The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 19: Private Screening

Wang Zikai still didn’t understand. Blinking, he asked, “What do you mean by that?”

“I mean, when you’re training your qilin arm...the kind of film you usually watch then,” Gao Yang said awkwardly.

“Oh!” Wang Zikai slapped himself on the thigh with an indignant look on his face. “Why would I have those? I, Wang Zikai, have women lining up for me!”

Gao Yang didn’t have the time to play along with his antics. He rolled his eyes and said, “Stop playing around. This is serious business!”

Wang Zikai threw Fat Jun a glance and dragged Gao Yang out of the garage to the living room.

“Don’t say that when there are other people around! I have a reputation to uphold!” Wang Zikai was a little embarrassed. “Alright, whose are you asking for?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Gao Yang said. “Just pick whatever.”

“Alright, just a sec.” Wang Zikai ran off.

Gao Yang sat down on the couch and closed his eyes to clear his mind.

After some deliberation, he decided to give Officer Huang a call. This was his jurisdiction. He could come with an excuse of there being a burglary.

Wang Zikai had returned with his notebook. He sat down next to Gao Yang and shot him a glance before saying awkwardly, “Let’s get started.”

Gao Yang paused. “With what?”

“The private screening!”

Gao Yang facepalmed. “You misunderstand. I wasn’t talking about myself.”

...

Three minutes later, Gao Yang and Wang Zikai returned to the garage in the basement.

Fat Jun cried out, “Brother Yang! Brother Kai! That wasn’t me. I didn’t want to hurt you... My Hand just wouldn’t listen to me! Don’t kill me! I swear I’m not a monster! I don’t wanna die...”

“Don’t be scared, Fat Jun,” said Gao Yang. “We aren’t going to kill you.”

Wang Zikai huffed with his nose up. “Otherwise you’d be dead already!”

“True...” Fat Jun settled down a little.

“Are you into men or women, Fat Jun?” asked Gao Yang.

“What?” Fat Jun thought he had heard wrong.

Gao Yang repeated himself. “Are you into men or women?”

“Women... What, why?” Fat Jun was confused. He didn’t know why Gao Yang was asking him that.

“Alright.” Gao Yang opened the notebook and clicked on a random clip before throwing Wang Zikai a glance. “Go take off his pants.”

Wang Zikai paused. “What?”

“Just do it!” Gao Yang didn’t want to waste his breath coming up with an excuse.

Wang Zikai took off Fat Jun’s jeans, revealing his yellow Pikachu underwear and his hairy, fat thighs.

Gao Yang flipped the screen to Fat Jun and said, “Relax and pay attention.”

“Oh, right...” Fat Jun started out nervous, but he got more and more into it after a few minutes.

All throughout the process, Wang Zikai’s expressionless face slowly morphed into a derisive smirk.

Sensing Wang Zikai’s wordless judgment, Fat Jun felt a blow to his ego and forgot to be scared, exclaiming, “I’m not in the right condition now! This isn’t what usually happens!”

“Oh, is that so—” Wang Zikai dragged out the last syllable in an obnoxious way.

Bam! It was then the door to the garage opened. Officer Huang entered and came to a halt immediately.

Boy oh boy.

Fat Jun was all tied up with his pants down.

Gao Yang had a notebook in his hands, which was playing a video not for the underaged out loud. The room was filled with noises not to be put into words. Wang Zikai stood on the side with his arms crossed like a spectator to a fight.

“Ahem, I’ll come back later.” Officer Huang adjusted his police cap and gently closed the door.

...

Ten minutes later, Gao Yang and Officer Huang were left in the garage with Fat Jun. Wang Zikai had been sent on an errand.

“So that was what you were doing.” Officer Huang had an indescribable expression on his face. “Did Qing Ling teach you the way to differentiate between monsters and humans?”

“Yes.” Gao Yang lowered his voice. “Don’t let Wang Zikai find out.”

“Of course.”

“And don’t take it personally with that idiot, Fat Jun.” Gao Yang turned to Fat Jun, who was still tied up.

“Don’t worry! I’m not gonna take the words of a monster to heart.” Fat Jun was still a little angry. His pride had taken quite a beating earlier.

“There’s only cola and beer!” Their conversation was interrupted when Wang Zikai returned to the garage with an armful of refrigerated drinks and canned beer.

Officer Huang took a can of cola and opened it, offering it to Fat Jun.

Fat Jun had been thirsty for a while. He craned his neck forward and took two quick gulps. He was visibly rejuvenated. Even his eyes were brighter.

Officer Huang pulled a chair over and sat down like he was interrogating a suspect. “Alright, give us the story. Take your time and don’t leave out anything.”

“Okay!” Fat Jun licked his lips and went over what he remembered. “Didn’t my hotel get burned down? The official story was that Auntie Ho was burned dead, and I was injured. Following our plan, I closed down the hotel and stayed at home to recover. I didn’t dare go out and had been waiting for you guys to contact me. Then yesterday at midnight, I was woken up by a strange noise...”

“What noise?” Officer Huang lit a cigarette.

“It sounded like a cat. It kept meowing while I was trying to sleep. I had enough of it and got out of bed to check the balcony. Lo and behold, there was a white cat there. It looked like a ragdoll, but a little smaller. Its ears were pricked up, and its eyes were green.”

Officer Huang nodded for Fat Jun to continue.

“The white cat seemed smart. It stopped meowing when it saw me. That got me, you know. I thought someone must have lost their pet cat, so I was going to pet it on the head...”

“But whoa!” Fat Jun raised his voice. “Not only did it not let me touch it, but it bit me on the finger! It was so painful that I blacked out.”

“What then?” Officer Huang asked.

“Then I felt like I was in a dream. It was crowded, like a metro train filled with people. Many hands were on me, touching me all over...”

“Why would anyone grope you?” Wang Zikai looked disgusted.

“I was dreaming!” Fat Jun protested. “When I woke up, I saw Brother Yang and Brother Kai... Then my right hand went against my will and attacked Brother Yang... You know the rest.”

Officer Huang’s expression darkened.

He walked up to give Fat Jun a few more gulps of cola until the can was empty.

Then Officer Huang threw away the can and took two steps back, pulling out his gun to aim at Fat Jun with a perfect poker face. “I’m sorry, Fat Jun.”

“Don’t! Don’t kill me!” Fat Jun yelled in desperation. “I’m human! I swear! I swear... Save me, Brother Yang. Save me...”

“Officer Huang.” Gao Yang couldn’t bear to see him killed. “Why don’t we observe him for a little...”

Bang! Officer Huang pulled the trigger.