The Creatures that We Are

Vermilion Bird was momentarily stunned. Then she quickly covered her eyes, but the gaps between her fingers were a tad too wide. “Ah, Seven Shadow! What are you doing?!”

“Don’t worry,” Gao Yang quickly explained. “I’m wearing something underneath.”

He quickly took off his cropped pants, revealing a pair of tight black swimming shorts that reached his knees. Taped to his left inner thigh was a Rune Circuit wrapped in black plastic bag.

He peeled off the layers of scotch tape and detached the Knowledge Rune Circuit from his thigh, taking it out of the black plastic bag to hand it to Vermilion Bird.

“Here.”

Vermilion Bird frowned and didn’t take it. Instead, she glanced at Scarlet Fox.

Scarlet Fox hesitated as well, looking at Gao Yang with a reluctant expression on his face. “Elder Seven Shadow, you…don’t have an infectious disease, do you?”

“No! I don’t!” Gao Yang felt a stab of anger and hurt. “And I kept it in a plastic bag. I care about hygiene very much!”

“Seven Shadow.” Vermilion Bird pressed a hand to her forehead. “You’re so cautious that it makes you unattractive.”

Gao Yang didn’t seem to care. “As long as I can make sure that no one notices, I’d even happily tuck it in my…”

“Ahem.” Vermilion Bird cleared her throat, indicating for Gao Yang to stop talking.

With a disgusted look on his face, Scarlet Fox gingerly took the Rune Circuit from Gao Yang with the tips of his two fingers, and he immediately turned around to make a dash for the bathroom, most likely to clean the Rune Circuit.

Gao Yang put his pants back on and said with a smile, “Sister Xia, my Replicate and Lie Detection have both reached level 4. I don’t need the Knowledge Rune Circuit anymore, so you should have it for safekeeping.”

“I’ve guessed as much.” Vermilion Bird smiled. “Congrats on getting stronger.”

“I’ll keep the Time-Space Rune Circuit with me. Hopefully, my Talent will level up before the Crimson Tide.”

“Let me give you a gift, Seven Shadow.”

“Huh?”

“A moment.”

She went into a room and emerged with something in her hand a minute later; it was an arm pocket that was very close to skin color.

“Come on, take off your shirt.” Vermilion Bird smirked, her eyes twirling around.

“Oh, right.”

Gao Yang didn’t even pause before grabbing the hem of his t-shirt and quickly pulling it off his head, revealing his upper body. While he was on the slim side, his muscles were well-defined.

“Whoa.”

Vermilion Bird stared at his abs, the smile on her face deepening. “You’re more fit than I thought.”

She tipped her chin up. “Raise your hand.”

Gao Yang raised his right hand. Vermilion Bird came up to him and put the arm pocket on the inner side of his arm, under his armpit.

Gao Yang looked down at it. The arm pocket didn’t stand out. Once he put his t-shirt back on, it would be practically invisible.

“See, isn’t this much better?”

Vermilion Bird took a step back and gave Gao Yang’s youthful body an appreciative look. She said with a smile, “The Guild has long considered the ease of carrying Rune Circuits around. This is a custom-made arm pocket the back office provides for free. I thought you knew about it.”

Gao Yang put on his t-shirt and grumbled, “How would I know? No one ever told me, and I’ve never been to the back office since I joined the Guild.”

“Haha, this is the arm pocket I used to carry the Time-Space Rune Circuit here.” Vermilion Bird laughed. “I don’t have a new one. You’ll have to make do with it.”

“Thank you, Sister Xia!” Gao Yang couldn’t be more grateful. He didn’t even stop before he started taking off his pants once more.

“Whoa, what are you doing now?!” Vermilion Bird staggered back. She almost covered her eyes again.

Gao Yang didn’t seem to care at all. “I’m swapping the Rune Circuit to the arm pocket. It’s uncomfortable taping it to my leg. And it’s hot!”

“I don’t know how you even kept it on for so many days” Vermilion Bird sighed and waved him away. “The restroom is that way. Take care of it inside. This is inappropriate.”

“Oh, right.” Gao Yang headed to the restroom.

Vermilion Bird smiled wryly at Gao Yang’s back. Seven Shadow, just when I felt a little attraction for you, you ruined it.

Wait, did he do it on purpose?

Vermilion Bird paused, her eyes curving for a fleeting moment.

After a few minutes, Gao Yang and Scarlet Fox each came out of the restroom and the bathroom respectively.

“Done.”

They said at the same time before stopping to exchange a glance.

Gao Yang had already taken off his swimming shorts and peeled off the scotch tape wrapped around his thigh, putting the Time-Space Rune Circuit in the skin-color arm pocket. He felt much better now, his steps lighter.

On the other hand, Scarlet Fox had the Knowledge Rune Circuit wrapped in a white handkerchief. He had washed, disinfected, and wiped the Rune Circuit many times.

Clean freak! Gao Yang grumbled inwardly.

While Scarlet Fox thought, Slob!

They each picked on the other silently.

Sitting on the sofa in the living room, Vermilion Bird waved at them while holding a cup of black tea in her other hand.

“Come, have a seat.”

They obliged.

Vermilion Bird took a sip. “Seven Shadow, Scarlet Fox, I just got a call from Guildmaster. He’s meeting Alcoholic with Surnamed Li tonight.”

“I hope everything goes well,” said Scarlet Fox.

“I can’t say that it will.” Vermilion Bird wasn’t feeling optimistic. “Alcoholic seems like a strange character too.”

“Have you ever met Alcoholic?” Gao Yang asked.

Vermilion Bird shook her head. “I don’t even know if it’s a he or a she.”

Gao Yang didn’t get it. “The power ranking is done by the Qilin Guild, and Alcoholic ranks fourth. That must mean the Guild knows something about them.”

“Ha, the ranking is actually based off of an old list from the previous century. At the time, there were a good number of powerful awakeners, Alcoholic being one of them. However, most of them have died over the years. I think Alcoholic is the only one still alive.”

She smiled. “After the Qilin Guild was established, Alcoholic has stayed among the top five on the list as a prominent awakener from her time out of our respect for those who came before us.”

Gao Yang nodded. So that’s what happened. Then Alcoholic must be quite old.

Gao Yang had only met two older awakeners since his awakening. One being Madam Li, who looked younger than her actual age, and the other being Mischievous Monkey from the Twelve Zodiac Signs.

Awakeners were a risky job. Their life expectancy was quite low.

“Seven Shadow.” Vermilion Bird turned to Gao Yang. “After Scarlet Fox and I leave, you’ll be on your own. Will you be alright?”

Gao Yang nodded. “Yes.”

Fresh Snow had been taken away by White Dew, and he only had the Time-Space Rune Circuit on him now. Besides, very few even knew he had a Rune Circuit with him.

Gao Yang didn’t think there was anything else that would get him in trouble here.

And even if he did get in trouble, there was Wang Zikai.

“Alright. We’ll see you in Li City.” Vermilion Bird’s eyes glinted, and her voice softened. “Enjoy your time with your family.”

Gao Yang nodded.

…

Gao Yang didn’t stay at Vermilion Bird’s place for long. When he returned to the F Island, it was ten o’clock at night.

He walked past the beach where he had surfed before. There were still quite a lot of tourists around. Young men and women in beach shorts and bikinis hung out on the beach. There were even people lighting fireworks.

Rumble.

A thunder crackled through the night sky, and droplets of rain fell. Such was the weather of Naldives during the rainy season. There was no telling when a shower would come.

The visitors rushed toward the hotel onshore, shielding their heads with their hands while loudly complaining about the literal rain on their parade. Soon, Gao Yang was the only one left on the beach.

Walking in the pouring rain, Gao Yang suddenly realized that he stood out this way. He should’ve sought shelter too.

But he was in a contrarian mood. He had always liked walking in the rain. Whatever, I’ll just head back to the villa. It’s not far away.

He brushed his wet bang back. After taking a few steps, he caught something from the corner of his eye. He stopped to look to the side.

On the beach lay a body!

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