Identity Exposed

At 9:00 AM, the dean's office.

"Sit."

Officer Huang sat in the dean's swivel chair, leaning back slightly, with his legs crossed and his hands clasped over his abdomen. He looked relaxed yet carried a natural authority, as though he were sitting in his own interrogation room.

Gaoyang sat down obediently in front of him and remained silent.

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

Mm-hmm... Gaoyang muttered inwardly: There being no one else is precisely why I'm nervous, okay?!

"Is your face injured?"

"Oh, a bug bite." Gaoyang casually rubbed it, pretending indifference.

"Alright, let's begin." Officer Huang took out his notebook. "Student Gaoyang, what is your relationship with the deceased Li Weiwei?"

"We've known each other since kindergarten, and our relationship has always been good. You could say we're childhood sweethearts." Gaoyang replied.

Officer Huang wrote as he asked, "Yesterday afternoon, were you with Li Weiwei the entire time?"

"Yeah, we went to see a movie at Dawan Mall, had dinner, and hung out quite late. We only went home late at night."

"What time did you and Li Weiwei part ways?"

"Around 11:00, I think." Gaoyang knew he couldn't remember the time too precisely, or it would look even more suspicious.

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

"I walked her part of the way since it was on my way, but she said the last stretch didn't need to be walked, so I didn't."

Gaoyang knew the surveillance footage for that final stretch had been destroyed by Qingling, so he deliberately asked, "Officer Huang, you can check the security cameras, right? The footage can prove it."

Officer Huang pondered for a moment, his gaze shifting slightly. "To be honest with you, the surveillance cameras on the road where you parted ways happened to be broken."

"How could that be?" Gaoyang put on a surprised expression.

"The possibility of premeditated crime is very high." Officer Huang quietly scrutinized Gaoyang's face, trying to find a flaw in his expression.

"It's likely the act of an acquaintance, but that's just a preliminary guess; we don't have much of a lead right now. After all, there's no murder weapon, no witnesses, and things like that."

"Not a single clue?" Gaoyang asked.

Officer Huang uncrossed his legs and leaned forward. "Did Li Weiwei usually have any classmates she didn't get along with, or anyone she offended?"

Gaoyang shook his head. "She was a very nice person, and all her classmates liked her. I can't think of any enemies she had."

"What about people who were jealous of her? Or something else?"

Gaoyang thought for a moment and shook his head. "I don't recall any."

Officer Huang nodded, his gaze never leaving Gaoyang's face. "You liked Li Weiwei, didn't you?"

Gaoyang paused. "I did... yeah."

"For the sake of the investigation, I checked Li Weiwei's WeChat logs. You confessed to her, and she agreed..."

"Yes, yesterday was our first date. I never expected it would turn out to be our last..." Gaoyang lowered his head, feeling depressed and sorrowful-and this was not something he had to fake.

Officer Huang stopped questioning and stood up. "Alright, that's it for today." He stepped forward, patted Gaoyang on the shoulder, and said with a somewhat meaningful tone, "Condolences."

The questioning ended, and Gaoyang breathed a sigh of relief. It was a false alarm.

He left the office and walked toward the classroom.

"Gaoyang!" someone called out.

Before Gaoyang had time to turn around, a powerful arm suddenly lunged out and locked tightly around his neck.

Gaoyang could barely breathe. "Cough, cough... cough, cough..."

"Hahahaha, weakling!"

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

Wang Zikai had been Gaoyang's high school classmate, though not as of a week ago. When he cracked open a boy's head from the neighboring class for the *N*th time, he was finally expelled.

The reason for the fight: the other guy glanced at him.

Wang Zikai's family was rich; he drove a sports car to school every day, and on top of that, he was good-looking-a genuine tall, rich, and handsome guy. Yet he played such a brilliant hand of cards terribly. At school, he was a bully whom everyone saw and feared.

For reasons unknown, this bully had been exceptionally enthusiastic toward Gaoyang since their freshman year. Wang Zikai had emphasized more than once that Gaoyang was his best and only friend.

This left Gaoyang flattered yet baffled. Yielding to his tyrannical might, Gaoyang nervously began acting as Wang Zikai's friend, only to discover that aside from a fondness for fighting and occasional bouts of losing his mind, Wang Zikai was actually a pretty decent person.

Wang Zikai was in a great mood today, presumably here to process his withdrawal paperwork.

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

"Li Weiwei is dead," Gaoyang said.

"Huh?!" Wang Zikai was taken aback. "How did she die?"

"Robbery, she was murdered..."

"Damn it! That is so unlucky." Wang Zikai smacked his lips. "And to think I even helped you confess to her a few days ago. Hey, did she agree? She definitely rejected you, hahaha! How could a girl possibly like a guy like you!"

Gaoyang rolled his eyes. This idiot can never figure out the main point.

"Bro, my condolences." Wang Zikai patted Gaoyang's shoulder nonchalantly. "Look on the bright side, from now on you'll never have to worry about anyone stealing her from you."

"..." Gaoyang forcibly restrained himself from cursing.

"School's out today, big bro is driving to pick you up, let's duo! Turn grief into motivation, we definitely gotta hit Silver this season!" Wang Zikai said.

"No thanks, I'm going to Li Weiwei's funeral tonight." Gaoyang said.

"No way," Wang Zikai exaggeratedly jumped back, "don't tell me you're still hoping for some ghostly romance..."

"Get lost!"

Gaoyang was utterly speechless, itching to give him a kick. But this was Wang Zikai-you could never expect to hear a single normal human sentence come out of his mouth.

"See ya!" Wang Zikai slapped his butt, waving as he ran off.

7:00 PM. Shanqing District. Funeral home.

Gaoyang and more than a dozen classmates followed their head teacher to attend Li Weiwei's funeral.

On one hand, Gaoyang had feelings for Li Weiwei; even though she turned into a monster last night, he still wanted to send her off on her final journey. On the other hand, he was also very curious as to why Li Weiwei wasn't cremated immediately after death, which did not match his understanding of this world.

The mourning hall was dim and solemn. Li Weiwei's obituary photo was placed on the altar, the girl in the picture smiling brightly. Her body lay inside a transparent glass coffin equipped with refrigeration, surrounded by lush white floral arrangements.

Li Weiwei's parents stood by the coffin wearing black suits and dresses, constantly bowing to the people who came to pay their respects.

The wife wept uncontrollably while the husband supported her, his face full of grief.

The head teacher led several students to offer incense to Li Weiwei, then went forward to shake hands with her parents. Next, they walked in a circle around the glass coffin, and the farewell ceremony was over.

Gaoyang followed in the procession. As he approached the ice coffin, he took a close look at Li Weiwei's remains. She was wearing a black burial robe and had makeup on her face, looking as though she were merely sleeping, no different from when she was alive.

Yet the thought that this very girl had almost crushed his head yesterday stirred a profound sense of terror rising from the soles of his feet, making his hair stand on end.

The head teacher stepped forward to converse with Li Weiwei's parents. Feeling his throat go dry, Gaoyang avoided the crowd and went to the break room on the side of the mourning hall to get some water.

Pushing the door open, Qingling was there too.

Gaoyang didn't dare look at Qingling, going to pour water by himself, but Qingling took the initiative to step forward. "Did the police ask you anything?"

"Nothing much."

"Tell me everything." Qingling's tone was one of command.

Gaoyang looked around, confirming no one else was in the break room, and showed his cards. "Why aren't you acting anymore?"

Qingling froze slightly. "Acting as what?"

"Those things during the day, you acted so well!" Gaoyang was somewhat angry.

Qingling's gaze swept across him. "You've seen her?"

"What do you mean?"

"My other personality?"

Gaoyang was startled, then realized: "You mean, you have... a split personality?"

"Yes."

Gaoyang stayed silent.

Qingling gently closed the break room door. "To survive in this world, there's no way around it without deceiving oneself. Over time, I developed a secondary personality. She's my younger sister, named Qingling. Most of the time it's me, but sometimes she refuses to listen and comes out on her own. Li Weiwei's death dealt quite a shock to Qingling."

Gaoyang's eyes turned vigilant. "At this point I don't even know which of your words are true and which are false."

"Doesn't matter."

"Give me a reason to believe you."

"A reason?" Qingling raised an eyebrow, and her right hand holding the disposable paper cup twitched slightly. A razor-thin blade suddenly flew out from her chest pocket, pressing against Gaoyang's neck.

"Killing you is even simpler than Li Weiwei killing you. Is this reason enough?"

"Enough..."

While there are green hills left, there's no need to worry about firewood.

Gaoyang briefly recounted his conversation with Officer Huang.

After listening, Qingling fell into contemplation.

"You're fairly quick-witted, you didn't give yourself away."

"Just a cop," Gaoyang said deliberately. "What is there to give away?"

Qingling gave a cold smile. "It seems you still don't quite understand your situation. Do you know how many beasts there are in this city?"

"How many?"

"The ratio is one in ten thousand."

"One in every 10,000 people is a beast? That is indeed very high," Gaoyang said.

"No, there is only one human for every 10,000 beasts."

"What?!" Gaoyang almost cried out. "You... are you joking?"

"No."

"This is impossible!" Gaoyang found it hard to believe, feeling his scalp tingle-this was too absurd.

"This is the fact. Do you understand your situation now?"

"..." Gaoyang's hand was shaking.

"It's already a low-probability event that our school has two humans like you and me," Qingling stepped forward, her gaze cold. "As for your family, your friends, your neighbors, 99.99% of the people you've come into contact with in your life-barring accidents-are beasts, all kinds of beasts."

Gaoyang stood rooted to the spot, fear wrapping around him tightly like a cold venomous snake.

Grandma, Dad, Mom, little sister, teachers, classmates, friends... Everyone might be a beast. And Gaoyang, ever since transmigrating over, had lived closely with them day and night for twelve years!

A wave churned in Gaoyang's stomach, making him want to vomit.

"To tell you the truth, you are the third human I've ever seen so far. The first two humans were stronger than me, but they both died."

Gaoyang still clung to a sliver of wishful thinking: "Impossible, if my surroundings were all beasts... I would have died long ago."

"Because you never noticed their existence before this. Beasts don't kill unawakened humans. They only kill Awakened, which means people like us."

"Why?"

"I don't know either." Qingling shook her head. "They seem to have a set of rules of their own, and the information I've grasped is very limited..."

"What are you two chatting about?"

Gaoyang and Qingling jumped in fright.

The breakroom door was pushed open, and Officer Huang stood outside with a beaming smile.

"What are you two talking about, this beast thing?"