The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 411: Tabletop Game Cafe

They went to the still bustling Degenerate Street, arriving at a five-story renovated building at the end of it. The first four floors had been transformed into a cheap hotel. Many food stands for late night snacks crowded the street, beside which was an automated store for sex toys, the light a suggestive pink.

Gao Yang and Qing Ling quickly went to the hotel. Without stopping at the front desk, they rode the elevator to the fifth floor.

The door soon opened, not to a hotel, but to a tabletop game cafe with flickering neon light. The interior was done in a futuristic sci-fi style that was both dreamlike and trendy.

On the door was a large, rusty metal signboard. With fake prosthetics, the name of the shop was written: Borderrunners.

“This is the meeting place?” Qing Ling was visibly surprised.

Gao Yang nodded and opened the door.

“Welcome,” said the lilting voice of a girl, coming from the front desk.

The receptionist was a young woman dressed in sleeveless qipao. Her medium-length hair was a gradient from white to pink, and her large, bright eyes were turned a grayish blue with colored contact lenses. Under her left eye was a barcode, which could very well be a sticker rather than a tattoo—her look reminded Gao Yang of a certain girl whose name started with L from a certain cyberpunk animation.

“Hello, do you have a reservation?”

“No, I’m looking for your owner,” Gao Yang said.

“Oh, she’s in space shuttle 3.” The girl grinned mischievously. “But she may be a little busy right now.”

Gao Yang said with fake familiarity, “It’s fine. We go way back.”

He and Qing Ling walked past the reception hall. On the sofas sat a few college students waiting for shared tables. They were busy with their phones, their heads lowered, and none of them paid any attention to the two awakeners masquerading as wanderers.

The two of them found the third room. The light silver door looked like a high-tech cabin door.

They opened it. Indeed, the room was made to resemble a spaceship.

Two people sat on the gray, futuristic couch, one of them being Amon, the deputy leader of the first team of the Hundred Rivers Union.

Dressed in a set of sharp, streamlined suit with her short pink hair slicked back, she held a glass of red wine with one hand while putting her other arm around a cute petite black-haired girl, who had a petulant look on her face.

Amon’s lips curled slightly, looking equal parts leering, frivolous, and assertive.

“I can’t give you love, babe, but I can promise to give you a good time. Nothing matters in the world but that.”

Holy!

A player!

“Ahem.” Gao Yang cleared his throat.

Amon looked up and saw Gao Yang and Qing Ling outside the door. She paused, but was entirely unfazed. Leaning slightly, she patted the girl on the shoulder and said, “I have business to deal with. Be a good girl and give us some space.”

“Hmph!” The girl rose to get out of the room, coquettishly vexed.

Gao Yang and Qing Ling entered the room. Gao Yang closed the door behind him and looked around. “Is this a good time for a chat?”

“Sure.” Amon crossed her legs and lifted her chin. “Make yourself at home.”

Gao Yang and Qing Ling sat down on the couch across from Amon. Gao Yang spent two minutes briefly explaining what they encountered tonight.

Amon listened quietly, her expression turning serious. “What should I do now?”

“Brief the Union and provided Qing Ling and I a resting place. Tomorrow afternoon, Team Heavenbreaker will hold a meeting at the agreed time.”

“No problem.” Amon took out her phone and threw a ring of keys to Gao Yang. “Go to my bedroom for a rest if you don’t mind. Room 9.”

Gao Yang took the keys. “And you?”

“I don’t normally sleep at night.” Amon smirked. “Those playing through the night sometimes would be short a player, and I have to make up for the number.”

“Such is the devotion of someone running their own business,” Gao Yang said casually.

“Not really.” Amon stood up with a hand in her pocket. “I only go for tables with pretty girls.”

Then she shot Qing Ling a wink and a smirk. “Little Green Snake, have you become prettier? Do you have a boyfriend now?”

“No.”

“Why don’t you widen your perspective and consider batting for other teams?”

“No need.”

Facing Amon’s teasing, Qing Ling remained as cold as a boulder.

Amon stopped trying to warm her up and went off to greet the customers at her shop.

Gao Yang and Qing Ling headed to Room 9, Amon’s bedroom. Gao Yang opened the door with a key. As soon as he stepped in, he smelled a sensuous, alluring fragrance of incense.

The room wasn’t that big, and the light was dim. In the space with retro designs, there were all kinds of sculptures and paintings that boldly depicted the beauty of human bodies. The extravagant circular bed was covered by a pink canopy made of light fabrics. The whole room oozed lust, like the private bed chamber of an Egyptian queen.

For a moment, Gao Yang felt as if he was back to the love hotel he had gone to with Qing Ling for their mission. He didn’t even know where he should sit.

Qing Ling, on the other hand, was completely at ease. She kicked her sneakers off and entered the standalone bathroom, closing the door.

Soon, her clothes were draped on the tall door, and the sound of water hitting the ground came from the bathroom. From the cracks of the door, humid vapor seeped out and crawled along the floor.

Gao Yang sat on a rocking chair beside the bed, resting with his eyes closed to soothe his exhaustion while dwelling on his thoughts.

Ten minutes later, Qing Ling opened the door and walked out.

She was dressed in the same tank top, but she hadn’t put her jacket back on. Her fair shoulder and collar bones were on full display.

With beads of water remaining on the smooth skin of her swan-like neck, she raised her hands to tie her slightly damp hair, the lines of her neck, shoulders, and arms pleasant to the eyes.

“Your turn,” she said.

“Later.” Gao Yang took out a small plastic box for earplugs from his pocket, only what was inside weren’t earplugs, but a white petal with a red fingerprint.

The day Gao Yang left the hospital, Liu Qingying had asked someone to send him a bouquet of flowers. One of the petals had a fingerprint on it.

Gao Yang knew what Liu Qingying meant, but hadn’t found the time to meet up with her in her dream.

When Qing Ling was showering, he had sent Liu Qingying an encoded message and deleted it, asking her for a meeting. She responded with a simple OK.

Gao Yang turned to Qing Ling. “I’m taking a nap. About half an hour. Wake me up then.”

“Alright.” Qing Ling didn’t even ask why. Lifting her right hand, she called the Tang Dao on the table to her. With her blade in hand, she sat down cross-legged on the soft bed, acting as his bodyguard.

“Thank you.”

Gao Yang put the white petal to his lips for a second.

Then he closed his eyes and meditated to clear the thoughts in his head, making himself fall asleep.

...

“Congratulations on your recovery, Elder Seven Shadow.”

In the dream, he heard Liu Qingying’s gentle laugh.

Gao Yang opened his eyes and gave Liu Qingying a polite smile.

“It’s been a while, Miss Liu.”