The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 4: Prisoner’s Dilemma

“Come on?” Gao Yang asked nervously. “What do you want me to do?”

Qing Ling bent her legs while sitting on Gao Yang. The splattering moonlight accentuated the lines of her collarbones. She was captivatingly beautiful.

With a derisive scoff, she said, “What else? Don’t play innocent.”

Gao Yang was utterly lost.

Not wanting to waste any more breath, Qing Ling brushed her hair up and leaned into Gao Yang’s face.

“Wait!” Gao Yang shouted.

He was in no way a conservative man, and he had watched his fair share of...videos not to be enjoyed in polite company. But things were hurtling out of control way too fast for it to not be a trick.

“What now?”

“Justice will find me if I’ve committed a sin. Please don’t torment me like this...”

“You sure are cautious,” said Qing Ling.

Isn’t this how any normal person would react?!

He almost lost his head to the childhood friend he trusted the most only three hours ago. Now a pretty girl he didn’t know much about was suddenly throwing herself at him. He had all the reasons in the world to suspect that said pretty girl was planning to slaughter him.

“Relax.” Qing Ling’s voice softened.

“...”

“If you really hate me that much,” Qing Ling pressed a hand to his chest and slowly moved down, “You can picture someone else.”

“Let’s...not. Why don’t we start as friends...”

Qing Ling stopped suddenly.

Beads of sweat covered Gao Yang’s forehead. He didn’t even dare to breathe.

Qing Ling got off the bed and put her t-shirt back on. “All good.”

Flabbergasted, Gao Yang sat up and suddenly noticed the small sharp dagger tucked under his pillow.

With her shirt back on, Qing Ling made a small gesture with her hand, and the dagger flew back to her. Then it disappeared at a twirl of her fingers.

“You...were you going to kill me?” Fear snuck up to Gao Yang belatedly.

“That would depend on you.”

“What do you mean? If I hadn’t resisted the temptation and instead laid a finger on you, you’d have killed me?” Gao Yang made what he thought was the reasonable conjecture. “Was that a test? For me to earn your trust?”

“Wrong.” Qing Ling turned her back to Gao Yang and tied her hair back into a ponytail. “If there had been no reaction from you, I would’ve killed you.”

“Why?”

“Monsters don’t have a proper reproductive system.”

Realization struck Gao Yang. “So you were making sure what I am!”

“What you ran into today was a wrath monster.”

“Wrath monster?”

“There are many kinds of monsters, wrath monsters being one of them. Anyway, all monsters are cunning. They’re good at disguising themselves and putting on a believable front. If you want to survive in this world, you must not trust anyone.”

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“How can I be certain that you’re human then?” asked Gao Yang.

“Good. You’re a quick learner,” Qing Ling said with an expressionless face. “It’s much more troublesome to confirm if a woman is a monster. You have to do it for real.”

“Um...”

Qing Ling threw him a small bottle. “This is a special remedy. Dispose of it properly after use. Don’t let anyone see it.”

Gao Yang picked up the bottle and considered it. It was blue and looked no different from regular bottled medicine. Nothing special about it.

He hid it under his blanket. There were many questions he wanted to ask Qing Ling.

What were monsters?

Why did they kill people?

What had he gotten himself into?

What was Qing Ling’s Talent? Hers looked much more powerful than his.

How could he get stronger?

Bam!

The door was suddenly kicked open. His sister barged in without warning.

Gao Yang jumped to his feet, topless. “No! This isn’t what it looks like...”

“What?” His sister was visibly confused.

Gao Yang turned around. Qing Ling was nowhere to be seen. All there was to prove that she had been here were the shaking curtains and the pale moonlight streaming into his room, leaving a trail of silver.

How did she get out so quickly?! Boldly she came and boldly she left. Off her t-shirt went, but without taking my v-card with her.[1]

“Hmm, something’s fishy here.” His sister scanned him from head to toe before cracking into a smirk. “You were doing that, weren’t you, Brother?”

“I wasn’t! No! Stop saying nonsense!” Gao Yang was ready to cry. “And would you please knock on the door first in the future?”

“Alright!” Her smile suddenly turned eager as she hooked an arm around Gao Yang’s. “Would you do me a favor, my dear brother?”

“Tell me what it is first.”

His sister immediately took out her cellphone. “Look...isn’t this Lolita dress pretty?”

“Yeah...” Gao Yang belatedly realized what was going on. “Why?”

“It cost only 498 yuan! Isn’t that a bargain? And look, this deal will save you 198 yuan.”

“It’ll save me 498 yuan to not buy it.”

“My birthday is only 11 months away!” His sister pouted. “Won’t you buy it as my birthday gift?”

“My death is only 70 years away. Won’t you think of me as your dead brother already?”

“You don’t care about me! You don’t love me! You’re officially disqualified as a brother! I’m telling mom and dad that you stayed out late at night getting into trouble and came back with your face covered in blood!”

“Fine, fine, fine!” Gao Yang hurriedly picked up his phone to wire his sister a few hundred yuan out of his living allowance next month. His first priority was to placate her so that things wouldn’t escalate.

“You’re the best! Mua! Love you bro!”

His sister skipped away happily with her phone.

Watching her close the door in a good mood, Gao Yang let out a sigh of relief.

...

The remedy Qing Ling gave him was proven effective. When Gao Yang woke up the next day, the wounds on his face were mostly healed with only a few faint red cuts left, which seemed more like marks left from scratching itchy bug bites.

Gao Yang went to school after having breakfast. He walked into his classroom to find Li Weiwei’s seat empty.

His chest suddenly felt hollow, filled with only a throbbing dull pain. Like something had been carved out of it.

The memories he had made with Li Weiwei over the past twelve years surfaced in his mind—they went to school together, had meals together, did homework together, and even set off fireworks together during a few memorable New Year’s Eves. He remembered the first time he saw her smile, saw her cry, saw her get mad... All those wonderful everyday moments they had shared were torn apart by the monster from last night.

Gao Yang hoped against hope that the two were separate. One was an innocent, lovely human girl, the other a mystery of an evil, vicious monster. Yet they were one and the same.

He couldn’t reconcile with the fact.

Li Weiwei’s seat remained empty when the morning self-study came to an end. A few girls in class murmured among themselves. They must have realized that something had happened to her.

Gao Yang hadn’t had a wink of sleep last night. There were so many questions he had to ask Qing Ling.

He didn’t expect Qing Ling to come up to him as soon as the break started and ask him loudly before everyone else, “Where is Li Weiwei, Gao Yang?”

Gao Yang paused. What’s this? Is she acting?

“I don’t know,” answered Gao Yang.

“You don’t know?! Wasn’t she with you yesterday?”

“Yeah, but we parted ways in the evening...”

“What’s going on with her? She didn’t pick up her phone. She didn’t reply to my messages. And she didn’t even show up to class.” Qing Ling frowned, anxious. Realizing that she wouldn’t get an answer here, she turned around and walked away.

Then came math class. Their math teacher was their homeroom teacher.

With a grave look on his face, he walked in and put the textbook on the podium. Then he adjusted the thick glasses on his flat nose.

“Everyone, I have something to announce before class.”

“Last night, Li Weiwei...was murdered.”

The class erupted into shocked murmurs.

“What?!” Qing Ling even shot to her feet.

Startled, Gao Yang couldn’t help but admire her act. The world is truly a stage, he thought. And we all have to be good actors to get by.

Qing Ling was almost always with Li Weiwei. It was only natural for her to react like this as Li Weiwei’s close friend. That reminded Gao Yang that he had to play the part of the childhood friend better.

He hurriedly stood up and put on an expression of shock and disbelief. “That can’t be! I was with her yesterday afternoon!”

“She died on her way back home late at night. For now, it was suspected that a mugger had stabbed her in the chest and killed her then and there...” Their teacher sighed. “That’s all I know.”

“God! How did this happen?”

“That’s too cruel. I never imagined something like this would happen to her.”

“The culprit needs to pay with their death!”

“Sniffle...”

The boys who liked Li Weiwei shouted, enraged, while the girls who were close with her became misty-eyed and started sobbing quietly.

“I’m sad and angry about what happened to Li Weiwei too, class.”

“The police are doing all they can to track down the culprit. Whoever it is will not escape punishment!”

“If any of you want to see Li Weiwei off, come with me to the funeral home this evening.”

“Now, let’s collect ourselves and start the class.”

Their math teacher opened the textbook and, as if he had suddenly remembered something, said, “Qing Ling, Gao Yang, you two go to my office.”

Alarm rang in Gao Yang’s head. “What is this about, Teacher?”

“The police are here. You just have to answer a few of their questions.”

Qing Ling rushed out of the classroom with her eyes red, like she couldn’t wait to talk to the police. Gao Yang followed her out.

They walked along the hallway with Gao Yang a few steps behind Qing Ling. After making sure that no one else was around, he caught up to Qing Ling and said, “Let’s make sure our stories match.”

“What stories?” Qing Ling turned around, her gaze a mix of sadness and fury.

“About Li Weiwei.”

After a moment of stillness, Qing Ling grabbed Gao Yang by the collars. “So you do know something! Did you kill her?!”

“What?” Gao Yang was caught off guard.

What was she doing? Did she get too lost in her character?

“This isn’t the time for you to keep acting!” Gao Yang said.

“Who’s acting?!” Qing Ling looked dead serious. “Something’s wrong with you. Why didn’t you walk Li Weiwei home last night? Why was Li Weiwei killed? You’re involved somehow, I just knew it!”

What?! This isn’t what we’ve agreed on!

What the heck was Qing Ling doing?

Qing Ling pressed on. “Speak! Didn’t you always want to get together with Li Weiwei? Did you kill her because she didn’t like you and rejected you, and you felt resentful?”

The gears in Gao Yang’s head went on overdrive. There were two possible explanations.

First, the Qing Ling he was talking to now wasn’t the Qing Ling from last night. This was unlikely to be the case.

Second, Qing Ling was still acting. She had decided to save her own hide by throwing him under the bus. She had said so herself last night—that he shouldn’t trust anyone.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Gao Yang lowered his head and walked past Qing Ling. Whatever he said could come back to bite him, so he decided to shut his mouth.

“Stop the act! I’ll tell the police to look into you! If you were the one who killed her, I would never let you off the hook!” Qing Ling barged into the office furiously.

Gao Yang was about to follow her in when a tall man reached out to stop him.

Gao Yang looked up. It was a man in a police uniform. He looked to be in his thirties. With his hair neatly shaved, he had a strong jaw and a face with sharp angles. His keen gaze was old and experienced beyond his years.

“You...are Officer Huang?”

“We meet again.” Officer Huang chuckled, but his smile didn’t reach his eyes.

Three days ago, a police officer shot the ‘mentally-illed man’ and ‘saved’ Gao Yang late at night. That was Officer Huang, full name Huang Qi.

He patted Gao Yang on the shoulder. “Follow me to another office.”

Gao Yang’s heart sank. Prisoner’s dilemma. I’m doomed.

1. This is a play on Xu Zhimo’s poem On Leaving Cambridge. The original has the poet waving his sleeve as he leaves without taking a patch of cloud. ?