No Hero Volume 3: Non-Human Killer
Original novel in Chinese by: 御我(Yu Wo)
Human, Non-Human Killer Chapter 7: The Non-Human Dark Sun and the Human Ah Ye—translated by Raylight
April 20, 2110, Cloudy
“Accompany me to go look at houses, okay?”
That was what the little young master requested.
I was very surprised. Why did he want to go look at houses? However, I do not have the authority to ask him questions. Therefore, wherever the young master wishes to go, all I should do is follow.
I didn’t think that the moment we returned home, the Sun Emperor would be sitting in the middle of the living room. His facial expression was so terrible that it was incapable of looking worse. Most likely, he had already received the news.
“Why did you want to go look at houses?” He asked the question that I was wondering.
“Do you want to leave home… to leave me?” He also asked a question that had not even crossed my mind.
Finally, our days returned to their initial ordinary lifestyle… Perhaps it could not be counted as ordinary, but it still followed a regular pattern.
I returned to the young master’s home and continued to serve him.
However, it was beyond my expectations that after hearing what Melody wanted me to relay to him, the young master would still nod his head in agreement, despite looking worried. He told me, “As long as Melody has a plan, it’s fine.” That was because he really did not know how to handle the three-man team as well as the Church supporting them. It was simply too wonderful that Melody could help him deal with them.
“The young master actually trusts you a lot.”
When I called Melody, I told her that, but she fiercely snapped at me, “Mind your own business.” According to what the young master has said, that “When Melody is embarra.s.sed, she would instead purposely pretend to be angry,” Melody should actually be feeling very happy and a little embarra.s.sed?
In the other room, Aren was still unconscious most of the time. Occasionally, he would come to his senses, but he would merely remain silent and allow Mr. An Te Qi to freely extract his blood or inject unknown medications into his body.
As the butler who was currently responsible for serving Mr. An Te Qi, Curtis would always run over to look for the young master in a hurry—saying that Mr. An Te Qi was attempting to inject a multi-colored fluid into Mr. Aren, and it made him feel extremely uneasy… This proved that Curtis was as expected, a professional butler who was extremely perceptive, skilled at observations. His hunches always turned out to be accurate, for the fluids in Mr. An Te Qi’s hands were dangerous items nine out of ten times.
It was also due to his serious and conscientious work that Aren had not met with a violent death or increased in size whenever he lost control.
I reckoned that I would be able to write him a recommendation letter once it became slightly less busy, so he could return to and carry on the line of the old and influential family of butlers.
Ever since that night, Gong Feng Xiang never dropped by the place. She kept to her word, silently waiting for me to finish dealing with matters.
At home, the peace continued. Outside, there also seemed to be a temporary sort of peace.
The explosive atmosphere on the streets had become much milder. The humans seemed to have noticed that something was amiss as well. The number of missing people had increased, and it became common for humans to disappear without a single trace. In the alleys, at the ends of the streets, and even on rooftops, more black shadows were appearing. In every place and every corner, there seemed to be a pair of eyes watching.
Humans, on the other hand, had become a little more cautious. As for the dark alleys that they had always loved, they now treated them as though they had seen a monster in them, and dared not approach them lightly.
Policemen were patrolling the streets day and night, and the firepower they brought with them was also growing stronger and stronger.
Usually, if any youngsters were to see a policeman, they would at the very least show disdain on their faces, sometimes even spitting at them. However, in the recent days, when they saw a policeman, the expressions they showed were relieved ones. If there was a place with no policemen on patrol, even the youngsters did not dare to linger there!
Many things were actually still left unresolved, just like the opposition between humans and non-humans. However, we had entered a stalemate. Currently, all we could do was maintain the outward peace. For the time being, there was no method that we could employ to resolve the issue.
It was under these kinds of days that the young master started his summer vacation.
Originally, he had happily told me that he wanted to go traveling and bring everyone along, and then drop by to see his brother on the way, and bring his brother along too. Following that… Regardless of what the rest of his plans were, they were interrupted by a phone call.
Ji Luo Chu had called, and he had asked the young master to pack his luggage and temporarily live in the studio… That was because there were so many requests that specifically wanted the young master to be the model, to the point where even if he were to continuously press the shutter, he would not be able to finish taking all the photos. He had spent an extreme amount of effort to postpone those jobs to take place after the young master’s finals.
“So many that even if you were to press the shutter continuously, you can’t finish them all?” The young master was extremely fl.u.s.tered as he said, “T-Then, what should we do? Don’t tell me that we really have to continuously shoot for two months with no rest at all? But I’m worried that I will run out of battery. At the very least, you have to give me time to charge!”
Over the phone, the other person fell silent for a long time, before I heard him force out the words, “Ah Ye, when you said charge, do you mean resting?”
Ah Ye tilted his head to one side and replied, “I was referring to eating and sleeping.”
“Oh!” Ji Luo Chu gave a huge sigh of relief, and he muttered softly, “You should have said so. I nearly thought that you really do need to plug yourself in to charge…”
“That also works,” was the young master’s immediate reply.
Over the phone, there was a very long period of silence. Then, Ji Luo Chu finally spoke with a conflicted voice, “Charles, help him pack his luggage. If charging is the only issue… I believe, we really can shoot for a very long time.”
I merely helped the young master pack a set of clothing to change into and some necessities, and followed him to the studio. Even if the young master were to stay at the studio for a long time, I could always travel between home and the studio, so there was no need to pack large amounts of luggage.
Once we reached the studio, Ji Luo Chu came welcoming us, looking like he was itching to begin. He led us in to the area where we were to shoot, and after we sat down at the round table meant for resting, he picked up an entire stack of files and half-tossed them onto the table.
He helplessly took them one by one and explained to the young master, “This is the ‘Crying Angel,’ this is the ‘Smiling Angel,’ and then there’s the ‘Last Angel…’”
“Are they all angel-related?” The young master stared at the entire stack of cases curiously.
Ji Luo Chu said with a little grudgingly, “That’s right. It’s because you left a deep and lasting impression on everyone last time, when you were captured by a werewolf while wearing the clothes from ‘Tears of an Angel.’ Coupled with the advertis.e.m.e.nt that came out later, it was simply too memorable. So, every advertis.e.m.e.nt specifically wants your angel image.”
“You didn’t tell them the complete story, Ah Chu.” Ah Da pushed open the door and walked out from the room beside us. As he bit down on a chicken cutlet, he commented, “The days now are simply too dark and strange. Everyone needs a bit of hope in their lives!”
Once he heard that, Ji Luo Chu hesitated for a moment, but still asked, “Ah Ye, have you noticed the unease on the streets?”
The young master nodded his head and said, “Charles told me that the Church’s arrival to the city has started to make the non-humans uneasy.”
When I had told the young master that, I had skipped the other reasons. My reasoning was that the young master only needed to know about the non-humans’ unease. The fact that his fight with X was also one of the factors causing their uneasiness was something that did not need to be brought up.
“That explains the matter.” Ji Luo Chu instead looked relieved, and he said casually, “I thought that there was someone scheming some kind of great master plan or the like. So it was merely trouble brought about by the Church. That’s simple. Once they leave, the non-humans will calm down again!”
The young master nodded his head.
Are things really that simple? I felt a little uneasy. Even if Melody successfully forces Anceo and the others to leave by using a hostage, would the non-humans leave it at that?
Other than the Church, Mr. Stone also said that humans have modified themselves to be too powerful, so non-humans have lost their superiority in strength… Perhaps, this is the real reason?
“I feel like the cases that we can take are these three. ‘The Last Angel,’ which is a weapons commercial; ‘Teardrops,’ a commercial for diamonds; and ‘Budding Flower,’ which is a commercial for lipstick.”
As Ji Luo Chu and the young master started discussing the cases, I turned my attention back to them. As a butler, I could not let my thoughts wander and should always be attentive to the young master’s needs.
“These three cases are the best among them. The rest are…” At this point, Ji Luo Chu’s expression seemed a little resigned as he said, “For the rest, the commercial organizers insist on doing it their way.”
“Then, don’t take those cases that you don’t like!” The young master said, as though it was a matter of fact.
Ji Luo Chu froze, and tried asking, “But the rewards are tempting?”
At the side, Ah Da swallowed the rest of the chicken cutlet and cut in, saying, “It’s seriously freakin’ tempting. I haven’t seen so much money before in my entire life! Even if the case looks like sc.r.a.p paper, with the payment behind it, it also starts to look like a proper case!”
The young master tilted his head, appearing somewhat uncertain.
I observed Ji Luo Chu’s and Ah Da’s expressions in detail. Their expressions were hesitant, but upon looking at the huge stack of sc.r.a.p cases, they had obvious frowns on their faces. Ah Da even had an expression of disgust.
I lowered my head to whisper a few words to the young master. The young master then smiled, and said pompously, “I don’t want to take photos that are like sc.r.a.p paper! No means no!”
Hearing that, Ji Luo Chu and Ah Da were stunned, and they seemed as though they were about to open their mouth to persuade him to change his mind. However, the young master looked at the two with a determined gaze.
“So much money… What a pity! But if the model refuses, then there’s no choice. We can’t possibly force him to do so!”
The two of them still nodded their heads in the end. Although Ah Da continued to mutter non-stop, a relieved expression was on his face. Ji Luo Chu’s actions were even more obvious. He smiled at me and nodded his head to express his grat.i.tude.
I responded with a smile. Truthfully, I believed that in the end, they still would not choose to take on those unsatisfactory cases. I had merely helped to speed up their decision.
“Okay!” Ji Luo Chu shouted loudly with renewed vigor, “Then let’s start shooting! Ah Ye, which one do you want to begin with?”
“Lipstick!” The young master shouted ecstatically.
“… You like lipstick?” Ji Luo Chu’s expression was extremely strange. Although he was smiling, his brows were furrowed. He looked as though he was both laughing and crying, and it looked extremely funny.
I explained with a smile, “The young master likes new and curious things, while both weapons and diamonds are not anything new to him.”
“That explains it.” Ji Luo Chu gave a sigh of relief, and he went on to explain, “For the lipstick commercial, we have to wait until the appointed make-up artist comes over. He has to help you with your make-up before we can begin shooting. So, let’s take the other two first! We’ll start with… ‘The Last Angel,’ okay?”
The young master nodded his head.
“The clothes have already been placed in the changing room. It’s the one hanging at the leftmost side. Go and change into it first.”
“Okay.”
After the young master walked into the changing room, Ji Luo Chu and Ah Da started to converse with me.
“How did Ah Ye do on his finals?”
I replied with a smile, “There has never been any need to worry about the young master’s academics.”
Basically, the only thing I was worried about was that the young master would score full marks on his exams and make the professors and cla.s.smates all widen their eyes in shock. However, later on, I heard from the young master that he had always scored full marks on every test. If he did not score full marks, then the professors and cla.s.smates would widen their eyes in shock.
At this moment, the young master rushed out of the changing room in a hurry, even shouting, “Luo Chu-gē, it’s terrible! The clothes are damaged!”
“The clothes are damaged?” Ji Luo Chu turned back, shocked.
I too, turned to look at the young master. The clothes that he had on this time were rather similar to the clothes he had worn for his last photo shoot, ‘Tears of an Angel…’ It was just that those clothes were not tattered with burn marks all over.
“That’s not it.” Ji Luo Chu smiled as he said, “This was done on purpose. It’s mainly to try and replicate the look of a survivor of a disaster. In this commercial, you are the last angel remaining after experiencing a great war.”
“This is not bad enough. We still have to add on a little blood later.” Ah Da winked as he said, “It’s not fake blood, but fresh blood that I just extracted! Ah Ye, are you scared?”
The young master merely smiled and did not respond. Ji Luo Chu commented snappily, “How could Ah Ye possibly be scared! Who do you think he is?”
“Ah…” Ah Da gave a shout of realization. “That’s right! You’re Dark Sun.”
The young master and I both froze, and then looked at Ji Luo Chu. He quickly explained, “Although I promised not to tell anyone, Ah Da is the one helping me watch the surveillance cameras. I couldn’t possibly hide it from him, so, uh…”
“I understand.” I responded quickly.
“So it was Ah Da who was helping First Wind oversee the surveillance cameras!” The young master yelled in sudden realization.
Ji Luo Chu observed the young master’s and my expression. After making sure that the young master was not the least bit displeased, he then relaxed. He even joked, “That’s right, he would always complain to me that I caused him to become near-sighted by several hundred degrees and would have to go for an operation for near-sightedness.”
“It’s all your fault in the first place! Is a surveillance screen with several hundred frames something that a human should be watching?” Ah Da said unhappily.
Ji Luo Chu too replied, upset, “It’s not like I haven’t watched it before. Don’t I usually look over them with you? Moreover, most of the time, I’m the one looking at them. You’re actually looking at p.o.r.nographic films…”
Ah Da coughed loudly, and then lowered his voice to say, “Ah Ye is still here! Don’t lead him astray.”
“Right, right.” Ji Luo Chu pretended to be impatient as he said, “Go and take your blood bag out! If you don’t take it out quickly, I think your blood is probably going to turn stinky very soon. If Ah Ye were to be sprinkled with stinky blood, that would be too pitiful.”
“Shoo! You’re the one who is stinky all over!”
Ah Da brought over a blood bag while muttering, and after they cut it open, the two of them started to sprinkle blood on the young master. As for the young master, he was of course not afraid at all, and he even used his finger to dap at the blood in curiosity.
I said jokingly, “It is fresh blood indeed. It was probably extracted half an hour ago, right?”
Hearing that, the young master laughed. Hands covered in blood, he raised both of them high, asking, “Want to drink some?”
Once the young master suggested so, I saw Ah Da’s expression become nervous, as though he was worried that I would rush up to him and take a bite. Seeing him behave in such a way, I felt a little playful and said purposefully, “As you know, Young Master, vampires only drink the blood of young virgins. If it was a burly fellow like Mr. Ah Da, I am afraid it would not be to my taste.”
Ah Da looked relieved, but the young master laughed even harder. He had already heard from me a long time ago that I was unable to differentiate the original owner of the blood just by the blood itself, be it a young virgin or a burly fellow. Also, if there were vampires who only drank from young virgins, then that would be only because young virgin females usually preferred to take more baths, and so their necks would be a little cleaner. It did not have any relation to the blood itself.
To a vampire, the only difference in blood is how fresh it is. Warm blood that was just taken from the body is the tastiest meal for us.
“What a pity that the camera can’t capture Charles. For this theme, ‘The Last Angel,’ it’s really fitting for both you and Ah Ye to be in the frame at the same time.” Ji Luo Chu said as though he thought it was a great loss, “I can obviously see you through the lens of the cameras and the video cameras, but there’s nothing on the photos or film at all. This is such a strange phenomenon.”
Indeed, it is. Ever since cameras had appeared in this world, this phenomenon had become the ever-lasting mystery that all vampires wished to uncover.
“Even though it is a pity, it can’t be helped. Ah Ye! Come over and let’s start shooting!”
The young master shouted his affirmation, but Ah Da quickly stopped him, saying “Wait up!” As he did so, he sprinkled a few drops of blood on the young master’s forehead. It looked just as though he had banged his head into something and bled from it.
Following that, he quickly rushed off again. When he returned, he shoved something into the young master’s hands.
The young master opened his hand in curiosity to look at the object. It was a pocket-sized silver handgun, and there were even some ornamental carvings on it. It looked almost like a piece of art, not at all like a weapon for killing.
“Pretty, isn’t it?” Ji Luo Chu smiled as he explained, “The target audience for this gun is females, and it’s made specifically for them to use for protection. It’s small enough to be placed in purses, and there isn’t strong recoil. There’s even an auto-aim function.”
The young master turned the handgun around, and as he looked, he said, “The firepower is too poor.” Then, he took out the magazine with trained movements, and with one glance at it, said, “There are also too few bullets. This gun is not very good.”
Ji Luo Chu’s and Ah Da’s faces had become completely stiff, as though… they had seen a pure little angel take out not a cute cupid’s bow, but a bazooka that could bomb an entire building.
“No matter how many times I see it, I still can’t get used to it!” Ah Da yelled loudly. “Ah Ye, you look like an angel. How could you possibly be…” His voice suddenly faded off, and he mouthed the words, “Dark Sun.”
The young master laughed.
“Alright, time to begin shooting.” Ji Luo Chu told Ah Da unhappily, “Unless you want to let those advertisers continue to bother us.”
Ah Da immediately made a big X with both arms in front of his chest.
Ji Luo Chu walked behind the camera and instructed, “Ah Ye, go and sit in the chair in front of the white screen. Then, imagine that you are currently sitting on the railings of a rooftop, while all that surrounds you is ruins…”
The young master tilted his head to one side and asked in puzzlement, “Then, why don’t we go to a real rooftop to shoot? Wouldn’t it be fine to just go upstairs?”
Ji Luo Chu froze. He turned to exchange glances with Ah Da, and the two of them had a sudden look of realization on their faces at the same time. Ji Luo Chu spread both his hands and told the young master, “Ah Ye, you’ve really hit the nail on the head.”
We changed our location, carrying the large photography equipment up to the rooftop. It seemed as though few people went up to the rooftop, for even the metal door was so rusted that it nearly would not open. Ji Luo Chu even had to use his modified left arm in order to open the door.
Once we walked out, I immediately looked around the area for any markings. Upon discovering that no non-humans had made their home here, I heaved a sigh of relief. Nowadays, if a non-human were to find a human trespa.s.sing onto their own territory, they probably would not choose to hide.
Ji Luo Chu and Ah Da took a look around. Ji Luo Chu’s expression was disgusted as he said, “It looks like the people cleaning the building cut some corners. To actually have so much junk piled up here… There’s even a broken sofa! Moreover, the entire sofa is dusty, yet they haven’t asked for cleaners to carry it away. Ah Ye, would you mind… Eh?”
As Ji Luo Chu talked, he turned to look at Ah Ye, but he suddenly froze.
The young master lay down and rolled around the floor that was completely covered in dust. Faced with our looks of astonishment, he then climbed back to his feet. However, he was already totally covered in dust and even had a patch of black sticking onto his face. It nearly made me want to take out my handkerchief and go forward to wipe off that stain. However, I did not do so, for I believed that the young master would not roll around on the floor for no good reason.
The young master smiled as he said, “This way, I should look even more like a survivor from a disaster, right?”
The two of them at first nodded their heads blankly. Ah Da looked about the surroundings, and his eyes shone brighter as he muttered, “Survivor from a disaster, survivor from a disaster… This place fits nicely! Ah Chu, come over here and help me move the furniture over! We can use all of it! It’ll look even better than computer generated graphics!”
Ji Luo Chu froze, and then also turned to look at that pile of broken and old furniture. His expression also became as excited as Ah Da’s, and he turned around and patted the young master’s shoulder hard. He said, “Ah Ye, you really are suited to be a model!”
The young master tilted his head to one side, his face perplexed.
Ji Luo Chu moved things about by himself busily. He mostly used his left arm to carry things, and the right arm was used only for support. I quickly said “Please allow me to a.s.sist you” and stepped forward to help him move the sofa.
“I’ll help too!” The young master shouted.
“You don’t have to!” Ah Da stopped the young master and snickered, “If you were to become any dirtier, you would become a ball of dust.”
We were busy for quite a while, moving the junk around to make it even messier. After doing so, the rooftop looked even more like ruins. Once the set-up was about ready, Ji Luo Chu sized up the railings at the side of the building, and hesitatingly said, “Say, if we were to slightly damage the railing, would it be too much? It seems like we would be committing a crime of endangering the public, or vandalism and the like…”
I walked over and kicked the railing askew with one foot. Then, I turned to tell him, “I am not human. You cannot possibly hope for a vampire to obey human laws, right?”
Ji Luo Chu let out a huge laugh, and said with feigned respect, “Then, I would have to trouble you to kick it a few more times, Mr. Butler.”
“As you wish.” I replied respectfully as well, and then turned around to start destroying the metal railings.
Once we destroyed the surroundings enough to make it look like the backdrop of the end of the world, Ji Luo Chu set up his shooting equipment hurriedly. After that, he said, “Okay, let’s start shooting! Ah Ye, go take a walk around first and cultivate your mood. I’ll shoot it as a test-run in pa.s.sing.”
The young master followed the instructions and started moving. He walked to the edge of the building. In that section of the railing, there was a large hole that I had created with my kicks. He bent to look down from that hole.
“Ah Ye!” Ji Luo Chu raised his head from behind the cameras as he gave a shocked shout. He anxiously said, “T-That’s a little dangerous! Don’t stand too close to the edge…”
The young master laughed and turned to yell, “Luo Chu-gē, did you forget who I am, just like how Ah Da did?”
Ji Luo Chu froze, and then he made a few “oh, oh” sounds of realization.
I abruptly remembered an important matter and quickly said, “Young Master, there may be surveillance on the roof—”
The young master interrupted with a hearty laugh, “I have already turned them off long ago!”
After saying so, he actually jumped onto the crooked metal railings. This made the railings shake violently and even make squeaking sounds. The entire image looked very terrifying.
However, the young master turned around, a radiant smile on his face.
Tonight, there was plenty of moonlight. It shone onto the young master, making him look as though his entire body was glowing, especially his silver hair. Though the wind tonight was not strong, we were still on the rooftop. The wind was enough to blow the young master’s hair about messily. His silver strands danced in the air, as though his hair was a life form of its own and was currently flying in the wind.
The young master smiled and spread both his arms wide open. His feet looked as though they would leave the metal railings at any time, and then he would spread open pure white wings and start to fly.
An angel.
Other than an angel, I really could not find any other words to describe him.
However, the next action of the angel was to take out the silver, decorated gun, and aim it toward the camera. Behind the weapon that was used for killing, there was instead such an innocent and pure smile, like that of an angel’s. This image simply made one suspect whether they were seeing things, unable to believe at all that this angel would really open fire…
Bang!
Because of the recoil from the gun, the angel became unsteady on his feet, and he tumbled backwards. His arms were wide open, his body in the shape of a cross as he fell directly backwards…
The three of us were frozen in place, and were even too stunned to go forward to check on the young master’s situation.
After what felt like a lifetime but was in actual fact probably only a few seconds, the young master crawled back up, giggling. He asked with curiosity, “Did I scare you all?”
Ah Da slowly turned his head to look at Ji Luo Chu and asked, “Just now, was the camera rolling?”
Ji Luo Chu answered blankly, “If it wasn’t, I’ll be the first one to kill myself.”
Ah Da nodded his head, and then he slowly shook his head, saying, “I bet that there definitely isn’t anyone who would believe that this wasn’t edited with special effects on the computer. Definitely no one! I’m willing to wager my life on this!”
Ji Luo Chu only truly regained hold of himself at this point, and he exaggerated loudly, “Please, your life isn’t worth anything. What do you want me to wager? A hundred bucks?”
“Go away, you…”
At this point, the cell phone at the front of my chest rang. I picked up the call and said, “This is Charles.”
Over the phone, I heard Mr. An Te Qi’s voice. He sounded deeply worried as he said, “Charles! Is Ah Ye with you? Tell him that Aren ran out again.”
“Has he lost control of himself again?” I asked anxiously. “Might you be injured?”
“No, no!” Mr. An Te Qi quickly denied it. “His mind is very clear, and he hasn’t transformed. The current medication he is on works very well, so as long as he takes the medicine at the given times, his transformations can be controlled. He wanted to go out and take a walk by himself. It’s just that he seemed a little depressed, so I wanted to tell you all.”
“Very well, I will relay your words to the young master.”
“Oh, oh! That’s right. Bramble and the others said that they would monitor where Aren went. If the young master wants to know where, he can call them.”
Once I relayed these words to the young master, he hesitated for a small moment. Upon lifting his head though, he saw Ji Luo Chu currently waving to him, as though he could not wait to continue shooting. He merely told me, “Charles, can you help me by going over and taking a look? Check up on what Aren is doing right now, and if you can find out why he is feeling unhappy, that would be even better.”
“Very well.”
I followed Mr. Bramble’s instructions and jumped onto the rooftop of a building. As expected, I saw a figure sitting at the edge of the building. Recently, it seems that non-humans are not the only ones who like to linger on rooftops; even humans like to gaze down from the rooftops.
I walked closer, letting my footsteps ring out on purpose so as to alert him to my arrival.
His back stiffened, and he instantly turned around, wary for battle just like an enraged wolf. However, upon seeing me, he froze and then relaxed. He nodded his head, saying, “So it’s you, Charles-gē.”
“It is me.” I nodded my head and walked to his side. I joined him, sitting at the edge of the building as I commented, “Tonight’s night sky is very beautiful.”
Aren froze, and then settled back into his original pose of sitting on the edge with both legs dangling. He raised his head to look at the moon, saying, “Thankfully, it’s not a full moon. Otherwise, I would not be able to sit here.”
“Why not?” I smiled as I said, “It is not like I have not seen you transform into Dragon Peace. At that time, you were sober and were able to save others calmly. So why can you not look at the moon?”
Aren fell silent for a while, before he then said, “When it’s a full moon, it’s very easy for me to lose control of myself, just like last time in the sewers… I nearly killed you all!”
“It was not close enough. If you want to kill me, I am afraid that you will have to try much harder! Vampires are not a race that is easy to kill.” I said jokingly.
“Thankfully you were there.” Aren said agitatedly, “I-If you weren’t there at that time, I-I might have already killed Leanna and Abner!”
“Perhaps not.” I strongly emphasized, “I am a vampire, and you have the blood of a werewolf. Werewolves have always been good at detecting danger, and have very strong feral instincts. As for the reason why you would become that frenzied, there is a very high possibility that it was because I was there. You felt the threat that I posed, and therefore lost control like that.”
Aren froze.
“You did not know this, did you?” I said with a gentle smile, “You should have told me your worries earlier, so that I could tell you this, and I can also tell you about a few common traits of werewolves. This way, you would not have to feel troubled on your own.”
Aren pondered for a while, but he still shook his head as he said, “I still can’t go back to Leanna and Abner. It’s too dangerous.”
“Then, how about you live in the young master’s place for the time being? Over there, it would not be easy to hurt people.” With a smile, I said, “The truth is, there are not that many ‘humans’ there in the first place.”
Hearing that, Aren was speechless for a while. He then asked in confusion, “Who exactly is An Xiang Ye? I know that he is Dark Sun.” When he said the two words Dark Sun, his voice was particularly soft. He then continued, “But it couldn’t possibly be only that, right? He is simply, simply… too strange.”
Even after faltering over his words for a long time, he could only come out with the word “strange.”
“The young master, he… His family holds quite a bit of power, but the young master himself is not someone who spends lavishly.” I described in a mild and roundabout way, only hoping that Aren would not foment feelings of estrangement because of such.
“If that’s the case, why did he choose to be a hero?”
I froze. What does this have to do with heroes?
Aren suddenly grew agitated, and he waved both his hands, saying, “He’s not like me! He’s rich, smart, a-and he’s good-looking… Even though what he was wearing before was really strange, and the girls in cla.s.s would always laugh at his clothing, they all couldn’t help but keep sneaking peeks at him! However, he changed his clothing afterwards… You probably don’t know, the first time An Xiang Ye walked into the cla.s.sroom wearing clothes from X-Killer, the entire cla.s.s blanked out. Even the teacher was so stunned, the lesson was all but forgotten, and everyone just looked at him for an entire half of a cla.s.s!”
If what the young master had worn was the set of clothes that showed his entire lower abdomen, I believe that the cla.s.s would possibly have been stunned for an entire lesson. Thankfully, I had advised the young master to never wear those clothes ever again.
“Why would someone like him want to be a hero?” Aren furiously said, “Without even being a hero, everyone would already look at him! They would stare so hard that they can’t tear their gazes away!”
So that is how it is. I looked at Aren. He did not look bad, but he could not be considered handsome. His hair was tawny, and his hairstyle was about the same as what most youngsters had nowadays. As for his figure, he was a little skinny. Overall, he looked like an ordinary boy who was a little inconspicuous.
“Everybody has their own reason as to why they want to be a hero. It is not the young master’s intention for others to notice him.”
I suddenly felt very curious. If Aren’s reason for being a hero is to let others notice him, then for Ji Luo Chu, what was the reason he wanted to be a hero? He doesn’t seem like the type who wants attention. Perhaps I can try asking him another day.
“Then, what is he doing it for?” Aren growled, “He has everything. He has money, brains, and looks. He basically doesn’t need anything else!”
“That is where the problem resides.” I sighed in sorrow, as I said, “He does not need to earn money, nor does he need to study too seriously. He also does not need to spend too much effort on his appearance, and he does not require anything. Therefore, he too does not know what he should do, in order for it to be considered meaningful.”
Hearing that, Aren stilled. I believed that he simply did not really understand this point.
“The young master is not a rich kid who can indulge himself in fun every day. This is something you agree with, right?” After seeing Aren nod his head, I then continued, “Therefore, what can he do? Anything looks easily obtainable… What else can he pursue?”
“He won’t become depraved, and he even chooses to be a hero?” Aren’s expression was cold as he said, “Not only is he just rich, good-looking, and strong, at the same time, he is also very gentle and chose to be a hero, a strenuous and unrewarding task. Now, not only has he saved me, he is also trying his best to help me out of my situation, without complaining at all about how much trouble I’ve brought him… He is practically a perfect human!”
He mocked himself, “It’s hard to believe that someone like this actually exists in this world. I feel that Sunset City doesn’t need a hero like me who will lose control of himself. As long as he is here, as long as the perfect Dark Sun is here, it would be enough.”
“That is not true. This city needs four heroes, and it would not do with even one of them missing!” I had once heard the young master say that if there were not four heroes, there was absolutely no way for them to take care of the entire city.
Instead, Aren buried his head between his knees, without saying a single word. I did not know whether he believed my words, but I knew that it was not my turn to speak. I could only hope that he would continue to speak to me. As long as he vented his emotions through words, I believed that he would feel much better.
After a long time, Aren still did not raise his head back up. However, he spoke, “I-I hate him! I know that it’s not right, but the nicer he treats me, the more unbearable it is… Why is there such a perfect person in this world? Such a perfect hero?”
“Aren, please do not think that way. The young master… Who is there?”
I jumped up and turned back at the same time. With one glance, I could recognize the silver hair that was currently shining under the moonlight.
The young master was standing behind us, at a distance not too far away.
In that instant, I seemed to have seen a sorrowful expression on his face. However, in the next second, after he discovered that I had turned around, he immediately became fl.u.s.tered. He nervously explained, “I-I still felt a little uneasy. This place isn’t far, so I thought of coming over to take a look… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop on purpose. I-I’ll leave now.”
Once he finished his words, he truly turned to leave instantly. I tried to catch up to him hurriedly, and I called out, “Young Master! Please wait a moment.”
The young master turned back to glance at me. This made me freeze in my tracks. It felt like he wished for me to stay here and not follow him.
I stopped. Although I was hesitant, a butler’s duty is to obey his master and not question them. Therefore, I nodded my head to the young master and did not give chase any further. I merely sent him off with my gaze.
At this time, I heard footsteps and turned back to look. Aren walked to my side, and his face was pale as he looked in the direction that the young master had gone. He muttered non-stop, “I wasn’t… I just… Ah Ye…”
“Actually, you are very fond of the young master, right?”
Once I said that, Aren was completely stunned. A few seconds later, he had practically jumped as he said in a panic, “H-How can it be? Didn’t you hear me say, I hat—urgh… I dislike him!”
Seeing how he could not even say the word hate, I gave a smile as I said, “Although you have said before that you hate him, you have kept on praising the young master without any intentions of scolding him. Even if the young master were to be so perfect, you could at least scold him for being pretentious, for purposely acting the part of a model student, right? However, you understand him, and you know that he is not being pretentious.”
Aren looked at me, and I could tell from his gaze that there was something he wanted to say but was hesitant to do so. In this kind of situation, there was simply nothing better than to wait with a gentle smile. Therefore, I did so, waiting for him to speak.
“Leanna and Abner, they… No, we had a motive for getting close to Ah Ye. We knew that he was very rich.” Aren looked at me and said calmly, “We needed money, lots of money. The end result now is what we had aimed for and wanted the most, that An Xiang Ye would help me pay all the money needed for the medicine, taking care of our biggest problem.”
As he continued to speak, he became more and more agitated, losing the calm that he had at the beginning, “S-So, he shouldn’t have helped me at all. He’s only been deceived… How dumb! He didn’t know that we were deceiving him at all!” In the end, he was practically roaring.
“I understand now.” I looked at Aren, and he turned his head away, as though he did not wish to see my expression. It was as though he thought I would show him an expression of disdain or shame.
Instead, I said in understanding, “You are very upset, right? These past few days… the more the young master helped you, the more upset you grew, am I right?”
Aren abruptly snapped his head back and glared at me as he growled, “He doesn’t need to help me! After this, he won’t help me anymore either, which is great, so don’t b.u.t.t into this!”
“I do not think so.” I smiled as I said, “Even if you do not know An Xiang Ye as a person, if you see Dark Sun lying on the roadside, bleeding profusely, do not tell me that you would not help him? If he tells you that he hates you, and to mind your own business, would you leave him at the roadside to await death, or would you knock him unconscious and take him away?”
Aren glared at me, and I patiently waited for his answer with a gentle smile. In the end, he admitted unwillingly, “Knock him unconscious and take him away.”
I smiled and then continued, “The same goes for the young master. He helped you because you are Dragon Peace, and you needed help. There is no other reason for it. Therefore, you do not have to think too much about it. Of course, it was not right of you all to get close to the young master while harboring ill intentions. However, as long as you apologize, you know he will forgive you.”
Aren angrily roared, “I don’t need—“
“Yes, you do need help!” I forcefully interrupted his words and shouted, “If you do not like the fact that you owe him, then become his good friend! My young master does not lack anything, except a good friend who would treat him as an equal.
“I believe I have to go check on the young master now.”
I regained my composure and said, “Please believe me, that Young Master An Xiang Ye is not as perfect as you think he is. He is not very good with human relations, and it is very easy for him to receive setbacks in this area. What is worse is that he probably does not understand in the least bit why you hate him, and also does not understand that actually you do not truly hate him. He is unable to understand… very complex emotions.”
Especially complex emotions like Aren’s, which are mixed with jealousy and guilt, but actually full of fondness of the other. There is probably still a very long way to go for the young master to be able to understand such feelings.
“I also hope that you will return. If you do not, the young master will really be worried sick.”
After saying that, I began moving, sprinting for two steps before jumping to another building. Following that, I took out my cell phone and dialed a number.
“Mr. Bramble, may I ask where the young master has gone?”