The Real Awakening - Book 1: Chapter 8: Zhu Nan

Short chapter, but the next one will be more than double this length…I’m sure you’ll be able to guess why once you finish reading this chapter. Also, I loved how this one had so many references to lines from V1C4! I had to actually go back and check what I had previously translated them as haha.

The 8 AM sunlight passed through the French windows, lazily climbing up Ye Xiao’s sleeping face.

“Tch, did I use too much force? Why is he still sleeping?”

Su Mu had already finished washing up and was neatly dressed. He glanced at his watch, then back at the man curled up on the living room sofa hugging a bunch of pillows, his eyes closed in sleep. Su Mu clicked his tongue in impatience. But just as he was wondering if this guy was unconscious, he unexpectedly noticed an abnormally satisfied expression on Ye Xiao’s face.

“Real-really…you’re treating me to eat? Then I won’t hold back…”

The man in deep sleep talked while swallowing his drool and he mumbled, “I want glass noodles…shrimp shaomai…abalone-sauce chicken feet…soy spare ribs…xiaolongbao, and…and…uwahhh!”

Before he could finish ordering, a glass of ice water was dumped upside down onto his face. Ye Xiao quivered, then woke up with a start, immediately shooting up into sitting position on the sofa. Water dripped from his hair as his eyes glanced around in confusion.

“And what?” A voice even colder than the ice water sounded from behind him.

Ye Xiao whipped his head around to see Su Mu with an empty glass in his hand, that dead face void of emotion pointed towards him.

“You…didn’t you say you were treating me to eat?” A certain person that remained stuck in an unrealistically perfect dream naturally only received an unrestrained eyeroll in response.

“It’s already eight. Are you not planning on going to work?”

As Su Mu calmly spoke, he turned around to pick up a tie and faced a mirror to secure it with practiced movements.

“Going-going to work?” Ye Xiao stared blankly for a moment. Then he looked around again and immediately leapt up and exclaimed in astonishment, “Where is this? Why am I here?”

“This is my home. Last night, you pestered me over and over to stay here for a night.” Su Mu eyed him from inside the mirror and added, “Also, you agreed to pay me a night’s worth of expense.”

“Pfft! Pay-pay you a night’s worth of expense?”

Ye Xiao’s eyes widened as his jaw dropped, so shocked that he legitimately looked as if he had just swallowed a raw egg. He anxiously asked, “What happened last night, why don’t I remember anything? Don’t tell me that I-I did something to you? But-but I don’t remember being interested in men too…”

Ye Xiao incoherently stammered this out, only to see Su Mu’s expression turning darker. Thus he hurriedly waved his hands as he explained, “Sorry, sorry, I-I don’t have any intention of avoiding responsibility…don’t get mad…”

As he spoke, he scratched his head in distress as he paced back and forth in front of the sofa, muttering to himself, “Weird, why don’t I remember anything? I only remember that yesterday we…went to Zhu Nan’s house, then took the long-distance bus back…then…then I seemed to have fallen asleep on the bus…and then…and then—owww…my head really hurts! Damn it! What in the world happened? Why am I here? Ughh…headache…why don’t I remember a single bit? Could it be that I’ve gotten early Alzheimer’s?”

“Oi, are you done acting demented by yourself over there?” Su Mu frowned at him and frigidly stated, “Headquarters just called. There’s been a fatal case at a swimming club in District A.”

“Swimming club?”

“Yes, an eyewitness claims to have discovered a monster in the pool.”

“Monster?” Ye Xiao caught onto something and rushed to grab his jacket. “Come on, let’s go take a look at the scene.”

As soon as he said this, he walked towards the front entrance without even looking back.

Su Mu stared at Ye Xiao’s back, lips silently curling upwards.

Inside the elevator, Ye Xiao felt that the shining, metal walls he was facing were exceptionally familiar. He used his fingers to tidy his chaotic hair and muttered, “So weird, I seem to be missing a chunk of memories from last night. I don’t remember why I’m at your place at all…I didn’t drink alcohol last night either, so why is it like this?”

“Heh, seems to me like you’ve gotten andropause early,” Su Mu smirked.

“Andropause, my ass!” Ye Xiao rolled his eyes in annoyance.

It was 9 AM when they arrived at the crime scene.

It was a women’s swimming club located in the first basement level of a gym. They were open to the public starting from 6:30 AM every day; as long as one got a club membership card, they could enter. Majority of the members were young women in their twenties and thirties that would come before work every morning to swim as exercise for half an hour to an hour.

The swimming club’s facility was pretty good, and the pool was extremely large. By the time Ye Xiao and Su Mu had rushed over, the pool’s water had already been completely drained, revealing the wet, pale blue tiles. In the middle of the tiled [bottom] was the shocking sight of an arm that had been separated from the shoulder.

Ye Xiao glanced at it and jumped down to the pool. When he walked up to get a closer look, he discovered that the severed end showed signs of being ripped. The fingers were curved like claws, and there were some dark green fibres stuck in the cracks of the split nails.

The owner of this arm was a 27-year-old white collar worker that had already been declared as dead due to excessive blood loss on the way to the hospital. She was the second victim. The first victim’s corpse was still next to the pool. However, her head had been removed from her body, now in a corner after tumbling over by itself like a rubber ball.

According to the eyewitness, this young woman had died after her neck had been bitten in half.

“Neck bitten in half? By who…er, or by what?”

Ye Xiao glanced at the sole eyewitness sitting on the bench inside the changing room.

It was the first deceased’s swimming instructor. She was 36 years old, a retired athlete.

She had a large towel wrapped around her and a swimming cap clutched in her hands. Her hair was dishevelled, her entire body curled up as it trembled.

“I don’t know…I don’t know what it was…” She hugged her arms tightly, her body coiling up further as she brokenly described, “The swimming club was the same as usual this morning, opening its doors at 6:30 sharp. That female student is always the first to arrive…she quickly changed her clothes and entered the pool by herself first. The other student and I were slower…when we finished changing, we heard a scream and we raced over to the pool to see…see a monster…bite her neck in half…The other student was scared and turned to flee, but that monster immediately pounced onto her and sank its teeth into her arm. She kept screaming…I didn’t dare to go forth and retreated into the changing room and locked the door. From the glass window on the door, I saw that monster snap her arm off and then leap into the pool. Then…it disappeared…”

“Monster…” Ye Xiao muttered to himself after hearing this testimony. Then he asked, “What kind of monster?”

“I-I don’t know…I’ve never seen something so terrifying before..”

“Can you describe its body?”

“It…its entire body was covered in scales…it was very big and very fierce…its teeth were very sharp…It-it also had a very long tail…oh right, just like a fish’s tail, and it swam quickly through the water…”

“When you say scales, do you mean something like this?”

At this point, Su Mu came over with a black handkerchief that had a small oval-shaped item inside it. This was precisely the object he had picked up from Yu Xiao Yu’s car before.

The woman neared him to get a closer look then immediately nodded. “Yes, yes, it had scales like that! That monster had those all over its body. It was horrifying!”

Ye Xiao and Su Mu exchanged a meaningful glance with each other.

After leaving the crime scene, Ye Xiao said, “Xu Yi Feng and Qin Ni’s corpses all had these scales. Now there’s a monster that is covered in these. Looks like this entire matter has an undeniable relationship with the Yu family’s father and daughter pair.”

Su Mu gazed off into the distance wordlessly.

“Ah, so annoying! Why is this case getting more complicated the further it progresses?”

Ye Xiao scratched his head furiously, his thoughts in turmoil.

That evening, they once again visited the Yu family villa in the middle of the mountains. This time, the were welcomed with an empty building that seemed dead. The front door was not locked. When they opened it and stepped inside, they were assaulted by a rotten odour.

They followed the strong stench to the basement entrance and found a shocking scene appear before them.

The basement was covered in water. There were two corpses soaking there, one male and one female.

The male corpse was the villa’s owner, Yu Zhi De. His face was pointed at the ceiling, his mouth open and his eyes bulging in terror. His throat was shredded apart and his limbs had already stiffened, having died many hours ago. The female corpse seemed to be a junior high school student. There was a bloody blunt-impact injury on her head, and her body was missing a calf.

Faced with this scene, Ye Xiao immediately called headquarters to notify the criminal investigations unit. As he was dialling out, a green talon covered in scales suddenly reached out from the water thank behind him and grabbed onto his shoulder.

Ye Xiao thought it was Su Mu, so he hadn’t expected to see a creature that was neither human nor demon when he turned his head. In his alarm, he immediately let slip a shout and hurriedly shot backwards. However, that thing never loosened a grip from his clothes. Eventually, Ye Xiao ended up dragging it out from the tank bit by bit so that it lay soaking wet on the ground.

Ye Xiao sharply gasped in astonishment.

Heavens! What in the world is it? Its entire body was black and sported thick layers of scales. The upper half of its body seemed to share a slight resemblance to a human figure: the head, neck, shoulders, and arms. However, those places were covered in dark-brown scales, making it impossible to determine the true appearance underneath the scales. The lower half of its body had a pair of legs that did not look like legs…A fish tail? And it’s missing half of its tail!

“Save…save me…save…me…”

It opened its bloodshot eyes wide to fixate firmly onto Ye Xiao. As if clutching onto its last hope, it stubbornly refused to let go of Ye Xiao’s clothing as a raspy voice struggled to come out from the depths of its throat.

Ye Xiao was bit dumbstruck as he froze there in shock.

Su Mu slowly walked up and lowered his body to meet the creature’s eyes. Then he calmly asked, “You can speak? Tell me, who are you?”

The monster was taken aback for a moment. Then a squeaking voice came from its mouth filled with sharp fangs.

“I…I’m…”

It only managed to say these two words before it suddenly let go and fainted.

Ye Xiao held his forehead and stated in disbelief, “Is-is it a human or a monster? Is it the one responsible for the two deaths at the pool?”

“Don’t know.” Su Mu shook his head and crouched down to take a look. “It isn’t dead yet. We need to quickly send it to the forensics department and try our best to save it.”

“But what’s with this girl?” Ye Xiao shifted his gaze over to the female body as he asked in a perplexed tone, “What the heck happened? Now even Yu Zhi De is dead…what about his daughter? Where is that female doctor?”

Consequently, Yu Xiao Yu went missing, her whereabouts unknown. She did not report to work at the hospital, nor did she appear in anyone’s line of sight. It was as though she had evaporated from society without a trace.

After investigation, it was determined that the dead girl found in the Yu family villa’s basement was a female corpse that had previously gone missing from D-University’s affiliated hospital morgue.

Apparently, this hospital inexplicably had corpses go missing frequently. There would also be patients that would suddenly vanish, thus the rumours of it being haunted. At the moment, Dr. Yu Xiao Yu was the biggest suspect for stealing the bodies, so the police were forced to place her onto the list of wanted criminals.

Corpse theft…what was she using those corpses for? Don’t tell me that the grandpa that had disappeared for no reason back when I was at the hospital had also been taken away by Yu Xiao Yu? And the one that had attacked me was her too? Why would she do that? And where exactly is she now? Why is she hiding?

Ye Xiao sat in the police station’s break room to smoke a cigarette alone.

“You really can’t judge a book by its cover. That delicate and pretty woman looked gentle and frail, yet she actually stole things – dead bodies, for that matter.” He sighed and shook his head.

At this moment, Su Mu strode in to make coffee.

“Oh, you’re back. How was it?” Ye Xiao snuffed the cigarette in his hands and stood.

The monster they had found in the Yu family basement had not woken this whole time, so Su Mu had grabbed a photo of it to interrogate the eyewitness from the pool incident. However, that eyewitness had responded with denial.

“What, the monster she saw wasn’t this one?” Ye Xiao raised his brow in astonishment.

“Yes. She said that although it looked similar, she was certain that it wasn’t the one in the photo.”

“Why? On what basis was she so certain?”

“Because the one she saw seemed to be—” Su Mu paused. “Female.”

“Pfft, female? Isn’t that a bit excessive? Monsters have distinctions between male and female?”

“Because the monster she saw in the swimming pool had a protruding chest, like a woman. But the one in the photo clearly does not.”

“Eh…so that means the monster tied to the bed in the forensics ward is male?”

“Perhaps; it’s not impossible.” Su Mu shrugged.

“Oh god!” Ye Xiao held his head in his hands. “Every discovery in this case had simply overturned my worldview! First it’s a genetically mutated kid and now there are monsters that have distinct genders! This-this is just too crazy!”

He let out a heavy sigh. Then he suddenly recalled the words that Su Mu had once told him.

“Maybe the world that I see is not necessarily the real world…” Ye Xiao murmured quietly to himself.

Su Mu glanced at him and wordlessly picked up his cup of coffee to take a sip.

Three days later, the monster finally woke up. Though the pool’s case might not have been caused by it, the forensic unit’s staff still used chains to tie it to the bed frame just in case. When Ye Xiao and Su Mu went to see it, its sunken eyes were blankly staring up at the ceiling.

“You…should be able to understand what I’m saying, right?” Ye Xiao walked up to the bedside and looked at the monster.

The monster on the bed did not respond. After a while, its blank gaze slowly shifted over.

“Professor Yu Zhi De is dead. This place—” Ye Xiao pointed at his throat. “Was bitten in half. Was it your doing?”

It stared unmovingly at Ye Xiao for a silent moment. Then it opened its cracked lips bit by bit to say with a scratchy voice, “It ran away…it…is in the sewers.”

“It? Who’s it?” Ye Xiao asked in astonishment.

“Monster! Obviously that human-eating monster! It killed Professor!”

Its emotions suddenly stirred, arms waving up and down, causing the chains on the bed frame to clang.

Su Mu leaned against the doorway with his arms crossed. He cast a sideways glance at it and mockingly asked, “Are you referring to the female monster that has a very similar appearance to you?”

It jolted in shock, its eyes widening to glare fiercely at Su Mu. After a moment, it slowly lowered its arms and quieted down.

Indeed, it had come to the sudden realisation that in these people’s eyes, it was actually not any different from that monster.

Thus, it silently lowered its gaze and shut its mouth, not saying another word.

Ye Xiao scratched his head, his brows tightly knit together as he asked, “The monster that attacked the people at the pool really went hiding in the sewers? Ahhhh, that really is troublesome. The sewers can connect to various corners of the city, and we won’t know exactly when it’ll run out from somewhere to bite someone else…Hm, though now that I’m thinking about, if that monster can also speak, does that mean it has the ability to think as well? Where exactly do you guys come from? Aliens? Or mutants?”

“Shut up! Don’t bring up me together with that monster! I’m not like it! I’m…I’m…”

Its tone was furious, but its voice gradually grew quieter, then even quieter, before finally turning into low sobs.

“You’re a human, aren’t you?” Su Mu finished in its place. He walked up step after step to slowly state, “If my guess is correct, you should be Zhu Nan. Is that right?”

The monster on the bed shuddered. After pausing for half a second, a shout ripped out from its throat. “No! I’m not Zhu Nan! Zhu Nan is already dead! I’m not Zhu Nan!”

“Zhu Nan, tell me. What exactly happened on that trip to sea eight years ago?”

Su Mu’s gaze pierced straight through him.

He still shook his head as he repeatedly screamed, “I’m not Zhu Nan! Not Zhu Nan! Don’t ask me!”

“Running away won’t solve the problem. Zhu Nan, why have you turned this way? And what is the story behind that monster? Answer me.” Su Mu interrogated in an overbearing manner.

“No! No! Zhu Nan is dead! Zhu Nan is already dead!” He continued to yell crazily.

“Alright. You refuse to admit you are Zhu Nan, is that it?”

The corners of Su Mu’s lips curled upwards into a sneer, his tone harsh as he said, “Then I can have your parents come over and have them confirm to see if you really are their son or not. I would think that even if your appearance has changed, as parents, they would still be able to instantly recognise their biological son just from voice and tone alone, no? If their pitiful parental hearts did not know their daughter died eight years ago and their son has currently become a monster that’s neither human nor human, how would they feel if they saw you? What do you think?”

He blanked out during the malicious words, but the blow to his weak spot finally made him collapse completely.

“Don’t-don’t do it…Don’t bring my parents here…” Zhu Nan closed his eyes, tears flowing down endlessly. He chokingly pleaded, “The reason I left home was so that they wouldn’t see the appearance I’ve transformed into…I beg of you, don’t go looking for them…I don’t want them to see…”

As he spoke, he wept heartbrokenly in grief.

Ye Xiao truly could not bear to keep watching. He sighed and comforted, “Alright, I promise you, we won’t call your parents over for the time being. But you must tell me the truth of the incident.”

Zhu Nan tilted his head and sniffed. After a long, long silence, when his tears had all dried up, he slowly opened his eyes. They moved to look at Ye Xiao, as if gathering the courage to make a decision.

He trembled as he replied, “If…if I tell you everything, can you do me a favour?”

“What favour? As long as I am able, I will definitely try my best to help you.”

“Once I tell you the truth, please…kill me.”

“Kill you?” Ye Xiao was stunned.

“Yes, I don’t want to continue living like this, apprehensively struggling at death’s door every day.”

Zhu Nan slowly spoke, his blank eyes landing on the tall ceiling in an unfocused manner.

He said, “Actually, I already know that it’s impossible for me to return to my original appearance. It was just that before, I was always holding onto that dream, the dream that there would come a day when Professor could cure me with some method. Now that even the professor is dead, there’s no longer any hope. There will eventually come a day when I will become that monster through and through. Then I’ll be laid on a surgery table to become dissection material for research. No, no, I don’t want that…dying might be easier. Just like Qin Ni, Wei Jin, just like Yi Feng and Xiao Hua, as well as Senior Ouyang. They no longer have to suffer anymore…”

Once he finished speaking, Zhu Nan’s scale-covered facial muscles twitched.

He seemed to be smiling with boundless yearning reflected in his turbid eyes.

Ye Xiao silently listened without uttering a word.

Instead, it was Su Mu standing off to the side who spoke up. “Alright, I accept. I will personally end your life.”

Ye Xiao was turned his gaze towards Su Mu in shock.

Su Mu coldly said, “What he said is right. Rather than living through this type of suffering, he may as well just die.”

“But…despite becoming like this, he still isn’t a monster. He’s a living human—”

Ye Xiao glared at Su Mu, but before he could finish speaking, he was cut off.

“You are too naïve. Not every person in this world has significance and worth to its existence.”

Su Mu’s expression was unfeeling, his tone even more so, as though it was a merciless proclamation of truth.

Ye Xiao was stunned. His mouth opened as if to refute, but he heard Zhu Nan slowly say, “Thank you.”

These words were directed at Su Mu.

Ye Xiao was at a loss for words. Su Mu expressionlessly leaned against the window showing the setting sun in the west.

Zhu Nan let out a long breath and calmly said, “Fine then, I will tell you guys about what happened eight years ago.”