The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 588: Number 2 Body

Vermilion Bird nodded slightly, waiting for Liu Qingying to continue.

“Her mother’s a hopeless addict, and she sold a four-year-old Ke Yo to a trafficking group at 800 yuan. Ke Yo ended up locked up in a small house along with other children and was raised like a dog.”

Liu Qingying sighed softly. “After a week of torture to make sure that they were obedient and wouldn’t dare to run away, they were assigned different tasks. The smart ones were told to steal, the pretty ones were told to lie, the stupid ones got their limbs broken or their eyes blinded so that they could beg on the street.”

“Ke Yo was neither smart nor pretty, so the traffickers decided to break her legs. When she got dragged into the room and saw what terrible things had happened to the previous child, she lost it and awakened.”

“She dragged all the traffickers into the Strange realm and started playing hide-and-seek with them. In the past, her mother used to play the game with her. Ke Yo would hide herself and wait for her mother to find her, and she always waited for so long that she fell asleep.”

“Actually, her mother had simply been hit by her addiction, and she told her daughter to hide because she didn’t want Ke Yo to see her do drugs. After a while, though, she couldn’t even do that...”

Realizing that she had digressed, Liu Qingying got back to the topic, “Anyway, Ke Yo hid inside her realm, and no one found her. They all died.”

“The second day, Edmond found the children, as well as Ke Yo, who was dying in a broken wardrobe. They became father and daughter.”

Vermilion Bird nodded. “That’s all you saw in the nightmare?”

“Yes, the information is fragmented.” Liu Qingying pulled at her lips. “What I told you is what I’ve gathered from the fragments. I can say for sure that Edmond had kept Ke Yo well protected, though, and she had no contact with the Godbearer Cult.”

Vermilion Bird nodded. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I didn’t really help.” Liu Qingying then asked, “Anything else?”

Vermilion Bird smiled. “There is one thing.”

Liu Qingying turned to her. “Go on.”

“We’re running out of time.” Vermilion Bird got right to it. “Are you going to keep staying unaffiliated? You know the Qilin Guild will welcome you into our fold anytime.”

“Thank you for the kind offer, Elder Vermilion Bird.” Liu Qingying’s smile was gentle yet distant. “Still, I prefer my freedom.”

“Alright.” Vermilion Bird wasn’t actually the Guild’s HR member, and she had simply made the offer because the opportunity presented itself. She didn’t press.

They exchanged a few words. Then Liu Qingying took her leave after finishing a cigarette.

Vermilion Bird leaned against the wall ponderously for a while. When she was going to leave, she got a call from Azure Dragon.

“Hello?”

“Yesterday afternoon, Seven Shadow and Hong Xiaoxiao got attacked,” Azure Dragon said in a composed voice. “I just finished dealing with it. I’ll update you.”

“By whom?” Vermilion Bird asked in surprise.

“Seven Shadow said that he didn’t know the man, but according to him, the man had a strange, rule-based Talent, which doesn’t fit anyone I’ve encountered before.”

Vermilion Bird was even more surprised. “So we’ve got nothing?”

“Yeah, but he was after Seven Shadow. He knew Seven Shadow was the Divine Scion.”

“The Godbearer Cult?” Vermilion Bird speculated.

“Very likely. We can’t exclude the possibility of it being a death monster, but the chance of that being true is low.”

“The reason being?”

“We’ve never encountered a death monster, but it’ll surely be stronger than a life monster. Were it a death monster, Seven Shadow and Hong Xiaoxiao wouldn’t have survived the encounter.”

Vermilion Bird relaxed somewhat. “True.”

“Anyway, they may go after those around Seven Shadow. You should be careful, too.”

“I know. I’m hanging up for now.”

...

A few minutes later, Vermilion Bird walked out of the empty Black Tortoise building. The Walled City of Ten Dragons wasn’t as boisterous as it had been in the past now that the puppeteered wanderers who served as staff were gone, and half of the awakeners had gotten killed.

Most of the shops had closed down. The wilted tree wrapped with colorful lights at the center of the plaza stood alone, the neon colors flickering and changing. The remnant of what the place had been only further compounded the lonesome atmosphere.

Vermilion Bird walked to the exit of the Walled City of Ten Dragons, taking out her car key from the pocket of her lab coat. Her heels clacked on the brick path as she walked.

Suddenly, Vermilion Bird came to a halt, frowning.

A second later, the lights on the tree short-circuited and blinked out.

Vermilion Bird whirled around to see a man standing by the tree. He was tall and slim, wearing a suit jacket, jeans, and leather boots, looking worn and shrouded in thick gloom.

Vermilion Bird was at first alerted. Then her eyes widened in shock.

She recognized him! No, she recognized the body.

Vermilion Bird didn't say anything. She quietly drew upon her energy, ready to strengthen herself five times with Equivalent Exchange at a moment’s notice. Her instinct told her that the man was extremely dangerous. Were a fight to break out, things would be decided in an instant.

After a few seconds of strange stillness, the night wind swept up the man’s hair. He said in a low hoarse voice, sounding aloof, “It seems the Divine Scion isn’t here.”

Vermilion Bird stared at him wordlessly, on high alert.

She wasn't his target. The man quickly disappeared behind the wilted tree, not delaying one bit.

Vermilion Bird stared at where he had gone from, already calling Qilin.

Soon, Qilin picked up.

“Guildmaster, I need to talk to you and Azure Dragon. Now.”

...

Twenty minutes later, Vermilion Bird had briefed Qilin and Azure Dragon in a meeting room at the Black Tortoise branch.

Azure Dragon frowned slightly, stroking the beard on his chin. “The man must be the one who attacked Seven Shadow last afternoon. He tracked Seven Shadow to the Walled City of Ten Dragons.”

“I’m certain that he’s the number 2 body!” Vermilion Bird raised her voice. She knew every corpse from the Guild, and she was certain she wouldn't make a mistake in this.

“So the number 2 body got resurrected?” Azure Dragon glanced at Vermilion Bird. “But other than you, who else can bring back a body that’s been gone for over 24 hours?”

Vermilion Bird fell silent. She would like to know the answer too.

Qilin silently took off his glasses and wiped the lenses with his silk handkerchief, putting the glasses back on. His green eyes looked like a deep lake under the moonlight at night.

He sighed softly.

“Vermilion Bird’s right. The Talent belonged to the number 2 body.”