Neither the owner of the coffee shop nor the barista remembered anything useful - all they could tell the team of six was there was the girl, who came into the shop and spoke to either of them under different circumstances. Neither of them remembered the physical appearance or the clothing of the girl. Caroline and Jason suspected that this may be the after effect of the paralysis curse, about which, as it happened, neither of the two remembered anything.
"Do you have any - uh - spells that could help jolt up their memory?" Detective Lee and Detective Kuhn were still under shock about the existence of magic, or in this case Xianshu, the magical spells performed by Xuanli.
"We could try some mind soothing tricks or use our incense sticks to calm their minds, but there's no guarantee that they will work." Jason thought for a brief moment and said: "And - it's also possible that the girl - whoever that is, was using some kind of obscuration spell, which would mean that neither of them had actually seen her real appearance in the first place."
"Obscuration spell … okay." Detective Lee sighed and sat down by the counter: "So what should we do? Can you tell what that drug is? Anything else that could help us identify that girl?"
"No." Caroline shook her head: "We would need some other equipment - and possibly ask some others who understand drugs better. You'd have a better chance to know what it is than we do."
"The thing I find troubling is that whoever that girl is, she was obviously trying to target you. And only after seeing us coming in, did she change course and try to drug us along with you." Jason scratched his jaw and said: "So - I think you guys are onto something important and crucial, that they had to resort to this kind of scheme. What did you find?"
But the detectives did not answer Jason's question, they just stared at the ground, their sights unfocused and their minds appeared dazed.
"Okay, Lee, Kuhn, look at me." Thomas patted on the detectives' shoulders and said: "This is still a case that can be investigated, okay? It's just weirder, and with suspects being non-human. Don't you worry, we're here to help."
"Yeah. " Detective Kuhn stared at Thomas and Aimee: "This - this is why you resigned right? You saw this - this magical world, and you decided to join in."
"... yes." Aimee hesitated for a while and exchanged looks with Thomas, then acknowledged.
No one said anything for an uncomfortably long moment, Detective Lee and Detective Kuhn seemed to have grown more exhausted from hearing the news. It appeared that they had a lot of questions but they just did not know which to ask first. Aimee and Thomas seemed to be lost for words. "The talk" was already an awkward and difficult thing to do, and in this current situation it just became more so.
"So, where to next, detectives?" Jason decided to break the tension: "You must have some leads or scenes that we could help you with. You did not know about vampires and lycans before, now that you know - maybe there are more things you might have missed because you were not thinking about anything out of the ordinary."
"Yeah! Yeah yeah!" Detective Lee nodded and stood up: "Let's go and circle back to our scenes and leads. Thomas, Aimee, let's split up. I will go back to the scene in the apartment complex and see if you can help us pick up something new. Kuhn, why don't you go back to the dive bar and ask around again and see if anyone saw anything weird?"
"On it." Detective Kuhn picked up his car keys.
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Back at the inn, Jianmen finally made it out of his room of recovery. But he did not do it all by himself, instead, he was sitting on a crude wooden wheelchair, and it was Josephine Wong who pushed him out and brought him to the garden at the back of the inn.
"Ah, fresh air. Finally." Jianmen smiled: "And my flowers are well taken care of, thank you."
"Don't thank me, thank Agent Carolina, and Agent Jill." Josephine Wong chuckled: "Agent Carolina just likes gardening and did not expect anything from you. Agent Jill has become sort of a fan of yours, and she requested that she be a part of your caretaking team. "
"I remember her." Jianmen nodded with a smile: "She's talented, but she's not exactly fit for the path of cultivators. Didn't Pei take her in?"
"Pei gave her a test, and she's still working on it." Josephine Wong said as she stepped to the garden before Jianmen and gently stroked a flower with transparent and iridescent pedals as if they were made of crystals: "Both of them were especially fond of this one, but they did not have the heart to ask you for it. I'd ask you, but..."
"... but it's not time yet." Jianmen and Josephine Wong said at the same time, then he chuckled and continued: "They are yours, and you are free to gift them to whomever you want."
"How many times have you tried?" Josephine Wong asked with a bright smile: "I remember, you ordered it five times from Realm Greenrock."
"Somewhere around fifty times, I don't remember." Jianmen chuckled: "I only got the chance to test it once, it was quite promising. But it's still incomplete."
"Hehe, when is anything complete to you?" Josephine Wong got back to the wheelchair and helped turn Jianmen around to face another direction: "Speaking of, you should try the coffee, I adjusted your recipe. It's probably not what you were shooting for, but I think you'll like it."
They came into the diner after spending some time looking around in the garden, and Josephine Wong poured Jianmen a cup of black coffee.
"This is … really good!" Jianmen's eyes opened wide after a small sip: "Mm - not that I had low expectations, but this is better than I expected."
"Well, I'm glad you liked it." Josephine Wong walked to the fridge and asked: "Cream? Milk? Or do you wanna be rebellious and try honey or salt?"
"Cream." Jianmen took another sip.
"Here." Josephine Wong brought a small jade bottle to the table.
"So." Jianmen raised the jade bottle and let a stream of cream flow into his coffee cup and spread through the cup from the bottom: "Are we gonna talk about what's on your mind? Is it one eye?"