The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 664: Pick Up Ware

She hesitated for a good while before voicing her question. “Can you tell me about Edmond?”

Gao Yang said, “I’ve told you all I know. I’ve only met him three times, and as enemies at that. I don’t know him.”

Ke Yo couldn’t hide her disappointment. “Then why did he ask you to take care of me?”

“Perhaps because he didn’t have a choice then,” Gao Yang added half-jokingly, “Perhaps he thought I was a good man.”

“What did he mean by taking care of me?” Ke Yo posed another question.

Gao Yang thought for a moment. “He probably wanted me to protect you so that you could live. Edmond once said that he served the Godbearer Cult for the ticket out of the Mist World for you.”

Liu Qingying chuckled. “All leads point to the Gates of Closure. The Gates would be the only escape out of the Mist World.”

“Yeah.” Gao Yang nodded. “The Nine Scions aim to open the Gates.”

Ke Yo said, “But the Qilin Guild wants that too.”

“Yes. But there’s a difference.”

“How so?”

“Before, I made the suggestion that you should be the one to open the Gates since you were a blank sheet of paper. I believe it would be the safest and most appropriate choice. However, Qilin insisted on him opening the Gates. That was a conflict we could not resolve, and he made a move against me.”

Ke Yo thought for a moment before saying doubtfully, “You may be lying to recruit me.”

“I only tell the truth. You may make the judgment yourself.”

Ke Yo fell silent again.

“How about this? I’ll give you a week to think it through. Then you give me an answer.” After a pause, Gao Yang added, “There’s something else I remember about Edmond.”

Ke Yo looked back up at him. “What is it?”

“The ring you’re wearing belongs to a pair. The other one was Edmond’s. His body was kept by Vermilion Bird. It’s unlikely to have been disposed of. You should ask her for permission to check his body. I don’t think she’ll reject you.”

Ke Yo blinked in surprise. A single word was carved into the inside of her ring—never.

She could never figure out what it meant after losing her memory, but it turned out that there was another ring with Edmond. Perhaps his ring had a carving too, and it would give her the answer.

Ke Yo lifted her head and said quietly, “Thank you.”

“No problem.” Gao Yang smiled.

After a moment of silence, Ke Yo said in a purposefully icy tone, “Aren’t you worried that I’ll tell Vermilion Bird what happened tonight?”

“I don’t think you will.”

“Why?”

“Edmond said that you weren’t a bad person,” Gao Yang said in a firm tone.

Ke Yo felt a belated pang in her chest.

“Oh.” Liu Qingying covered her mouth as she chuckled. “I’ll claim plausible deniability even if you expose me.”

She had considered her response; she would simply deny it to the end.

The Qilin Guild wouldn’t just turn against her for something without proof based only on Ke Yo’s statement. After all, a neutral information broker like her wasn’t easy to come by.

“Okay.” Ke Yo nodded. “I’ll give it a proper consideration.”

“Yeah.” Gao Yang didn’t seem overly eager or urgent at all. “I’ll wait for your response.”

...

Abandoned auto repair, southern suburban area of the Nanji District. December 19th, ten o’clock in the morning.

At the center of the empty repair shop was a red modified race car with a cool and wild design, around which car parts and repair tools littered. Beside the race car was an old and dirty sofa. A woman was sleeping on it.

A ray of sunlight streamed through the translucent skylight, hitting the sofa just so and giving her a limited-time sunbath in winter.

She was around twenty-eight, her thick hard brown hair cut short and her skin tanned. She had handsome facial features, and she wore a blue work suit, her face and body covered in oil stains. A wrench had fallen under the sofa at some point.

The clues pieced together a story: she had spent the night modifying the car until she was exhausted, and she passed out on the sofa.

She snored in her slumber, unaware of any possible danger.

A figure approached her silently, the shadow climbing onto the sofa from the floor, shrouding her face. Then the figure bent down to pick up the wrench, raising it and swinging it at the woman’s head.

Swoosh. The wrench stopped a moment before it could crack her skull, just short of hitting her forehead. The force of it swept her hair back.

“Hm, quiet...”

She rolled around drowsily, her limbs splaying like a starfish as she hung off the sofa at an angle, her head drooping from the cushion.

The strange posture caused the fly of her worksuit to open to her abdomen, revealing the black crop top underneath. Her abdomen was flat, covered in lithe muscles, and so were her chest area and her sculpted arms and shoulders. She was just as fit as any woman who trained their physique.

The wrench twirled in the visitor’s hand. A few seconds later, he poked her shoulder with the wrench and covered her up with her clothes for her.

“Get lost... Don’t bother my sleep...” She swatted the wrench away.

Two seconds later, she opened her eyes wide and fell off the sofa with a yelp. She looked up from the floor.

War Tiger, in messy stubble, knelt right beside her with a long face, dressed in green sportswear with white stripes and the word “Li City” on the chest. He held a wrench and a sketchbook in each hand.

“...Brother Tiger?” The woman relaxed and zipped her worksuit up, scratching her messy hair. “Would you please give me a heads-up the next time you visit?”

War Tiger remained quiet. He dropped the wrench and took out a marker from his pocket, writing on the sketchbook.

—My ware.

“Wouldn’t you just speak?” The woman was amused. “Cat got your tongue?”

War Tiger ignored her and tapped on the sketchbook, emphasizing the purpose of his visit.

“Geez, you’re always being a weirdo.” The woman stretched and stood up. “Follow me.”

She was Chestnut, deputy leader of Chen Ying’s third team at the Hundred Rivers Union. Her Talent was Blacksmith, serial number 85, Knowledge-type.

Ever since Green Tea’s death, she had another title: a spy suspect.

Of course, Chestnut didn’t know about it. She spent her days at the shop making weapons for awakeners. Thus, she rarely came into contact with other people. Most of the time, the commissions came through phone calls.

War Tiger maintained a one-meter distance from her, ensuring they wouldn’t have any physical contact.

Chestnut took out a small remote control from her work suit and pressed a button. The door of the repair shop rolled down while rumbling, making sure that no other person would enter.

They soon reached another rolling door at the far end of the repair shop. Chestnut pressed the remote control once more. The rolling door rolled up to reveal a thick metal door. Chestnut unlocked it with her finger. The door opened to the sides.

Inside were two smithies.

The left one was a traditional smithy with a vacuum furnace, air hammer, wire-cut machine, bench grinder, belt sander, polisher, various metal hammers, and bellows. It was well-equipped.

The smithy was mainly for firearms. On the worktable were two distorted Black Gold guns, which once belonged to Yellow Ox. They were to be melted and made into new weapons.

War Tiger sighed in lamentation at the sight.

He tore off another page from the sketchbook and wrote: where’s my ware?