The Creatures That We Are

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“Whoa, speak of the devil!” Wang Zikai rolled up his sleeves and marched toward the door. “Watch me plummet it to death!”

“Wait...” Gao Yang grabbed him and covered his mouth.

Fat Jun quickly hid behind Qing Ling, daring not to even make a sound. Then Officer Huang made a gesture, and all of them moved to the sides of the door, pressing their bodies to the wall.

Officer Huang unholstered his gun and aimed it at the door. “Who is it?”

An old man said, “I was wondering why there was light coming from the house. So it’s you, Officer Huang.” freewebno vel.co m

Gao Yang matched the voice to a face. It was the old man they had seen herding geese in the morning. He gave Officer Huang a look that indicated it would be safe to let the man in. Officer Huang holstered his gun again and opened the door.

The unexpected visitor was indeed the gooseherd from earlier. The villagers called him Fourth Grandpa Gu. He had a pipe in his wrinkled mouth, and his face creased as he smiled. “Oh, you’re all here. Looking into the case?”

Officer Huang responded with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Yeah. I got worried that I might have missed something, so I came to investigate again.”

“Being a police officer is indeed a difficult job. You’re working overtime so late at night.” The old man took out his pipe and scratched his back. “I thought there was a ghost when I saw the light.”

“Yet you knocked on the door? Aren’t you afraid?” Wang Zikai shot back. It was a much better question than his usual comments, and Gao Yang was just about to ask the old man about it.

“Haha.” The old man responded with a carefree smile. “I’m not afraid. I was close with Huazi and his family. They wouldn’t hurt me even if they became ghosts.”

“Is that so?” Officer Huang focused and came to a decision. “Why don’t you tell me about Huazi and his family, Fourth Grandpa Gu?”

“Of course, but this isn’t the best place for conversation. I live close by. Why don’t we move this to my place?”

“Thank you for accommodating us.”

...

Five minutes later, the five of them arrived at Fourth Grandpa Gu’s house. He lived alone, and his house was much smaller than Huazi’s. The humble abode had its back to the mountain, at the center of which was a big courtyard. There was a big herd of geese in the back, and they honked every now and then.

They sat down at the table. Fourth Grandpa Gu made tea, but no one drank any.

The old man didn’t seem to care. He began to rattled off while smoking, “Huazi’s old man was incredibly honest and diligent. Unfortunately, his stutter made him undesirable, and he only found a wife when he was almost forty. She came from the neighboring village. Other than her slight cripple, she was a good woman.”

“They started a family and gave birth to three healthy sons. A couple years after giving birth to their youngest, the wife passed away. Huazi’s father couldn’t support three sons through farming alone, so he left the village for work and sent money back every year. I was entrusted to take care of Huazi and his two younger brothers. They ate at my place every couple days. I took care of them like taking care of my own...”

After listening to the story to its end, Officer Huang asked, “Do you think the culprit is someone from the village, Fourth Grandpa Gu?”

Fourth Grandpa Gu paused and gave him a meaningful smile. “I won’t be held responsible in law for what I say, will I, Officer Huang? I don’t know much about the law...”

“You won’t. This is off record. Please tell me whatever you know.”

Fourth Grandpa Gu nodded. “Then I will. I think the murderer must be one of our own.”

“Why?”

“Many families in the village keep dogs, and aside from that, I have my dozen and more geese. They honk whenever strangers go past my door.”

Gao Yang said, “Huazi’s family were cut up and scattered. Someone from outside the village would have alerted the dogs.”

“That’s it.” Fourth Grandpa Gu glanced at him. “You’ve got a quick mind, young man.”

Officer Huang pressed, “Then who among the villagers would have a motive?”

“That I don’t know.” Fourth Grandpa Gu took a sip of tea. “Huazi and his family were known for being honest and responsible, and the three young ones were good kids. I’ve never seen them get into any conflict with anyone. How much must the culprit hate them to cut them all up like that?”

“Can it have something to do with the woman who married into the family?” Officer Huang asked suddenly.

“Hmm...” Fourth Grandpa Gu pondered. “That’s possible. The head of Huazi’s daughter-in-law hasn’t been found, has it? Perhaps she was the real target. And they were killed the day she married into the family. That can’t be a coincidence.”

“Have you seen the bride?” asked Officer Huang.

“She was taken here on a decorated sedan chair. I got a glance when she got out. Oh, was she beautiful.”

He glanced at Qing Ling. “She was pretty just like you, and with her long dark hair, she looked like the seventh daughter of the Jade Emperor descending from heaven... We were all envious of Huazi, thinking that he must have done a great deed in his past life to be rewarded with fortune like this.”

“I got it!” Wang Zikai slammed the table, startling everyone. “Have y’all watched Hail the Judge[1]?”

“I have,” Fat Jun said in a quiet voice. “Do you mean...the culprit was someone like Chang Wei?”

“That’s right! There must be a sexual predator in the village who looked at the bride and wanted to take her. Late at night, he broke into the house to have his nefarious way, but he got caught and, in the end, killed the entire family in a fit of rage...”

“Why would he cut them all up then?” Fat Jun mumbled.

“Hmph, you don’t get it, lad! Let me analyze it for you!” Wang Zikai stroked his chin cryptically. Gao Yang felt like the signature soundtrack for Detective Conan was going to start playing the next second.

“That’s what we call in the business a smokescreen! Who would think that a sexual predator would kill the entire family and cut them up after a failed assault? The police wouldn’t think of the possibility either, which would eliminate their suspicion of him!”

Gao Yang paused. For a moment, he almost thought Wang Zikai was making sense, but it was clearly nonsense upon reflection. It was simply too much risk for a man to kill and dismember the entire family simply because he allowed his lower head to do the thinking. Besides, there were no signs of fight or resistance inside Huazi’s house. The crime was committed in the front yard.

After thinking it through, Fat Jun shook his head. “Brother Kai, I don’t think it’s the answer... Were you the predator, would you have done something like that?”

“You’re the predator! All your family are predators!” Wang Zikai harrumphed. “Sexual predators wouldn’t be thinking things in the same way as normal people, would they?”

“Your way of looking at things is pretty special as well, Brother Kai. If even you wouldn’t do something like that, the predator would never...”

“What did you say, you damn fatty?! Come again?!”

“I am fat, but please don’t damn me. It’s bad luck to say something like that at night.”

The two idiots started bickering, giving Gao Yang a headache. Then suddenly, he noticed that Officer Huang and Qing Ling both had a tense look on their faces, their eyes glinting with cold murderous intent as they stared at the old man sitting across from them.

Gao Yang shifted his glance, and a chill seized him.

Fourth Grandpa Gu was still drinking tea with the same expression, yet translucent, scale-like things had climbed up his arm, and the rough, wrinkly skin of the back of his hands was turning into the damp, slick skin of a lizard. His nails were growing as well until they became sharp, grayish brown claws that were two centimeters long.

Then his eyes changed. The white turned into yellow with faint spots, while the black morphed into long black slits like it had been squashed by invisible force. His human eyes became those of a lizard in mere seconds. They now looked like a pair of cold, fine marbles.

Fourth Grandpa Gu’s body was transforming into that of a monster part by part, right in front of four awakeners and one wanderer.

Yet the old man didn’t attack him. He remained seated, leisurely sipping tea.

1. A Hong Kong comedy starring Stephen Chow. ?