The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 672: The Professional

The young man in the black and white photo had longer hair part on the side, upturned eyes, a tall nose, and thin lips. His smile was bright, the lopsided corners suggested a likable sort of impatience.

It was Gao Yang’s college roommate, Qiu Qiu.

He was narcissistic but loyal to his friends. He had a taste for alcohol but was a terrible drunk. He always made dirty jokes but apologized immediately if he offended someone. He fancied himself a playboy but acted like a pitiful lap dog after a breakup.

He had just entered college. He had a long life ahead of him, yet died at Gao Yang’s hand.

Gao Yang took out a white paper flower from his pocket and placed it on the tombstone. There was nothing he could say.

Gray Bear smoked on the side and counted the days from Qiu Qiu’s death. It happened to be the seventh night, the time the dead were said to return.

Can looked at Gao Yang’s back and felt a sympathetic pang, remembering her roommate Huan Huan.

She had always been an introvert with low self-esteem, and after entering college, Huan Huan was the first to strike up a conversation with her. Huan Huan also took her along no matter what she was doing. It was thanks to her that Can had become much more outgoing during her two years in college.

“I’d like to check on Huan Huan, Captain. She’s buried here too.”

“So is Young Liu.” Gray Bear laughed bitterly. “I might as well pay him a visit.”

Gao Yang turned around and nodded.

They first found Huan Huan’s tomb.

Can knelt before it and chatted with Huan Huan for a few minutes, reminiscing about their happy time in school until her eyes brimmed with tears. Then they found Officer Liu’s tomb. Gray Bear wasn’t sentimental enough to have a small talk with the dead like Can had done. He found it melodramatic.

He lit a cigarette and took a drag before leaving it on his once colleague’s tombstone. Then he patted on it, just like how he used to pat the young man’s shoulder.

Gray Bear smiled wryly. “How did I not notice that Young Liu was an awakener? Thinking back, there was a time when he seemed to be in a bad condition. He took a one-week leave, and I didn’t pay attention to it. He must have awakened then and got lured in by the Godbearer Cult. He’s a good kid. How did he buy into their shit?”

“People will grab onto something when scared, even a viper,” Gao Yang said.

“Yeah, he just awakened and found out that the world was a lie. Who would be able to take it?” Gray Bear felt a little guilty. “If I had been just a little more observant and offered him a helping hand, perhaps he would be my companion now.”

“Uncle Bear, hindsight is always twenty-twenty.” Can’s gaze turned mournful. “If I had known what would happen that night at the Eleventh High, I would’ve stopped Huan Huan from going to her date even if I had to knock her out.”

“Right. There’s no turning back time.” Gray Bear lit another cigarette and took a long drag. “Death isn’t so bad a fate. It’s a conclusive ending. The living are the ones suffering.”

“There’s merit to that.” Can smiled awkwardly. “But I still think it’s better to be alive.”

She snuck a glance at Gao Yang, who was still staring at Officer Liu’s tomb with an unreadable expression.

Can was worried. Ever since what happened with the Malediction, their captain had changed; he was always thinking about something on his own. While he was still gentle and made jokes every once in a while, it made her ache for him even more, and she found it more difficult to understand him.

“Captain?” Can called out to him softly.

Gao Yang broke out of his thoughts and turned around with a small smile. “Let’s head down.”

...

December 22nd, one o’clock in the morning.

Ke Yo “woke up” to a dream and found herself standing in the lobby of a theater at a mall. The crowds walking around her had blurry faces with no details like the purposefully obscured pedestrians in games, coming and going like shadows.

Ahead of her was the ticket check. Liu Qingying, dressed in a fitted uniform shirt and skirt, gave him a welcoming smile and said in a sweet voice, “Here for a movie, pretty girl?”

Ke Yo looked down to find a ticket in her hand.

Dion: The Professional, a midnight screening[1].

“Here. Give me the ticket.” Liu Qingying took her ticket and tore off the stub before handing the rest back to her. “The third room on the left, Children Room.”

With Liu Qingying so committed to her role as the theater staff, Ke Yo found it difficult to question her. She walked in with her head low and quickly found the right room.

The Children Room wasn’t large. The colorful interior design was full of childlike wonders. A few blurry figures randomly filled the seats. The only real person was sitting in a corner of the back row. It was Gao Yang.

Ke Yo went up to sit beside him.

The room went dark, and the screen lit up. With the quiet start of the movie playing in the background, Ke Yo felt like she was doing a secret deal.

“Do you have an answer now?” Gao Yang asked bluntly.

Ke Yo opened her mouth and closed it.

Gao Yang chuckled. “Are you worried that Miss Liu would hear us?”

Ke Yo nodded.

“Haha.” Liu Qingying had appeared on the screen at some point. Dressed expensively, she was drinking coffee at a dining table on a street corner.

She looked into the camera—at the audience outside the screen. “Don’t worry. I’ll take my leave soon. However, I will hear your answer before I go. It’s part of the deal I have with Seven Shadow.”

Gao Yang nodded. “Your answer is considered an S-clas intel, which Miss Liu will hear as the price for arranging the meeting through dreams.”

Ke Yo nodded but didn’t say anything.

Gao Yang continued, “Don’t worry. Miss Liu and I share a common goal. She won’t sell me out before the goal is reached.”

Which was to identify the spy in the Hundred Rivers Union and the one who had killed Ba Qiuchi and Green Tea—Dust.

Of course, Liu Qingying had another condition for her cooperation, but Gao Yang didn’t deem it necessary to tell Ke Yo now.

Finally, Ke Yo made up her mind. She took a deep breath and looked up at Gao Yang. “I’m joining the Nine Scions.”

“You sure?” Gao Yang said calmly and didn’t show any signs of excitement.

“I’m sure.” Ke Yo nodded.

“May I ask why?”

“Because Edmons asked you to take care of me.”

Gao Yang hid his surprise. “Have you recovered your memory?”

Ke Yo shook her head. “No, but I remember some of his words. They feel familiar to me. He must have his reason when he asked you to take care of me before his death. I trust him.”

Liu Qingying walked out of the screen with a laugh. “I didn’t expect the reasoning.”

“I’m a strange person after all[2].” Ke Yo smiled self-deprecatingly. “It’s normal for me to make strange decisions, isn’t it?”

Liu Qingying didn’t comment on that. “Now that I have the intel, I’ll bid you farewell.”

According to their agreement, that was all Liu Qingying was allowed to know. She wouldn’t be listening in on the rest of Gao Yang and Ke Yo’s conversation.

With level 7 Sweet Dream, Liu Qingying could wake up willingly and leave her dream while sustaining it until all participants woke up.

“Have a good chat, dear customers.” Liu Qingying covered her smirk. “Friendly reminder that the dream is going to be fragile after my departure, so please don’t run far and don’t do anything too exciting, or the dream will collapse prematurely.”

“Understood.” Gao Yang smiled at her. “After waking up, you should go have a cigarette on your balcony for your insomnia, Miss Liu.”

Gao Yang was going to make sure that Nine Frost could see her through binoculars and monitor her brain waves with Telepathy. He would confirm that Liu Qingying had woken up from the dream and hadn’t had someone else putting on an act while she secretly hid in the dream to eavesdrop on Gao Yang and Ke Yo.

“Of course. Have a nice chat.” Liu Qingying didn’t need him spelling it out. She became more and more translucent until vanishing between one blink and the next.

1. A reference to the movie Leon. The raw is translated literally into “The hitman is a little slow”, which is a play of the translated title of the movie in China, “The hitman is not that cold.” ☜

2. The description of her Talent, Strange, is “A strange person”. ☜