Apocalyptic Forecast - Chapter 33
Chapter 33: Human Nature
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“Name?”
“Huai Shi.”
“Age?”
“Seventeen… Wait, is the Astronomical Association recruiting gigolos as well?”
Inside the silent office, the young man behind the table scratched his chin as he looked at the expressionless interrogator sitting across him with a puzzled expression. “I’ll say, uncle, you have already asked all the questions you could’ve thought of and dug through everything you could get your hands on. Come on, no matter how you look at it, I did help the Astronomical Association avoid a disaster, didn’t I? Why am I being treated as a traitor now?”
“Just a routine investigation, please cooperate.”
The interrogator had already forgotten how many times he had repeated the same sentence. “Can you please describe the entire fight between you and Red Glove one more time?” He asked quickly.
“I forgot. I can’t remember now.” Huai Shi rolled his eyes. “The Bald Caped Peppa Knight probably passed by and killed him if I’m not mistaken. Really, I saw him fighting Red Glove as soon as I entered…”
“Oh… Bald Caped Peppa Knight… Why is this different from what you said last time?”
“I can’t remember now!”
“Alright then, can you please explain how you, a new Ascender, was able to kill a third stage like Red Glove? According to our previous investigation, you seem to have been a music student until now. In fact, you have never been in a fight before this.”
Huai Shi rolled his eyes again and snorted. “I was born with divine power!”
“Next question then…”
Two hours later, the interrogator calmly sorted through the thick stack of notes in his hands as if following a routine before getting up. “Alright, thank you for your cooperation and thank you for your contribution to the world.”
After a formal handshake, he turned around and left the room.
Huai Shi stood at the door with a baffled look.
“So, I’m finally done? What’s wrong with the Astronomical Association? Why did they send someone to repeatedly ask me the same questions over the past few days?”
Ai Qing, who was reading a book nearby, was not surprised. “It’s normal. If it’s something related to Green Day, they must always have a detailed record of the incident. They are all professional transcribers around, so their job is to write down everything you say, then file it away for record purposes.”
“Is such a superficial record really useful?”
“It’s just a protocol,” Ai Qing continued calmly, “If nobody tries to stir up trouble while they’re going through the motions, then it shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Ah?” Huai Shi glanced over. “Stir up trouble?”
“It’s normal. Come, sit down.”
Ai Qing took a sip of the coffee that her female attendant had brought for her. “There’s bound to be competition among humans. The invigilator is an important position, and there have always been far too many people longing for the role. To give such an important role to a cripple who is still a few months away from turning twenty was bound to upset some individuals. Likewise, if stirring up some trouble can vacate a position, I wouldn’t mind having some fun either.”
“…”
Huai Shi took a deep breath. “You lot from the Astronomical Association sound like you’re suffering.”
“Let me remind you for the last time ——”
Ai Qing finally raised her head and looked at the tag pinned on his chest. “There’s no ‘you lot’, it’s ‘us’ now. Of course, I’m not asking you to have a sense of collective pride, but if something were to happen to me, there will be nobody else you can turn to for help.”
“Ah, I understand, I understand. So, you’re saying we’re in the same boat now then?”
Huai Shi heaved another heavy sigh. Over the past couple of days, he had become almost accustomed to Ai Qing’s methods of communication, but why was it that he had never heard anything positive come out of her mouth?
If he was a negativity machine, Ai Qing had the capacity to start her very own manufacturing firm. The negative energy that she gave out was on a whole other level.
How could this woman survive to this day?
“I have capability and strength, of course.”
Ai Qing answered without looking up.
Huai Shi was taken aback for a second as his blood immediately went cold. Was it possible that this woman was able to read people’s minds?
“I’m not an Ascender so I don’t know such peculiar things, but if I were you, I wouldn’t write all my questions on my face so obviously.”
“Uh…”
Huai Shi touched his face unconsciously. “What’s written on my face?”
“Yeah.” Ai Qing who was still reading her book raised her head again and looked at him pitifully. “Simply the epitome of human nature.”
“Huh? So, is it written as a bird or a voice recorder?”
Huai Shi asked curiously.
“…”
Ai Qing was reluctant to respond anymore.
Under Huai Shi’s constant noise, she finally cracked as impatience filled her face. She closed her book, genuinely wondering if something was wrong with her back she had employed such a person as her personal secretary.
“What the hell do you want?”
She lifted her finger and pinched the bridge of her nose as her eyes narrowed. “If you’re not busy writing reports right now, check out the lists of top ten haunted houses that busybodies posted online, lest someone as bored as you would go on a haunted house adventure and drive themselves crazy.”
“Stop bringing that up!”
At the mention of this, Huai Shi got so agitated that he slammed the table. “That list is stupid! My house is ranked first on that list!
“How can they think that my house is haunted? It just looks a bit neglected and a bit poor, that’s all! If I had the money, would I not have repaired the door? I have been running around like a maniac for the past two days to take photographs to the point where I’m going to turn crazy!”
“…”
Unbothered, Ai Qing responded lazily, “So what are you trying to say?”
“This… I just want to ask…” Huai Shi suddenly became shy as he twiddled his fingers and smiled in a coy manner. “Boss, can you give me my salary in advance?”
“…”
Ai Qing took a deep breath as she resisted the urge to throw her book at the brat’s face. “Didn’t I just give you twenty thousand?”
“It’s all gone now,” Huai Shi said, strongly resisting the urge to cry. With a somber look as if he was recollecting unbearable past events, he glanced at the d*mn crow perched on the tree outside the window before continuing, “Well, it’s a long story.
“I’m starting school soon and I still owe about four thousand worth of credits. I don’t even have money to pay for food now, let alone my tuition fee. Boss, can’t you just give me my salary in advance so I can celebrate a good New Year?”
“It’s the end of September now, we’re still half a year away from New Year.”
Ai Qing looked at him blankly for a long time before pulling her phone out. “How much do you want?”
Huai Shi’s eyes immediately lit up as he moved closer to her. “Oh, five or six thousand would do. I’ll pay you back when I get my salary.”
Beep!
“I just transferred you four thousand Yuan on Alipay.”
Ai Qing put away her phone indifferently. “This is your base salary for this money. Spend your money wisely. If you don’t have any overtime tasks this month, you’ll have to survive on this amount until the fifteenth of next month.”
“What? My monthly salary is four thousand Yuan!?”
Huai Shi was ecstatic. When had he ever earned so much in the past as he ran around performing in bars for the orphanage’s art performances?
“Oh, it just so happens that Old Liu is being discharged tomorrow. Looks like I can treat him to a good meal.”
“Since when have the two of you been so close?”
“Hmph, are you jealous?” Huai Shi was so happy that he got smug. “Friendships between men are just that simple.”
“Is that so?”
Ai Qing took another sip of her coffee as she casually asked, “So have you thought of how you’re going to explain to him why the car he paid almost a million for has been burned to a crisp?”
“…”
Sure enough, seconds later, Huai Shi left the office with a sad expression on his face. Meanwhile, Ai Qing finally regained the peace and quiet she had yearned for.
In the silence, she let out a heavy sigh as she looked at the huge sum of money on her bank account page displayed on her computer screen—a total of 34 million USD.
Forget about it.
For the time being, she probably should not let him know that there was a reward for killing Red Glove.
.
.
“Come on, the house looks fine, how can it possibly be haunted?”
Huai Shi stood in front of his house with his hands on his waist. He looked at his surroundings—the lush trees towering above him, the green moss growing on the walls… there were even ivy plants growing too.
Behind the rusted gate, wildflowers bloomed among the green grass in the courtyard while the broken statue shined under the single ray of sunshine…
“No matter how I look at it, the sun is shining gaily. Also, look at how beautiful the flowers are!”
Huai Shi silently cursed the netizens for making such a ridiculous list whilst simultaneously choosing to not think about how eerie his house looked at nighttime as he pushed open the creaking gate while shaking his head.
“I’m back!”
Nobody responded, as only the sharp sound of the gate slowly closing behind him could be heard.
See? How considerate! The gate even worked automatically!
Was that case for other places? Huh? Huh?
Someone who would call this beautiful estate a haunted house was downright evil.
Huai Shi snorted as he stepped onto the creaky floor. Pushing open the front door, he entered the hall that was now extremely dusty. Then, he picked up the glass on the table and had two gulps of warm water before heading to his room to pack his things for school.
However, for someone like him who depended on blind luck for his classes, even when it came to cultural classes, he might as well give up on his Year 3 Senior classes and focus more on his preparation for the professional performance exam that was coming up next month.
The ABRSM professional performance certificate could be used as a diploma in most countries in the world. With it in hand, as long as his results were not completely disastrous, it should not be a problem for him to get accepted to an art college.
“So, does this really mean anything to you now?” Crow asked.
“Huh?” Huai Shi asked in confusion.
Crow asked once more, “Do you think a certificate means anything to an Ascender?”
“Won’t an Ascender need to eat? Does being an Ascender mean I don’t have to work anymore?” Huai Shi rolled his eyes. “Will money drop down from the sky if I just sit at home all day?”
“…”
Crow sighed in response. “What I mean is most Ascenders won’t have to worry about money. Although they aren’t wealthy or filthy rich, they still get by comfortably.”
“How do Ascenders get their money?” Huai Shi asked, “By killing people and setting things on fire? What’s the difference between that and robbing people? Can’t we just live our days peacefully?”
To be honest, although the Astronomical Society was paying him extremely well and providing him a base salary of four thousand Yuan every month for doing next to nothing, it was hard to ignore how risky and dangerous it was if he did have any tasks at hand.
Liu Dongli was a good example.
Instead of living a good life as a gigolo, he came forward to serve as a bodyguard, but look at him now! Not only was he forced to join the old ladies’ Yangge troop1, he was stabbed in the back by a whistleblower.
If Huai Shi had learned anything from the world of Ascenders during this period of time, it was that it was nothing but dangerous.
Many border relics appeared in the interior, those of unknown functions, unknown threats, and unknown means; everybody’s soul ability was entirely different, whilst weird stigmas were integrated into bodies of the higher-ranked Ascenders…
Each one of them could easily kill a man.
Even Liu Dongli, a gigolo who had to rely on his looks to make a living for himself could use his (self-proclaimed) unreal good looks to charm people to the point where they forget how to breathe. He was able to suffocate them if he wanted.
As for himself, he was just a weak and helpless negativity machine.
Just trying to stab a partially-disabled Red Glove once almost led to him dying several times over.
Was it a near-death experience?
Forget about it.
He should find a way to be financially stable as soon as possible so he could quit his job at the Astronomical Association and work hard toward his dream of playing his violin in Vienna.
If that did not work out, being a music teacher would not be too bad either!
“… Although most people find an Ascender’s lifestyle quite dangerous, there are those who work hard and support themselves. Don’t think of all Ascenders to be bandits, alright?”
Crow sighed hopelessly as it lifted its phone with a claw. “Look at this news first.”
“What’s that?”
Huai Shi leaned over and read through the draft for tomorrow’s news article. “Rome auction house sets a new record for auctioning a dusk pedigree fifth stage stigma Nidhogg for forty-three… One, two, three… What the f*ck! Why are there so many zeroes!?”