The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 764: Don’t Deserve to Be Human

“However, whether my intel’s true depends on an intel from you.”

Liu Qingying lowered the teapot and smiled shrewdly. “You’re offering a cake that doesn’t exist yet, Captain of Nine Scions. Due to my widening waistline, I’m currently on a diet.”

“I’m an old client of yours. When have I ever cheated you?”

“Haha, I’m weakest to appeal to my sentiments.” Liu Qingying pushed a cup of tea to Gao Yang. “Alright. Go ahead. But I can’t promise you that I’ll answer.”

“The last night of the Crimson Tide, you warned me about X. Is the source of information...” Gao Yang’s eyes darkened. “Sir Jiang?”

Liu Qingying’s crinkled eyes stiffened. “Apologies. I can’t tell you.”

“Thanks for telling me.”

“Ah, you’re a bad boy.” Liu Qingying chuckled coquettishly with a hand covering her mouth. “I didn’t say anything. You simply made a guess.”

“Yes, you didn’t say anything. I made a guess.” Gao Yang played along. “Then based on the guess, I have two pieces of intel.”

Liu Qingying picked up her cup of tea and waited quietly.

“Elder Yan Liang from the Qilin Guild is Sir Jiang. I’m ninety percent sure.”

Liu Qingying’s eyes glinted and her lips curled into a smile. “Haha, interesting. That’ll explain many things.”

“That’s an S-class intel,” said Gao Yang.

“I wouldn’t think so in the past, but I’ll consider it S-class given the circumstances,” Liu Qingying evaluated.

“I have another S+ intel with an eighty percent chance of being true.”

Liu Qingying waited patiently while drinking tea.

“Qilin’s true goal...” Gao Yang paused. “Is the opposite of opening the Gates.”

Liu Qingying’s expression turned blank. It was a more truthful reaction than what she had shown before. Without any pretense, she said in a more serious tone, “Is that true, Captain of Nine Scions?”

Gao Yang said with certainty, “Qilin and Sir Jiang never plan to open the Gates of Closure. It’s simply a front. I don’t know what their true goal is, so I can only say it’s the opposite of opening the Gates.”

Liu Qingying pondered for a moment before putting on a slight smile. “That’s...interesting.”

Her smile quickly dropped, and she stopped speaking with disingenuous politeness. “Captain of Nine Scions, you haven’t lied purposefully to have your revenge against the Qilin Guild, have you?”

“You’re the information broker here. You may determine if the intel is true.” Gao Yang remained unfazed. “If I could take down the Qilin Guild simply by spouting some lies, I would’ve done it long ago rather than waiting until now.”

“That is true.” Liu Qingying nodded slightly.

“I’ve given you two pieces of info,” Gao Yang said calmly. “What can you give me?”

“Haha, I know you’re most interested in intel on the Qilin Guild. After all, what happened at the Starcatching Pavilion that night...was beyond horrific.”

Gao Yang stayed silent.

“I only know that the Qilin Guild is merging with the Hundred Rivers Union to form the Ocean River Union, and that they’ve been rearranging the teams and recuperating. Oh, right, Zhong He from the Union joined the Twelve Zodiac Signs with half of his team. That isn’t much of a secret, though.”

“You don’t know any more than I do,” said Gao Yang.

“Can’t help it,” Liu Qingying said with resignation. “The Qilin Guild has become wary of me and stopped trading with me.”

Gao Yang nodded. “Then we’ll end things here tonight...”

“Wait, don’t be impatient.” Liu Qingying called out to him. “I’ve been looking into Dust and found some clues. Once I make progress, I’ll tell you my findings for free.”

“Your condition?”

“Haha, you didn’t have to ask.” Liu Qingying was still smiling, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “My condition is simple. Take me with you when you go after Dust. I must be the one to make the slash that ends her.”

Gao Yang nodded. “Dust must be killed, and the Godbearer Cult must be erased. However, the Nine Scions are primarily focused on revenge now. In a clash, we will choose revenge.”

“I’m sorry and saddened by what happened at the Starcatching Pavilion.” Liu Qingying sighed softly. “But Captain of Nine Scions, you’ve always been a smart one. Don’t allow hate to cloud your judgment.”

“If the Nine Scions and the Qilin Guild end up exchanging blows and seriously hurting each other, would you still have the strength to go after the Cult? Wouldn’t you be allowing the enemies to benefit?”

“This is fine coming from anyone but you, Miss Liu. Don’t you find it hypocritical for you to say so?” Gao Yang’s gaze turned icy.

Liu Qingying paused and narrowed her eyes, spitting venomously, “Some people deserve death more than ten thousand times over.”

“Yes.” Gao Yang agreed. “And I only want to kill those people once. If I don’t even do that, I don’t deserve to be human.”

Liu Qingying didn’t argue.

“I need some help from you, Miss Liu. Of course, you may turn me down.”

“What help?”

“I need bombs. Can you procure them?”

“I do have my way, but I’ll need time,” Liu Qingying said. “How much do you need?”

“As much as possible. It’s best if it’s enough to put a deep crater into the ground.”

Liu Qingying sighed inwardly. He was aiming to bomb the Union’s underground basement. He was going to have revenge one way or another.

“I understand. I’ll get the bombs for you.” Liu Qingying stared at Gao Yang. “Although I’m in no place to say this, I’ll still advise you to give it a second thought. There are things that you cannot undo after doing it.”

Gao Yang smiled. “You should say that to Qilin.”

...

Liu Qingying woke up at midnight.

Lying on her bed in airy silk pajamas, her messy silver hair scattered like seaweeds moving about in a lake. Her misty, alluring eyes slowly focused as she woke up from the Sweet Dream. Slowly, she sat up and stretched, opening the bottom compartment of the nightstand. Inside was a small Black Gold safe. She patiently rotated the lock and took some time opening the safe. Then she took out two items.

One was a thick craft paper diary, and the other was a Black Gold fountain pen.

Liu Qingying carefully opened the diary. Two-thirds of the pages had been filled. The dense rows of texts were dialogs that resembled a phone’s chat history.

Rustle. She flipped to an empty page and tucked her messy silver hair behind her ears. Then she started writing with the Black Gold fountain pen.

First, Yan Liang is Sir Jiang.

Second, Qilin’s true goal: not to open the Gates.

Source of intel: Gao Yang.

Evaluated credibility: High.

Having written the four lines of blue text, Liu Qingying put the cap back on the fountain pen. She didn’t close the diary but stared at the page, waiting patiently.

After about a minute, black handwriting emerged gradually on the blank space.

Roger that.

Only then did Liu Qingying close the dairy and put it back in the Black Gold safe along with the fountain pen, locking the safe.

She rose to walk to the dark living room and picked up the pack of cigarettes and lighter on the table. Shaking a cigarette out, she lit it in her mouth, taking a slow drag.

Then she toppled back onto the soft sofa, sinking into it.

She seemed to be deep in thought, or simply daydreaming.