The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 772: Dead Pig’s Past

Three o’clock in the morning, Dead Pig and Zhong He each lay on their bed in the double room, but they weren’t asleep.

“You should sleep for a while. We may go into a fight at any time. You need to preserve your energy,” Dead Pig said. His nasal voice flowed into Zhong He’s ears in the dark like a clump of ink.

Zhong He turned away from Dead Pig and said in a slightly muffled voice, “You’re awake, too.”

“Haha, I’m older and sleep less.”

“I’ve been thinking something, Old Pig.”

“Something about me?”

“Yeah.” Zhong He spoke his mind without hesitation since Dead Pig had always been friendly. “About your ex-wife.”

“Little Ba?” Dead Pig became more serious.

“Don’t get mad at me.” Zhong He warned him.

“As long as you don’t insult or slander her.”

“I won’t. There’s no bad blood between us.”

“Then speak.”

“I’m just wondering, why would Ba Qiuchi fall for you?” Zhong He looked perplexed.

Dead Pig paused before breaking into laughter. “You damn brat.”

“This isn’t an insult. I just feel like she had poor taste. I heard from Miss Liu that you weren’t as big as you are now, but there wasn’t anything special about you, either. She was way out of your league.”

“And Sister Liu is right.” Dead Pig rested his head on an arm and slowly exhaled. “I used to wonder about that, too. Why would Little Ba want a man like me? Little Ba and I...” He chuckled. “I won’t go into it unless you want to hear it.”

“I’ll hear it. Why not? I can’t sleep now.”

“I was an office worker before my awakening. A corporate slave, if you will. My parents passed away early, and I had been quiet since I was young. A pushover, too. My colleagues always pushed their work to me. I didn’t mind, so I worked overtime a lot. I didn’t have much to do but sleep after going home anyway.”

“My life consisted of three things, work, eating, and sleep. I was the most boring and useless man you can imagine.”

“On my twenty-sixth birthday—I actually forgot about it—I worked overtime as usual and didn’t leave the office until over ten o’clock. Waiting for the bus, I was so tired that I fell asleep on the bench.”

“When I woke up, I was alone with a woman. She was sitting beside me, and my head was resting on her shoulder.”

“That was Ba Qiuchi?”

“Yeah. While she was sitting next to me, I fell asleep and unconsciously leaned on her shoulder. Given how tired I was, she wanted me to sleep for a little longer. Several buses stopped. She kept thinking that she would wake me when the next bus arrived, but she made a mistake and missed the last bus. Therefore, she thought that she might as well let me have a good sleep.”

Zhong He smacked his lips. “I didn’t expect your story to be this romantic.”

“Romantic?” Dead Pig mused. “I’ve never thought about it like that.”

“Go on. Go on. I’m getting invested in the story.”

“I felt guilty after waking up and wanted to make amends. Little Ba didn’t mind. She said that she was hungry, and she would consider us even as long as I bought her a meal.”

“We had egg fried rice at a random street stand. Little Ba finished her portion. She said that anything would be the greatest delicacy when hungry.”

“Then we headed home. We realized that our neighborhoods were in the same direction, so we walked together for a while and chatted. I don’t remember what we talked about since I was embarrassed the whole walk.”

“Before we parted ways, she called out to me and said that I was quite cute, and she wanted my number.”

“What?! Ba Qiuchi was the one to pursue you?” Zhong He sat up in shock. “You’re pulling my leg.”

“Haha, I’ll stop if you don’t wanna hear the story.” Dead Pig didn’t really care.

“Don’t. Keep going. I’d like to know how absurd the story can get.” Zhong He was invested.

“Well...” Dead Pig sat up and crossed his legs. “There isn’t much more to tell. After that, Little Ba asked me out every once in a while, and sometimes she brought her friend, Liu Qingying. The three of us became friends. One day, Little Ba said, ‘Why don’t we get married?’”

Zhong He gaped. What the hell?

“I must look the same as you do now.” Dead Pig laughed. “I asked her if she had lost her mind. She said no. She just found me cute and dependable. She wanted to marry a guy like me and have a cute child.”

“Then you got married?” Zhong He couldn’t believe it.

“Yeah,” Dead Pig said easily. “Little Ba had a lapse in judgment, but I was no fool. I’d never find another woman as good as she was.”

Zhong He was at a loss for words.

“I awakened not long after we got married. Then I found out that Little Ba and Liu Qingying had awakened way before that. It was quite a coincidence.”

“I knew it!” Zhong He slapped his thigh. “It’s coming together.”

“What do you mean?”

“Think about it, Old Pig,” Zhong He said. “Because of a chance meeting, Ba Qiuchi seduced...pursued you and quickly got married to you. Coincidentally, she and Liu Qingying were awakeners, and you awakened later. Then Ba Qiuchi and you joined the Twelve Zodiac Signs. Ba Qiuchi divorced you after your relationship fell off. She left the Zodiacs and joined the Hundred Rivers Union...”

“Yeah.” Dead Pig didn’t find any issue with it.

“Don’t you think everything falls into place like it’s following a script?”

Dead Pig sighed in resignation after a pause. “You brat. I knew you weren’t actually curious about the story between me and Little Ba. So that’s what you’ve been wondering.”

“Don’t you mind?” Zhong He’s eyes sharpened. “You might have...been deceived by Ba Qiuchi from the beginning.”

“What had she deceived me about?” Dead Pig’s face darkened in anger. “Little Ba was a good girl. She willingly entered my life and married me, and she loved and took care of me as my wife. She treated me well. I could feel all that. The happy time we had together was real, and so was the heartbreak of our divorce. How had she deceived me?”

“It’s not that...” Zhong He quickly clarified. “She had loved you, yes. After all, humans couldn’t help but fall for real after pretending to be in love. However, she might have approached you with ulterior motives. Aren’t you curious...”

“So what?” Dead Pig cut him off. “Is love with ulterior motives not love?”

Zhong He couldn’t argue against that.

“In this muddled world, is there really anything that’s pure?” Dead Pig stared at Zhong He. “You may not understand, Little Zhong. Before Little Ba, my life was numb, gray, and monotone. I wasn’t actually living, but merely breathing with a beating heart.”

“Little Ba was a ray of light—no, a sun. She shone wherever she went, and one day, her light happened to cast on the moss in the corner and the stone in the ditch. You won’t understand how the moss and stone felt when they had never seen the sun before.”

“Liu Qingying and I were the moss and stone. It’s our greatest luck in our lives to have become Little Ba’s friend and lover.”

“Had I not worked overtime that day, had Liu Qingying not tried to kill herself that day, we would’ve missed the ray of light forever. Our lives would remain pathetic, pitiful, and numb. We would’ve died silently and meaninglessly.”

“But heaven had mercy. Little Ba entered our lives and lit us up. Now that she’s passed, Liu Qingying and I chose to avenge her. See, her light is still guiding us forward.”

“We love Little Ba. She’s our angel. We’ll do anything for her, even if it’s living in pain after losing her.”

Zhong He didn’t know what to say.

“Haha, I’ve said something silly.” Dead Pig seemed to feel embarrassed. He lay down and rolled away. “Sleep, or it’s going to be morning.”

Zhong He was still thinking about what Dead Pig said. He had to admit that he was shaken by the feeling he had never felt.

He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling, pondering love, happiness, and something that seemed within reach but was distant like the sky.

“Wait.” Suddenly, Dead Pig sat up again.

“What?” Zhong He got a little nervous. You aren’t gonna educate me again, are you? I haven’t digested your words yet.

“I’ve been thinking about something, too.” Dead Pig looked at him. “There’s a combo we can pull off.”

“With you?” Zhong He snorted. He didn’t respect him like a senior in the workplace at all. “What else can you do outside of taking a beating?”

“Haha, don’t underestimate me. You think you’re the only one who could comprehend a new Talent?” Dead Pig left the implication unsaid.

Zhong He’s eyes lit up. He rolled to a sitting position and opened his mouth, but he stopped himself and reached for the backpack on the nightstand for the small jammer inside—War Tiger had handed it to him before their departure.

“Alright. Now we can talk,” Zhong He said with anticipation.