No Hero Volume 3: Non-Human Killer
Original novel in Chinese by: 御我(Yu Wo)
Human, Non-Human Killer Chapter 8: The Goal of Non-Humans and the Hope of Humans—translated by ErodingPersona
May 6, 2110, Sunny
The little young master passed the university’s entrance exams and voiced his intention to move to a place close by his university.
Of course, he intended to live alone.
This time, it was the Sun Emperor who was having a cold war with the little young master. He refused to talk to the little young master, and naturally refused to accept the request.
The little young master kept on trying to explain to the Sun Emperor. He looked very upset and very exhausted.
Poor child…
The young master returned to where Ji Luo Chu was. Based on the scenes from the surveillance equipment, the young master seemed to be crying. However, they were not entirely sure either. In the end, the young master returned to the rooftop of the studio. Since the surveillance cameras there had long since been shut down, not even Mr. Bramble and the others could monitor the young master’s condition.
“Please inform Melody.”
After telling them this, I could only speed up to hurry and take a look at the situation. In a short while, I closed in on the studio, and from afar could see the people on top of the roof. They looked like they were still filming. This relieved me; all was well as long as the young master was not hiding somewhere, crying alone.
I leaped to the roof of the studio, not making any effort to avoid any surveillance cameras. No trace of me would remain on camera. There was no need to avoid them unnecessarily.
They really were filming. Ji Luo Chu and Ah Da were standing behind the cameras, staring at me wordlessly. The young master’s back was to me, and he was kneeling on the floor.
“Please disregard my presence and continue filming.” I smiled and said, “I assure you that your videos will not have me in them.”
Ji Luo Chu and Ah Da were still dumbfounded… Maybe the young master has performed so admirably, to the point that they can only stare in wonder again?
I took a few steps, going past the young master, and then turned to look at him, wanting to see his performance that had left the pair dumbfounded again… He’s crying!
The young master raised his head and looked at me. He opened his mouth but said nothing. Tears kept on falling. Finally, he turned to look at the camera, both hands posed in a way that it looked like he was holding something. He looked down at his palms, but aside from his dripping tears, there was nothing there. It must be a pose necessitated by the advertisement.
“Why are you still filming?”
Seeing this, I felt a wave of fury and immediately slid to the front of the camera and blocked the lens. I yelled at the pair, “Can neither of you see that there is something wrong with the young master? Or are you doing this on purpose? Is filming so important?”
Ji Luo Chu looked at me and replied, flustered, “Ah Ye, he, he… I don’t know, he just came up to me, grabbed me, and said that he wanted to film ‘Teardrops.’ I couldn’t refuse him… He was crying as he said that! How was I supposed to turn him down?“
Hearing this, I immediately realized that I had wrongfully blamed him.
I nodded to indicate my understanding and requested, “Please, stop the filming now!”
Ji Luo Chu heaved a sigh of relief. “Alright.”
“No!” The young master suddenly yelled, “I want to continue! You’re not allowed to stop. I want to do ‘Teardrops’…”
I flinched and swiveled my head to look at the young master. This allowed me to understand Ji Luo Chu’s dilemma… The young master stared at me with tears streaming down his face, determinedly shouting, “I’m doing this advertisement!”
You even need a reason… to cry?
”As you wish.” I gently requested, “But please allow me to remain by your side? The camera will not capture my likeness.”
The young master nodded. I walked to his left side and stood behind him; however, there was nothing more I could do.
The following session was perhaps the hardest one to experience in the whole world. The young master made no sound as he cried, as we were filming and not doing a photo shoot. There was not even the sound of a shutter. Thus, the site descended into rigid silence. Ji Luo Chu was completely at a loss. He could only bury his head behind the camera and film without stopping.
He fared better than Ah Da, who stood stock-still by his side, as if afraid to even blink.
The maddeningly silent filming kept on going, until the clear ”click” of a pair of high heels shattered the unbearable quiet.
I looked toward the origin of the sound, nearly feeling like we had been saved.
A pair of brilliant red high heels stopped behind the young master’s right side. The young master did not look back, weeping as he said, “Melody, Melody, please don’t kill Yina-jiě and the rest of them, okay?”
Melody knelt down, her hand reaching out to lightly smooth the young master’s hair. She gently replied, “Got it, Young Master. I won’t kill them.”
“Then, can you come home? I miss you.”
“Alright.” Melody wrapped her arms around the young master and spoke to him like she was coaxing a child, “Whatever you want, my little young master.”
The young master gripped Melody’s hand, sobbing, “You and Charles stay at home by my side. Bramble-shū, Dell, May, and Briar too. I don’t want anyone else. I don’t need anyone else!”
“Okay, okay.” Melody hugged the young master tightly and mumbled, “Anything you want, as long as you’re happy, Young Master.”
That might not be for the best… I hesitated but did not speak. What the young master needed at the moment was not an explanation or counseling. He needed a hug.
In the following days, the young master kept having photo shoots, finishing the three proposals he liked in merely three days. However, he refused to stop there, and Ji Luo Chu could only take on the other cases he initially had no intention of undertaking. The only thing was, they never entirely followed the requirements of those cases, and instead switched to themes and filming techniques that they preferred.
Ah Da shrugged his shoulders. “As long as the effect is good, and we’re unwilling to do a reshoot, then it’ll be up to the client to decide whether or not to use it. If they don’t want to, then that’s their problem! After all, at the moment…” He looked at the young master and Ji Luo Chu, who were not too far away, and spoke quietly, “We’re just keeping Ah Ye company through shoots!”
“Forgive us for the trouble.”
“Trouble? I showed a few of the clients the results. They weren’t entirely happy that their requests weren’t followed to the letter, but not a single one of them has refused them so far! In my opinion, maybe all of them could work out. Then, our studio would really be rolling in cash!”
Besides the time spent doing photo shoots, the young master was spending almost entire days patrolling outside. Other than the east managed by Dark Sun, he even went to patrol First Wind’s west end, since Ji Luo Chu and Ah Da had their hands full just with managing the advertisements.
The young master was going out so often, he sometimes even forgot to come back for his meals. My workload had lightened considerably. My main job now was to deliver both lunch and dinner to the studio, in case the three of them forgot to eat, too focused on shooting.
Beef should be best for lunch! All three of them are terribly busy, so foods high in protein like beef should make it easier for them to replenish their nutrients. I walked around the market, a basketful of vegetables already in hand. After finally deciding on the main course, I walked toward the beef stall.
“Charles…”
A familiar, exhausted voice sounded out from behind me. I turned, and before he could say a word, spoke first, “Treat you to a meal, correct? That is, of course, not a problem, but I am very curious. This market is huge. How is it that you can always find me?”
Yue Gang grumbled, “Do you think that you don’t stand out at all in the middle of a crowd of housewives? Just your height alone makes you stand out. You’re taller than everyone else here by a full head! How hard would that be to miss?”
I see. I smiled and shook my head. “I will buy beef first and then treat you to noodles. Will that be fine?”
“Hurry it up!” Yue Gang nagged, impatient. “Any slower and I’ll die of hunger.”
Under his persistent nagging, I could only hurriedly purchase the beef. Then, I sat with Yue Gang at a noodle store in the market and ordered five bowls of noodles and two bowls of soup. I then watched him gobble up the noodles.
“Recently, there seems to be an increase in the number of police on the streets.” I tried asking, “Did something happen?”
Yue Gang raised his head and rolled his eyes at me, but he did not reply. I could understand. Someone who has a bowlful of noodles in his mouth could not possibly open it to speak.
I gestured and said, “Please, eat first. We can talk later.”
Before Yue Gang could look down and keep eating, he stilled, staring at something behind my back. Seeing his expression, I did not even need to turn around to know what had happened.
The noodle shop’s television must be playing an advertisement.
“The Last Angel” had been playing on TV for quite a few days already. According to Ji Luo Chu and Ah Da’s description… when doing a trial broadcast for the client, the client was so pleased with it that he froze. When it was brought to the TV station, the station’s broadcasters had also frozen. When they had a trial broadcasting for the first time on a crowded area’s huge outdoor display screen, the crowd on the street had also frozen.
I could understand them perfectly, because the first time Melody, Bramble, Dell, and May saw this advertisement, they had also frozen in place for a long time. Then, they kept replaying it over and over again. The reviews for this advertisement seemed to be, “You’ll freeze in place when you see it, and then keep replaying it over and over again.”
Yue Gang froze in place with his mouth full of noodles for a long time before swallowing it down in one huge gulp. He almost choked, drained a bowl of soup, and then asked hurriedly, “Wasn’t that your brother?”
“Yes.” I smiled. “He has recently been working as an advertisement model.”
“Oh! That’s great. He’s quite suited for it. That advertisement was awesome!” Yue Gang gave his praise and lowered his head to eat some more noodles. Then, he suddenly looked up again and said, “Oh right, remind him not to stay out too late working on the advertisements. Recently… Anyways, things aren’t quite right! All of you remember to take care. If you’ve got nothing to do, then go home and sleep. Lock your doors tightly, and get a gun for your safety. Make sure it’s got a little more firepower to it, not like the one in that advertisement! That gun sucks!”
I could not help but laugh, as Yue Gang had actually thought the same thing as the young master.
Yue Gang mumbled, “There’s been a lot of missing people lately. If this keeps going on, there might be a huge fight. Just what are those guys doing…?”
“What?” I did not understand him very well.
“Nothing!” Yue Gang said stoutly, but he still looked uneasy, as though he had more to say.
In the end, he motioned me forward, and after I moved closer, he whispered, “Sigh! It’s just, just those werewolves. They haven’t been lying low lately. I heard that they’ve assassinated a number of people. Especially those ‘hero apprentices.’ The moment one pops up, they’re guaranteed to disappear… But don’t mention that you heard it from me. My boss gave orders not to cause mass panic.”
I nodded. Yue Gang slid back into his normal posture and resumed eating his noodles. “You! If you’re free at the moment, why don’t you take your whole family with you out for a trip away from the city? Don’t stay in Sunset City for the moment. It’s not very safe here right now!”
“Thank you for the advice.” I smiled at him, but I knew that that would be impossible.
No matter what, Dark Sun would never leave Sunset City when it faced danger.
At this moment, Yue Gang turned to stone again with his mouth full of noodles. I looked at the TV screen. It was currently playing the ”Teardrops” advertisement. The young master was crying, and he held out his hands like he was holding something up. When he lowered his head, teardrops fell onto his open hands one by one, every one of them turning into resplendent diamonds.
But in reality, could tears truly turn into diamonds? I looked at the crying young master on the screen, and wished not for teardrops to turn into diamonds, but for him to be able to stop crying.
On the way home, I kept seeing the young master. Of course, it was not the actual young master, but the advertisements he had done. They could practically be seen everywhere. Posters lined up in rows along the walls. The Last Angel, Teardrops, and even the latest completed one, Budding Flower, were present.
In a usual lipstick commercial, the male model would normally be in charge of admiring the lipstick on a female model. But this advertisement had no female model, just the young master. He was dressed up androgynously. Wearing a slanted T-shirt, half his shoulders were visible. Paired with the shiny pink lipstick, he looked like a cute girl.
The advertisement also had some advertising phrases that basically implied that even a boy could be as beautiful as a flower with the lipstick.
If the master sees this advertisement, he may just destroy the entire company! I strongly believed that.
Aside from the posters, there were also advertisements being played nonstop on the outdoor display screens. Whenever an advertisement played, there would definitely be people who would stop in their tracks to watch.
I came to a halt and stared at the increasing crowd in front of the screen and came to a realization. The young master may soon become very, very famous, and when that happens…
“Charles!”
I snapped out of my reverie and looked toward the person. “Melody? Is the young master not home yet?”
Melody lazily walked over to me. “Besides three to five in the morning when he comes back to sleep, when is he ever home?”
I nodded. That was true. Although the young master had said that he wanted us to accompany him at home, he himself was never home, busying himself between his two identities of model and hero.
“I returned the woman to the Church.”
I looked at her. Even though I knew that this was the young master’s request, and she had agreed to it, I could not help worrying. “Is this really alright?”
“How can it be alright?! You didn’t see the faces of those two members of the Sin Elimination team. When I returned the woman to them, they didn’t look happy at all. In fact, neither of them even dared to go near her.”
I was startled but immediately understood and blurted, “Did they suspect that you had turned Yina into your blood thrall? Er… did you?”
Melody snapped at me. “Of course not! Do you think it’s so easy to make a blood thrall? If it was a great guy, fine, but I definitely won’t waste my blood ability on making a useless female thrall!”
I smiled. That was true. Making a blood thrall may not be as exhausting as giving a First Kiss, but it was no easy matter either. Furthermore, a blood thrall was only about as strong as a regular human and their lives were even shorter than regular humans’. Therefore, a vampire normally would create at most one or two blood thralls, who would handle miscellaneous matters.
“Charles, get ready!”
“Get ready?” I asked, bewildered.
“The Church may be on their way already.” Melody frowned. “Even if you have no wish to join in the fighting, you at least need to know how to defend yourself. Sunset City’s non-humans all know that there’s a vampire working as a human’s butler. The Church also knows that there’s a fifth-generation vampire working as a butler. If they start a conflict, you will definitely be targeted by both sides.”
Targeted by both sides? I gave a pained smile. Looks like no matter how much I detest fights, this time, there is no way to avoid fighting against either humans or non-humans.
Melody raised her head, her gaze directed at the huge screen wall. Her tone was full of complicated emotions. “The young master is so troublesome! I can’t believe that while all this is going on, he’s appearing in so many advertisements… I hope that no one among the non-humans has guessed that the young master is Dark Sun.”
“I had just thought of that complication…”
“He’s so hot!”
Just as I was about to start discussing with Melody, a group of youngsters shrieked and pushed Melody and me apart, plastering themselves onto the wall of posters.
“Who’s she? She’s real beautiful!” The boys stared at the Budding Flower poster in astonishment.
The girls immediately corrected them. “You should say super handsome! He’s a guy! Didn’t any of you see ‘The Last Angel’ before?”
Some of the boys nodded while others shook their heads.
However, the girls did not pay them any more attention. Instead, they shrieked and fought over the posters. “I want that one! ‘The Last Angel’ is real hot!”
Meanwhile, the boys tore off the Budding Flower poster, surprisingly cooperative. They did not fight, but instead agreed to scan the poster into their computers and share it among themselves.
Melody rolled her eyes at the rowdy youngsters, and said helplessly, “The young master sure has captured the hearts of both men and women! I have a feeling that I may have to become the young master’s advisor on love in the future.”
“That is unnecessary. The young master has already agreed to marry Briar, and has even told his brother that Briar is his fiancée.”
“… He was serious?” Melody asked in disbelief.
I replied gravely, “Very serious.”
Melody’s expression turned serious as well. “Then, I’ll tell you, I can foresee the news that will be in the headlines in ten years.”
“Oh?”
Melody purposefully affected the clear pronunciation of female newscasters. “May-December romance? International superstar will marry ten years younger bride.”
“International superstar?” I laughed. “Being in advertisements is only a part-time job for the young master.”
“Wait and see!” Melody looked toward the huge screen, smiling confidently as she repeated, “Wait and see.”
I smiled back, but the smile froze on my face the very next second. The group of rowdy youngsters sprinted right at us and hurriedly passed us, faces full of panic, as if they had just witnessed a particularly terrifying scene.
When they brushed past us, I understood why they had panicked. On the road not too far away, a long line of identical black cars was slowly driving toward us. From the winding length, there were probably more than twenty cars in total. In addition, all the cars had a strange symbol on the hoods. However, since they were too far away, the symbol was difficult to make out… It was only after the line of cars passed a crossroad that the symbol finally became clear to my eyes.
It is a cross! But the cross is colored black, and all non-humans know, black crosses are the symbol of the Sin Elimination team.
The Church actually sent over twenty cars of the Sin Elimination team?
I was a bit stunned as I said, “T-This is simply overdoing it…” Partway through my words, I abruptly recalled that the Church had chased X for over a thousand years. Compared to a thousand year chase, the scene before my eyes could not be considered absurd.
However, X had already left the city. Would the people of the Church not know this?
Melody tugged my hand hard, pulling me into an alley to the side while running. “Run! Hurry, or are you waiting to be nailed to a cross and burned to death? There are over twenty Sin Elimination teams there!”
Hearing this, I hastily started running for my life, too.
“So fast… I only just released her two days ago!” Melody fumed while running. “That damned Sin Elimination team. They must have contacted the others before I even let go of the hostage! I should have killed her… No! I should have killed all three of them!”
“Even if you killed all three of them, you would have only further angered the Church.” I smiled wryly. “A troop this massive… Anceo must have alerted the Church very early on. Maybe right after you kidnapped Yina.”
“And I used to think that humans were more conscious of their comrades!” Melody clicked her tongue.
“Perhaps he believed that getting help was the only way to save his companion.” I may not like Anceo, but I believed that there was no reason to slander him.
Melody stopped suddenly. I was a few paces ahead of her before I realized it and stopped accordingly as well. I looked at her uncomprehendingly. She asked, “Charles, are you familiar with this area?”
“Of course.” I nodded and replied, “This is not very far away from home… ah!”
I looked at Melody, and the latter nodded, face white. She had realized it earlier than I had… The Church’s destination is the young master’s home!
Melody immediately urged me, “Call the young master. Ask him where he is!”
I immediately obeyed.
“Charles? What’s up?”
“Young Master!” I gave a relieved sigh. Luckily, the young master had his cell phone with him. I immediately asked, “May I ask where you are?”
“I’m at home. I’ve just returned. Are you out grocery shopping?”
At home? I hurriedly said, “Young Master, please leave immediately!”
“Eh?”
“Members of the Church have arrived, and they appear to be heading to your home. There are a lot of them. Please avoid them.”
The young master said worriedly, “But what about Bramble-shū and the rest? My workshop might be discovered, too.”
I gently advised him, “Young Master, please avoid them first, and have Mr. Bramble and everyone else leave as well. We will come up with something later, alright?”
“Okay.” The young master agreed obediently. “Then, let’s meet up at Luo Chu-gē’s studio.”
“Very well.”
I hung up after answering. Then, I turned to look at Melody and informed her with a smile, “There are no more problems. The young master is…”
Halfway through speaking, my line of sight passed over Melody and saw the deadly objects behind her. I hurriedly pulled her to me and let out my blood ability. At almost the same time, gunshots exploded. Dozens of bullets were blocked by my blood ability, hanging in mid-air. As if in slow-motion, they inched forward a little before clattering all over the ground.
“Your blood ability has improved.” Melody glanced backward and leaped to the top of the wall. Then, she started running upwards.
I followed up and thanked her at the same time, “Thank you for the praise.”
“I’m sure it’s only because X taught you well!” Melody leaped to the rooftop.
I followed her up to the roof, but was immediately knocked to the floor by Melody. I had not seen anything, but I heard a very familiar sound… It was the sound of a missile flying by.
Behind us, a huge building exploded. Simultaneously, a large gust of wind blew up. I could even feel debris hitting my face.
I inhaled sharply and exclaimed, “T-this is too extreme…”
Melody picked herself up, saying, “It’s nothing. The Sun Emperor has already done it before,” while using her blood ability to cause a series of random explosions in front of us. In the split second of silence after the explosions, she turned and told me, “You defend, I’ll attack.”
I immediately agreed, “As you wish.”
Another series of random explosions followed. She even used the interval to glare at me and roared, “It’s as you wish, Mr. Vampire who doesn’t know how to fight well!”
I smiled, not denying it and set up a defensive shield with my blood ability.
During the explosions, besides taking care of defense, I also surveyed the surrounding rooftops, mostly to find a way to retreat. I never imagined seeing unexpected guests—the black robed Sin Elimination teams. I immediately yelled to Melody, “There are even more of them than we expected. The surrounding rooftops are all full of people!”
Among the explosions, Melody roared back, “They probably did it to completely lock down the young master’s home, so they made sure to even put people on the rooftops. Damn it! We can’t lead these people to the meeting point! What should we do?”
I looked at the people leaping up to this rooftop one after another and immediately made a decision. “Break into the crowds!”
“What did you say?” Melody shouted.
I roared, “Break into the crowds!”
“Have you lost your mind?” Melody yelled back in disbelief.
I grabbed her hand and dragged her down the building, running for our lives between the alleys. However, no matter how fast we ran, the people chasing after us just seemed to increase in number. They were shooting bullets at us like rain. Even Melody could not afford to attack, but assisted me in using her blood ability to block the bullets.
I took out my cell phone. The moment the call connected, I yelled, “Yue Gang!”
“Charles? Why is it you again! Why do you always pick the moment when I’m busiest to call me? Do you know that there’s more than twenty black cars rolling around all over the place, like three mafia bosses holding their funerals all at the same time or something? You can’t go wrong listening to me. If you have nothing to do, then stay at home and make sure to lock your doors! And if you have anything to say, remember, keep it short!”
“Help me!” I believed that this was short enough.
“…. What?!”