Edison was somehow shocked that this particular policeman knew him. Had he seen him before?
"H-how did you know my name? Have we met before?
He tried to maintain a calm expression despite being worried and anxious meeting this person. He was not sure how the policeman would respond when he would tell him about a missing person. Hopefully, he would not suspect him, then put him in jail. If it was going to happen, it would be too troublesome.
Zhao Li An was quick to reply. "I was partially involved with your case when you were investigated."
Remembering being taken to the police station, Edison somehow felt embarrassed that he faced down slightly. "Ah, I see."
"So, what brings you here? Curfew is about to be implemented. Is there something wrong?" Zhao Li An asked as he changed the topic.
Edison looked at Zhao Li An and quickly glanced at the person next to him. Was he a policeman too?
"Um well, it's about the missing child that the two of you are looking for. I know where he is."
Jack raised his eyebrows slightly. In a penetrative and questioning gaze, he asked "Where is he? How did you find him?"
Edison felt uncomfortable by such a gaze.
"He can communicate with plants," Zhao Li An explained.
Jack examined Edison from head to toe. "I see," he nodded.
Edison expressed an awkward smile. "T-that's right."
"Please tell us. Where could we find Axel?" Zhao Li An asked with a hopeful tone.
"According to the plants, Axel is currently in the City Forest Park. Umm...well...," Edison said with slight confusion.
"What is it?" Jack asked with a frown.
Edison felt threatened when he looked at the little policeman's partner. He replied, "Well, I was also told that there were two men following the kid."
Pausing for a moment, he gulped. "The thing is that when the three met, the plants could only sense Axel walking deeper in the forest area of the park alone."
Zhao Li An became nervous, "Wh-what do you mean by this?"
Edison looked down, "I'm not quite sure. The plants couldn't see, so they couldn't confirm what happened exactly. The only thing they know for sure that the kid was the only one walking after."
Both Zhao Li An and Jack looked at one another. Then the little policeman said, "We have to go to him and make sure that he's okay. Edison, could you help us find him?"
Edison was stunned for a moment, but he immediately nodded. "Of course. The City Forest Park should be nearby. Follow me and I'll guide you to him."
Soon, three people began running. When they arrived at the entrance of the park, they felt the eerie atmosphere. Although it was a place for families to come and spend time together happily in the morning, the atmosphere when night falls gave the park a different feeling for its visitors. It was much more frightening since it had little to no street lights. Some of them did not even work. It was much more silent compared to the bustling activities that it would have in the morning. One could only hear the chilling whispers of the wind.
Edison was not afraid as he went inside the park first. He considered this place as his own safe haven, since it was covered with mostly trees and other greeneries.
Approaching the nearest tree, he put his right hand on the trunk then closed his eyes.
The other two followed behind him and silently observed.
After communicating with the tree, Edison opened his eyes. "Thank you."
He turned around and faced the two and pointed at the direction towards the center of the park. "Charles said that he went that way."
"Charles?" Zhao Li An asked curiously.
Edison smiled, then nodded embarrassingly. "Yeah, that's this tree's name."
Zhao Li An was momentarily dazed. "Ohhh, I see."
The little policeman faced Charles and replied, "Thank you, Charles!"
Both Jack and Edison were surprised and amazed by Zhao Li An's response. For Edison, he found a new respect for the policeman. This person did not make fun of him. Rather, he was quite polite to him and his friend tree, unlike other people. As for Jack, well, he found Zhao Li An to be much more amusing than before.
"Alright, let's go and find Axel," Zhao Li An said with a serious tone as he ran towards the center of the park. Both Edison and Jack glanced at one another and nodded. The two followed the little policeman until they found something quite disturbing.
Under the light of a flickering street light, two men were lying face down lifelessly. Were they knocked out?
Zhao Li An quickly examined as he kneeled. As soon as he turned them over to look at the identity of the two men, he jolted and gasped. Jack, upon closer inspection, could see blood still seeping out from the necks of the two. Their throats were slit.
"T-they're dead!" Edison freaked out as he hid behind Jack.
This was Zhao Li An's first time dealing with such a gruesome crime scene. Even though he did wish to work on the field for such cases, being able to witness this kind of scene for the first time was undoubtedly shocking for him. He knew that this was not for the faint of the heart, so he took a deep breath and tried to calm down. With Jack by his side, Zhao Li An continued examining the two dead men.
"Your plant friends mentioned that it was only Axel who was able to walk freely after? Are you certain that no one else came with him?" Jack asked as he looked around for potential intruders.
"Yes. Yes. I already confirmed it with Charles," Edison said nervously.
"It must be Axel's doing," Zhao Li An interrupted. If there were only these two and Axel at that point of the incident, then it was surely that Axel had something to do with it. Zhao Li An knew that both Axel and his grandfather had some kind of ability, but he was not sure what it was.
The little policeman then briefly explained about Axel and his grandfather to Jack and Edison. Afterward, he tried to determine what Axel's power might be as he examined one of the bodies. By the looks of it, a sharp object was used as the neck area of the person was cut cleanly straight. There were a lot of speculations in Zhao Li An's mind, but it was hard to determine clearly how Axel was able to pull this off.
"Black blood?" Zhao Li An muttered with a frown as he got closer to the dead man's neck.
The little policeman was about to touch the blood for closer examination to confirm whether the blood was actually color black when he was stopped by Jack.
"What are you doing?" Jack held Zhao Li An's hand.
"The blood. It's black, but that can't be," Zhao Li An was somehow confused. Black blood came from the infected, yet it cannot be denied that there was this awful decaying smell coming from both of the dead men's bodies. What was baffling was that these two men did not look infected at all?
Everyone in the city received education regarding the process of becoming a zombie. Once an individual gets bitten by an infected, that person would quickly show symptoms of turning. First, that person would become sickly pale until he or she was unable to move or communicate properly. Secondly, their eyes would turn into a muddied yellowish color. At that point, the virus had already controlled the body and it would cause the flesh and the inside of its host to rot. This could happen within hours depending on the individual's health. At the moment, there was still no cure for such a condition, so the cycle of infection continues.
What was interesting with these two people was that they did not have any signs of early stages of infection. The only sign that they exhibited was the black blood, which could be only developed at the later stage of infection.
Jack was in deep thought. "Don't touch the blood."
He then proceeded to search for some kind of identification for the two as he looked at their pockets. After some moments of searching, he found nothing. Something felt wrong.
"If these two are infected, then could that mean that we're being attacked by zombies?" Edison panicked as he looked around.
Jack was quick to interrupt. "That can't be. Both the military and the police department are on high-alert. The border walls are being patrolled constantly. If there's such a breach, we should be hearing a public announcement by now."
Zhao Li An understood his implication, "Then, you mean to say that these two were from here inside the city? How's that even possible?"
Jack looked at the little policeman, "I'm not sure either. I'm calling the military for backup. Since this involves a possible case of the infected, this case would be under the military's jurisdiction."
Zhao Li An was quick to respond, "It involves an ability user, which means that it would also involve my department."
Jack jokingly said, "We shouldn't argue with this right now. Let's call for backup and find the kid."
Zhao Li An did not argue with him. Nodding, Zhao Li An called for a backup. When they finished calling, the three proceeded to find Axel using the trails of black blood that were left behind. They hoped nothing bad happened to the child.
The three went deeper into the park to the area where there were no more paved pathways and street lights. With occasional consultation from the trees by Edison and with the help of the flashlights, the three were able to navigate the thick forest.
And so, within some time, they were finally able to locate Axel.
As soon as the light from the flashlight shone on the boy's body, the three immediately noticed the bloodstains on his shirt. The boy was lying down in the crevice that was between the roots of a huge tree.
"Axel?" Zhao Li An said in a worried tone as he approached him carefully. Axel did not move.
"Hold it, Zhao Zi," Jack stopped him from moving forward.
"What's the matter?" he glanced back.
"We're not sure how he'd react in this state when he sees us. We have to be careful," Jack replied.
Zhao Li An nodded. "I will."
The little policeman turned to Axel while his flashlight was still pointing directly at the kid.
"Axel? Brother Zhao Li An is here to pick you up. Your grandfather wants to see you home," Zhao Li An said tenderly.
Axel suddenly moved. His eyes opened slowly. With the bright light hitting his face, he thought that it was already morning.
"The sun is too bright," he muttered as he covered his eyes from the light.
"Axel, can you hear me?" Zhao Li An repeated to get the child's attention as he gestured to the others to lower their flashlights so as not to hurt the child's eyes further.
"Eh? Brother Zhao Li An?" Axel was able to distinguish the little policeman's voice clearly.
"Yes, it's me," Zhao Li An smiled.
"Wh-what're you doing here?" The little child faced the policeman in panic.
"Your grandfather asked us to pick you up. He's worried about you, Axel," Zhao Li An explained. The moment he saw the child's face, he felt his heart drop. The child's mouth, along with his hands, was stained with what seemed to be black blood.
"Move back," Jack warned. Edison was quick to move as he stepped backward.
As for Zhao Li An, he hesitated. He did not want to scare the child. In addition, the fact that Axel was still in a state where he could communicate meant that he was still in the right mind.
"Jack, he's still..." Zhao Li An wanted to protest, but Jack interrupted him.
"Zhao Zi, I understand that you care about this child, but don't let your feelings get in the way of your safety and everyone else's safety," he whispered.
Zhao Li An was unable to say anything back. Clenching his fist, he looked at the seemingly innocent child. "What should we do then?"
"Don't worry. I'll handle it," Jack said softly as he patted the little policeman's back. "I know how to handle individuals who might be infected."
Zhao Li An felt some kind of relief from Jack. His words were comforting somehow. How was he able to easily trust what this man told him without any doubt?
The little policeman did not say anything and stood back while carefully looking at Axel.
"Brother Zhao Li An, what's going on?" Axel asked. He suddenly felt frightened as an unknown man approached him.
"I'm your brother Zhao Li An's friend. My name is Jack. Your grandfather is worried about you, so we're here to help him get you back," Jack said while still holding his flashlight steadily towards Axel.
"Grandpa? But I already told him not to worry about me. I wrote him a letter too!" Axel explained.
When Edison's flashlight accidentally redirected to the child's eyes, Axel covered his eyes once again with one of his blood-stained hands. At this time, he noticed the smell from his hand due to the decaying black blood. He was not quite sure what it was, at first, so he was in a daze while looking at his hand. To others, the smell of black blood was truly awful since it had a rotten smell to it, but to Axel, the smell of this particular blood was quite fragrant. It was tempting like sweet pollen for a honey bee. It was quite different compared to the other red juice that his grandfather would give him every night. Although he was unsure how he got this unknown juice stain on him, he thought that it should not go to waste. Ignoring the people surrounding him, he licked his hand without knowing what it was that he was licking. He did not care. He wanted to taste it. It was something that his body and brain wanted and needed.
Seeing what the little kid was doing gave everyone chills on their body.
"What's he doing," Edison gasped as he covered his mouth. He felt like vomiting. He could only look away.
Axel suddenly faced Zhao Li An.
"Brother Zhao Li An, where can I get more of this?" he said without any expression on his face as he licked the side of his mouth.