The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 65: Person Not Found

Eight o’clock in the evening, Gao Yang stayed by his father’s bedside chatting with him after they had dinner together.

It was mostly his father doing the talking, and Gao Yang doing the listening.

His father had been bored out of his mind since his surgery, and Tok Tik[1] videos could only keep someone entertained for so long. He had always been the sociable kind, and he could spend half a day catching up with an acquaintance after running into them on the street.

At first, his father was still assuring him and telling him about the bright future ahead. He said that once he could get off the bed and walk on his own again, he would go back to work to support the family, and he would take them on a trip to Naldives after Gao Yang got into a good college.

As the conversation continued, however, his father couldn’t help but reveal his true thoughts.

He wasn’t so dense that he wouldn’t notice his physical condition. He knew it would be unlikely for him to walk again. And the food processing factory in the countryside wasn’t doing well. Old Qing, his business partner, called and told him that they were unable to get payment for many of their orders, and their workers had started a strike after missing two months of wages. And over the past two years, the large-scale food companies had been purposefully lowering prices even at the cost of revenue to drive smaller companies out of business.

In the end, his father said with a troubled look on his face, “Things may get a little difficult from now on, Son, but Dad will send you and Xinxin to college one way or another! Your dad has suffered enough for being uneducated...”

“That’s not true, Dad. You’re amazing.” Gao Yang assured him. “Don’t worry about your cash flow. I’ve talked to Wang Zikai.”

“Little Kai?” His father’s eyes lit up.

“His family has the money and willingness to invest in our factory,” Gao Yang said without actually consulting Wang Zikai first. If Wang Zikai said no... Well, he had to say yes!

“Really?” His father couldn’t be happier. “Haha, I told you. I told you that every friend will prove valuable down the road. And your mom said I was being a bad influence on you!”

“Yeah, so just take care of yourself...” Gao Yang’s words were interrupted by a ring of his cellphone. He glanced at the screen and stood up. “I’ll take this outside, Dad.”

He walked out of the ward and stopped at the end of the hallway. It was quiet and free of unwanted ears.

Officer Huang called. “I checked for you. There’s no such person.”

The person Gao Yang was looking into was none other than Baili Yi.

“You sure?”

“I’m sure. Not only is there no Baili Yi in Li City, There’s no one with the name in the national database.” Officer Huang sounded certain. After a pause, he asked, “You’re looking for him?”

“It’s not a conversation to be had through calls. Talk to you later. I’m hanging up.”

Gao Yang quickly put away his phone, seeing his mother and sister walking out of the elevator not far from him. They had come to take his place.

Gao Yang walked up to them, and his mother immediately said, “You and Xinxin don’t have to come to the hospital from tomorrow on, Yang Yang. Focus on school. You especially shouldn’t let anything distract you from studying when the entrance exams are on the horizon.”

“Okay, I got it.” Gao Yang nodded.

“Go home and rest. Xinxin will stay with your dad with me for the last time before his discharge.” With that, his mother entered the ward.

On the other hand, his sister stayed behind and approached him with her phone, a mysterious look on her face. “Take a look at this, Brother.”

Gao Yang leaned in and saw the social network page with an ID of ‘Xinxin laughing while the guillotine blade falls[2]’, and the profile picture was her dressed in the lolital dress Gao Yang recently bought her. She was wearing a blonde wig and a mask to cover her face.

“Can’t you change your ID into something better?” Gao Yang rolled his eyes.

“That’s not the point!” Gao Xinxin said proudly. “Check out my followers!”

“Pretty good. Over 6000.”

“Hmph, and it’s still rising! Two stores shared my pictures recently and gave me a good boost! Everyone in the comment section calls me a little fairy and urges me to show my face! I’m not gonna, of course!”

“Right, awesome.” Gao Yang had been following her for quite a while, actually. Mainly because he was worried that some perverts would go after his sister.

“Hey, Brother, I’ve decided...”

“You wanna be a fashion blogger?” said Gao Yang. “Go ahead, but only as a hobby. If you dare drop out of school to become a full time online model, I’ll beat your ass.”

Gao Xinxin paused, impressed. “Whoa, how did you know? And fashion bloggers? Look at you, speaking like a real pro!”

“Brat, the moment you turn around, I know the kind of fart...[3]”

“Shut it! Fairies don’t fart!” Gao Xinxin broke into a peel of laughter, entertained by her own response.

Gao Yang was laughing as well, but inside, he couldn’t help feeling a little anxious. Part of his nightmare turned out to be accurate. At least he had read over the Talent list in the morning and burned it. Although he couldn’t commit everything to memory, his system was able to record and store the information for him.

“When you were little, you loved having roasted sweet potatoes in winter. Don’t you remember how much you fart back then?” Gao Yang teased her on purpose.

“Not listening, not listening at all! I’m gonna kill you!” His sister fumed and chased after him to hit him.

While they were busy with their friendly sibling fight, a voice interrupted them.

“Gao Yang.”

Gao Yang turned to see a girl with short ponytail. She was dressed in a beige jumper, a pair of whitish, cropped jeans, and white sneakers. On her back was a bear backpack. With a pure smile on her face, she looked like the fantasy of a college girl.

It took quite a while for Gao Yang to realize that it was White Rabbit. Whoa, he thought with surprise. She looks totally different in this style.

“Ah, here you are!” White Rabbit walked up to him. “I heard that your dad was hospitalized. I just finished my part-time job in the neighborhood and decided to swing by.”

“Ah...right,” Gao Yang grumbled.

White Rabbit tilted her head to look at Gao Xinxin. “And this is...?”

“I’m his sister,” Gao Xinxin said, disgruntled. She didn’t like girls who seemed way too close to her brother. “Who are you?”

“I was your brother’s senior at highschool. I’m now a freshman in college.” White Rabbit offered a hand. “I’m White Rabbit. You can call me Sister Rabbit.”

“Strange name.” Gao Xinxin glanced at her. “Do you know my brother well? I’ve never heard him talk about you.”

“Really?” White Rabbit threw Gao Yang a glance before putting on a hurt expression and said with a sigh, “I suppose there are too many girls around your brother. I thought I was different, but it seems to be wishful thinking.”

Gao Yang was stunned. “Wait, when did I ever...”

“Gao Yang!” His sister got mad enough to call him by name. “How many more girl friends do you have? There was the busty one you went to a love hotel with. Now your senior showed up...”

“What? Busty? Love hotel?” White Rabbit committed to the part of a heartbroken girl and put on a look of shock and disgust. “Gao Yang! You told me you didn’t like busty girls! You said you liked someone like me, with a moderate...”

“Die, Gao Yang!”

“Go to hell, bastard!”

Help! Women are scary!

...

Ten minutes later, Gao Yang walked out of the hospital with White Rabbit, his eye swollen with a bruise. White Rabbit hadn’t stopped laughing the whole time. “Hahaha, that’s fun!”

“Would you please call me on the phone like a normal person?” Gao Yang pleaded, “And not mess with me like that?”

“Your sister’s cute.” White Rabbit walked before him with her hands held behind her back. “Is she a human or a cutie?”

“I don’t know.”

“We have a member who can differentiate between humans and monsters. Why don’t I introduce you?”

“No need.” Gao Yang gave her a serious look. “And don’t tell me even if you find out the answer. I don’t care.”

Sympathy flicked through White Rabbit’s eyes. “It’s not that you don’t care, but you care too much.”

She shrugged and sighed. “As your senior, I’d like to give you another piece of advice: no matter what it is you care about, don’t let it show. Otherwise, your weakness will end up killing you one day. Got it?”

“Got it.” Gao Yang changed the subject. “Why are you here?”

“I’m here to take you to the company. There’s a welcoming party for you newbies.”

1. The author uses a word with similar meaning to avoid mentioning the actual app. ?

2. The original line was written by the Qing reformist Tan Sitong when facing his own execution. ?

3. The expression, ‘I know the kind of fart you’re gonna let out the moment you turn around’ and other variations of the saying basically means you know everything about someone. ?