The Creatures that We Are

50th floor of White Lake Hotel, Changyan District, two o’clock in the afternoon.

During the last night of the Crimson Tide, the White Lake Hotel had lost its top floors to a “natural gas explosion”, which hadn’t been repaired by the Heavenly Way.

For the next two months, the Qilin Guild repaired the hotel. The top floors were still used as dorm rooms, recreational areas, and shelters, but having lost White Tiger as the chief of security and many members, the place became much more desolate.

Most members lived on their own, or they were out for a mission.

Dressed in a brown coat and beige casual pants, Vermilion Bird stood in a member elevator on red heels with a bag of four cups of hot milk tea. She was going to head back to her suite.

Ding. The elevator door opened. Vermilion Bird’s eyes darkened when she simultaneously saw the member elevator across from her opening. Two people were standing inside. Since the particular elevator led to the underground hyperloop station, they must have come from the Walled City of Ten Dragons.

One of them was Yan Liang, still wearing black cotton clothes and a mask with lopsided features.

Beside him was a middle-aged man in a black double-breasted trench coat. He was tall and slim with a wide forehead, tall nose, and square chin, his short black hair combed back neatly. His glasses were finely made and rimless. He gave off a conscientious and calm but rigid impression.

He was Correcting Sickle, with Talent: Memory Tailor, serial number 44, Psyche-type.

His Talent allowed him to create a psychic forcefield to influence and disturb the target’s short-term memory, causing debuffs like a loss of information or logic distortion.

Through prolonged eye contact, he could even accurately adjust, erase, fabricate, and rearrange the target’s memories, changing the target’s life experience entirely to reshape their personality.

Correcting Sickle had been an Elite on Team Vermilion Bird, and he sometimes used his Talent to help Vermilion Bird treat their teammates’ trauma. He had contributed to Scarlet Fox’ overcoming his despair.

Now, he was Elder Yan Liang’s subordinate.

“Elder Vermilion Bird.” Correcting Sickle greeted his former supervisor, speaking in a clear, low, and cool voice.

Vermilion Bird nodded at him in response.

The three walked out of the elevators at the same time.

“What are you here for, Elder Yan Liang?” Vermilion Bird had a dark look on her face.

“I’m here for Ke Yo,” said Yan Liang.

“What for?”

“I heard that she’s lost her memory.”

“Yes.”

“I’m going to have Correcting Sickle fabricate some memory for her and turn her into a proper Guild member. Ke Yo has a nice Talent. We can make good use of her.”

“No!” Vermilion Bird had guessed that he was up to no good.

“Elder Vermilion Bird…”

“Don’t try to convince me with your tricks.” Vermilion Bird didn’t mince her words. “For one, it’s inhumane. It’s incredibly dangerous to implant a large amount of false information in the mind of someone who has lost all memories. Without the support of real memories, if one day she recovered, a clash and a breakdown would be the kinder of the fates she may meet. She could lose her mind entirely.”

Yan Liang was silent for two seconds. He glanced to the side at Correcting Sickle. “Is that so?”

“Yes,” Correcting Sickle said honestly. “There’s a sixty percent chance for the memory implant to succeed. If she recovers her original memories, there’s an eighty percent chance that she could go mad.”

He adjusted his glasses and continued, “I’m better at making corrections, subtly changing one’s personality and morality through adjusting the details of key memories. It’ll take time, but is a much safer approach. Now, though, Ke Yo has too few memories, and there’s nothing I can do.”

“Hm.” Yan Liang thought for a moment. “How great is the odds of Ke Yo recovering her memories?”

“There’s no telling that. She may never recover, or she may recover the next second.”

“I say it’s worth the gamble.”

“No!” Vermilion Bird interrupted. “Guildmaster put Ke Yo under my charge. I won’t allow you to do that.”

“Elder Vermilion Bird, this is wartime…”

“So we have to stick to our principles as humans. If we lose the support of our people, we will lose the war sooner or later,” Vermilion Bird said with determination. “If you just waltz in and modify Ke Yo’s memories, are you going to do the same to us tomorrow?”

“That’s a strawman fallacy.” Yan Liang was unfazed. “Ke Yo was a member of Tails. Being merciful to enemies constitutes cruelty to your own people.”

“Ke Yo isn’t an enemy. She’s never done anything terrible.” Vermilion Bird insisted. “Leave her to me, Elder Yan Liang. I’ll have her join the Guild in my own way.”

And that was what she had been doing.

Half of Team Vermilion Bird were problem kids, including Scarlet Fox and Raven Shark. Vermilion Bird had saved them from their mental cages and made them into companions.

She softened her voice. “I know you’re suggesting this for the Guild’s benefits, Elder Yan Liang, but the method is not only inhumane but also dangerous. If Ke Yo loses it during an important mission and pulls both friends and foes into her Strange Realm, it will be a disaster.”

“That’s unlikely to happen,” said Yan Liang.

“But it can happen.” Vermilion Bird didn’t back down. “If you insist on doing that, I’ll request a meeting and vote to make a decision.”

Yan Liang wasn’t persuaded. In fact, he saw Vermilion Bird as immature.

However, he knew that if he insisted, there would be a great fissure between him and Vermilion Bird even if he succeeded, which would be a great danger factor and variable for the Qilin Guild in this war.

Yan Liang nodded slightly. “Alright. Do it your way, but be quick.”

“I’ll do my best,” Vermilion Bird said.

The two men returned to the elevator. Once the door closed, Vermilion Bird took a deep breath and collected herself.

She carried the milk tea to Room 5021. Knocking on the door, she waited a few seconds. Then she pressed the doorbell. Still, no one answered.

Vermilion Bird sighed. Then she sent a message on her phone.

About ten seconds later, the door opened.

On the other side was a young man in his twenties, wearing a large pink jumper printed with a cartoon mermaid princess.

He was small and thin, his light blue hair a messy nest of curls. His face was pale to the point of appearing malnourished, and his eyes were deep-set with large black irises. His gaze was somewhat unfocused, fixed on a point lower than his eye level.

From Vermilion Bird’s point of view, it would seem like he was staring at her chest.

Houseau3's Thoughts

Hmm seems like Vermilion Bird's feeling alienized by the direction the Guild's going now...

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