The Creatures That We Are

The speculation was a reality check to Gao Yang. He felt a belated fear and dejection.

Every time he felt like he had grown enough to deal with enemies he had encountered before, more terrifying enemies would come to his doorstep and crush him, making him realize how insignificant and weak he was.

Was he really lucky?

Qilin looked at Gao Yang calmly. “Given the way things ended, she wasn’t there for the two of you, but happened to be spotted by you when holding some ritual. Seven Shadow tried to feel her out, and she gave him a warning before leaving easily.”

“Yes, she didn’t seem intent on fighting.” Gao Yang nodded. Or Vermilion Bird and I would most likely be dead.

“The Hundred Rivers Union is the most skilled at finding people, Vermilion Bird. Ask them to check the surveillance footage near the crossroad or any other way necessary to track the woman down.”

“Got it.” Vermilion Bird nodded.

“Seven Shadow, continue with Operation: Heavenbreaker.” Qilin added after some thinking, “Be careful going forward. While the woman didn’t seem outwardly hostile to you, you did foil her plan. Perhaps she will retaliate.”

“I’ll be careful,” said Gao Yang.

He swore that he would get up and run if he encountered her again, and he was at least confident in his ability to flee.

“Alright, let’s end the meeting here.”

Gao Yang and Vermilion Bird rose to their feet. Then Qilin thought of something.

“Ah, tonight, about the moped...”

“What moped?” Vermilion Bird knew the right thing to say. She didn’t want Qilin to erase her memory. The sight of Qilin with his hair in a top knot while wearing a sock with a hole in it was one to be kept dear until her death. She would recall it every once in a while for her enjoyment!

“Yeah, what moped?” Gao Yang had gotten much better at acting.

“Hoho.” Qilin nodded in satisfaction before adjusting the glaring glasses on his nose with a middle finger. “Nothing. You may go.”

Gao Yang and Vermilion Bird entered the elevator without a word, going to the ground floor and getting into her car.

When they were one street block away...

“Hahaha!”

“Hahaha!”

They burst into loud laughter again.

...

It was close to five o’clock in the morning when Gao Yang snuck back to his dorm room. He slept for two hours, welcoming the arrival of the day.

He got out of bed and went to have breakfast with Mi Shi. They brought food for their roommates before heading to class.

In the afternoon, Gao Yang checked the chat group, Team Heavenbreaker ❤?❤?❤?. Lithe Snake and Nainai had returned to Li City as well.

He sent a message each to Can, Nainai, Qing Ling, and Heavenly Dog—the four members attending Li City University—and told them to attend a quick meeting at the Witch’s Club after dinner.

He was mainly going to tell them about the woman who triggered a 9000 times bonus, warning them to be careful these days.

If the woman did come after Gao Yang, he didn’t want them to get dragged into it.

Gao Yang and his roommates had dinner at the cafeteria. Then he excused himself from returning to the dorm and headed to the Witch’s Club instead, opening the door with a spare key.

The small room was empty. Gao Yang was a little surprised. He was the first to arrive today.

He turned on the light, looking around the room with interest. More manga series showed up in the paper boxes in the corner. Two books were dropped on the ground.

And the number of magical items on the tribute table had increased as well, including another set of tarot cards, fanned out on the table. The one on the top was the Fool, followed by the Hangman, Justice, Sun, Magician, Moon, and Hermit.

Beside the cards was an old three by three rubik’s cube. The purple side and the blue side were done.

On the prop rack next to the table were a variety of weapons from anime. In addition to the plastic grim reaper’s scythe Nainai was holding last time, there was also a cool chainsaw helmet, a large zanpakuto[1], a big shovel, a stun-gun watch, a fire spear, and many other weapons.

Gao Yang could picture Nainai, an autistic child, holing up in her room reading manga and novels, imagining herself as all sorts of chuuni characters and muttering to herself for self-entertainment.

Rat-a-tat.

Someone was knocking.

Gao Yang jumped, looking at the door warily. It must not be a member of the team. The door wasn’t actually closed. There was no reason to knock.

He called out to the door coolly, “Who is it?”

“It’s me, Mr. Gao Yang,” said the polite, low voice of an adult man.

It struck Gao Yang as familiar, but he couldn’t quite put a name to it.

“Who?” Gao Yang asked.

The man seemed to hesitate for a moment. In the end, he didn’t say his name, but gave Gao Yang a roundabout hint. “Your in-law.”

Gao Yang facepalmed.

He opened the door. Standing outside was a tall middle-aged man with short, thick and hard silver hair, sculpted facial features, and a hint of a chin dimple.

It was Waking Insects from the Spectres.

Instead of an old-fashioned tailcoat, he was dressed in a dark green double-breasted trench coat and pants of the same color. He wore a pair of commonplace black dress shoes with a square black messenger bag on his left shoulder.

Immediately, Gao Yang thought of a mail carrier.

“You’re here for me?” asked Gao Yang.

“Fresh Snow wrote you a letter, Mr. Gao Yang,” said Waking Insects. “And she told me to make sure to deliver it to you.”

Gao Yang paused. Aren’t you going around the world?

But then he realized, With him being twice as fast as the speed of sound, it won’t be difficult for him to moonlight as a mail carrier while touring the world.

Gao Yang popped his head out to make sure there were no unwanted eyes before mumbling, “Come in.”

Swoosh.

He felt a gust of wind, and Waking Insects disappeared from the door, already sitting on a small chair in the room when he looked.

Gao Yang closed the door and reached out to Waking Insects. “The letter, please.”

Waking Insects opened the buckle of his black bag and took out a postcard, handing it to Gao Yang.

Gao Yang took it. One side of the postcard was a photo of a vast grassland. On the other side was messy handwriting with blobs of ink, and the sentences were mixed with pinyin and emoticons.

Gao Yang couldn’t help but smile.

“It’s my first time writing a letter. I’ll be inyourcare.”

Well, the last part of the sentence was all squashed together.[2]

“There are horses on the grassland, Gao Yang. I rode[3] horses with Sister. I’m so happy. (*^▽^*)”

“You’re called Dark Horse, Gao Yang, so I rode on a black horse.”

“The beef jerky is good, but not the goat milk.●﹏●”

“I miss you so much, Gao Yang. You should miss me too.”

“Looking forward to your response.”

Gao Yang’s lips curled up. It was like a letter written by a child who didn’t know many words.

He glanced at Waking Insects. “I’ll write her a response. Give me a moment.”

Waking Insects had come prepared. He produced a fountain pen. Gao Yang took it and started writing on the empty part of the postcard at the desk.

“Hope all is well.”

“I haven’t been to any grasslands. Once you’re back, tell me about the scenery there.”

“Don’t have too much human food. It’s bad for your health.”

“I miss you too. Looking forward to your next letter.”

Considering that members of Team Heavenbreaker could show up at any time, Gao Yang didn’t dare to spend too much time on the letter. He handed the postcard back to Waking Insects.

“Please take this back to Fresh Snow.”

“As I should.” Waking Insects nodded with a smile.

The door opened then. Can spoke from the outside, “Whoa, someone’s here already...”

A gust of wind whipped past her. She stood at the door for two seconds before recovering, looking inside at Gao Yang. “What, what just happened?”

“Hm?” Gao Yang played dumb.

“There seemed to be a gust...”

“Can, the pimple on your chin is recovering quickly.” Gao Yang changed the subject.

“Huh? Is that so? Tee-hee.” Can smiled a little bashfully. “I’ve been keeping a lighter diet, but well, it’s mostly the concealer...”

1. From the manga/anime series Bleach. ☜

2. In the raw, the word 多 was split into 夕夕 since Fresh Snow wrote the two parts of the character a little too far apart. ☜

3. The italicized words in the letter henceforth are parts where Fresh Snow used pinyin rather than actually writing the words since they are quite hard to write, like 騎 in this case. ☜

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