Hee. This isn't so much a WiP as it is a take on a scene I ended up using in the beginning of Kite With a Broken String, so this one will not get finished. It was a pretty straightforward "Zhao Yunlan goes to check out a shady store and gets surprised by menacing Dixingren" h/c concept which then ended up spawning a longfic about Shen Wei's post-finale struggles, oops. >_>
Anyway, it's very short, so you're getting all of it. Sadly it has no h/c yet, just h/c prelude.
------
Throughout his training, Zhao Yunlan had always scored pretty high on teamwork exercises.
Without fault, his instructors would react with surprise that the kid in the torn jeans with the black Ducati and the chip on his shoulder got along well with others. The truth of the matter is that Zhao Yunlan has no time for lone wolf types. There is no skill in managing a team of one, no intelligence in flying solo on a job that would benefit from more actors. If there’s one thing he can’t stand, it’s people who run off on their own when they’d be better off with back-up.
Do as I say, not as I do, he thinks to himself as he wipes clammy palms on his jeans. To be fair, he wasn’t expecting to run into anyone. He’d been in the area for an unrelated matter when he spotted a dilapidated sign pointing to a run-down storefront in a back alley. Dà xìao diàn, the same three characters Da Qing had found on a receipt they’d taken off a suspect a couple days ago. The guy hadn’t even been a particular shady suspect; just a kid trying to use his invisibility powers to swipe some video games. The SID handed him over to Hei Lao Ge, who probably let him go with a slap on the wrist. Zhao Yunlan kept the receipt, though, fascinated by the odd name and the fact that it listed no items. He’d almost forgotten about it until he spotted the sign earlier.
The shop seemed abandoned; the front door not just unlocked, but basically coming off its hinges. He shouldn’t have gone in. Here he is, though, all the way in the back room. Voices from the main floor made him stop, made his heart leap in his throat. He’s standing with his ear turned towards the cracked door, trying fervently to remember if there are any additional entrances to the main area. He should’ve heard the front door; it’s creaky as hell. Where did these people come from?
“… logistics operations are a mess. We need a better system.”
“Yeah, okay. Until we come up with that, can we just get the merch?”
This time, Zhao Yunlan does hear the door—it’s the one to the back room, which is just as creaky as the front door. He quickly squeezes into a small gap between an empty shelf and the wall.
He doesn’t have a good view of the men that enter, but he can see enough to recognize the Nike jacket that one of them is wearing. It’s the same that the kid who stole the video games had.
“Stand back.”
It’s the same voice, too. The kid spreads his raised hands, and the room shifts. The rows of empty shelves suddenly fill up with an assortment of things—DVDs, consoles, phones, laptops, branded shoes and clothes, handbags, and anything else you can imagine. Definitely all stolen goods.
no subject
Anyway, it's very short, so you're getting all of it. Sadly it has no h/c yet, just h/c prelude.
------
Throughout his training, Zhao Yunlan had always scored pretty high on teamwork exercises.
Without fault, his instructors would react with surprise that the kid in the torn jeans with the black Ducati and the chip on his shoulder got along well with others. The truth of the matter is that Zhao Yunlan has no time for lone wolf types. There is no skill in managing a team of one, no intelligence in flying solo on a job that would benefit from more actors. If there’s one thing he can’t stand, it’s people who run off on their own when they’d be better off with back-up.
Do as I say, not as I do, he thinks to himself as he wipes clammy palms on his jeans. To be fair, he wasn’t expecting to run into anyone. He’d been in the area for an unrelated matter when he spotted a dilapidated sign pointing to a run-down storefront in a back alley. Dà xìao diàn, the same three characters Da Qing had found on a receipt they’d taken off a suspect a couple days ago. The guy hadn’t even been a particular shady suspect; just a kid trying to use his invisibility powers to swipe some video games. The SID handed him over to Hei Lao Ge, who probably let him go with a slap on the wrist. Zhao Yunlan kept the receipt, though, fascinated by the odd name and the fact that it listed no items. He’d almost forgotten about it until he spotted the sign earlier.
The shop seemed abandoned; the front door not just unlocked, but basically coming off its hinges. He shouldn’t have gone in. Here he is, though, all the way in the back room. Voices from the main floor made him stop, made his heart leap in his throat. He’s standing with his ear turned towards the cracked door, trying fervently to remember if there are any additional entrances to the main area. He should’ve heard the front door; it’s creaky as hell. Where did these people come from?
“… logistics operations are a mess. We need a better system.”
“Yeah, okay. Until we come up with that, can we just get the merch?”
This time, Zhao Yunlan does hear the door—it’s the one to the back room, which is just as creaky as the front door. He quickly squeezes into a small gap between an empty shelf and the wall.
He doesn’t have a good view of the men that enter, but he can see enough to recognize the Nike jacket that one of them is wearing. It’s the same that the kid who stole the video games had.
“Stand back.”
It’s the same voice, too. The kid spreads his raised hands, and the room shifts. The rows of empty shelves suddenly fill up with an assortment of things—DVDs, consoles, phones, laptops, branded shoes and clothes, handbags, and anything else you can imagine. Definitely all stolen goods.