Chapter 5: Exposed

Chapter 5: Exposed

Office of Academic Affairs, nine o’clock in the morning.

“Sit.”

Officer Huang sat in the academic affairs director’s seat and leaned into the back of the swivel chair. He had his legs crossed with his hands clasped together on his abdomen. His expression was relaxed, but demanded respect. It felt like he was sitting in his interrogation room rather than another’s office.

Gao Yang sat across from Officer Huang with his back straight and his lips sealed.

Officer Huang gave him a smile. “Relax. We’re alone here. I’m only going to ask you a few simple questions.”

“Okay...” Gao Yang said, but in his head, he was thinking, We being alone is exactly what makes me nervous!

“Did you hurt your face?”

Gao Yang felt around his face with feigned nonchalance. “Yeah, got bitten by some bugs.”

“Then let us get started.” Officer Huang took out a notepad for taking statements. “Mr. Gao Yang, what is your relationship with the victim, Li Weiwei?”

“We met each other at kindergarten and had been close since then. We were childhood friends.”

Officer Huang jotted on the notepad as he continued, “Yesterday afternoon, you were with Li Weiwei, weren't you?”

“Yes. We went to the Dawan Mall for a movie and had dinner together. It wasn’t until quite late into the night that we parted ways and went home.”

“When did you part ways with Li Weiwei?”

“Close to eleven o’clock, I think?” Gao Yang knew that he shouldn’t give too specific a time, or it would only make him more suspicious.

“It was late. Why didn’t you walk her home?”

“I did walk her for a while since we were going the same way, but she told me she would be fine walking the rest of the way herself. I didn’t insist.”

Knowing that the surveillance cameras on the last stretch of the road had been destroyed by Qing Ling, Gao Yang asked on purpose, “Can’t you check the cameras, Officer Huang? You’ll see that I’m telling the truth.”

Officer Huang made a bemused sound, a glint flashing through his eyes. “To tell you the truth, the surveillance cameras on the road where you parted ways happened to be damaged.”

“How can that be?” Gao Yang put on a look of surprise.

“The murder is very likely planned.” Officer Huang quietly stared at Gao Yang like he was looking for a crack in his performance. Emerging from n0v@lbin☆, this material harbors clandestine details.

“Or the culprit can be someone the victim knows well. It’s all speculation at this point since we haven’t found the murder weapon or any witness.”

“Is there really no clue to follow?” asked Gao Yang.

Officer Huang uncrossed his legs and leaned in. “Is there bad blood between Li Weiwei and any of your classmates, or is there anyone who harbors resentment for her?”

Gao Yang shook his head. “She’s a nice girl, and everyone in the class likes her. I can’t think of anyone who may have a beef with her.”

“Someone who’s jealous of her, perhaps? Or anything else you can think of?”

Gao Yang gave it a moment of consideration before shaking his head. “I can’t think of anything.”

Officer Huang nodded. His gaze had never once moved away from Gao Yang’s face. “You had feelings for Li Weiwei, didn’t you?”

Gao Yang paused. “I...think I did.”

“For the investigation, I checked her WeChat messages. I saw that you had confessed to her, and she accepted it.”

“Yes. It was our first date yesterday. I didn’t know it would be our last...” Gao Yang lowered his head. The sorrow weighing down on him wasn’t an act.

Officer Huang didn’t ask any more questions. Instead, he stood up and patted Gao Yang on the shoulder, his tone seemingly suggesting something unspoken as he said, “Alright, let’s stop here for today... My condolences for your loss.”

...

After the interrogation, Gao Yang finally allowed himself to relax. At least it ended well.

He left the office and made his way to the classroom. Then he heard a voice calling out to him.

“Gao Yang!”

Gao Yang wasn’t able to turn around before a strong arm hooked around his neck.

He almost couldn’t breathe. “Cough... Cough...”

“Muhahaha! You wimp!”

“My other self.”

Gao Yang was taken aback, but it didn’t take long for him to figure out what she meant. “Are you saying that...you have dissociative identity disorder?”

“I do.”

Gao Yang didn’t say anything.

Qing Ling carefully closed the door. “To survive in this world, it’s necessary to fool even yourself. Over time, my second personality emerged. I consider her my sister and call her Little Qing Ling[1]. Most of the time I’m in charge, but she comes out every now and then on her own. Li Weiwei’s death had a big impact on her.”

Gao Yang didn’t lower his guard. “I can no longer tell where the truth ends and the lie begins with you.”

“Doesn’t matter to me.”

“Give me a reason to trust you.”

“A reason?” Qing Ling raised an eyebrow. With an almost imperceptible move of one of her fingers wrapping around the disposable cup, she sent a blade as thin as a cicada's wing flying out of her breast pocket, and the blade pressed into Gao Yang’s neck.

“I can kill you even more easily than Li Weiwei could ever do. Is that a good enough reason for you?”

“It is...”

As long as the mountain still stood, there would be no shortage of firewood. Survival was always the priority.

Gao Yang briefly went over his conversation with Officer Huang.

Qing Ling fell into thought.

“You’re clever enough to not expose yourself.”

“It’s just one cop,” Gao Yang goaded. “You think I can’t deal with that?”

Qing Ling scoffed. “You still have a lot to learn. Do you know how many monsters there are in this city alone?”

“How many?”

“The ratio is ten thousand to one.”

“One out of ten thousand people are monsters,” Gao Yang mused. “That is quite a lot.”

“No, there is only one human out of ten thousand monsters.”

“What?!” Gao Yang almost screamed out loud. “Are you...pulling my leg?”

“No.”

“That’s impossible!” Gao Yang found that hard to believe. It was so absurd that he felt numbness spreading through his scalp.

“That’s the reality. Do you understand now?”

Gao Yang’s hands trembled.

“It’s already a miracle that there are two humans at our school.” Qing Ling took a step toward him, her eyes steely. “Your family, your friends, your neighbors, 99.99% of all the people you have encountered and will ever encounter in your lifetime—most of them are monsters of different shapes and forms.”

Gao Yang stood rooted to the spot. Fear coiled around him like a venomous snake.

Grandma, dad, mom, sister, as well as his teacher, classmates, and friends... Everyone could turn out to be monsters, and Gao Yang had been living among them for twelve years since his transmigration!

His stomach twisted. He felt bile rushing up his throat.

“I’ll be frank with you. You’re the third human I’ve ever run into. The other two were stronger than I am, but they both died.”

Gao Yang clung to what little hope he had. “That doesn’t make sense. If I were surrounded by monsters...I should’ve been dead already.”

“That’s because you weren’t aware of them. Monsters never touch an unawakened human. They only go after awakeners like us.”

“Why?”

“I’m not sure.” Qing Ling shook her head. “They seem to play by their own set of rules. I don’t know much about them...”

“What are you talking about?”

Gao Yang and Qing Ling both flinched.

The door to the room opened. Officer Huang was standing right outside with a big smile.

“What do you mean by ‘monsters’?”

1. In the original, the Qing Ling we know is written as 青灵, while her other personality was written as 青翎. 灵 and 翎 are pronounced the same with the former meaning ‘spirit’, and the latter meaning ‘bird feather’. ?