Demons Beside You

Chen Zhao sped up and ran to his car. A policewoman was standing before his car, writing him a ticket.

“Hi, miss. Excuse me, is there something wrong with my car?” Chen Zhao hurriedly stopped her from sticking the ticket on.

He was parked in a roadside parking space. He had a bunch of pets inside, but the window was open.

The policewoman looked at him. “This is a temporary spot. You’re half an hour over,” she explained simply. Then she stuck the ticket onto the windshield. “Be careful next time.”

“F*ck,” Chen Zhao swore.

The officer turned around immediately and glared at him. “What did you just say? Repeat it.”

“I didn’t say anything. You misheard.” Chen Zhao was pissed. He opened the door, wanting to leave immediately.

But the officer called out, “Get out. I suspect you’re an illegal immigrant. Take out your ID. I’m going to search you.”

“What?”

“I’m suspecting you. Is there a problem?”

Chen Zhao couldn’t say anything. American cops were idealists. If they didn’t like you, then they could search you and check your ID.

“I’m going to report you for racism,” Chen Zhao shot back without backing off.

“Now I suspect you’re doing drugs. Come with me to the station.” The officer’s expression was serious.

“Fine, but I need to bring my pets.”

When the officer saw the big and small pets get out of Chen Zhao’s car, she was taken aback.

Chen Zhao secretly gestured at Black Ma. He ran over to the officer’s feet, raised his legs, and…peed.

“Ah!” The officer jumped aside and pointed her gun at Black Ma. “You’re attacking an officer.”

Chen Zhao made a face and studied the officer. “It’s your fault for standing there like a pole. Your figure is quite like a pole too.”

“I’m going to report you for disrupting official duties and personal attacks.”

“I’m reporting you for racism.”

“Get into the car.”

The officer quickly found out that she couldn’t get in at all. Black Ma, sitting in the back, stuck his head in front of her.

“Make it move its head. I can’t see the road.”

“Where do you think he can move his head to?” Chen Zhao sat in the shotgun.

The officer turned with difficulty and saw that the other pets had filled the backseat. “Why do you bring so many pets out?”

“I like to. None of your business.”

The officer really wanted to shoot Chen Zhao with her gun. She managed to drive to the station, but her face was completely wet. It was all from Black Ma’s licking.

Her hair too.

Chen Zhao grinned at the officer. Pissed off, she wiped her face of the saliva.

“What are you laughing at? Get in.”

Across from them, David and a few colleagues walked over.

“Vice-captain.” The policewoman saluted to David.

“Hi, David.”

“Chen? How come you’re here? Oh, Black Ma, White Ma.” David went up to pet the Silly Twins. “Did you all come to visit me?”

“No, I’m suspected of disrupting official duties, personal attacks, and attacking the police, so I was brought over.” Chen Zhao showed the handcuffs on his hands.

David was shocked. “Attacking the police? You hit Sharan?”

“Black Ma peed on her foot.”

David looked at him with a dark expression. “No need to explain. I bet you told him to do it.”

Chen Zhao shrugged. He couldn’t deny it.

He and David were too familiar with each other. David guessed without thinking that they must’ve had a conflict, so Chen Zhao ordered Black Ma to do it.

“Okay, this is it.”

“Vice-captain…” Sharan wanted to say something else.

David looked at her. “If you want to be re-assigned to my team next month, listen to me. Or you can keep being a street patrol.”

David was more and more authoritative now. The surrounding colleagues all looked at him with respect.

“Chen, I won’t accompany you. I need to go out.”

“Okay, bye.” Chen Zhao hadn’t planned on disturbing him anyway.

David seemed really busy. He and his partner left in his car without saying anything else to Chen Zhao.

“Give me your hand.” The policewoman looked at Chen Zhao with a dark expression.

Chen Zhao separated his hands, breaking the handcuffs.

The officer gaped. The next moment, she said furiously, “You’re purposely destroying public property.”

Chen Zhao snapped the two handcuffs. “Okay, remember to mail me the bill.”

…

“Chen, do you and your girlfriend have formalwear?” Zola called.

“Uh…” Chen Zhao was taken aback. “We planned on renting clothes tonight.”

“You and your girlfriend can come to the Baron Mansion tonight.”

“For what?”

“To make a tailored outfit for you two, obviously. You’re my important guests. If you wear rented clothes, that’s a bit too much.”

“But the fashion show is tomorrow night, right? Is it enough time?”

“You don’t have to worry about that. If my designers can’t even do this small task, there’s no need for me to keep them in the company.”

“Okay, then. Baron Mansion, right? Do you have the address?”

Chen Zhao hadn’t heard of it before. He didn’t know where it was either.

Seeing that it was about time, he drove to Angel Beach to pick Fali up.

Fali noticed that the route was weird. “Where are we going?”

“My friend said that her designer can help design an outfit for us. We should be going to get our measurements.”

The Baron Mansion was in the center of L.A.

It was a beautiful park surrounded by verdure. There was a white building in the middle. It looked like a castle.

But when Chen Zhao got to the gate, he was stopped.

“Excuse me, sir. May I ask what you are here for?” The guard’s voice was polite with only a tinge of an interrogatory tone.

He studied Chen Zhao, Fali, and the group of pets in the back.

Fali was a bit nervous. She had a well-off family, but she’d never been somewhere like this before.

“Miss Zola called us here,” Chen Zhao said.

“Do you have an invitation?” the guard asked.

“No.”

“I’m sorry, sir. You cannot go in without an invitation.” The guard clearly didn’t believe Chen Zhao. “Also, can you move your car sot he one behind you can come in?”

Chen Zhao looked back. There was a sports car. The driver was Lucy.

Lucy also saw Chen Zhao. She came out and said, “Chen, how come you’re here?”

“Oh, my friend called me over,” Chen Zhao said. “But she might’ve forgotten to give me an invitation, so I got stopped.”

Lucy nodded. She took off her sunglasses and smoothed her hair. At the same time, she took out her own invitation. “Sir, they’re my friends.”

The guard recognized Lucy. After all, she had a bit of fame too. Looking back at Chen Zhao, he said, “Okay, but I hope Miss Lucy can be responsible for them. If they do anything wrong, it might affect you.”