The Creatures that We Are

Gao Yang took out his phone and accessed his album to show Ghost Horse the last four entries of Three Air’s diary. “See for yourself.”

“February 6th, sunny.”

“Flirting might as well be black magic. The more I try, the less I understand women. Forget it. Why chase after women? Isn’t fishing much more fun?”

“I’m gonna get paid on the tenth. Then I’ll get a new fishing rod and a high-power lamp for late night fishing! Ha, a fishing aficionado has no downtime!”

“February 8th, cloudy.”

“The kids progress as slowly as a tortoise. I’ve told them to train harder every day, but my advice just goes in one ear and out the other.”

“Our quarterly evaluation is at the bottom again. Every time I think about the fourth team I feel like I’m having a stroke. Fuck, I’m gonna get a drink with Old Bear.”

“February 11th, sunny.”

“I ran into a real beauty when I jogged in the Li Mountain at night. She asked if I was single. I thought I was finally gonna get some, but she was a salesperson.”

“Has the industry gotten so competitive? I admitted I was quite moved. I bought two electric brushes. Might as well start using them tomorrow.”

“February 13th, rainy.”

“I felt lightheaded when I woke up in the morning like a ghost had pinned me to the bed. Did I catch a cold?”

“That makes no sense. I haven’t gotten a cold for years. Maybe my age is finally catching up to me. I should drink less and train more—jacking off doesn’t count.”

Gao Yang hinted, “Look at the date and find the corresponding words, respectively the 6th, 8th, 11th, and 13th word of the first paragraphs.”

“Black Tortoise the ghost.”

Ghost Horse uttered the four words and frowned. “Not an easy clue to find.”

Gao Yang smiled wryly. “Yeah, especially since no one is gonna start out looking for it. Once I began to suspect Black Tortoise and looked for clues with that in mind, though, it wasn’t that hard.”

“Why would you suspect Black Tortoise?”

Gao Yang shook his head. “I suspected all four Elders, and through the process of elimination, I narrowed it down to either Azure Dragon or Black Tortoise. Then I turned to the diary for clues and got the answer.”

Gao Yang briefly explained where his suspicion came from and how he came to the conclusion.

Mainly, it was because of two things.

First, Ghost Horse’s theft of the bodies.

From the snippet of conversation Chen Ying caught with her Psychometry, Gao Yang could more or less conclude that the bodies Ghost Horse had stolen weren’t for his own use, but for the high-ranking spy in the Qilin Guild.

And the spy did use body number 21 and almost blew up Gao Yang and Chen Ying.

That told him one thing: the spy had the powerful ability to control corpses.

Vermilion Bird said that she had never seen a Talent like that, and given her status and seniority in the Guild, she should know the Talents the other Elders had, at least to some degree.

One might conclude that the Elders were thus excluded as suspects.

However, both Gao Yang and Vermilion Bird had neglected one thing at the time: Talents leveled up, which could enhance and evolve a Talent.

Second, Gao Yang remembered the wanderer receptionist at the White Tiger branch: Xiao Ya.

At the time, he noticed that Xiao Ya’s seemingly perfect mannerism stemmed from the control of some kind of Talent and an empowering item.

It had to be a strong Summon-type Talent, one that could only belong to Qilin or one of the four Elders.

Qilin, being the guildmaster, couldn’t have been the spy.

Vermilion Bird had a powerful Life-type Talent. It was unlikely for her to also have a Summon-type Talent that was among the top ten on the list.

That left Azure Dragon, Black Tortoise, and White Tiger.

Gao Yang first excluded Elder White Tiger.

When Gao Yang came out of the Rune Cave at the Eleventh High School, the portal was under the watch of Azure Dragon and Black Tortoise, and they each took a Rune Circuit for safekeeping before handing them to Guildmaster Qilin.

Which meant that if either Azure Dragon or Black Tortoise had the most powerful Summon-type Talent, the Talent was likely to reach level 4 as they carried the Summon Rune Circuit. And upon reaching level 4, the top Summon-type Talent must allow one to control corpses with enough precision to have them fight with Talents.

Therefore, the traitor ordered Ghost Horse to steal the bodies in order to confirm the new ability they gained after their Talent leveled up.

That was how Gao Yang narrowed the suspects down to Azure Dragon and Black Tortoise.

Ghost Horse nodded. “With that in mind, you broke the code and found the words ‘Black Tortoise the ghost’ in Three Air’s diary.”

Gao Yang went through the contact list on his phone. “I’ll report to Black Tortoise and tell him that you’re at the chemical plant. How do you think Black Tortoise will react?”

Ghost Horse’s eyes glinted. “He’ll order me to kill you.”

Gao Yang tugged at his lips. “But you may fail. I did survive the Eleventh High School and kill Yellow Butterfly after all.”

“True.” Ghost Horse’s gaze wavered, guessing Gao Yang’s intention. “You think he’ll make a move personally?”

“Very likely.” Gao Yang punched in the numbers. “Let’s put it to the test.”

“It’ll be dangerous,” Ghost Horse reminded him. “Are you sure about this?”

“You can’t get anything if you risk nothing,” Gao Yang said half-jokingly even though none of them were in the joking mood.

“Hello.” A few seconds later, Black Tortoise picked up.

Gao Yang affected an urgent tone. “Elder Black Tortoise, I found Ghost Horse’s hideout. He’s in the chemical plant on the Apple Island.”

“Are you certain?”

“I am. I saw him with binoculars.”

“Don’t alert him. I’ll be right with you. I’ll contact Elder Azure Dragon first.”

“Understood.”

Gao Yang hung up. They waited.

A minute later, Ghost Horse’s prepaid phone rang.

Face dark, Ghost Horse waited a few seconds on purpose before picking up.

A modulated, androgynous voice said, “You’ve been made.”

“Then I’ll leave at once,” Ghost Horse said respectfully.

“No, stay put. I’ll help you take care of him.”

“But I don’t know who you are.” Ghost Horse tightened his grip around his phone, his eyes on Gao Yang.

“I’ll come with Seven Shadow. There will only be the two of us.”

“I understand.”

“Remember, I can’t kill Seven Shadow myself, nor can I reveal myself to him. I’ll distract him. So seize the opening to assassinate him.”

“Understood.”

The call ended.

Ghost Horse and Gao Yang fell silent.

They were now a hundred percent sure that Black Tortoise was the high-ranking spy planted in the Qilin Guild, the archbishop of the Godbearer Cult.

Gao Yang turned to Ghost Horse and smiled bitterly. “How strong is he? What do you think our odds are?”

“We stand no chance if we go against him head-to-head, but we’re likely to succeed if we ambush him when he least expects it.” Ghost Horse held Gao Yang’s gaze. “War Tiger once said that there is no reason to fear high-ranking awakeners. We are all humans at the end of the day.”

Gao Yang extended a hand. “The moon is beautiful.”

Ghost Horse held it. “The moon is beautiful.”

Their codes matched. The mission officially commenced.

Gao Yang pulled back and said in a steely voice, “I still can’t forgive you for Wan Sisi.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Ghost Horse maintained an impassive face. “We can still work together to kill Black Tortoise.”

“Yes.”

Gao Yang’s eyes were determined. They would kill Black Tortoise and let Vermilion Bird question the body, rooting out the leader of the Godberer Cult that way.

…

Half an hour later, the abandoned chemical plant.

Gao Yang and Ghost Horse stared at the charred body of Black Tortoise. Silence stretched for a moment.

Then Gao Yang said in a low voice, “Black Tortoise has contacted Azure Dragon. He’ll be here soon.”

Ghost Horse made a thoughtful sound and said quietly, “Would I be exposed when Vermilion Bird questions Black Tortoise’s body?”

“You’re unlikely to maintain the Godberer’s Cult’s trust after Black Tortoise’s death anyway.”

Ghost Horse nodded. “True.”

“Your mission is complete. Go back to the Twelve Zodiac Signs. Vermilion Bird will extract more information from Black Tortoise, and the Godbearer Cult will be exposed. You’ve achieved your goal.”

“Wouldn’t this expose you?”

“The fact that we worked together to kill Black Tortoise will be exposed, but I can explain it away. Black Tortoise didn’t learn about my allegiance before he died. Besides, Vermilion Bird will be racing against time when questioning the body, and she will focus on finding out more about the Godbearer Cult. I should be fine.”

“Good…”

Ghost Horse fell silent and looked up in alarm.

Gao Yang tensed up, noticing the same thing.

There were people approaching, and there were more than one of them.

Houseau3's Thoughts

It was fun to do the secret message thing in the translation. The word 'tortoise' stands out a tad much in English though 😅

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