The Creatures that We Are

“Thanks for the compliment,” Gao Yang joked to ease the tension.

“It’s not a compliment!”

“I’ll get back to it,” Gao Yang said. “Once you earn the Guild’s trust, try to come into contact with Colorless and Goldthread. One of the two is likely Dust.”

“But how?”

“It won’t be difficult. I’ll give you two options.” Gao Yang extended two fingers.

“First, with my intervention tomorrow, the trade for Rune Circuits will fail. The Zodiacs and the Union are going to trade again. You should be able to get Yan Liang to take you with him by acting servile to him. That will be your chance to contact Colorless and Goldthread.”

“Second, you ask for the Support Rune Circuit. For the plan to work, you will have to act like a different person. You’ll reveal yourself to be a calculative, cunning, power-hungry person who is good at acting and difficult to pin down, with little things you won’t do.”

“After betraying the Nine Scions, you ask Qilin for a reward and hope to be an Elder, as well as access to the Support Rune Circuit to level up Strange to level 4. The Support Rune Circuit is owned by the Hundred Rivers Union. When borrowing it from them, you’ll have a chance to contact Colorless and Goldthread.”

“Let me think…” Ke Yo lowered her head and frowned, trying to imagine herself doing it.

“After coming into contact with Colorless and Goldthread, try to give them each a slip of paper. Remember, they cannot know about each other.”

“On each slip will be a meeting time and a place, and the time and place of the two slips must be different.”

“For example, meet one at location A at one in the morning and the other at location B at three. You don’t have to give a name, only the symbol of the Cult.”

“Then you wait for the fish to bite the bait.” In the dim screening room, Gao Yang nodded slightly, his tone growing lower.

“The one who isn’t a spy won’t take the risk to meet you. They will be worried that you’re trying to set them up or instill distrust, or it can be a trap to assassinate them. By the way, the meeting time you give them must be so soon that they won’t have the chance to think or investigate. Then it’ll be very likely for the innocent member to not go to the meeting place.”

“Not Dust though. Dust will come to you.”

“For certain?”

“For certain.” Gao Yang was a hundred percent sure. “When Dust receives the slip of paper, they will assume that you know their identity. After all, you were once a member of Tails, which served the Cult. It makes sense for you to know Dust’s true identity.”

Ke Yo nodded.

“But you betrayed the Nine Scions and openly declared your allegiance to the Qilin Guild. Were that true, Dust would be in danger. Sooner or later you would expose Dust to the Qilin Guild for your reward.”

Ke Yo understood. “So Dust will come to me to confirm if I’m truly loyal to the Qilin Guild.”

With more details being hashed out and more potential scenarios described by Gao Yang, Ke Yo came to believe that the plan could work. “What then?”

“Then when Dust comes, you’ll know who they are whether they show you their true appearance or not because you gave a different time and location to Goldthread and Colorless.”

“Don’t go after Dust on your own. It’s too dangerous. Tell Dust that you’re the new Archbishop and focus on fooling them first. Give them a new mission: kill the Divine Scion, me.”

“Will they buy it?” Ke Yo got worried again. Dust had been a spy for ten years. They must be cunning and cautious.

“They will.” Gao Yang had thought it through. “The Godbearer Cult has ordered Luqi to kill me. Although I don't know how Luqi was resurrected or why he worked for the Cult, that is a known truth.”

“Wait… No, there’s a risk.” Ke Yo thought of something else. “Won’t Dust know I’m lying if they go to their superior for confirmation?”

“It won’t happen,” Gao Yang explained patiently. “The former Black Tortoise, Yellow Butterfly, and the fake traitor Ghost Horse all receive their orders from the higher-ups one-sidedly. They cannot contact their superiors.” ℞Ἀ𐌽ȎＢÈs

“That was why the three organizations haven’t been able to identify the Heavenly Godbearer all this time.”

“Thus, I believe Dust won’t be able to confirm your identity in the short term.”

Ke Yo nodded. “I understand.”

“That’s why we have to act as quickly as we can. The longer you wait, the more variables there will be.” Gao Yang emphasized his point. “Once you see Dust, tell them that there will be a valuable chance for them to kill me in three days, and it’ll be their only chance. They must seize it. If Dust asks you about the details, tell them that they’ll know once the opportunity presents itself.”

“After that, go back to the White Lake Hotel and stay on the balcony for two minutes. Nine Frost will contact you with Telepathy. Tell him who Dust is, and we’ll do the rest.”

“What about me?”

“Stay at the hotel as much as possible. Wait for a message that says, ‘The odds are with, us.’”

“Remember, you must immediately go to the hot pot place on the first floor of the hotel once you receive the message. Shake your tails if there’s any. My people will be there to take you.”

“Okay.” Ke Yo nodded.

Gao Yang chuckled. “It seems that you’re going for hard mode?”

Ke Yo was silent for a few seconds before she nodded. “Yeah.”

“Why?”

“There’s no why.” Ke Yo lowered her eyes and said with feelings, “I just want to do the right thing. I used to be a bad person, right? I want to make amends now.”

“Edmond said that you weren’t a bad person,” Gao Yang said with an earnest look in his eyes.

Ke Yo paused before breaking into a smile. She felt warmth bloom in her chest, unbidden.

“The greatest difficulty of the plan is acting, Ke Yo.”

Gao Yang said seriously, “I’ve prepared a detailed character profile for you that’s a few thousand words long. There are many lines you can use to establish your character. You must memorize the whole thing.”

“Huh? A few thousand words…” Ke Yo started to regret it. “How can I possibly memorize that now?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll give you the spiel now.”

Gao Yang seemed to have predicted her reaction. “Once you wake up, find a chance to swing by Miss Liu’s restaurant. Go to the restroom. There will be a bottle of Medicine M hidden in the toilet tank. Drink it, and you’ll have a photographic memory for the next three days, as well as remember every word I tell you right now. That’ll help you play your character well.”

“Got it.” Ke Yo turned to Gao Yang in disbelief. “You’ve thought the whole thing through.”

“I have to.” Gao Yang was nervous under his calm front. After all, a small mistake could lead to death.

…

Gao Yang briefly explained his plan in the car.

Can gasped many times during his explanation. Her jaw fell. “Captain, you, you, you…”

She stuttered until she finally found the words to describe him. “That’s crazy! Devious! You even fooled us!”

“I had no choice. The fewer people that knew, the greater the chance of success.” Gao Yang had now recovered his upper body.

Nainai had gotten off Qing Ling’s lap and was now squatting between the front seat and the back seat. Qing Ling had to make room by lifting her legs and resting them on Nainai’s back.

Nainai had never felt such humiliation—and it was humiliating, definitely, for real—but she didn’t dare to voice her grievances.

She had crouched down to massage Gao Yang’s legs, restoring his body further.

“Still, I underestimated Qilin and Yan Liang and almost got everyone killed.” Thinking back to what happened on Huangsong Street, Gao Yang couldn’t help but feel guilty.

He had not only asked Waking Insects to be their insurance, but also have Wang Zikai, Qing Ling, Hong Xiaoxiao, and Lithe Snake on standby in case something happened. However, that ended up biting him in the rear. Qilin and Yan Liang had almost killed all five of them with their collaboration.

Although Lithe Snake and Qing Ling were brought back in the end, Gao Yang’s guilt and pain were real that day. He blamed himself for the decision.

If they died, they would never know that they got killed because of the person they trusted the most. Gao Yang could’ve gone for easy mode but chose the insane hard mode instead.

He almost lost two companions just to root out a spy.

At that point, though, there really was no turning back.

Houseau3's Thoughts

The plan is a little convoluted. It takes two and a half chapters to explain😅

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