Chapter 133: Sheltered From Rain
The young woman standing inside the flower shop was dressed in a patterned apron, her brunette curls cascaded softly down her shoulders. She was a gentle but stunning beauty.
“Songstress?”
Gao Yang recognized her at first glance. Then he looked up at the signboard. It said, ‘Let Life be Beautiful like Summer Flowers.’
“Ah, so this is where your shop is. It’s quite close to the base.”
“Yeah.” Songstress nodded with a smile. “Come in and have a seat. The rain will stop soon. Then we’ll go together.”
Gao Yang and Qing Ling walked into the flower shop. They were surprised again when they saw a college student with delicate features and a small ponytail behind his head. With both hands in his pocket, he had a wireless headphone on his head and a black messenger bag on his shoulder, looking at a potted split-leaf philodendron closely.
“Heavenly Dog?” Gao Yang called out to him.
Heavenly Dog slowly turned around and lifted one side of the headphones, waving at him and Qing Ling. “Hey.”
“You’re here to get out of the rain too?” Gao Yang noticed his drenched bang and the wet spots on his shoulders.
“Yeah, forgot my umbrella,” Heavenly Dog drawled.
“It wouldn’t do for others to see the shop occupied by four humans.” Songstress smiled and quickly turned around to flip the board that said ‘open’ on the outside to ‘closed’.
“Why don’t you go to the second floor? I’ll be right with you after closing down shop.”
“Okay.”
Heavenly Dog yawned and walked up the small stairs on the far side of the shop. Gao Yang was hit with a bout of drowsiness as well. They really had to avoid talking to Songstress too much.
The second floor of the shop was actually a mezzanine level with two bedrooms and one living room. The living room was renovated in the style of a cozy coffee shop with wooden floor, bean bag sofa, rugs, potted creepers, window walls, and a bar.
They sat down on the sofa. Neither Heavenly Dog nor Qing Ling were the talkative sorts, and the three of them exchanged glances without saying anything.
Soon, Songstress walked up.
She gave them a smile and made a gesture telling them that she would be making coffee. Then she moved to the bar to do just that.
After a moment, Gao Yang initiated a conversation with Heavenly Dog, “Do you come to Songstress’ shop often, Heavenly Dog?”
“On holidays, I buy flowers for my mother.” After a pause, Heavenly Dog added, “She likes flowers.”
“Ah, that so?” Gao Yang didn’t want to waste his time beating around the bush too much, so he got to the point. “I heard that you used to be a trainee at the Qilin Guild?”
Heavenly Dog slumped into the sofa with his eyes slightly narrowed. “Yeah, I awakened during my freshman year in college. The Qilin Guild approached me then.”
“Why didn’t you stay?”
“I don’t like it,” Heavenly Dog said concisely.
“Um, care to explain?”
“Well, it feels like going to work.” Heavenly Dog sighed softly. “Working is troublesome.”
Gao Yang nodded in understanding.
In comparison, the Twelve Zodiac Signs was a lot more relaxed. Outside of the dangerous missions they went on like the exploration of Rune Caves, the organization operated more like a studio where everyone was friends, or even a big extended family.
From the bar came the sound of water rushing through the coffee machine. Songstress gave them a small smile and gestured at them to wait a little longer.
Gao Yang’s mind wandered. The Twelve Zodiac Signs was likely a gathering of mostly kindhearted people with moral codes. After all, the test where they had to refrain from killing a wanderer would’ve disqualified many awakeners.
And most of them were ruled by heart and disliked structure. White Rabbit was an exception, of course. She was a workaholic, but her workaholism stemmed from her seeing the organization as her family, and she cared deeply.
Silence returned. Gao Yang turned to look out of the window walls. It was still pouring rain, and the street was free of any pedestrians. The lively neon light bloomed in the vapor of rain like watercolor.
It was the perfect setting to enjoy a cup of freshly made coffee with the company of gentle music. And a fat cat for snuggling would be the icing on the cake. How did some novels put it? Yes, it was a moment of quiet serenity amid the chaotic times.
Gao Yang’s straying mind suddenly came to a sharp focus.
Through the window, his eyes zeroed in on the narrow alleyway across the road. There stood a man in all black holding a black umbrella.
Even with the pouring rain obscuring the figure, Gao Yang could tell that it was Ghost Horse!
Beep—
A small truck sped through the damp road, blocking his line of sight, and when it moved out of the way two seconds later, Ghost Horse had already disappeared from the alley.
“What’s wrong?” Qing Ling had noticed the minute change in Gao Yang’s expression.
“I think I saw...” Gao Yang stopped himself when Songstress came up to them with three cups of coffee.
“Enjoy.”
He took a cup and said, “I thought I saw an old friend from school. I must have seen it wrong.”
Qing Ling took her cup and didn’t push.
Under the guise of enjoying the coffee, Gao Yang fell into deep thought.
That man was Ghost Horse. He was sure he hadn’t seen it wrong. But was it truly possible for someone to come back to life?
At least none of the Talents from serial number 11 to 199 were capable of such a feat. Of course, there was the possibility that among the top 10 Talents was an unbelievable power capable of bringing the dead back to life.
He did know of a Talent that could achieve something similar though: Feigned Death, serial number 58, Life-type.
According to the information provided by the list, users of Feigned Death would come back to life a certain duration after their ‘death’ so long as their head, heart, and body weren’t seriously damaged.
Did Ghost Horse have Feigned Death? Was he actually an awakener with three Talents?
It didn’t seem likely. Since Dragon could tell that Ghost Horse had Teleportation, it didn’t make sense for him to miss a third Talent.
Assuming that Ghost Horse had truly come back to life, why did he show up near Songstress’ shop?
Did he simply miss her? Or was he observing her for a chance to convert her? If it was the latter, wouldn’t it be safer and more convenient to approach her through Telepathy?
Gao Yang decided to keep it from Songstress and Heavenly Dog for the moment. He would tell Qing Ling and Officer Huang, and War Tiger too so that the man could make the call.
Half an hour later, the pouring rain stopped.
Songstress led the three of them through the back alley and a lesser known shortcut to arrive at the back door of the Millennium Tower. As usual, they rode the private elevator to the underground sixth floor.
Before the meeting, Gao Yang caught War Tiger when he was alone and told him about Ghost Horse.
“Are you sure about this?”
“I can’t be 100% sure,” Gao Yang said honestly. “But I feel like I should let you know ASAP.”
“Good man.” War Tiger patted him on the shoulder. “Alright, I’ll look into it. Let’s go to the meeting first.”
...
Ten minutes later, everyone outside of Dragon gathered in the Mouse Room, sitting around the long conference table.
White Rabbit led the meeting. She projected the encoded invitation from the Qilin Guild on the screen and rattled off a litany of curses, insulting everyone at the Qilin Guild and their whole extended family. Only then did she calm down.
“Take a breather, Rabbit.” War Tiger laughed and made a palm-down gesture at her.
With a huff, White Rabbit sat down.
War Tiger turned to the other members. “Well, what do you think?”
As the ones being recruited, Gao Yang, Qing Ling, and Officer Huang weren’t in the place to share their thoughts.
“I don’t get it. Why did they go for the three newbies?” Wu Dahai spoke up first. “They should’ve gone after the experienced, outstanding members like us!”
War Tiger shook his head in disappointment. “Good question. Stop asking.”
“Are you a moron?” White Rabbit rolled her eyes. “Recruiting senior members like us would be no different from welcoming wolves into their fold. Why would they do that?”
She then turned to the three of them. “They are different. They have only joined a while ago.”
In other words, they weren’t loyal to the organization, and they would be easy to train and win over.
“Haha.” Dead Pig guffawed before saying something surprisingly astute. “I would pick them too were I at the Qilin Guild. In the one month since their joining, they have entered two Rune Caves and got something out of it both times. Who knows how else they will surprise us? There are a lot of benefits to getting them.”
“Well said.” War Tiger smiled knowingly. “If they agree to join, it’s a great plus. If they don’t, this offer will serve as a significant temptation that will go on to undermine the solidarity of the Twelve Zodiac Signs. There’s no downside to it.”
“Those fucking snakes!” Wu Dahai growled. “We can’t let them have their way!”
“It seems the Prophecy of Seven is true,” Heavenly Dog said with a hint of concern in his usually lazy voice.
“What is the Prophecy of Seven?” Gao Yang was ever the curious one.
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