The Creatures that We Are

Abandoned amusement park, Nanji District, one o’clock in the morning.

Gao Yang had been silent ever since White Dew appeared in the front yard of the Spectres' Mansion and posed the question about having a cat. His face was impassive, his eyes blank and his body stiff, like a robot that had lost its programming.

White Dew appeared normal, so much so that she seemed cold.

She had been talking nonstop as they headed to the amusement park, like talking to a stone.

"Twins can sense each other, and I knew it the moment Fresh Snow left."

"I knew where she hid herself. It was the place she could least forget."

"I was going to make you guess. I'm sure you would guess it. But I decided against it. It's bad to leave her body there for so long. You should just come with me. She'll be happy that you're there for her."

"Don't blame yourself, Gao Yang. No matter what you do, it won't change a thing. The day the Malediction died, the Spectres were doomed to go."

"The Godbearer Cult is only fifty percent right. Our curses are related to the Malediction, or it'll be more accurate to say that our curses came from the Malediction. If the Malediction lived, it would be able to control us sooner or later. Once the Malediction died, our curses would slowly fade like a stream cut off from its source. That we can sense."

“However, there’s something the Cult omitted or simply didn’t know: our lives are not in conflict with our curses, but dependent on them. Once the curses are gone, we cannot live.”

“Ha, we never have a way out. If the Malediction lives, we die. If the Malediction dies, we also die.”

“Poor Spring. The hope he had been seeking his whole life turned out to be despair wrapped in a box called hope and decorated with a ribbon named absurdity.”

“Spring’s curse disappeared the soonest, so he seized an opportune time and gave himself a grand funeral, helping his son-in-law in the process. He actually liked you quite a lot. You are the only family outside of Spectres Spring recognized.”

“Oh, right. Waking Insects passed away on the eve of the Lunar New Year. I didn’t spend the holiday with you because I had to take care of him.”

“It’s not a bad thing that Fresh Snow left this world before me. I can see her off properly. She knew that no matter where she hid, her sister would always find her.”

“If she had been the last one to go, how incredibly lonely she would’ve been.”

“Still, although Fresh Snow told me that she no longer feared anything after falling in love, I’m not sure if she was putting on a brave face.”

“To be honest with you, I once fell in love with a human, and I ended up eating him. Perhaps Fresh Snow was more gifted in this regard than I am.”

“We’re here.”

It was all white around them, the world serene and rueful. The abandoned amusement park seemed like a pure white ruin forgotten at the bottom of the ocean of time.

White Dew retracted her black umbrella and gracefully shook off the snow.

Pelted in snow, Gao Yang looked ahead with blank eyes, face ashen like a walking corpse.

“Go ahead. Fresh Snow wants to see you the most.” White Dew smiled wryly. “Seriously, prioritizing her crush over her sister? This girl.”

Gao Yang’s neck was stiff like stone as he looked up at the tragically worn Ferris wheel with difficulty.

“Why…are you so calm?”

White Dew looked up, too, still smiling.

“We’ve been practicing saying goodbye every second every day.”

…

Gao Yang teleported to the blue and white pod at the zenith of the Ferris wheel. It was the pod Gao Yang and Fresh Snow had ridden for the first and the last time. ȑᴀ𐌽ȯᛒЁş

He held onto the door handle and couldn’t open it.

He took a deep breath before activating his Talent. His gaze calmed and cooled. Finally, he opened the rusty metal door to find Fresh Snow inside.

She sat on the right side of the pod with her head tilted, leaning against the glass window. Silver hair running down her shoulders, she wore a white dress and a pair of red Mary Jane shoes—Gao Yang’s New Year gift for her. She finally put them on rather than keeping them well-stored at home like treasure.

Beside her was a small white box, open by a crack.

Fresh Snow’s expression was calm with a hint of smile tugging her lips, as if she had simply fallen asleep while waiting for Gao Yang to arrive.

“Fresh Snow?”

Gao Yang opened his mouth. It didn’t feel like the voice was coming from himself.

Fresh Snow didn’t respond.

Gao Yang stepped into the small pod with snow and chill clinging to him.

“Fresh Snow,” Gao Yang called out once more. Still, the girl didn’t react.

He reached a finger under her nose.

It was barely a second, yet Gao Yang’s brain stubbornly conjured fantasies of White Dew popping up outside the pod, howling with laughter after getting back at him, “Hahaha, you’re duped! Serve you right for breaking my sister’s heart!”

And Fresh Snow would open her eyes and laugh mischievously, “Haha, it’s a prank, Gao Yang. I knew you would be worried about me…”

His wishful thinking did not come true.

The moment his finger reached her nose, he pulled back like he was electrocuted.

His blood quietly froze over.

No, breathing wasn’t a reliable sign, was it? He reached for her wrist instead.

It was cold, yet it made him pull back like scorching iron.

His frozen blood began to crack and shatter. His heart clenched.

“Don’t do this, Fresh Snow…”

Gao Yang put aside the box and sat down next to Fresh Snow. With a strange smile, he shook her shoulders gently. “Please stop joking. This isn’t funny…”

Fresh Snow slid toward Gao Yang. He hurriedly caught her. Her body was soft and boneless like water.

“Fresh Snow, stop playing. Wake up. Let’s go home. Why don’t we go home…”

Gao Yang kept righting her body, but she kept slipping. It felt like trying to contain water with a sieve.

He held Fresh Snow tightly to keep her upright, his knees shaking and the back of his head knocking against the pod. Chin resting on the crown of her hair, he adjusted her head. “Please stop sleeping, Fresh Snow. I’m begging you. Please wake up…”

Fresh Snow’s clenched right fist slowly loosened.

Gao Yang blinked at the mint candy hidden in her half-unfurled hand.

It was an unassuming little white candy wrapped in green packaging, cheap and common. One could grab several at a dining place or a hotel without anyone protesting.

And Gao Yang had grabbed two candies after having hot pot with Qing Ling, giving it to Fresh Snow as a cheap consolation.

Fresh Snow liked it so much that she had one then and there.

Yet she never had the heart to eat the other one even as she faced her death.

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