Chapter 330 - Patterns

The weekend was almost over when things changed. They were all ready to log this weekend as something that gave them little progress. There was just too much history that they do not know about their mother.

Qing Lok and Qing Chen consulted everything that they knew about her but little were only provided to their knowledge. They did not even know which country she came from. One paper said she was from Europe, another says she was from the West.

The truth buried deep in all the lies.

Before they closed off for the night, Qing Chen was in the living room, turning on the news just for the sake of something else to occupy his mind for at least just a few minutes.

Headlines tonight were about an explosion in the first floor of a building where a bunch of individuals gathered for their yearly foundation meeting. The whole building was now unstable and needed construction.

"Wuming," they all said at the same time just as the door swung open. 

"I think I just heard my name."

"You're on the news," Qing Chen nodded at the TV. The reporter was saying something about gases that caused the explosion.

"Oh come on," Wuming groaned. "You have to give credit to Addison too. It's her mission and she pulled the trigger."

Addison showed up beside him. "It's all his doing. It's his idea."

"I like it," said Qing Lok. "You're both far from the scene. But surely, you two lead them away and covered your tracks, right?"

"Of course," Wuming replied. "We took about 20 buses today, rented a car, went to three other cities, changed clothes about ten times. We'll be fine." Wuming took in the defeated look in their faces. "Nothing for today then?"

It was as if Wuming spoke it to existence, like he called it to being. The living room was quiet and then suddenly, an alarm went off in one of their computers which screen automatically transferred to the projected one on the wall.

They all saw it, starting from the pattern, countless street pictures and it zooming on one map, then a red line slowly traced itself, marking how it matched the pattern.

They were all stunned to silence, looking at the blinking red lines on the screen, waiting to be acknowledged.

"This is not real," said Qing Lok, he couldn't feel his limbs all of a sudden. He was too afraid to move it or to click anything as it they might lose it.

For safe keeping, he made his hands work and he took a picture of it with his phone. 

In the middle of the map, there were two words. "Pilgrim's Hollow"

Before anyone else could move, Qing Chen snatched the bundle of papers of the poems they had on Edgar Allan Poe. He had mentioned a pilgrim there.

**

And, as his strength 

Failed him at length,

He met a pilgrim shadow— 

'Shadow,' said he, 

'Where can it be—

This land of Eldorado?'

'Over the Mountains

Of the Moon,

Down the Valley of the Shadow, 

Ride, boldly ride,'

The shade replied,—

'If you seek for Eldorado!'

**

Wuming zoomed out the map from the computer, looking at the strange land. "So, who's up on a trip in the middle of nowhere?"

**

"Isn't this great?!" asked Qing Lok, more than enthusiastic to live as early as possible. "We finally have somewhere to go! We can go check and see what's there, if there is really something that is waiting for us."

Qing Chen was supposed to be excited but all he was feeling was everything sour in his stomach. Like he wanted to vomit. He could not even bring himself to answer his brother.

It was Wuming who spoke, "Are you sure you want to go there, Lok? It looks like a ghost town. Shouldn't we wait for something better?"

"Certainly doesn't look like El Dorado to me," said Addison, looking at the map. There were already pictures of the place. It looked empty and destroyed. Ruins. What would their mother do in the middle of nowhere. But then again, she had been doing a lot of suspicious things to them lately.

At this point, should they even be surprised?

Feng Xuan remained quiet as she didn't feel like it was something she should comment on. But Qing Lok was right, they had to go there. They had to see what was there. That had to be their answer so why were these two older brothers suddenly backing out?

"Let's call it a night," said Qing Chen. "It's almost midnight. We have to rest, we have to return to work tomorrow."

"I agree, it had been a long day already, Lok," seconded Wuming. "We'll talk more about this tomorrow. For the meantime, let's just sleep on it."

Everyone in the living room dispersed. Even Liu Meilien looked disappointed. Feng Xuan followed Qing Chen up the stairs, wanting to know his reasons, wanting to demand answers. All the work that they had put on it and now he didn't want to do anything.

She wanted to remain calm as possible as she knew this was also a stressing time for him but she might've closed the door far too harder than she thought as Qing Chen spun on his heel to look at her. 

"I'm sorry," she began. "But, I want to know what's going on in your head. This is it, Chen. Among the things that are in your back something is actually making sense for the first time."

Qing Chen opened his mouth but Feng Xuan cut him off.

"I have more to say."

Qing Chen sat down the bed, the room dark and the only light was coming from the lamppost outside. He patiently waited for his wife to gather her thoughts.

"Are you really going to pass up on this chance? There was no way it was just a coincidence. Those cracks on your tattoo was really a map. Possibly, you could know what your mother is hiding! Don't you want to know that? That might be really the El Dorado that your mother was talking about. 

"I know I don't get to have a vote in this thing. Hell, I don't even know the woman. I want to care for her as someone dear to me but I can't. But I care about this case. We all spent those sleepless nights trying to find something—and for you to throw it out of the window… I can't, Chen. I can't."

Qing Chen took a deep breath and ran a hand over his mouth. "I didn't say that I wasn't going to go. But, wife, we just came back from dealing with The Zookeeper. Wuming and Addison just killed two men who were running after Father. Would it be so wrong if I want to breathe? All those dead bodies are on my shoulders!"

Qing Chen stood up and paced in front of her, a hand running through his hair. "I'm tired of killing people, Xuan."

"But you didn't—"

"I did! Don't deny it! Whether or not I did it myself, I was the one who made the order. They are my dead men." He took a deep breath and pressed on his temples. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't want to shout at you."

Feng Xuan honestly felt like she wanted to cry at some corner. But a scared person was the last thing Qing Chen needs. He didn't need to add her as one of the people who were afraid of him. "It's fine. You're just… you just want to express yourself."

She tentatively held on his arm. When he didn't pull away, she hugged him. "You should've told me that you were feeling like this. You don't have to carry this alone. I am right here."

His hand ran down her back. "I know. I know you are." 

She wanted to tell him that she understood what he was feeling, but all the bodies that Qing Chen was standing upon was no match to the pile that she was on.

"Let's just sleep for the night," Qing Chen said. "And about that… El Dorado—whatever place it was called—we're giong to go there, but in the right time. I can't right now. I just need a minute."

Feng Xuan nodded. "Take all the time that you need. It's not like we're in a rush."

**

"They found it," said the man behind his computer. He could see it, what was happening in the Qing's screen. They found the Pilgrim's Hollow."

"Good," said the boss through the phone. "Anyway we could infiltrate their house? We have to know what they plan to do."

"No, sir," answered the man. "Every piece of technology in that house is encrypted. I can't get past the firewalls. They have no cameras and microphones. If there were I can't detect it. That 2nd son did his job well."

"Hmm," hummed the boss. "As expected. Guess we'll just have to call on some old friends to help us."