The Creatures that We Are

The fourth and fifth teams rested in the indoor basketball court until morning came.

It seemed to be Monday inside the Rune Cave. At seven twenty, all faculty and student body gathered on the running track to listen to the superintendent talk.

The basketball court was separated from the running track by the auditorium; thus Gao Yang couldn’t see the gathering, but he could hear the middle-aged man giving a speech through a microphone clearly.

“Young ones, spring is the golden period in a year, and morning the golden time in a day. It’s a brand new day today. You must face your life and study with full spirit…”

“The third years, especially, will be taking your entrance exams in a month. That will be the most important turning point in your lives, and when are you going to work hard, if not now…”

“I always say that it’s the blessing of fate for you to share a classroom during your three years of study, and thus you should all take care of and help each other. Recently, however, some have come together as cliques to marginalize and ostracize certain students, which is an intolerable act that the Office of Academic Affairs gives out warning and punishment for! I will not name names now, but should something like that happen again, we will not let those involved off the hook with only a slap on the wrist…”

Yellow Butterfly opened the lipstick she had with her and applied it. Then she took out a compact makeup kit.

Looking into the mirror inside the kit, she gently applied foundation on her t-zone. “Hear that? The bullying has been confirmed. I’d use that as an excuse later.”

With the touch-up done, Yellow Butterfly closed the makeup kit and took off the rubberband on her wrist to tie her hair into a bookish ponytail. Then she produced a pair of black thick-rimmed glasses from her bag and put them on. In an instant, she became the perfect image of a journalist.

Can struggled to recover her jaw. “Whoa, a pretty woman sure is built different. You have so much stuff with you!”

“These are a woman’s weapons,” Yellow Butterfly joked and winked at Can.

“Can.” Gray Bear came back in through the door. “There’s no one outside right now. The four of you should return to the hill in the back and stand by.”

“Come with me.” Black Sparrow grabbed her radio and left with Can, Xiuyi, and Ronnie.

Yellow Butterfly started coming up with a consistent story with Nine Frost and Dark Li to make sure they wouldn’t expose themselves by mistake.

“When are you moving out?” Gray Bear asked.

“Later,” said Yellow Butterfly. “We’ll ask for an interview after the morning self-study.”

“Seven Shadow.” Nine Frost turned to Gao Yang. “Are you sure the monsters won’t get suspicious seeing a few awakeners moving together?”

“Back in the Gu Family’s Village, the villagers didn’t notice anything even when four awakeners, me included, walked around together.”

“Someone’s coming, Captain!” Xiran, the one keeping watch, called out to them.

Alerted, Gao Yang and Nine Frost strode up to the door and peeked out.

Indeed, a middle-aged man in sportswear was coming this way.

“Hide,” said Gao Yang.

Thankfully, the indoor basketball court was big enough, and the group split up to hide inside two rooms. Although doors hadn’t been installed to separate the rooms, there were many items to hide behind.

After about thirty seconds, the man in sportswear walked into the half-constructed court.

He looked to be in his thirties and was built tall and wide. He had a strong chin, and his thinning hair was combed into a middle part hairdo, slicked with hair wax.

Hands in pockets, he looked around casually while whistling before sitting down on a relatively clean wooden table.

Then he stood up after a moment and paced around, combing his hair with his fingers. Then he took out a bottle of men’s perfume and sprayed it around.

Nine Frost and Gao Yang were hiding behind a pile of bricks. Nine Frost gave Gao Yang a look, telling him that he would deal with the man.

Gao Yang shook his head, urging Nine Frost to wait.

Immediately after the exchange, a woman’s high-pitched voice broke the silence.

“What are you thinking? It’s too early for this.”

In walked a young woman with wavy hair, dressed in red topwear and bell bottom jeans.

“I’ve missed you, babe.” The man rushed up to throw his arms around her, driven by lust.

“Get your hands off me!” the woman said in a coquettish tone and pushed him away, looking around. “Who would ask to meet at a place like this?”

“No one would come, and don’t you think it’s exciting to do it here?” The man’s laughter grew lascivious.

“Exciting?” The woman scoffed, but it lacked heat. “Isn’t your nose working? It smells like sweaty armpits.”

“Forget about that. Come give me a kiss, babe. I missed you so much.” The man started getting handsy with the woman.

“Tsk, stop it! My makeup’s all messed up, you damn pig! I have work to do later…”

The group were feeling awkward in their hiding places. Were they really going to sit there and listen to the couple going at it?

Then the man and woman moved toward the rooms tugging and pushing, their hands all over each other.

Shit!

Gao Yang quickly shot Gray Bear a look, who was closest to the door.

Without missing a beat, Gray Bear grabbed a helmet and put it on before shooting to his feet, rushing out of the door and slamming into the couple. With feigned surprise, he shouted, “Who is it?!”

The woman screamed in panic, while the man asked, “And who, who are you?”

“I’m the one asking the question,” Gray Bear said assertively. “What are you two doing here? This is a construction site, and it isn’t safe for you to wander around. No one other than the construction personnel may enter…”

The man collected himself and looked at Gray Bear, who was wearing a helmet with an orange vest over his big build. “Oh, did you resume your work?”

“Yeah.” Gray Bear played with what the man gave him.

“Isn’t the construction supposed to be put on halt for half a month?”

“How should I know? We stopped when the foreman told us to stop, and we started when the foreman told us to start. We work, and we get paid! If you have any questions, ask him!”

“Oh, right. You’re back to work. I remember now.” The man in sportswear went with the flow as well. “Ahem, I’m a teacher. You may call me Mister Tan, and this is Miss Zhu…”

Miss Zhu hurriedly sorted out her messy hair and clothes, eyes flickering.

“We, we came to check if you’ve come back to work.” Mr. Tan smiled awkwardly. “You arrived early.”

“Well, we wanna finish today’s work as soon as we can so that we can go home,” Gray Bear said in a hoarse voice, playing his part quite well.

“Are you alone?”

“Of course not. The boys are still catching Zs.” Gray Bear turned to holler at the room inside. “Hey, get your ass out of bed! The teachers supervising the construction are here.”

Gao Yang, Lithe Snake, Xiran, and Old Joe had put on the right gears, and they emerged one after another.

Mister Tan glanced at them and was hit with an intense wave of embarrassment. His secret date with his colleague almost became a private screening for the construction workers.

“Ahem, good work.” He nodded. “When will you be done?”

“A month, if we’re quick,” Gray Bear continued to lie easily.

“Sure, sure, keep up the good work.” Mister Tan looked back at the woman. “I’m done here, Miss Zhu. How about you?”

“Same for me. Let’s go.” Miss Zhu mumbled and turned to leave.

“Wait,” Gray Bear called out to the man. “Is our meal provided?”

“Yes, of course. Just head to the cafeteria at noon. I’ll give the cooks a heads-up.”

“Thanks.” Gray Bear grabbed a shovel on the side. “Let’s get started, boys.”

They each grabbed a construction tool and pretended to get to work, all the while sneaking glances at the man and woman hurrying out of the construction site. Should the two do anything unusual, they would go after the pair with what they had at hand.

Gao Yang prayed with bated breath, Don’t turn around. Don’t turn around. Don’t turn around.

And the man and woman didn’t turn around.

Finally, they could let out the breath they had been holding and lowered the tools.

Nine Frost, Yellow Butterfly, and Dark Li walked out of the room they had been hiding in.

“Now we’re sure.” Gao Yang turned to Nine Frost. “Like the Gu Family’s Village, you can do your interviews without the monsters suspecting anything.”

Nine Frost nodded. “Alright. We’ll do as we planned.”

Houseau3's Thoughts

I cringed so hard typing out the male teacher's lines 😂

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