The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 68: Official Members

“Old Man Liu?!” Officer Huang was the first to call out to him.

Mischievous Monkey was the old man selling malatang near the station, Old Man Liu—or someone who looked just like him.

“You know me?” the man asked in surprise.

“You...” Officer Huang stumbled on his words in astonishment. “Aren’t you...a wanderer?”

The old man chuckled in realization. “That’s my older brother.”

“Older brother?” Officer Huang frowned. “You’re Old Man Liu’s...twin brother?”

Mischievous Monkey nodded with a smile. “You may call me Old Second Liu.”

Gao Yang observed the old man. True to his words, while the man looked similar to Old Man Liu, he seemed younger, more spirited and in better physical condition, and his gaze was bright and clear rather than muddled with age like his twin brother’s. He also held himself with a serene and zen air that belonged to the reclusive masters, unlike the worldly man his brother was.

“Old Second Liu?“ Officer Huang was both shocked and befuddled. “Your twin brother is a monster, yet you’re human... How is that possible?”

Officer Huang took the question right out of Gao Yang’s mouth.

“I joined the Twelve Zodiac Signs for that exact question.” Old Second Liu’s lips were still curved into a slight smile. “I may be old, but I’m actually new in the organization in terms of tenure.”

Ah. Gao Yang thought to himself. The longer he spent in this world, the more he felt like he was still in the tutorial phase; there were still so many unsolved mysteries.

“Old Second Liu.” Officer Huang walked up to him and gripped his hand. “To be honest, seeing you today is a highlight for me.”

“How so?”

Officer Huang smiled bitterly. “Among all the awakeners I’ve encountered, you are the only one who has lived so long.”

Old Second Liu belly-laughed.

“A senior is a treasure to the family.” White Rabbit walked up to them with a smile. “Old Second Liu is the only elderly member the organization has ever recruited. Everyone treats him like a source of good fortune.”

“I hope you’ll get to become an old man like me,” Old Second Liu said as he put his mask back on.

Then every pair of eyes in the room shifted to the last member to introduce themselves.

Songstress Chicken was a young woman. She was a brunette with long, curly hair, and the top half of her face was covered by a finely crafted mask, decorated with a lifelike feather on one side.

She was dressed in a patterned overall dress that was colorful but in a natural sense. Her legs curved in an aesthetically pleasing way, and on her fair, delicate wrists were a variety of bracelets of contrasting colors. The way she held herself had a gracefulness and lightness to it, and as she walked, her accessories clinked pleasantly. She was like a beautiful peacock.

Even though she hadn’t taken off her mask, it was clear from the lower half of her face that she was stunning. Petite nose, sensuous red lips, and chin that was tapered without giving off an unkind impression.

She offered a hand and said in a gentle voice, “Please call me Songstress.”

“Well met, Songstress.”

Gao Yang, Qing Ling, and Officer Huang shook her hand in turn. While Songstress seemed friendly and amicable in the way she acted, she didn’t say anything else after the brief introduction. The atmosphere grew a little awkward.

White Rabbit quickly explained, “Please don’t take it the wrong way. Sister Songstress isn’t the aloof kind. She simply tries not to speak too much, or we may fall asleep.”

“Is it her Talent?” Gao Yang said in realization.

“That’s right.” White Rabbit explained on Songstress’ behalf. “Sister Songstress’ Talent is Requiem, serial number 66. Her voice itself is hypnotic, and when she sings, very few people are able to stay awake for more than 30 seconds. It’s a little better when she’s only talking, but it still takes less than 5 minutes for her to put everyone to sleep. If you ever have a sleepless night, you can seek her out. Since she usually has to hold back, she loves an opportunity to chat freely.”

Songstress nodded with a smile.

“Okay!” White Rabbit clapped. “That’s everyone. Let’s start the onboarding ceremony then!”

Gao Yang went through his mental list. There were currently ten official members in the organization: Electric Mouse, War Tiger, White Rabbit, Dragon, Ghost Horse, Lovely Lamb, Mischievous Monkey, Songstress Chicken, Heavenly Dog, and Dead Pig.

Dragon and War Tiger were the captain and vice-captain respectively, and they weren’t in attendance.

That meant there were only two vacancies: ox and snake.

Then Heavenly Dog came up to them with two ordinary plastic masks. One of an ox, and the other of a snake. “These are only temporary. You may get your own masks according to your liking going forward.”

White Rabbit added, “We always mask up when we go on a mission. It’s our work culture, for one. And for another, it’s to hide our identities.”

“Do we pick our own zodiac sign?” Gao Yang asked. “And our own code name?”

“Yeah. However, there are only two vacancies at the moment. That means only two of you will get a code name. The other one is considered an official member as well, but won’t get a name until one of us dies and leaves the spot to you.” White Rabbit shrugged. “Let’s hope the day doesn’t come too soon.”

“You haven’t been doing your job right, head of HR,” Officer Huang ribbed her. “Why did you recruit one person too many? That’s a bad omen.”

“Haha, I’m sorry!” White Rabbit put her hands together and gave an apology she didn’t mean. “I thought one of you would’ve died back in Gu Family’s Village. Didn’t expect all of you to make it.”

“Did you hear yourself?!” Officer Huang almost popped a vein.

“Officer Huang, Qing Ling, you should take the code names.” Gao Yang smiled. “I’ll wait.”

“You sure?” Officer Huang turned to him. “Like the case with Kong Rong giving his pear to his younger siblings, I should be the one to take a step back since I’m the oldest.”

“It’s fine. I’ll wait to get a code name.”

Gao Yang insisted for two reasons. First, neither ox nor snake caught his fancy, and he didn’t have a reason to fight for the spots. Second, being careful was the key to survival. It was never wrong to keep a low profile.

“Alright.” Officer Huang didn’t drag things out. “I’ll pick ox. I’ve even gotten a name in mind already. I’ll be Yellow Ox.[1]”

“Have you decided for real?” White Rabbit asked. “You won’t have a chance to change your name.”

“Yeah,” Officer Huang said proudly. “I’ll be the old yellow ox that serves the people! It’s a perfect fit for my job!”

“Green Snake[2],” Qing Ling said without hesitation as well.

“Whoa, that’s quick!” White Rabbit said approvingly before giving Wu Dahai a derisive look. “See how decisive they are? You, on the other hand, spent three days thinking of a name. And Electric Mouse is what you settled on? You’ve got bad taste!”

Wu Dahai swept his hands through his hair. “You’re too young to understand my charm, White Rabbit. I don’t blame you.”

“Thanks for the daily dose of vomit-inducing lines.” White Rabbit put on a show of retching.

Heavenly Dog came up to Gao Yang to hand him a mask of No-Face from Spirited Away.

Gao Yang put it on. It made him feel quite cool.

“Alright, we’re done!” said White Rabbit.

Officer Huang interjected, “Wait, aren’t we going to take an oath or something?”

“Nope! That’s too edgy. We don’t do things like that.” White Rabbit snapped her fingers. “That reminds me though. Group photo time, peeps! Otherwise we won’t even have a picture of ourselves at our funerals.”

White Rabbit had everyone put on their masks and stand in a line. She set up a SLR camera on a tripod and picked up the remote shutter control. For their absent Captain and Vice-Captain, they were added into the picture via White Rabbit and Wu Dahai holding up their masks.

White Rabbit raised her voice and declared, “I hereby announce that the Twelve Zodiac Signs are complete again!”

“Three, two, one!”

“Cheese!”

Click—

1. Huang, his surname, means yellow. ?

2. Qing, her surname, means green. ?