The Creatures That We Are

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The refreshment room was terrifyingly quiet.

Amid the frozen air, Gao Yang could hear his heart speeding up like crazy. Shit, shit we’ve been found.

He tilted his head to look at Qing Ling. She had an impassive look on her face, but her brain was running quickly.

If Officer Huang was a wrath monster, there was no way she could win this.

Of course, it wouldn’t be hard for her to kill one wrath monster, but there were more than a hundred ‘people’ outside this room. Once she exposed herself as an awakener, all that awaited her would be death.

Run?

It wouldn’t do her any good. Even if she fled now, she wouldn’t last for more than a few days with her identity exposed.

Her former companion was stronger than she was, yet they still died after accidentally exposing themself.

She had no choice but to bet on her only chance.

“What brings you here, Officer Huang?” she asked after three seconds of silence.

Officer Huang slowly walked up to the water dispenser and bent down to get a cup of cold water, exposing his back to Qing Ling and Gao Yang.

Then he turned around and leaned against the table the water dispenser was placed on. “It’s about Li Weiwei. I planned to start the investigation with those around her, so I attended the funeral.”

“Did you find anything?” Gao Yang did his best to look eager for any updates on the case.

“I asked around and found something, but nothing I can tell you.” Officer Huang took a sip of water and smiled. “Ah, what were you talking about? It sounded quite interesting. Monsters? Rules?”

Gao Yang’s heart sank. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy.

He must exhaust his options in a situation this dire.

“We were talking about a survival game. Really popular these days.” He shot Qing Ling a look. “Video games.”

“Is that so?” Officer Huang nodded bemusedly. “What’s the name of the game?”

“It’s...Monsters and Men, Happily Ever After.”

“Sounds fun.” Officer Huang sighed with what sounded like envy. “It’s good to be young. Adults like us have no time for entertainment.”

He downed the rest of the water and left the paper cup on the water dispenser before strolling out of the room.

The conversation lasted only a minute, but Gao Yang’s back was entirely drenched with cold sweat.

“What now?” he asked Qing Ling.

Qing Ling frowned. “Two possibilities. One, he’s a wrath monster and has already gotten suspicious of us, so he was testing us on purpose. Or, he can be a delusion monster.”

“Delusion monster?”

“They are a special kind of monsters, also known as wanderers. They believe they are humans and fool even themselves. Doesn’t matter when an awakener shows up before them. They do nothing and often ignore key information. Their brains automatically course correct and modify their memories.”

“So we’ll be safe if Officer Huang is a delusion monster,” Gao Yang concluded.

“Yes. But I’m not going to bet on that.” Qing Ling walked to the door and looked at the policeman in the mourning hall through the crack. “Wrath monsters yearn for their prey with extreme passion. If one can have an awakener to themself, they would never let another monster get a piece.”

Gao Yang recalled the way Li Weiwei had acted when she was trying to kill him. “I saw that myself...”

“There are more than a hundred people in the mourning hall. Among them, there would be more than one wrath monster. Perhaps that’s why Officer Huang didn’t attack us.”

Gao Yang gasped. “He wants us for himself.”

“That’s most likely the case.” Qing Ling gave Gao Yang a steely look. “We still have a chance. We’ll silence him.”

...

Police Station, Shanqing District. Ten o’clock in the evening.

After the funeral, Officer Huang drove back to the station without making any stop.

Qing Ling and Gao Yang followed him in a taxi. They found a cafe across from the station and chose a seat by the window for easier stakeout.

They ordered some food and drink before taking out textbooks and assignments to put up the front of studying, when in truth they were killing time.

Gao Yang had been reluctant to come with Qing Ling on her mission to kill Officer Huang. Upon second thought, however, he realized that their fates were tied. If Qing Ling failed, he would die sooner or later.

If he was doomed to meet his end, he would greet it standing up rather than on his knees.

That way...at least he would have his dignity.

“I have many questions for you.” Gao Yang took a sip of orange juice.

“Ask.” Qing Ling ate her mango pancake with her head lowered. The serious way she dissected the pancake into eight pieces with a knife and a fork made her seem like she was cutting apart an enemy. fre(e)webno(v)el

“Do you have any other companions beside me?”

“I told you. I had two, but they both died.”

“So you’ve always been on your own?” Gao Yang found that hard to believe.

“Not on my own.” Qing Ling’s eyes shifted. “There’s my sister too.”

Ah, she means her other personality, Gao Yang thought. The other Qing Ling.

“You two...must have had it hard.”

“Worry about yourself.” Qing Ling put away her fork. “If we fail, I’ll run away and hide.”

“How about me?” asked Gao Yang.

“Not my business.” Qing Ling leveled him with an icy stare. “I’m not taking care of a dead weight.”

Gao Yang’s ego was bruised.

He wasn’t a dead weight. He had a Talent too!

...But better not to make a fool of himself before a beautiful girl.

They waited until late into the night. Finally, Officer Huang emerged from the police station.

He walked up to the patrol car parked by the road and came to a sudden halt as he took out his car key. Lowering his head, he realized that the front tire was damaged. Qing Ling had stabbed it with a dagger she controlled remotely.

There was no trace of irritation on Officer Huang’s face. With a smile, he took out his phone and made a call. Then he crossed the street and bought a pack of cigarettes.

Qing Ling and Gao Yang carefully followed him while maintaining a distance of about fifty meters.

Officer Huang spoke into his phone while smoking. When he walked past a park between the streets, he turned and walked in to take a shortcut.

“Our chance.” Qing Ling picked up her pace.

Gao Yang wasn’t convinced. “Could he be setting up a trap for us?”

Qing Ling’s eyes hardened. “Then we’ll see who’s the prey here.”

This late at night, the garden packed densely with trees saw no visitors. Officer Huang walked into the darkness on his own. In Gao Yang’s eyes, his lone figure seemed dangerous, unpredictable.

Qing Ling and Gao Yang put on the masks and sunglasses they had in their bags and followed Officer Huang to the heart of the garden. When opportunity presented itself, they snuck up to hide behind a neatly trimmed shrub.

Qing Ling reached out both hands at the surveillance camera above the street lamp.

She seemed to be controlling something with a look of concentration on her face. Two seconds later, she clenched her hands into fists, and the red lights indicating the cameras were on flickered dead with a soft hiss.

“Call out to him and say whatever to distract him,” Qing Ling instructed in a low voice. “I’ll take care of the rest.”

Gao Yang was nervous. “Okay.”

After taking a deep breath, he walked out of the shrub and quickly caught up to their target. “Officer Huang.”

The man came to a sudden stop and turned around, “Who...are you?”

Gao Yang pulled down his mask. “Ah, it’s me.”

Officer Huang smiled at him. “Gao Yang? What are you doing here so late?”

Gao Yang continued his performance. “It’s about Li Weiwei. I remembered something and wanted to tell you.”

“That so?” Still smiling, Officer Huang walked up to Gao Yang a little hurriedly. “Alright. Tell me...”

Then his smile dropped.

He whirled around and drew his gun from the holster at his waist.