《Call Of Death》Chapter 38 : Shielding You 1
Advertisement
They've been doing the same thing for quite some time now yet Devius didn't notice anything suspicious while observing their surroundings and everyone at the bar. The only thing he noticed was his partner's anxiety. Even if Detective Lee was sitting perfectly still, Devius could see and feel that he isn't comfortable at all. He couldn't tell if it's because of the fact that it's the detective's first in that kind of place — because it's his first time too and he doesn't feel that anxious.
"Cai, why do you seem so nervous?" He whispered at him in confusion.
Detective Lee doesn't want to tell him the real reason behind his reactions. In reality, Cameron felt nervous and uncomfortable because of the moving lights, noisy people, loud music but most of all, it's because the whole place is dark and the only source of light were the party lights. Being in a place like that, Cameron felt like he was that child again. The place is suffocating him. If he had a choice, he would just leave and never look back but because of their mission, he has to endure everything. Detective Lee just sighed and shook his head.
"What? Is it because it's your first time here?" Devius asked.
"Hmm. I'm not used to noisy places like this." He reasoned out.
"Well, it's for our mission, like you said. Just try to relax and don't act suspicious." Officer Chad patted his shoulder.
Even if his junior's touch managed to ease his anxiety, the fact that he's still feeling worried and nervous couldn't be hidden. Cameron has this feeling that something bad is about to happen but he couldn't tell if it's because of his anxiety or if that's his senses telling him.
"Just relax." He heard Devius spoke again.
"Tss! Fine, I just want to get this mission done." Detective Lee stated with a sigh.
Officer Chad smiled and went back in observing. After sometime, they noticed someone who looked a bit off. It's a guy wearing a black polo and black pants. His hair is like that anime character, Muzan—if you don't know Muzan, you can just say that his hair looks like Michael Jackson's. With all the curls and ponytails. He kept looking around as if searching for someone, at first, Devius didn't bother to suspect him because he could just be someone looking for his partner but seeing how he acts now, something about him is not right. He also seemed really anxious. As if he would fear his own shadow. Officer Devius Chad kept watch on him.
"Cai, I think I found the person we're looking for." He whispered towards Detective Lee.
Cameron simply looked around. "Where?"
"That guy sitting near the door. The one with the curly hair." Officer Chad pointed using his lips.
Detective Lee turned to look at the man whom his partner was referring to and at first glance, he already notice that he looks off. Detective Lee nodded his head and turned to his partner.
Advertisement
"Just keep your eyes on him. I'm sure he has someone with him and that's my job to look for that person." Cameron ordered as he got up.
"But, Cai, I forgot to ask who gave you the information about that person?" The officer asked.
Detective Cameron Lee took a deep breath and leaned on the chair before saying, "Red."
"Huh?" Devius didn't hear what he said.
"Red gave me the information that there's someone in this place that might know something about the culprit." Detective Lee explained a little longer.
"You mean, he called you again? Why didn't you tell me?" Officer Chad was a bit confused why he felt a bit pissed by the fact that his partner didn't even bother to tell him about that.
Detective Lee raised his brow. "Why do I have to tell you? And one more thing, he just called me last night and this morning, he only texted me about the information." He said in a long litany.
"Still, we don't know anything about that mysterious Red guy. You can't just trust him." Officer Chad argued.
"Tss. You have nothing to worry, I asked Parker to confirm everything before I decided to trust that mysterious caller. Kairo said everything is accurate." Cameron explained.
Devius just sighed. "I'm just worried about you. I don't want you getting hurt." He whispered but Cameron clearly heard it.
Detective Lee furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at Officer Chad's worried face. For some reason, he felt a bit weird but his heart likes how his partner reacts about everything. He took a deep breath and shove the feelings away.
"Hey, boys." They both turned at the girl who went near them.
"Do you need anything, miss?" Detective Lee asked with his usual unexpressive voice.
"Well, I and my friend there wants to treat you to a drink." She pointed at another girl.
"It's fine, we're not here to drink, you can go and tell your friend." He straightforwardly refused, the woman looked disappointed and just walked away.
"Cai, you'll really remain single until your death if you act like that towards a girl." Devius teased but deep inside, he felt happy that his partner refused the girl's offer.
"Tss! I'm not here to get some girl, I'm here to get a man." Cameron did mean something else when he said that but Officer Chad understand it in different manner.
"You...are here to get a man?" He swallowed hard while asking.
Getting what the latter means, Cameron gave him a death glare. "Will you stop what you're thinking or you want me to hit you?" He growled.
"What? Why? What am I thinking?"
"Devius Chad, by the looks you're giving me, I know what playing inside your brain. That's not what I mean by 'I am here to get a man', alright?"
"I'm not thinking anything. Why are you so defensive?" The other immediately denied.
"Our target is a man, Chad and I am here to get him, understand?"
Advertisement
"Yeah, yeah." Devius giggled.
Cameron just shook his head and went back to what they're doing earlier. He doesn't even know why he is explaining like he had to clarify something. Thirty minutes had passed but still nothing else happened. Like Detective Lee said, Officer Chad kept his eyes at the suspicious man. He was still looking around as if searching for someone and he seems to be preparing for any kind of attack. He tried his best to do his task carefully and as unseen as he can. When the suspicious guy finally stood up and went out the door, that's the cue that they're waiting for.
Devius turned to Detective Lee. "Cai, he went out. I think he's going to meet someone." He reported.
"Okay, let's go." Cameron stood up and they followed the guy.
Both men walked out of the bar but when they finally got out, there was no one there. Officer Chad and Detective Lee glanced at each other. Officer Chad nodded as if he already understand what the other was thinking. They went on a different direction to search for the man, not letting their guards down just in case they were attack.
Detective Lee went to search around the bar while Officer Chad went to the direction of the parking lot. Cameron was holding his gun, getting ready for something unexpected to happen. The surroundings of the area isn't that massive. There's a forest behind the bar but a wire is acting as a separator from the forest to the bar. There were also some bench and trees inside the perimeter.
On the other hand, Officer Chad was just simply walking around the parking lot and searching around, still not letting his guards down. The area was a bit dark because the only thing producing light for the whole place was the dim bulb. Everything was silent. Devius went to search on the hidden corners but didn't find anything.
When Detective Lee didn't find the man, he went to get an update from Officer Chad. He tried calling him first but he didn't receive an answer. That's because Devius put his phone in silent mode earlier so that he couldn't be disturbed. Cameron just shook his head and started heading to the parking lot but when was already at the entrance, he felt something cold being aimed at the back of his head. Even if he couldn't see it, he already knew that it's a gun.
"Don't move." The person aiming the gun ordered. "Why are you following me?"
"Who are you?" Detective Lee asked the person from behind.
"It's not important, walk." The man commanded.
"Just be alert, I'll take every opportunity to get the situation reversed." Detective Lee warned.
"I'll remember that, now walk!" The man pushed him forward.
Cameron has no choice but to walked as the man from behind remained aiming the gun at his head. When they got inside the parking lot, the man from behind took a step back. Just enough to maintain everything in that situation.
"Turn around." He ordered to which Detective Lee did.
When he saw the culprit who aimed the gun at him, he realized it was the same man inside the bar earlier. The gun was still aimed at his head. Cameron could see his hand shaking, he must not be someone who is use at aiming a gun to somebody. Or maybe he wasn't used of using a gun at all. If Detective Lee wants, he could easily take the gun from him but he doesn't want to be reckless. This guy must have someone around.
"You came here with that officer for me, didn't you?" The guy asked.
Detective Lee just looked at him bluntly. "Yes. Now, if you're not going to kill me then answer my question." He responded.
"Aren't you afraid that I might actually pull the trigger and kill you?" The guy smirked.
Detective Lee smirked back. "If your purpose is to kill me, I wouldn't be standing here this long. You should have shot me the moment you saw me at the entrance." He stated.
"You're wrong, I just wanted you to face me as I kill you." The guy was about to pull the trigger but Detective Lee was faster and he managed to take the gun away from the man.
He aimed it back. "How is that, I'm in control of the trigger now?" Detective Lee smirked.
He really thought the man would not dare to pull the trigger but it's as if someone was ordering him what to do. His hands are still trembling but he seemed so confident that his safety isn't at risk.
The man did not seem to be frightened at all. "Don't be overconfident, detective. You only have two eyes, you don't have one at your back." He meaningfully said.
Cameron was unaware that there was another man around who was ready to shoot him. Although he knows someone was out there, he couldn't figure out exactly where. Fortunately Officer Chad was on the parking lot and he heard the footsteps. Devius isn't aware that his partner was at the parking lot too. After roaming around for quite some time, he saw a man from a corner. He couldn't see him completely but he has this feeling that this guy will not do any good. He took his gun out when he saw that the guy aimed his gun somewhere. When Devius followed the direction of where he was aiming, his head almost dropped because he's getting ready to fire the gun in the direction of his partner. Cameron was aiming a gun at the guy from the inside the bar and he was completely unaware of the coming danger. With that, Devius didn't think twice and he inadvertently ran towards Detective Lee to protect and shield him. He couldn't think of anything, he just wanted to make sure that his senior will not get hurt.
Advertisement
- In Serial20 Chapters
Sword System Academia
2/17 NOTICE: I'm putting this on hiatus, possibly permanently. I didn't want to spam with an "update chapter", so hopefully here and in the story blurb will get enough eyeballs. There are a couple reasons for ending SSA for now. 1) I wrote the next chapter but wasn't happy with it. I've been less and less satisfied with SSA's quality the more I thought about it. Part of the reason is... 2) I am seriously thinking about trying to publish some novels to help pay the bills, since I don't have my other source of income anymore. I have never asked for anything from SSA readers, no money, not even a review or rating. SSA is written for fun to amuse myself, primarily, and I would kind of feel bad actually charging someone money for something as unserious as that. I don't think it is good enough to ask anything in return. To use an analogy from music, SSA is more like a jam session with a bunch of friends. You're just chiling and having fun playing some music. I mean, if you are Mozart or even Eminem, your jam session is good enough to sell, but for an amateur beginner like myself, haha, no. If I want to publish something, I feel like I need to go the proper route of practice and rehearsals, which might be more similar to a classical concert performance. With SSA, I work from worldbuilding notes and a loose outline, but what you are essentially getting is the first draft with lots of so-called pantsing. Pushing out a web novel like this also means it is very difficult to go back and improve things without breaking everything else downstream. I wanted to try this "jamming" approach, as it was a good way to teach me about another aspect of writing, but to move forward, I think I need to hone my "classical" techniques, which emphasize rewriting, or at least, revising outlines. 3) While I intend to try to make $$$, my actual current goal is to "get gud". I've spent a lot of time recently trying to understand the self-publishing industry, and I'm pretty sure I can make some money by using short-term strategies with my current amateur skill level. But I've seen too many authors come and go/burnout, and really, the only way that I think I can enjoy writing and still make money on a long-term basis is to become a better writer. And the next step for me, which I haven't done much before, is to spend more time on rewriting and outlines. That is pretty much antithetical to the way SSA is developing. I've always been kind of 20/80 plotting/pantsing, but I want to spend a lot more time outlining before I even start writing. SSA jam sessions don't really fit my goal anymore. If you're curious about what's next, read on... Among other regrets, I regret not finishing SSA. It's the first story I've dropped, but then again, it's the first web novel I've attempted, so I suppose that's not a surprise. I don't think traditional web novel formats suit me that well. The whole SSA story I had loosely planned (beyond a first book or major arc) is way too large as well. Big story = good for neverending webnovel with Patreons, bad for penniless and fickle writer like me. I am currently outlining a complete trilogy to another story in great detail. I want the story to end concisely, and I also want the chance to really spend a lot of time on the full outline to spot pacing problems, character issues, lost themes, and so on. I'll still share this story on RR. What I intend to do is finish book 1, flash-publish the whole thing here for a few weeks, then publish on the big Zon. Repeat for books 2 and 3. The upcoming story will be about crafting heroes. The backdrop is an isekai-like setting, where elves will summon humans to their world as heroes, but the whole hero crafting business is still in its infancy. The elven mage researchers are figuring out how to imbue heroes with power, while the heroes are trying to figure out how to use the powers that they gain. Humans are the best hero templates because they are blank and have no intrinsic magic. Or at least that what the elves thought. The human MC has his own secrets... There will be some similarities with litrpgs, but I would call it more a progression fantasy or gamelit story. For example, the stats are very low, at least initially. Say we have a stat called Str. Going from Str = 1 to Str = 2 is a huge deal. Also, going from Dex = 0 to Dex = 1 is an even bigger deal. I guess you could call it a "low-stat litrpg", haha. Also, the heroes won't be gaining stats simply by killing things or leveling up. You can't increase stats arbitrarily, either. There will be rules to how stats can increase, and how they work with each other. The elven mages will be figuring out these rules in order to craft stronger and stronger heroes. Some inspiration will be from cultivation magic systems, but there won't be overt cultivation, at least for now. A theme I really want to explore is the idea of interactions. That includes things like hero crafter vs hero, tactics vs strategy, skill synergies, racial interactions (dwarves, elves, etc), and son. Yeah, so hero crafting. I'm super excited about this project and venturing into publishing. If you want to check out the upcoming story, you can follow my RR author profile to see when it drops here. Finally... THANK YOU TO EVERYONE! I'm very sorry that SSA is stopping, but I hope at least some of you will find the next story at least as enjoyable, if not more. Thanks to all the readers who gave SSA a shot. Big hug or solid fistbump to all of you, whichever you prefer! I hope this message is not a downer but an upper, because I am psyched!! -purlcray -------------- BLURB: Talen, youngest Master of the Koroi, makes his way to the Empire's capital to salvage his clan's fate. But the bustling city has few opportunities for the traditionalist. For the old sword clans are fading. With the rise of alchemy, gold can purchase strength that ordinarily took years of training to cultivate. Sword artists, once rare and accomplished, are quickly growing in number, especially among the wealthy noble class. Even with such alchemy, though, no one has advanced to the rank of Grandmaster in countless years. Talen's true dream is to walk the path of a sword artist to the very end while fulfilling his clan duties. And then the Swordgeists return, fabled founders of all sword arts, gods who had touched the world long ago and vanished. These myths turned into reality warn of a coming threat. Alongside this warning, they issue an invitation to the Sword System Academy, a path to power beyond the mortal realm. But first, they will hold an entrance exam... Story notes:Sword System Academia blends elements of western and asian fantasy such as xianxia and litrpg. I took parts from different genres I enjoyed and twisted them into my own creation. There will be an explicit system, both of the litrpg kind and the hard(ish) magic kind, but it is embedded within an academic structure that will develop over the course of the story. This is my attempt to design a unique type of system, the System Academia.
8 153 - In Serial39 Chapters
Hero for Hire
Can a hero be bought? Can he go save you for money?A boy was paid in teaching the heroes. He can insult the king, make a princess cry and only save people at a cost. He is a bastard that everyone hates but why? Find out as we go on a journey with a former hero as he wants his reward, in cash.
8 134 - In Serial19 Chapters
Eldingar - The Lady of Golden Steel
We follow the story of a Noble's daughter. Highborn, with everything that she could've asked for. With the status of a Ducal daughter, the wealth of an international business conglomerate, unprecedented magical and intellectual talent that brought her the fear and admiration of her peers... It was certainly quite a life. One where virtually every door of opportunity was open to her. But, of all things. She chose one door in particular. Something that very few her age would've ever decided to do. A path which many more would regret having ever gone down on. But, that was years ago. Surely, it was already behind her. And quite soon, she's to travel across the continent. A trip which she had been planning for the past six years. All by herself. How could things go possibly go wrong from here? And it does, would she be able to pull herself out of it?
8 80 - In Serial12 Chapters
The Brothers of Haltria
Twin brothers were born in the Kingdom of Haltria. One was destined to rule. The other was destined to serve. Plots, intrigue, and long lasting rivalry drove them to odds with one another. Now a new power has awakened... or is it an old power born anew? Note: This novel is scheduled for weekly release through March of next year. At that time the schedule may be accelerated.
8 194 - In Serial16 Chapters
adVerse Wishes
Rose Smith, living in a poor world struggles to get over her grandpa's suspicious death in South Carolina but soon finds it was a murder...by a piano! Strong willed, Rose displays her determination to avenge her grandpa's death by fighting the piano, but at the same time, she has another battle to face being the new girl. Rose happened to move into her grandpa's house from Ohio after he died and with her old apartment she left all of her friends. With two negligent parents, Rose lacks in social interaction until she becomes best friends with a wealthy girl named Marylyn whom she meets at her new school. After breaking the traumatic news about the instrument in her grandpa's old house, Marylyn and Rose fight the piano with all the power they have.
8 181 - In Serial19 Chapters
Corona (The story of a small life in a big universe)
The vast wonderings of life conjured up by an ordinary teenage girl.Readers, please feel free to correct any mistakes that you see by telling me in the comments. Thanks, and I hope you enjoy!
8 276

