Chapter 38: The Song Of Dragons.
I'm being arrested? What for? Haru was at a loss for words. "Come on kid don't make this worse for yourself. We just need to question you." One of the police officers said whilst grabbing his wrist. He was tempted to escape but didn't want to deal with the drama that being an outlaw would bring.
He put his hands behind his back. He felt the cold metal kiss his skin as the handcuffs locked into place. This was ridiculous. He had just saved someone's life now he was being blamed for endangering him?
They walked out of the park and onto the main street. The crowd that formed was now splitting apart as they walked through it. Haru felt slightly embarrassed as he walked past so many people whilst being in handcuffs. The people looked at him with anger as they carried the stretcher with the old man lying on it toward the ambulance.
The police car was parked by the main road and with its lights still left on drawing more attention from onlookers. They marched him up to the door of the car. "Do you have any weapons or sharp objects on you?." The officer who was holding onto his arm asked as he began to look through Haru's pockets. "No, I don't have anything like that. Just my phone." He was getting irritated by the situation more and more as people began to take pictures of him.
"Okay, Good. I don't see anything so we can now take you down to the station to hopefully get this all figured out. I'm sorry about this. That is the lieutenant over there." The officer pointed to another who was the person to point at him when speaking to the doctor. "Apparently he knows the old man and wants to catch whoever did this at any cost. But to me, it looks like he is just looking for someone to blame." He apologised extensively as he opened the door for Haru to get in.
Haru sat down in the back seat as the door slammed shut. He was now sat alone in the back of the car whilst the officer walked back over to talk with his colleagues. He began to move his hand and felt the metal of the handcuffs begin to bend. He laughed. He realised his strength through cultivation could easily overthrow a city's police force. He wasn't sure if he could withstand bullets but he knew if the worst case scenario happened and they tried to blame him for the death of the old man he would be able to escape and there would be nothing they could do to stop him.
A few minutes went by and nothing happened so he decided to enter his soul ocean to pass the time. He entered to see the phoenix lying on the ground. It seemed to be unconscious. "What happened!?" Haru ran over to check on it. It seemed fine almost like it was sleeping. "Li... Lao are you there?" He said realising his mistake as he didn't want to delay Li Jun's recovery he decided to man up and ask Lao for assistance.
Lao appeared almost instantly. I was wondering how long it would take for you to need my help. Lao seemed rather proud of himself when he spoke. "Something happened to the phoenix. I don't know what is wrong." Haru said as Lao moved his head over the phoenix's body. "It's fine. Just playing dead for some reason. It probably just got scared." He said as he turned his head back to Haru.
"Scared? What could scare a phoenix?" He looked at Lao and then back to the Phoenix. "Probably the same thing that scares a dragon. That thing over there." He looked at the floating rock structure where the mansion stood. "Oh, that..." Haru said as a chill ran down his spine when he looked toward it. "When am I going to be ready to see what's inside there? I mean it is terrifying but I'm also curious as to what is in there."
"You still have a long way to go. Probably not before you reach the nascent soul stage. You need enough mental strength to withstand the pressure. Although... We could speed that up." Lao spoke with seriousness his voice seemed gentler than before.
"How could we speed it up? Will it affect me in any way?" Haru asked concerned about damaging his cultivation by rushing into things. "Don't worry. It won't harm you at all. It's just a little time consuming. You will need me to be here with you whilst you cultivate is all."
"Can you help me, please? The curiosity is killing me." Haru asked Lao. Lao seemed happy as a smile formed on his face. It looked weird to see scales stretch across a surface revealing a sharp toothy smile. "I don't mind at all. A student of my student is also one of my students."
He instructed Haru to sit down and cultivate. "This is called the song of dragons," Lao said as Haru started to take in the surrounding Qi. Lao began to sing. He had a coarse and rough texture to his voice as he shouted out words Haru had never heard before. He felt like all the strength in his body was being absorbed by each word Lao sang. It was similar to the time he tried to awaken a dragon bloodline.
He felt himself getting light headed and couldn't hold on anymore. "Hey get out of the god damn car!" A voice shouted. Haru wasn't fully awake but he felt a slight bloodlust in the man's voice and the sound of something whipping through the air. He looked to his right to see a police baton being swung toward his head. He broke the handcuffs and caught the baton in his hand.
"What!? You are supposed to be in handcuffs!" The police officer shouted as he was pulled backward by another officer. "What do you think you are doing!? He is a minor! You can't just beat up children! Wait until the captain finds out about this!" It was the same officer who had walked Haru to the car. The began to fight and then both fell to the floor.
"What is going on!?" A woman's voice shouted as the two police officers wrestled on the ground. Haru just sat and watched the scene play out as both of them scrambled to their feet and stood up straight. "Ma'am! Officer Zhang tried to strike a child with his baton. I told him to stop but then he took his anger out on me." The nice officer from earlier said to the woman as she walked up to them.
"Is that so? Then where is this child? I want a written statement from both of you!" She then turned around to face the car. Haru was shocked for a moment. It was the sect master's granddaughter.
"You again?" Haru said as their eyes met.
"Haru!? What are you doing here?" She looked down at his hands. One of them still had half of the handcuff clasped to his wrist. "And what happened to those?" She shook her head in disappointment. "This is going to be troublesome."
"It's not what you think. I didn't commit a crime. I just found an unconscious man in a burning building. And I'm not sure I just moved my hand and these things broke. They must be defective. Imagine if you had to use these on a real criminal." He laughed as he tried to reassure her. "If it was that simple then why were you handcuffed?" she didn't seem to believe him.
"No, it's true ma'am. That is why we were called to the scene but the lieutenant ordered me to arrest him and take him for interrogation. He said he knew the man who was found and needed to punish someone for his injuries." The nice officer said to her.
"If that is the case I will speak to him about it later. Haru here is Mr. Hao's nephew so we know where he lives if you need to ask him a few questions then go to his house. Don't just bring good Samaritans in for interrogation. Think about the public opinion of us if we just arrested everyone who witnessed something like this."
She pointed to the officer who tried to hit Haru "And you! Get your shit together! You are now suspended for two weeks with no pay. I hope you learn your lesson about being violent to children. Now get out of my sight." She ripped the badge off from his uniform and put it on top of the roof of the car. "Yes, Ma'am!" He shouted as he made his way toward the door.
Haru you're free to go for now. If we need a statement from you we will give your uncle a call. We can't do anything without your legal guardian here. And this is for the inconvenience and your treatment by our officer." She handed him another credit card. "The pin is 3892. I just ask that you don't file a lawsuit against us. I don't need any more paperwork." She sighed and then looked back toward the door as running footsteps could be heard.
The door flew over knocking down the police officer making his way out. "Let the kid go! Right now!"