Enchanted City of Strange Beasts

Chapter 5 Identity exposure

At 9:00 am, in the office of the director of instruction .

"Sit down." Officer Huang sat on the swivel chair of the director of instruction, with his body slightly tilted back, his legs crossed, and his hands folded on his abdomen. He had a relaxed expression and an air of authority, as if sitting in his own interrogation room.

Gao Yang sat down as required, but he could tell that he was a little nervous.

Officer Huang smiled, "Don't be nervous. There's no one else here, I'll just ask you a few questions."

"Uh-huh..." Gao Yang thought to himself: I'm only nervous because there's no one else here!

"Did you get hurt on your face?"

"Oh, I got bitten by a bug." Gao Yang touched it casually.

"Okay, let's start." Officer Huang took out his notebook, "Gao Yang, what's the relationship between the deceased Li weiwei and you?"

"We've known each other since kindergarten, and our relationship has always been very good. We can be considered childhood sweethearts." Gao Yang replied.

While taking notes, Officer Huang asked, "Yesterday afternoon, were you with Li weiwei the whole time?"

"Yes, we went to watch a movie, had dinner, and hung out until very late. We went home in the middle of the night."

"When did you separate from Li weiwei?"

"Seems like it was almost 11 o'clock." Gao Yang knew that he couldn't remember the time too clearly, otherwise, it would be even more suspicious.

"It was so late, didn't you walk her home?"

"I walked her for a while, and for the last part of the way, she said she didn't need it, so I didn't." Gao Yang knew that the surveillance camera on the last stretch of road had been destroyed by Qing Ling, so he deliberately asked, "Officer Huang, you can check the surveillance camera, right? The surveillance camera can prove it." Officer Huang pondered for a moment, and his eyes flickered slightly: "To be honest, the surveillance camera on the road where you separated just happened to be broken."

"How could that be?" Gao Yang made a surprised expression.

"The possibility of a premeditated crime is very high." Officer Huang quietly observed Gao Yang's face, trying to find a flaw in his expression. "It could be a crime committed by an acquaintance. However, it's only a preliminary speculation, and there's no clue for now. After all, there's no murder weapon or witnesses."

"Isn't there any clue at all?" Gao Yang asked.

Officer Huang put down his crossed legs and leaned forward: "Did Li weiwei usually have any classmates with a bad relationship or who had offended anyone?"

Gao Yang shook his head and said, "She is very kind, and all the classmates in the class like her. I can't think of anyone who has a grudge against her."

"Then what about people who are jealous of her or something else?"

Gao Yang thought for a moment and shook his head: "I have no impression."

Officer Huang nodded, his eyes never leaving Gao Yang's face. "You like Li weiwei, don't you?"

Gao Yang paused for a moment and replied, "Yes..."

"Due to the needs of the investigation, I looked at Li weiwei's WeChat records. You confessed to her, and she agreed..."

"Yes, yesterday was our first date, but I never expected it to be the last..." Gao Yang lowered his head, feeling sad and depressed, which was not an act.

Officer Huang stopped asking questions. He stood up and said, "Okay, let's stop here for today." He walked up to Gao Yang and patted him on the shoulder, his tone somewhat meaningful: "Take care of yourself during this difficult time."

...

The questioning ended, and Gao Yang let out a sigh of relief. It was a false alarm. He left the office and walked towards the classroom.

"Gao Yang!" Someone called him.

Before Gao Yang could turn around, suddenly a powerful arm tightly wrapped around his neck.

Gao Yang could hardly breathe: "Cough... cough..."

"Ha ha ha weakling!"

A boy with golden hair and a lip stud released his arm. It was Wang Zikai.

Wang Zikai was Gao Yang's high school classmate, but not anymore a week ago. After he had opened the heads of boys from the next class for the Nth time, he was finally forced to drop out of school.

The reason for the fight was: The other party glanced at him.

Wang Zikai's family was wealthy, and he came to school every day in a sports car. Coupled with his good looks, he was a complete tall, rich, and handsome guy. But with such a good hand of cards, he had messed it up completely. In school, he was simply a bully that everyone was afraid of.

For some reason, this bully had been extraordinarily enthusiastic towards Gao Yang since the first year of high school. Wang Zikai had emphasized more than once that Gao Yang was his best and only friend.

This made Gao Yang flattered and also puzzled. Under his coercion, Gao Yang timidly became Wang Zikai's friend, only to find out that Wang Zikai, apart from loving to fight and being occasionally stupid, was actually a pretty good guy.

Today, Wang Zikai was in a great mood.Presumably, he had come to handle the dropout procedures.

"What's wrong with you? You look like you ate shit." Wang Zikai asked.

"Li weiwei is dead." Gao Yang said.

"Ah?!" Wang Zikai was shocked. "How did she die?"

"Robbery and murder..."

"Oh my god! That's too unlucky. I even helped you confess to her a few days ago. Eh, has she date with you? She must have rejected you, haha, how could a guy like you have a girl who likes him!"

Gao Yang rolled his eyes: This fool never got the point.

"Buddy, take it easy." Wang Zikai nonchalantly patted Gao Yang on the shoulder: "Look on the bright side. In the future, you don't have to worry about her being pursued by others anymore."

"..." Gao Yang refrained from cursing.

"I'll pick you up after school today and let's play games together! Convert sadness into strength. We must reach Silver this season!" Wang Zikai said.

"No, I have to attend Li weiwei's memorial service tonight." Gao Yang said.

"No way," Wang Zikai jumped away exaggeratedly, "Could it be that you still wants a ghostly romance with her..."

"Get lost!"

Gao Yang really wanted to give him a kick on the butt. But this was Wang Zikai, and you would never expect to hear a normal human being say something normal from his mouth.

"See you later!" Wang Zikai patted his butt, waved his hand, and ran away.

...

At 7:00 p.m., in the Shanjing District, at the funeral home.

Gao Yang and more than ten classmates, accompanied by the teacher, attended Li weiwei's memorial service.

On one hand, Gao Yang had feelings for Li weiwei. Although she had turned into a monster last night, he still wanted to come and see her off for the last time. On the other hand, he was also very curious. Why wasn't Li weiwei cremated immediately after her death? This didn't conform to his understanding of the world.

The funeral parlor was dim and solemn. Li weiwei's portrait was placed on the altar. The girl in the photo had a bright smile. The body was placed in a transparent glass coffin with a freezing function, surrounded by lush white flowers.

Li weiwei's parents stood by the coffin in black suits and black formal wear, constantly bowing to the mourners.

The wife couldn't stop crying, and the husband supported his wife, his face full of grief.

The teacher led several students to offer incense to Li weiwei, then went to shake hands with her parents, and then walked around the glass coffin once, and the farewell ceremony was over.

Gao Yang followed the team and when he approached the ice coffin, he took a closer look at Li weiwei's body. She was wearing a black dress, had makeup on her face, and looked like she was just asleep, no different from before she was alive.

But thinking that it was this girl who almost crushed his head yesterday, a deep sense of fear rose from the soles of his feet, making his hair stand on end.

The teacher went to talk to Li weiwei's parents, and Gao Yang only felt his mouth was dry. He avoided the crowd and went to the tea room on the side of the funeral parlor to drink water.

When he pushed the door open, Qing Ling was also there.

Gao Yang dared not look at Qing Ling and went to pour water by himself. Qing Ling took the initiative to approach: "Did the police ask you anything?"

"Nothing."

"Tell me everything." Qing Ling ordered in a commanding tone.

Gao Yang looked around and made sure there was no one in the tea room. He said, "Why don't you continue acting?"

Qing Ling was slightly taken aback, "What are you acting?"

"You acted well at school during the day!" Gao Yang was a little angry.

Qing Ling stared and said, "Did you see her?"

"What do you mean?"

"My other personality!"

Gao Yang was shocked and then understood: "You mean, you have... multiple personalities?"

"Yes."

Gao Yang didn't speak.

Qing Ling gently closed the door of the tea room, "In order to survive in this world, you have to deceive yourself. Over time, I developed a secondary personality. She is my younger sister, named Qing Ling. Most of the time, it's me, but sometimes she doesn't listen and comes out on her own. Li**'s death gave Qing Ling quite a shock."

Gao Yang looked at her warily, "I don't know which of your words is true and which is false now?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Give me a reason to trust you."

"Reason?" Qing Ling raised her eyebrows, and the index finger of her right hand holding the teacup moved slightly. A thin blade suddenly flew out of the front pocket of Qing Ling's chest and pressed against Gao Yang's neck.

"I can kill you even easier than Li weiwei. Is that reason enough?"

"Yes..."

It's better to keep a green hill than to worry about firewood.

Gao Yang simply repeated his conversation with Officer Huang.

After listening, Qing Ling fell into deep thought.

"You're quite clever and didn't reveal any flaws."

"Just a police officer." Gao Yang deliberately said, "What flaws could there be?"

Qing Ling sneered, "It seems that you don't quite understand your own situation. Do you know how many beasts there are in this city?"

"How many?"

"The proportion is one in ten thousand."

"One in ten thousand people is a beast, which is indeed quite high." Gao Yang said.

"No, it's one in ten thousand beasts."

"What?!" Gao Yang almost shouted, "You... are joking?"

"No."

"This is impossible!" Gao Yang couldn't believe it. He only felt his scalp tingling. This was too ridiculous.

"This is the truth. Now do you understand your situation?"

"..." Gao Yang's hands were shaking.

"It's already a small probability event that there are only two humans like me and you in our school." Qing Ling took a step forward, her eyes cold, "As for your family, your friends, your neighbors, 99.99% of the people you come into contact with in your life, without exception, are all beasts, all kinds of beasts."

Gao Yang froze in place, and fear wrapped around him like a cold snake, tightly entwining him.

Grandma, dad, mom, sister, teachers, classmates, friends... Everyone might be a beast. And Gao Yang, since he traveled through time, has been getting along with them for twelve years!

Gao Yang felt a wave of nausea in his stomach and just wanted to vomit.

"To tell you the truth, you are the third human I have seen so far. The previous two were stronger than me, but they are both dead."

Gao Yang still had a glimmer of hope: "Impossible, if everyone around me is a beast... I would have died long ago."

"Because you have never noticed their existence before, beasts will not hurt awakened humans. They only kill awakened ones, that is, people like us."

"Why?"

"I'm not sure either." Qing Ling shook her head, "They seem to have their own set of rules, and the information I have is also very limited..."

"What are you two talking about?"

Gao Yang and Qing Ling were suddenly startled.

The door of the tea room was pushed open, and Officer Huang stood outside with a smile on his face.

"What do you mean by the beasts you mentioned?"