The Creatures that We Are

“Haha.” Since Gray Bear had heard her, Can opted to raise her voice and said, “Uncle Bear worked as a bodyguard for Moon City's elite. After getting the Jupiter Virus, he got a supernatural physique and strength. There’s a side effect though—he grew lots of hair on his upper body like a bear. He shaved himself every day, and that did little. It got so annoying that Uncle Bear saved up for half a year to replace his skin with a cybernetic one, making him impenetrable to blades!”

“Hmph, not only to blades. Not even lasers could cut me!” Gray Bear was proud of every augmentation he had done; the more expensive, the prouder he was of the investment.

Vermilion Bird tapped her long index finger on the Red Scorpion on her outer thigh. Two seconds later, a hologram projected out of her black prosthetic eye at a life-size scale.

The scene showed the elevated parking lot of the Moonlight Hotel in District 1 of Moon City. A triphibian car stopped, and three people emerged. The driver stepped out first—a middle-aged man under 175 centimeters, with narrow shoulders and a thin face. His rimless glasses framed a pair of shrewd, guarded eyes, as if he had never trusted another soul. His hair was meticulously combed back.

Then there was a tall, burly bald man with a plump face, wearing a black suit and black sunglasses, very typical of a bodyguard.

Last came a handsome, graceful middle-aged man in a light blue trenchcoat over a checkered shirt and casual pants, emanating an air of casual elegance.

Gao Yang immediately recognized two familiar faces: the driver was Black Tortoise, and the man in the trenchcoat was Yan Feng.

The holographic video paused. Vermilion Bird stepped forward to indicate the man in the trenchcoat. His information immediately appeared—age, height, personality, identity, and physical data.

“This is Yan Feng, a movie star in Moon City. I’m sure you all know him.”

“Whoa!” Can was excited. “I just watched his new film Moon City Knows No Tears[1]. He really knows how to act with his eyes. He can look adoring even when staring at a bottle of drink.”

“And he’s our target,” Vermilion Bird explained at a deliberate pace. “He’s a celebrity on the surface, but he’s part of a syndicate—a middle manager in charge of checking wares for human trafficking. Not regular humans, of course, but Jupiter Travelers. I’m not sure what use they have for them, though.“

“Seriously? There goes my celebrity crush!” Can was disappointed.

“It’s been two years since you came to Moon City, Can,” Gray Bear jabbed at her. “You should gain some mass in your brain too rather than only in your body.”

“Nonsense! I didn’t gain any weight! But you gained ten kilos!” Can shot back.

“I gained weight from the prosthetics, stupid!”

Vermilion Bird ignored their bickering and walked up to the driver, calling up his information. “This is Gui Zhe. On the surface, he is Yan Feng’s manager and rarely leaves his side, but the man’s also a middle manager in the syndicate. He’s most likely a colleague at the same rank as Yan Feng. He keeps a low profile, so there’s little intel on him.”

She turned back to click on the burly bald man. A dense array of information popped up.

“This is Berserking Lion, used to be a mercenary. He’s now Yan Feng’s personal bodyguard. Every part of his body except his head has undergone multiple augmentations. As a side effect, he's lost most human desires. His only hobby is killing people.”

“Sounds, dangerous,” Ronnie said as he input Berserking Lion’s information into the Green Box.

“He is dangerous, but he has an obvious weakness.” Vermilion Bird chuckled. “He’s basically a machine without a military-grade firewall. I can turn him into a chunk of metal in two seconds.”

“Haha, he’s meeting his natural bane,” Gray Bear said.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The mission is much more difficult than simple assassination.” Vermilion Bird waved away the hologram, replacing it with photos of a bar.

“I’ll only go through this once.” She raised her voice. “Tomorrow night, I’ll go to this bar to trade with Yan Feng.”

She turned to Lithe Snake and Gray Bear. “You’ll be my bodyguards.”

“Got it!”

She looked at Xiran. “You’re the bartender.”

“Understood.” Xiran nodded.

Vermilion Bird then said to Ronnie, “You’re the DJ.‘

“O.K.”

Then Can. “You’re going to be a drunk patron. Try to make it believable.”

“Hm…” Can considered it. “It’s a little difficult, but not a big problem.”

Finally, Vermilion Bird addressed Gao Yang, “You’re my ware.”

Gao Yang didn’t take long to catch on.

Vermilion Bird was going to trade Gao Yang, an actual Jupiter Traveler who had just woken up, to Yan Feng, making the act as convincing as possible.

“During the trade, my ware,” she gestured at him, “will suddenly lose control and make everyone with an S Chip go into a few seconds of disorientation with some sort of superpower that disrupts neural signals. Then my ware escapes in the chaos. The trade fails. That’s the entirety of the mission.”

“Wait, why does that sound like a terrible prank?” Gray Bear commented.

“Patience.” Vermilion Bird smiled. “That’s only what we’re doing on the surface. There’s a hidden layer.”

“The reality is that during the three minutes I put them out, I'll infiltrate Yan Feng's brain, digitize and copy all his memories within the week, then turn it over to the buyer. That's the real mission.”

“Why go through the trouble?” Gray Bear asked. “Just take them all out.”

“If it were so simple, the gig would never have come to us.” Lithe Snake scoffed. “Gray Bear, the part you should replace with a prosthetic the most is your brain.”

Gray Bear glared at him. “Fuck off!”

Vermilion Bird continued, “The buyer asked us to get the information covertly so as to not alert anyone, or the information will be moot.”

“Got it!” Can’s eyes lit up. “That’s why we must pull the perfect con!”

“Yes.” Vermilion Bird’s gaze sharpened. “On the surface, it’s only a failed trade. My ware suddenly loses it with his superpower and runs away. Jupiter Travelers are inherently unstable. Nothing will seem strange.”

“The target will think they have only been disturbed for a few seconds, when in truth they have been out for three minutes. The key of the mission will be to conceal that fact.”

“If they realize that they have been out for longer, they will suspect that their brains have been infiltrated and thus check their S Chips closely. I won’t be able to wipe out all my traces in three minutes. There will be signs.”

“Alerting them will render the information the buyer gets useless. Not only won’t we get the rest of the payment, we may lead trouble to our doorstep.”

“Interesting.” Lithe Snake lived for the challenge of a gig.

The others nodded.

“Clock’s ticking. Let’s start with the preparation.”

1. Probably a reference to the Soviet film, Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears. ☜

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