, he circled a name.
Eyjafjalla.
At the moment when he did so, the clear sky suddenly filled with lightning.
He put down his pen and turned his head, looking out his window.
He picked up his pipe, and slowly smoked for a minute.
After a few seconds, the sound of raindrops could be heard in his office. The rain then suddenly became more intense. As more time passed, the rain cloud was starting to cover above Lungmen. In an instant, the whole city was raining.
The light from the lighting lit up the cloudy sky.
"No one killed you, huh?" Wei Yenwu spit out the smoke in his mouth and gave a cold laugh. Someone's face popped into his mind.
"I have a name for you."
{Rhodes Island's Psychologist}
"Where did this rainstorm come from? It came out of nowhere," Lin Ye looked at the sudden rainstorm and said helplessly, "I knew I should have brought an umbrella out with me."
Lin Ye didn't know if Lungmen had a weather forecast, with how he didn't receive any text message about the rain, he guessed not.
He originally thought he would bring Eyja to eat something nearby and then go back to their room.
Now, he was drenched in water. Both of them were outside of the hall under the entrance's roof. They had to run back here when he noticed rain was pouring on them. He felt water slowly dripping off of him.
Lin Ye felt uncomfortable with how drenched he was. He looked to his side to Eyja, she must be as wet as him.
To his surprise, he found that her clothes were completely dry.
"How did you do that?"
"Hmmm," She tilted her head at him, "Do what, Senpai?"
"Your clothes," He pointed at her, "How did you make yourself so dry?"
"Oh!" Eyja replied, "This is my Arts."
"Arts? You can dry your own clothes with it?" Lin Ye then remembered that Skyfire had the same type of ability as her.
Were they both walking driers?
Lin Ye did feel warmer next to him, when she told this to him.
It was quite a convenient power to have.
This made him feel a bit envious of her.
"That's handy to have," Lin Ye sighed, "If only I had that skill."
"Senpai?" Eyja looked up at Lin Ye, "Are you cold?"
"I won't say that I'm not cold. That would be a lie," Lin Ye shook his head, "I am just a little uncomfortable. The feeling of wearing wet clothing is not something comfortable.."
"... I see," Eyja thought about it for a while, and then said to Lin Ye, "Then hold me."
"..." He needed to make sure he was not hearing things, "Pardon?"
Lin Ye subconsciously did not know how to respond to what she said.
He felt something back was about to happen to him.
"What did you say?"
"Hold me." Eyja said as she held out her arms to him with a big smile on her face.
Lin Ye took a deep breath and let it out.
"Why?"
"I can help you dry your clothes." Eyja said, "Just hold me. You don't have to worry."
I do indeed need to worry! I don't want to be arrested by the FBI for this! Or is it the LGD in this world?
He really did not want to be dragged away by an angry dragon.
If he was arrested because of this, his new life would be over.
Lin Ye refused her, of course.
"... No need for that." Lin Ye awkwardly smiled at her.
"It's okay Senpai. You don't have to be shy." Eyja said, "You don't have to be afraid of getting hurt. I'm very good at controlling my Arts."
This was not the question of him being shy or getting injured here.
Lin Ye sighed in her heart.
"It's fine. My clothes are just a little wet," Lin Ye smiled at her, "I just need to go back and take a shower later."
"But the rain is getting heavier and heavier," Eyja told him, "You will get a cold."
Indeed, the rain was getting worse.
While Lin Ye was busy thinking about how to get himself out from this weird situation, he suddenly noticed that he was under shadow. Something was covering his head. He looked beside him to see what it was..
It was an umbrella but that was not what caught his attention, It was who was holding it.
"Hello there," The person smiled at him, "Luckily, I had time to get an umbrella for you."
Lin Ye turned his head and saw Mostima standing next to him, holding an umbrella in her hand and the other was holding a cup of hot coffee.
"Oh, I got this for you," Mostima handed the warm cup to Lin Ye and said with a smile, "Here you go. Hope this will warm you up."
{Rhodes Island's Psychologist}
Draft: Jaq
Proofread: Jaq
Edit: Jaq