The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 40: Visitor

The horrifying scene Gao Yang imagined didn’t become reality. All he saw was black, and there was a smell of mold and decay that was signature for places abandoned for a long time.

Officer Huang closed the door and felt around the dark until he found the pull chain. He turned on the light.

Pzzzt—click. A low-voltage light struggled for a good moment before coming to life. While it was still dim, it was bright enough for them to take a clear look at the interior.

The walls of the square living room were painted white, but many parts of the paint had already peeled off. The floor was a bluish cement, and there was a ceiling fan above their heads, covered in dirt and spiderwebs.

Right across from the door hung a red clock with an old-school design. The western style made it stand out in the room, and it was still ticking with a swinging pendulum.

At the bottom of the wall stood a quaint cabinet, on which was a black-and-white TV. The TV was even attached to a half-meter long antenna behind it, and before the cabinet was a few black stools rather than a couch. The family must have watched the TV sitting on stools back when they were alive. There was a calendar on the left side wall with landscape paintings of well-known attractions and historic sites. Under that was a sewing machine from the past. Further down, there were a few dark blue jugs in the corner; they seemed to be containers for pickled vegetables.

That was all there was in the living room. It was an era where even everyday supplies weren’t abundant.

Officer Huang walked up to the sewing machine and pressed a finger to it. There was a thick layer of dirt. He said with a frown, “Strange.”

“Yeah.” Gao Yang had pretty much scanned through the place. “It’s been a long while since the house has seen any people.”

“Of course,” Wang Zikai said. “It’s been thirty years!”

With a wry smile, Gao Yang patiently explained, “In our world, the homicide happened thirty years ago, but in this world, it has only been less than half a month. The village has just organized a funeral for the family, remember?”

“Oh, right!”

Gao Yang had to wonder if there was a brain inside his head.

“Moreover, there are a lot of blood stains on the ground in the front yard, yet there is no sign of struggling in the living room.” Officer Huang clicked his tongue. “Come on, let’s check the other rooms.”

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He took the lead to enter the secondary bedroom on the left. On the door was a paper cutout of the character ‘xi’, happiness, which would indicate that this was the wedding room. As expected, the room was all red when he turned on the light. Red blanket, red pillows, red canopy, red lanterns, red fake flowers, red closet, red vanity...

Just like the living room, everything was covered in a layer of dust, making the room both vibrant and old, and both joyous and eerie.

“A young woman was married into the family. It was the night of the wedding.” Officer Huang returned to the living room, putting things together in his head. “Something happened. The next day, the family was found killed and cut up, and the body parts scattered in different places of the Gu Family’s Village. The bride’s head is still missing even after all these years.”

“Stop it!” Fat Jun tensed up. “We aren’t here to solve a cold case. Let’s find a way out of here.”

“I know,” said Officer Huang. “That’s why I want to solve the case.”

Gao Yang nodded. “Agreed. I think we have to find the culprit who killed the family in order to leave.”

“You’ve got any idea?” asked Officer Huang.

Gao Yang tried his best to analyze the situation. “No signs of struggling in the room. That means the family was killed and dismembered without the ability to resist or having lost their ability to resist. As for where it all happened...”

“The front yard,” said Qing Ling.

“Yeah.” Gao Yang paused. “That’s all I’ve got for now.”

Officer Huang pulled a chair and sat down. “My then mentor wasn’t an awakener, so there were two things he must have neglected when investigating the case.”

“First, were Huazi’s family humans or monsters, or was there a mix of both? Second, was the culprit human or monster?”

“About that...” After some hesitation, Gao Yang asked, “How many types of monsters are there to your knowledge, Officer Huang?”

Officer Huang didn’t immediately respond, but in the end, he said, “I’m not going to stick to the rules anymore given the situation. Wu Dahai told me that the organization had run into four types of monsters: delusion monsters, wrath monsters, greed monsters, and pride monsters.”

Qing Ling pricked up her ears. “Greed monsters? Pride monsters?”

“Greed monsters are also known as assimilators, and pride monsters are known as observers. I don’t know what kind of greed monsters there are, but according to Wu Dahai, greed monsters are terrifying in that they can turn into humans through a certain method.”

Everyone, outside of a disinterested Wang Zikai, gasped.

“What do you mean?” Qing Ling asked.

“What it sounds like,” Officer Huang said in a low voice. “They aren’t pretending to be humans, but can become humans. That’s why they’re called assimilators.”

Something came to Gao Yang’s mind. He said, “But humans are divided into those who haven’t awakened and those who have.”

“Awakeners,” Officer Huang said with certainty. “Greed monsters can become awakeners. Those who haven’t awakened won’t be attacked by monsters. That is the one constant of this world.”

“Then are the monster-turned-awakeners humans or monsters?” Gao Yang was lost.

Officer Huang shook his head. “Perhaps we can get an answer from the Twelve Zodiac Signs if we get out of here alive.”

“What about pride monsters?”

Officer Huang shook his head again. “I only know they exist, but nothing else.”

Gao Yang’s brain went on overdrive. If Baili Yi hadn’t lied to him, there would also be life monsters and death monsters in addition to the known delusion monsters, wrath monsters, greed monsters, and pride monsters. However, he didn’t intend on telling the others about it. He knew nothing about life monsters and death monsters, and bringing them up would only give rise to panic and dampen morale.

Unbelievable or not, Gao Yang tried to explain their situation with his own logic. “I have a hypothesis, and it’s only a hypothesis. What if the culprit of the tragic death of the family was a type of monster we don’t know about? Then could this Gu Family’s Village be an artificial domain it has created?”

“Do you mean,” Qing Ling’s eyes twirled, “that we may be able to escape by finding it and killing it?”

“That’s the best hypothesis we have at the moment.” Officer Huang nodded. “It’s our most viable option, and we have to make the attempt as soon as possible. We have been without water and food for 20 hours. Under normal circumstances, we won’t live past the third day, and by the end of the second day, we will have lost our ability to move normally.”

Gao Yang glanced at Wang Zikai. “You’re an exception. Your body has been modified, and you’ll survive longer than we do.”

“Of course!” Wang Zikai was pleased with himself, and his excitement caught up to him again. “I’m gonna save the world. Of course I can’t get trapped in this shithole! Find that thing, and I’ll take care of the rest!”

Thud, thud, thud—

Gao Yang whirled around. He was closest to the door, and he heard it clearly.

Someone was knocking.