Chapter 494

You would think that as the Clan Head of the Benevolent Durians had expanded Arthur’s dating options, but all it had done was bring disaster to his love life. At least the Clan itself was doing well this last year after his exit from the KL Tower and then, subsequent journey through Kuching and then, most recently, the Burmese Tower.

Time had flowed past fast, with a second trip into the Burmese Tower a month ago at – amusingly – the invitation of the Burmese government. It had caused some minor kerfuffle with the Malaysian government, of course, but he was not beholden to them. Add to that continuing issues with the way they treated him, and the decision had been made with his allies – Casey Chin and Rick MacKenzie – to make the trip.

There was no plan to have a major Clan outpost in Burma, but that worked well for the Burmese government and Climbers as well as him. Having a minimal presence there meant that the various Clan buildings in use in their Beginner Tower could go to their people, serving various sponsored Climbers. For that service, the Durians received both in-Tower services and an external world rental fee. One that, at Casey’s insistent – was indexed to a basket of currencies and the Burmese inflation rate.

It felt a little strange to get that detailed over a simple rental contract, but considering it was a twenty year lease; he figured she was not wrong. The only thing had been his own insistence to reduce the lease from the initial fifty year contract term. Even then, he had a feeling he was being fleeced; but the Burmese government wasn’t exactly rich.

Just quick to act.

Funny, to feel more valued by another country’s government than your own. Especially after being questioned for the last two hours by the same pair of investigators over a shooting in which he was the victim. You would think he was the culprit, the way they talked.

“So you met her online, ah? Through your personal account, you say?” the investigator said, leaning forward. “And that didn’t strike you as strange?”

“I get a lot of people talking to me these days.” Arthur said, quietly. “She was a friend of a friend, not just a random stranger. You can try to track her back that way, you know.”

“You meet strangers you met online for dinner regularly then?” Inspector Ivy Li said, dark eyes flashing. She was, in his opinion, the more competent of the two – Chinese, in her late-20s unlike the late forty year old partner she was saddled with. He was fat, slow and likely only received his position because of seniority and race.

“I do. Have you tried dating recently?” Arthur said and that rejoinder made Ivy smile a little. He liked her smile, it was a little self-depreciating and self-conscious at the same time. It disappeared as fast as it appeared, but he added to his smile counter in his head.

“Saya ‘dah kahwin lama-lama,” Inspector Azzaam said, deciding to pour oil onto the pair of singles wounds by iterating his own, longstanding married life. “Tell me, lah.”

“Look, meeting people is hard. Most people are like you all, you know.” Arthur clarified after a moment, “Government or business people. People who meet me as the Clan Head. It’s not easy, starting anything. And many are uh… old.” He grinned at Ivy. “Not that you are. But…” A jerk of the head to Azzaam.

“You…” Azzaam clamped his mouth shut. “I bet you got lots of models and women asking for you, online too, right?”

“Yes.” Arthur shrugged. “I’m not exactly interested in most of those, really.”

“Oh? Young man tak nak pretty lady?” Azzaam shook his head. “Tak believe, lah.”

“Young man with a Yin Body aspect.” He drummed his fingers on the table. “It means I’m less interested; not entirely disinterested. Just don’t think as much with the small head.” Funnily enough, it as Azzaam who look more scandalized than Ivy by that statement. If anything, she look more amused. “But, dating – meeting someone – can be fun. It’s a change of pace.”

“Who suggested the restaurant?” Ivy asked, switching tactics.

“Told you. Me.” Arthur sighed. “You already took photos of all the messages. It’s in there.”

“But the hotel room…”

“Was hers.” Arthur confirmed. “Probably how they got the sniper set-up in time. Which, I would think, you all would be looking for.” He shifted in his seat, the hard steel chair that was part of the interrogation room not at all comfortable. Not that it would break him, just having a bad chair. He was a Climber after all and had suffered much worst discomforts in the Tower, even having to drag himself through a mud-filled swamp with a broken leg in the last Tower. That last floor had a pain and a half.

Not that getting shot was that much better. He wondered if he should have left the wound unhealed to elicit more sympathy from his interrogators, then dismissed the idea. After all, there was no point being in pain just to play the fool – not when he might have been attacked again.

In fact, if he was planning this, he might have planned to attack him after this interrogation was over or right after the ‘failure’, when his victim believed he was safe.

“We have people looking into all that,” Azzaam said. “So you just went back with her?”

“Of course.” Arthur pointed to his phone that was still open to their conversation and had photos of the young lady. “Did you see her?”

“I thought you said you’re not affected by lust?” Ivy said, softly.

“As much. I said, not as much.” Arthur shrugged. “She was great company at dinner. Smart, funny, intelligent. We talked a lot about the state of affairs in the world, especially for Climbers and even more, about Tower tech. She was supposed to be a saleswoman for a Tower tech manufacturer, and said she had a prototype to show me.”

“Prototype?”

“Yeah, a new work; not released yet but soon. Maybe early release?” Arthur frowned, considering if he had used the right word. “It was supposedly a working Tower phone.”

“Allow you to call outside?” Azzaam asked.

“No, just inside the Tower. If you had the right kind of repeaters. Better than even some of the Tower radios.” Which had been one of the things richer countries like the West used, though as far as Arthur was concerned, most of that was just expensive wastes of materials. After all, the radios had incredibly short ranges, due to the way Tower energy interfered with their use. A repeater and phone system had sounded much more plausible, in truth.

“Did you see it?” Ivy asked.

Chagrined, Arthur scratched at the side of his head. “I, well, got distracted when we got inside.”

“So you never saw the prototype.”

“I don’t know if there ever was one,” Arthur replied. “It might have just been an excuse.”

“That you fell for.”

“Yes.”

“Tell me again lah, about what you did when you got into the room.” Azzaam pushed the pad of paper over to Arthur on which he’d drawn the layout of the room, so that he could explain things easier.

Arthur sighed but reached for the paper again only for the door open. Azzaam turned to the door, frowning, his mustache quivering on his lips only to fall silent when the station chief in full uniform walked in. Beside him was a familiar face.

“Manager Kong!” Arthur cried, in surprise.

“Come out. They already have their information. No need to wait.” She frowned, looked at my shirt and the bloody shoulder and added. “Did they not have you see a doctor?”

“We did,” Azzaam said. “They said he was fine!”

“But you didn’t get him a change of clothing?” Manager Kong said, frowning.

“We’re just asking some questions before he forgets.”

“Arthur Chua is a Climber who has cleared three Beginner Towers. I doubt his memory would degrade even if he wanted it to,” Manager Kong replied. “Unless you want to charge him, he should be let go to wash up and rest after last night.”

Arthur frowned, glanced at his watch and winced. It was nearly five in the morning, after the late evening that he had and then the commotion, getting sorted at the incident itself and then being dragged here before being forced to wait and the interrogation itself. He wasn’t feeling the fatigue, but that was because he was a Climber. It would take more than a single sleepless night for him to veer towards exhaustion after all.

“I object…”

“Senyap! Mr. Chua is a friend of the government and not under investigation,” the station chief spoke for the first time, causing Azzaam to shut his mouth. He walked over to Arthur, took his hands and shook them before beginning to apologise for the last few hours.

Well, perhaps, he did have some small power in Malaysia.