The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 491: Arrangements

“A very likely possibility,” Qing Ling bluntly concluded. “Perhaps there’s an altar in the Island Nation too, and a life monster has died there. Tonight, the life monster grabbed Su Xi in order to use the Spectre in her womb as a sacrifice to bring back its fellow life monster. The Tails wanted Su Xi too, but ended up losing her to the life monster.”

Officer Huang’s hands kept trembling. A rational voice in his head told him that it was the most likely conclusion.

“We have a lead!” Officer Huang turned to Heavenly Dog. “You must know a lot about the Island Nation. Do you know where an altar like that may be?”

Heavenly Dog stayed silent.

Gao Yang had long noticed that Heavenly Dog had been acting strange since boarding the cruise. Although he had always been the quiet type, he was usually relaxed and leisurely, rather than radiating tension and a strange stubbornness like he was now.

“I don’t know,” Heavenly Dog said coolly.

“Wait...” Officer Huang said anxiously. “Didn’t you grow up there? Think about it. Don’t just jump to conclusions!”

“I. Don’t. Know.” Heavenly Dog repeated, his tone resistant, even with a slight edge of resentment.

“You...” Before Officer Huang could say more, Gao Yang stopped him.

“Yellow Ox, I’m calling Chen Ying now. The Hundred Rivers Union are the most well-versed in investigation. They have stationed members on many isolated islands.”

“Okay.” Officer Huang nodded.

Gao Yang called Chen Ying immediately, asking her to contact their stationed members in the Island Nation and find out if there was an altar similar to the one at the mountain behind No.7 Winery there.

Chen Ying told Gao Yang that they no longer had a member in the Island Nation.

More than ten years ago, the Hundred Rivers Union had sent members to the Island Nation to survey the area, collecting a good amount of accurate information, including the nation’s actual area of activity and the state of unaffiliated awakeners.

However, the awakener in charge of surveying the Island Nation hadn’t survived X’s Poison of Hell during the last night of the Crimson Tide.

Chen Ying would have to head back to HQ to look through their archives for relevant clues.

“Please look for it now! Please!” Officer Huang couldn’t help but add.

“I’ll tell you as soon as I find anything.” Chen Ying was a woman of action. She quickly hung up.

Gao Yang did too, and he glanced at Officer Huang. “Go back to your room and have some rest. Be ready for getting onto the island tomorrow.”

Before Officer Huang could say something, Gao Yang interrupted him, “You, especially, get some sleep. Ms. Su is waiting for you to rescue her. You must preserve your energy.”

Officer Huang relented. He sighed and nodded. “Alright, I’ll go back to my room and rest. Let me know as soon as Chen Ying finds anything.”

“Of course.”

Quietly, Heavenly Dog left the room after Officer Huang.

Gao Yang walked them out. He noticed that instead of following Officer Huang to their room, Heavenly Dog had put on his earphones from his pocket and headed to the deck broodingly.

Without a word, Gao Yang closed the door.

Gao Yang and Qing Ling were left in the suite on their own. Gao Yang first made an encoded call to Qilin, telling him in detail about what happened tonight and his speculation. He believed a living life monster had taken Su Xi, but he didn’t tell Qilin that Zhuang Mei could be the life monster.

Qilin was quiet for a moment. “You sure?”

“Yes,” Gao Yang said decisively. “The energy cluster of white phoenix created by the shooting star looked identical to the reanimated skeleton of a white phoenix in the West Nation.”

“I understand.” Qilin paused and said seriously, “Continue your operation, and I won’t send reinforcements.”

“Why?” Gao Yang didn’t understand. They were facing a life monster. The four of them alone wouldn’t be its match.

“I have my reasons, Elder Seven Shadow.” Qilin seemed to have made up his mind, and he didn’t explain further.

Catching the unspoken rejection, Gao Yang didn’t press. “Understood.”

Once he hung up, he continued to wonder, Why don’t Qilin send reinforcements for me? Has he overestimated my power, or does he question my loyalty to the Guild, and thus sees this as an opportunity to get me killed?

No, it’s unlikely. There’s no reason for him to go through all these troubles to get me killed. He could just kill me. Qilin must have other plans, but for whatever reason, he can’t let me know yet.

Then he could only press forward. Officer Huang’s family was at stake. Even without reinforcements from the Guild, he couldn’t just stand by and do nothing.

Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Qing Ling listened to Gao Yang finish his call before asking, “Why didn’t you tell Qilin about Zhuang Mei being a life monster?”

Gao Yang responded with a question, “Do you think Zhuang Mei was the one who grabbed Ms. Su tonight?”

Qing Ling said coolly, “She better be, or it’ll mean that there is another life monster.”

Gao Yang shuddered at the thought. One life monster alone was formidable enough. If there was another one, could awakeners really survive to the day the Gates of Closure opened?

“Let’s not think about it now. We should rest first.” Gao Yang glanced at Qing Ling. “You take the bed. I’ll take the sofa.”

“Okay.” Qing Ling didn’t reject the offer out of politeness, but plopped herself down on the bed and rolled to have her back to Gao Yang.

“I’m heading out for a moment.” Gao Yang walked toward the door. “Be right back.”

Qing Ling didn’t ask what Gao Yang was doing, but answered in a muffled voice, “Yeah.”

Gao Yang turned off the main light in the room for Qing Ling, switching on the dim, orange wall lamp instead. Once out of the suite, he went left and walked out of the corridor connecting the suites, heading to the higher deck.

The cruise was silent at one in the morning. There was no other passenger on the deck save for Heavenly Dog, who was sitting cross-legged before the railing circling the deck, his headphones on.

Tonight’s moonlight was a grayish blue, casting a splattering of light on the pitch-black surface of the ocean. Wind caressed Heavenly Dog’s hair, which wasn’t tied into a small pony tail like it usually was. The black strands flew behind his head. His youthful, delicate facial features seemed particularly lonesome now.

Quietly, Gao Yang went up to Heavenly Dog and slowly sat down beside him, feeling the ocean breeze sweep over him.

After about a minute, Heavenly Dog tilted his head and pulled off one earphone to offer it to Gao Yang.

Gao Yang took it silently, putting it in his ear.

The previous song had just ended, followed by a song Gao Yang recognized by the intro—an Island Nation song titled, The Reason Why I Thought I’d Die[1].

It was bursting with emotions, bringing to mind a melancholic sort of rebirth with hope stubbornly persisting despite being smothered by oppressive sorrow.

After the song came to an end, Gao Yang returned the earphone to Heavenly Dog.

Heavenly Dog pulled off his end too. Staring into the distant horizon, he said in his signature lazy voice, “You think I should be familiar with the Island Nation since my mother was from there, don’t you?”

“Is that not the case?”

“It’s not.” Heavenly Dog shook his head. “I’ve never been there.”

Gao Yang was a little surprised. He wasn’t sure what to say.

“All I know about the Island Nation, I learned from the internet. I hate the place, but I pretend to know it, as if I had actually lived there with my mother.”

Heavenly Dog tilted his head to look at Gao Yang. “Isn’t that pathetic?”

1. Nakashima Mika’s song. Highly recommend this version: Mika--僕が死のうと思ったのは/The Reason Why I Thought I\'d Die (Eng). It was sung after she lost most of her hearing. (Fortunately, she did recover afterwards.) ☜