《Xianshi Inn (A contemporary Xianxia novel)》Chapter 45
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“Forensic Lab, SFPD, Log 1013.” inside a police precinct, a middle aged Asian forensic scientist was examining a mummified corpse placed on one of the operating tables, while wearing a pair of smart glasses besides all of the hazmat gear and narrating her procedure with them: “This is Dr. Vivian Nguyen. The body from the Prime Royals hotel was ready to be dissected and analyzed. All recording devices, functional. Audio recordings, check. Current time, 8:50 am PST.
“I’ll start with some preliminary examinations. The body is mummified all over, with very limited decay, very surprisingly well preserved, considering that the body was kept inside of a building's wall. The body is in sort of a cradle position, with both arms and both legs bound by the metal chains. The body’s arms are not hugging the body. Instead they seem to be clutched to the side of the torso, and connected to each other on the… pinkies? I will need some technician’s help to properly remove the chains to take a closer look without damaging the integrity of the body.”
Dr. Nguyen moved to one side of the table, where the head of the body was to take a closer look at the body’s head: “The body has a very visible crack on the forehead, the crack seems to reach the upper jaw and both sides are quite uneven, we’ll need to scan it with supersonic to find out if it was only the skin or the bone is also broken. And look, here, looks like a piece of metal. Let me see... ” she carefully grabbed onto the piece of metal half embedded inside the body’s mouth.
“Indeed feels like metal. I can feel its cool touch even through the gloves. The engravings and the shape, feel like some sort of old… coin.” Dr. Nguyen’s voice became excited, “This is interesting. To my knowledge, embedding coins inside the mouths of the dead used to be a kind of superstitious ritual in some South East Asian traditions… dammit, the coin wouldn’t come off.”
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“Come off! Come off!” Dr. Nguyen’s voice became ecstatic and obsessive as her attempts at removing the coin from the body’s mouth became more and more violent, it was not long before she abandoned her caution of not damaging the integrity of the body.
Finally, the piece of coin was removed from the body’s mouth, exposing a forked tone underneath. A gust of foul smelling air burst from the body’s through, and with it, whispering voices roamed the room.
Dr. Nguyen stared at the coin while she took off her hazmat suit and gear and her smart glasses, her facial expression was no longer calm and serious. Instead, insanity, obsession and greed was all her face showed.
Dr. Nguyen opened the door of her lab, and walked straight out, all the while holding the coin in front of her.
All of that happened in under 10 minutes, but was still recorded by all the devices setup by Dr. Nguyen before she began her examination. And now the whole thing was just witnessed by Caroline, Jason, and two lab technicians that brought them to the lab from the recordings.
“What the hell? This is completely against protocol. Dr. Nguyen should know better not to do that.” Erika, one of the lab technicians, yelled as soon as she saw Dr. Nguyen took off her hazmat gears then froze and almost freaked out as she saw the look on the doctor’s face.
“How can we find her? ” Jason asked the technician named Jeremy on his side, who was also frozen at the sight of Dr. Nguyen’s change in facial expression, “Hey Jeremy wake up! How can we find her?!”
“Uh, umm… I think...” Jeremy seemed really clueless on what to do and struggled to answer.
“Dr. Nguyen’s not picking up. We can check the security cameras - have footage all over the precinct. Let me ask the captain first.” Erika cut off her call to Dr. Nguyen’s phone and dialed another number.
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“That would be too slow.” Caroline grabbed Jason and rushed to exit the lab through the door Dr. Nguyen walked out, and started asking people around.
“Hey, have you seen Dr. Nguyen?” Jason found a janitor and asked: “You know, the lead forensic scientist in the lab?”
“Sorry, no.” the janitor shook his head.
“Has no one seen Dr. Nguyen?” Jason asked loudly, attracting attention from multiple people on scene, but no one responded.
“Captain’s not picking up either!” Erika came out from the lab and told both Caroline and Jason loudly: “I know where she lives, should we check there?”
“What’s happening here?” a detective walked up to Caroline and Jason: “Why are you looking for Dr. Nguyen? Isn’t she at the lab?”
“Hi, we’re the new temporary civilian consultants, we are here to help the forensics examine the body found from the Prime Royals Hotel.” Caroline was in a rush, but considering this is a police precinct, she still extended her hand at the detective, “My name is Caroline, this is Jason. Have you seen Dr. Nguyen? Do you know where she is?”
“Detective Marcus. I am working a case and I need Dr. Nguyen’s help as well.” the detective shook hands with Caroline: “It’s sort of related to the Prime Royals Hotel as well.”
“Raymond. ” a female detective with black long hair walked to the side of Detective Marcus and said: “We need to go. There’s another Corin dead.”
“Caroline, Jason, this is Detective Jamerson, my partner. Monica, this is Caroline and Jason, they are our new civilian consultants. They were looking for Dr. Nguyen as well.” Detective Marcus briefly introduced his partner to Caroline and Jason: “Looks like she’s not at the lab?”
“We saw from the lab recordings - she took something from the body and she left.” Jason said: “Is there any way we can find her? She couldn't have gotten far.”
“Okay, let’s go find her.” Detective Marcus looked confused but not very concerned.
“We need to find her as soon as possible. ” Jason said in a serious tone: “She looked… weird when she left the lab.”
“Captain’s still not picking up! ” Erika ran to their side and almost yelled at them: “Take me as well, I had a really bad feeling about this.”
“Erika, you sure?” Monica asked: “You’ve never been in the field.”
“I’m worried about Dr. Nguyen, okay? She’s my mentor!”
“Oh my god, please can we just go!? We need to hurry!” Caroline couldn’t keep cool anymore and uncontrollably raised her voice.
“Okay, okay, geez.” Detective Marcus was startled by Caroline’s outburst.
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The Wizard World
Ye Song, who once lived in a technologically-advanced world, died and reincarnated into a noble teenager’s body in another world. A fantasy world filled with magic! A series of events filled with tragedy, action, etc. began to unfold one after the other when he fatefully encountered one of the most guarded secrets of this world, obtaining the legendary power of Wizards. Watch how he reaches unreachable heights as a powerful Wizard in this new world
8 2509Immovable Mage
What do you call a mage incapable of casting spells? In this story, we usually call him Terry. When the boy is accepted into Arcana Academy, his talent in the pillars of mana foundation awes everyone. All the bigger is the eventual disappointment when Terry turns out to be an utter failure at spellwork. Diagnosis? Major aspect impairment. No cure. Ever. Faced with expulsion, Terry is blessed with the unexpected kindness of others. Terry loses his spot in the Academy but in exchange, he finds a home with a family. Terry starts to train as a pure mana cultivator but never stops looking for his own path as a mage – day after day, season after season, always searching for compatible spellwork… Until finally, Terry’s perseverance earns him a single spell – the only spell he will ever be able to cast. Disclaimers: Chapter Frequency: I aim for one chapter a week. Chapter Length: I try to keep chapters between 3000 and 6000 words. Binge Preference: I plan for 30 chapters per arc. If you want to binge a complete arc, then that is the number to wait for. I will also add a line to chapters indicating the beginning and end of an arc. Advanced Access: I have created a patreon page with early access to four chapters for patrons. What to Expect: Progression fantasy with a western fantasy setting and with eastern fantasy elements. A main character that is forced to explore a very narrow path of magic due to a permanent condition. A main character that is a part of a larger cast. A main character that is growing but won't become the strongest around anytime soon. A story following a single main character but with introduction or theme setting scenes without the main character. What Not to Expect: Edgy grimdark characters – I will never write a sexual violence scene or gory descriptions of torture. I hate reading it and I would hate writing it even more. Romance – romantic relationships will never be the focus of the story and only appear in the background. The main character is preoccupied with other stuff. Other forms of relationships (family, friends, companions) play a bigger role. Cover: The cover art was commisioned from redditor Linh-Nguyen87. The font is alita brush by Inovatype Typefoundry. Overview: 001–030 Arc 1, Cultivating Perseverance: complete. 031–060 Arc 2, Undying Defiance: complete. 061–090 Arc 3, Unyielding Fury: scheduled for publishing. 091–120 Arc 4, Savage Hope: scheduled for publishing. 121–150 Arc 5, Self-Made Fate: first draft in progress. 151–180 Arc 6, Heretic Style: sketching in progress. Further Arcs are still in the sketching and idea collection phase.
8 200Descendants 3: Happily Ever After
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8 128The Desert Sun
Imagine if the key to omnipotence, to benevolence, lay only in the forgotten depths of your own mind? It has been eight centuries since a disastrous experiment ended the glorious reign of the universe's most advanced civilization and put fate into the clutches of the omnipotent. However now, as a war of expansion burns through the stars, a quest to ensure the almighty's death and free destiny has emerged. Will they succeed? or will fate forever be in the clutches of another. Please note, that I am fixing the book grammatically to ensure success.
8 212Igniting Sparks
Blue-eyed snow leopard werecats. Often described as feral, wild, dangerous, and easily angered. Let alone that they are very rare if they exist at all. Traumatized by two large events in her life, Azura has left the safety of her old home to deal with her past by herself. After a long time of moving around, she ends up in Pleyvale city, high up north in the mountains. The hometown of an old acquaintance of hers. She ends up living there, trying to rebuild her life and start accepting her past. But her past is not the only thing that she needs to accept. There's something inside her firing her up. As she slowly settles in, her other side slowly comes out. A side she is terrified off. A side which she can't control. Is she really that dangerous?
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Artificial Intelligence? Not a problem when John Hiltz the genius of the trailer park takes on the case. When he actually succeeds, he gives the new life his own memories and therefore, his personality. But then the guns of the government take action, sending him to his death in his trailer. But is that really the case?[Foul language, violence, and sex jokes will be seen and read, but not heard]
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