The Third Note

It was Gaoyang's first time at a love hotel. Honestly, he didn't much like it.

Red lights, red carpet, red walls, red furniture, red bed curtains-it was like a cramped spider demon's lair.

Qingling locked the door, drew the curtains, and opened the metal case. After studying its contents briefly, she assembled the sniper rifle.

It was still early, and there was nothing to do.

Qingling sat on the oddly shaped sex chair, while Gaoyang sat on the soft waterbed. Their eyes met, and the atmosphere grew awkward-or rather, Qingling was perfectly at ease, while Gaoyang alone had no idea what to do with his hands.

Suddenly, Gaoyang's phone rang.

It was Wang Zikai. "Bro! Impulsiveness is the devil! Think this through!! If you take this step today, there's no going back! You'll be sullied! A man who doesn't respect himself is like rotten cabbage! I spit on you! Ptooey!"

"Women are no good! They'll only slow down your R-flash combo!"

"Get out of there! Playing ranked together is the righteous path!"

"I'm in the gaming room, 601! Huge screen, fancy surround sound, the whole works! Get up here! If you're my bro, we're climbing the ranks till dawn!"

Gaoyang hung up.

"Are you lonely?" Qingling asked.

"Huh?"

"Then why would you make friends with an idiot?" Qingling looked genuinely baffled.

"Well... it's a long story." Gaoyang gave an awkward laugh.

Qingling rose and headed into the bathroom. "I'm taking a shower."

The bathroom was a separate, partially screened glass enclosure. Although the glass was frosted, he could still make out the general outline.

Soon, Qingling took off her jacket and skirt and draped them over the glass door. Then she hung her white underwear there just as casually.

She's way too comfortable around me!

Gaoyang quickly lowered his head, but the bottom half meter of glass was transparent. He could see Qingling's long calves and smooth ankles. Amid the splashing water, hot water mixed with white shower-gel suds ran down the contours of her calves to her ankles before dispersing across the floor.

Gaoyang took out his phone and started scrolling.

Qingling finished quickly. When she emerged from the bathroom, she wore nothing but a sexy bath towel.

"You should wash up too," she told Gaoyang.

"Do I have to?"

"As far as anyone else is concerned, we booked a room at a love hotel. Every trace we leave needs to fit that story. We can't give any Beast reason to suspect us."

As she spoke, Qingling walked to the nightstand, opened a box of condoms, and took one out. She tore open the wrapper, wrapped the condom in toilet paper, and put it in her backpack, apparently intending to take it with her.

She thought for a moment, then asked, "Is one enough? How many do you usually use?"

"..."

Gaoyang was speechless. He barely knew what he was saying. "Just... one, I guess."

After leaving all the appropriate "evidence" in the room, they closed their eyes to rest for a while. Of course, Gaoyang wasn't sleepy at all. He kept thinking about things-serious things.

At five thirty, the alarm rang. Qingling opened her eyes and rolled out of bed.

Gaoyang hadn't slept at all. He got up too and asked eagerly, "I remember you said Beasts don't have reproductive systems."

Qingling nodded. She walked to the mini-fridge in the corner, opened it, and took out two drinks. She tossed one to Gaoyang, opened the other, and took a sip.

"I have a question." Gaoyang turned the bottle in his hands. "Officer Huang... he's married, right?"

Qingling nodded and waited for him to continue.

"With the odds being one in ten thousand, his wife is probably a Beast, right?"

"Probably."

"Then wouldn't they run into a problem as soon as they... slept together?"

Qingling took another sip. "It's not that Beasts don't have reproductive systems. They don't have genuine human reproductive systems, but they can imitate them. There are subtle differences."

"Imitate? Differences?" Gaoyang mulled it over.

Qingling remained perfectly composed. "I awakened when I was very young. The first human I met was my cousin."

"Oh."

"He'd slept with a lot of girls. Then one day, he slept with a human girl and realized it felt different from all the others."

"And then he awakened?" Gaoyang had mixed feelings. Apparently, womanizers really were doomed to a bad end. After all, if Qingling's cousin hadn't awakened, he wouldn't have died.

Qingling nodded. "My cousin told me that if you've never had sex with a human, you won't notice anything, no matter how many times you do it with Beasts. But once you have, you'll realize something's wrong."

"So... do you have experience with this?" Gaoyang swore he was approaching this as a serious academic discussion.

"No." Qingling shook her head. "My cousin told me males are easy to tell apart. Since male Beasts are imitating the human reproductive system, their bodies react instantly. But a human male's body reacts gradually."

Remembering the "test" that night, Gaoyang couldn't help blushing.

"With female Beasts, my cousin said it was something you could only understand through experience, not words." Qingling suddenly looked at Gaoyang. "Why don't we try it once? Then we'll both have experience."

Gaoyang spat out a mouthful of his drink.

"What, is that funny?" Qingling frowned.

"No, not at all. If we get the chance... we can talk about it then." Gaoyang hurriedly changed the subject, glancing at his phone. "It's almost six."

Qingling took the note from her pocket, a cold gleam flashing in her eyes.

"Are we killing someone?" Gaoyang had already guessed. "Who?"

Qingling handed him the note. "See for yourself."

-At six, at the Riverside Scenic Belt No. 2 Viewing Platform outside your window, kill the woman beside me. Aim for the head or heart.

Gaoyang looked at the note and began to think:

"The woman beside me" meant Officer Huang would be there too. The target had to be a colleague, a friend, or a family member. Not only was Officer Huang avoiding killing her himself, he would stay with her, within surveillance coverage. He was probably trying to create the perfect proof of his presence, using someone else to kill her and clearing himself of suspicion.

Looks like there's more to this than I thought.

Qingling drew back the curtains, pushed the sex chair to the window, and set up the sniper rifle. Tilting her head, she pressed her right eye to the scope. A tall beauty wrapped in a bath towel, sitting on a sex chair and wielding a sniper rifle-it was a thoroughly insane sight.

Before long, Qingling spoke. "Target sighted."

Gaoyang hurried over. "Let me see."

Through the scope, Gaoyang looked toward the Riverside Scenic Belt No. 2 Viewing Platform.

The morning sunlight was clear and gentle. A woman with an artistic, intellectual air stood on the No. 2 Viewing Platform. Dressed in a long red dress and a white shawl, she gazed out at the shimmering river.

Soon, Officer Huang appeared. Wearing sportswear and running shoes, with a towel draped over his shoulder, he stopped at the viewing platform. The woman turned and offered him the bottle of water in her hand, smiling tenderly.

Officer Huang took the water. The woman picked up his towel and wiped his sweat with an easy, affectionate familiarity.

After a brief conversation, Officer Huang took back the towel and continued running, apparently planning another couple of laps. The woman watched him leave with love in her eyes, then turned back to admire the river.

"His wife?" Gaoyang asked.

Qingling nodded, sharing his assessment. "His wife may have discovered that he's an Awakened. At the very least, she suspects him. Officer Huang decided to eliminate her just in case, so he wants us to do it for him."

Click-

Qingling readied the rifle. "I'll do it."

Gaoyang said nothing, his feelings conflicted.

He wasn't some saint, and he was in no position to judge Officer Huang's decision. But he imagined himself in the same situation. If the person in the rifle's sights were his grandmother, father, mother, or little sister, could he pull the trigger?

A jumble of emotions left him restless and unsettled.

"The target hasn't moved." Qingling took a deep breath. "Three, two, one..."

Pfft- Qingling fired. Even with a suppressor, the gunshot sounded wrong: muffled and abruptly cut short, almost like a misfire.

Gaoyang sensed something was wrong too. He looked up and froze.

Qingling also frowned deeply, caught completely off guard.

The instant she pulled the trigger, a dark figure had dropped from above and blocked the muzzle. The bullet struck the figure. A moment later, Gaoyang and Qingling saw him clearly.

It was Wang Zikai.