Chapter 11: Shape of My Heart
The honking of cars and the clamor of the crowd seemed to be shut out, leaving only the setting sunlight spreading down from the clouds.
A classic English song was playing in the small shop. The deep, slow melody mixed with the clinking of bowls and chopsticks, squeezing through the cracks of noisy human voices to fall into Li Nanyi’s ears.
“He deals the cards as a meditation And those he plays never suspect … That’s not the shape of my heart He may conceal a king in his hand … And if I told you that I loved you You’d maybe think there’s something wrong …”
“Sounds familiar, right? Have you seen that movie? The little girl and the hitman.”
Lu Xiuan tilted his head to listen to the melody, gesturing as he spoke.
“I have. Léon: The Professional. A very classic old movie.”
But that was a long time ago. When he was still in school, the school organized a group viewing every year, and every year they played this same movie. He still remembered it even now.
“This is my favorite song. I keep it treasured in my secret playlist.”
“Secret playlist?”
“I like discovering and collecting good songs. It’s like being a person carrying a basket, searching everywhere. I walk and look, picking up the ones I like as I go. When I’m done, I pour them out to look at them, pick and choose, and store them away. How about I share the playlist with you when I get back?”
“Sure.”
Li Nanyi felt as if they were friends who had known each other for a long time, chatting casually, picking up any topic under the sun to talk about.
Almost overlapping interests and preferences, identical values, and even their angles of thinking were very similar. It was like meeting an old friend for the first time.
Lu Xiuan sat opposite him. He appeared to be eating, but in reality, he was watching Li Nanyi the whole time. Li Nanyi kept his head down and ate quickly, checking the time every now and then. His long, choppy bangs cast a shadow that covered his eyes, his thin lips parted slightly, and the tips of his ears were flushed red from the sun. His fingers holding the chopsticks were slender, with a thin layer of calluses at the points of contact.
“I want love or death.”
Lu Xiuan murmured softly.
The deliberately lowered voice meant Li Nanyi could only hear fragmented, incoherent words. He looked up at Lu Xiuan and made a confused sound.
“I said, do you have anything else to do tonight?”
Lu Xiuan pushed the plate of food toward him.
Li Nanyi: “Ah, no. Do you have work tonight?”
Li Nanyi instantly thought of the busy scenes at their company and worried nervously if he was taking up Lu Xiuan’s time. Did he skip work to come out?
His thoughts were too obvious on his face, his brows furrowing. Lu Xiuan smiled helplessly: “Of course not. I got off work legitimately. I just saw you eating so anxiously, I thought you had something to do tonight.”
Li Nanyi realized what was happening, looked down at his empty bowl, and rubbed his nose awkwardly with his knuckle: “Sorry, I’m used to it.”
To deliver more orders, he always aimed for speed when eating. The sooner he finished, the more money he could earn.
“I think you can eat a bit slower. There’s no rush. Eating too fast isn’t good for your stomach.”
“Also,” Lu Xiuan put down his chopsticks, crossed his hands under his chin, and looked at the young man keeping silent across from him, “Both times you fainted were because you didn’t eat on time. Although you might find me annoying, I still hope you can pay attention to your own body.”
Judging from what he knew of him, Li Nanyi respected life, but didn’t respect his own life very much. Lu Xiuan softened his voice, his eyelids drooping slightly: “I’m worried about you, Xiaoyi.”
Unexpected concern. Li Nanyi smiled unconsciously, lifting his eyes to meet those gentle ones—pupils of a glazed color so pale they were almost transparent, rarely seen in crowds. They were like a deep ocean, with vigorous flames hidden beneath the vortex.
He didn’t know why he associated them with that. His gaze remained fixed on Lu Xiuan’s eyes until Lu Xiuan couldn’t help but speak: “Xiaoyi?”
The final beat of the music landed heavily. Li Nanyi snapped back to reality and looked away uncomfortably: “Mhm.”
…
The supercomputer operated, calculating the mecha’s combat data, while specialized engineers were debugging and repairing the equipment.
Li Nanyi sat in a seat on the bus, watching the scenery and pedestrians fly by outside the window.
The bus driver’s seat was already empty. Human technology had advanced by leaps and bounds one day decades ago—perhaps due to development, or perhaps due to the technology obtained from the alien mechas. Driverless vehicles and unmanned deliveries ran all over the city, and there were even floating rails and shuttles straight out of cyberpunk.
The explosion of technology triggered a chain reaction of employment issues. Jobs like theirs, relying on platforms for part-time work, were a measure taken by the higher-ups to maintain a certain employment rate and prevent unemployment from getting too high.
His phone notification chimed. Li Nanyi tapped open the message:
[Group Message: Everyone come over, there’s a new discovery here.]
“Zhong Yi, what’s the discovery?”
Yan Hengze stood with his arms crossed. As soon as Li Nanyi entered the door, Xiang Zhengming next to him looked up and flashed a brilliant smile: “You’re here!”
Li Nanyi nodded. Seeing that they had all arrived, Zhong Yi opened the holographic screen of the supercomputer: “Calculations revealed that your mechas all possess their own custom weapons, and these weapons have different forms. Their power is also much more formidable than ordinary weapons. I’m going to tell you how to trigger them now.”
“Just like that guy’s big sniper?”
Xiang Zhengming was a bit excited. Zhong Yi put her hands on her hips and nodded, continuing: “According to the data, yours should be a long-range bow and arrow, which is also a sturdy shield—capable of both offense and defense. As for Nanyi’s Chixiao, it’s a sword that can be dismantled into a double-ended boomerang or used as a cannon.”
Xiang Zhengming: “I’m going to try it out right now!”
Zhong Yi: “Hey, wait a minute. You weren’t called here just to be told this…”
“I knew it. There’s a mission too, right?” Yan Hengze lifted his chin: “Just say it. I’ll make it quick.”
“Detection shows that energy fluctuations similar to that night have appeared recently in the Street Park, but it’s not confirmed yet. So, I want the three of you to go there and scout it out.”
Xiang Zhengming: “Scouting activity? I’m good at this. Just like Mission: Impossible. Easy!”
Yan Hengze: “Tch, don’t be so quick to talk big. Careful you don’t become Mission: Impossible and end up eating dirt instead!”
“Who’s going to eat dirt is still up for debate, isn’t that right?”
Xiang Zhengming reached out and nudged Li Nanyi. Yan Hengze turned his head to glare at him.
Li Nanyi glanced at the two of them and sighed: “Zhong Yi, is there any more detailed information?”
“About that,” Zhong Yi scratched her hair, letting out an ‘ah’ as if she remembered something, “The cleaner there said there were scorch marks on the edge of the flower beds and the benches in the Street Park. This time, it should be a guy who plays with fire.”
“Fire… Got it. We’ll go now.”
…
“Ah, so boring. Can’t we do something else?”
“Shut up. If you can’t handle it, don’t come.”
Yan Hengze rolled his eyes. Xiang Zhengming, squatting on the other side, gave him a universal gesture of friendship.
They had been staking out the place all afternoon. Aside from old ladies taking walks and poodles, they hadn’t seen anything—let alone fire, they hadn’t even seen a spark.
Xiang Zhengming squatted in the bushes playing games out of boredom. Yan Hengze, the young master, was fixing his hair in his phone screen for the fifth time. Of the three, only Li Nanyi seemed slightly serious, looking around from time to time and taking moments to look up information.
These monsters were heavily linked to Norse mythology on Earth. The snake monster last time was Jormungandr, who could also create illusions. This time it was a monster that could use fire…
Li Nanyi scrolled through his phone, counting them one by one. Something seemed to flash past the corner of his eye. He looked up, but the park remained empty.
…
“Ximo, how have things been recently?”
“Major General Lakumu, we’ve been searching for a long time recently, but there’s still no trace.”
“Is that so.”
A tall man and a short man walked calmly out of the crowd. The tall man seemed to have mixed-race features, while the short man looked ordinary.
Lakumu observed the surrounding environment and humans using his race’s detection abilities.
Having just awakened from the Cocoon, he accepted the mission to find the next Cocoon. Using the Yelaire’s mimicry ability to simulate human form made it easier to move around on Earth. That was what Lu Xiuan had said; that guy had awakened thousands of years before them and was actually doing quite well in human society.
They were so warlike and brutal that their own planet perished in long-term warfare. Even their extremely high technology couldn’t save it. They could only wander the universe with the remaining clansmen, relying on power to plunder and suppress. In the long years, they had finally discovered an existence like Earth.
Sufficient population, suitable environment. Although the technology was backward, it was the best place for them to restore Yelaire.
“Major General, what do we do next?”
Ximo spoke in a special language. Besides them, some Yelaire clansmen had awakened early and were hiding among humans, waiting for the order.
“Wait a bit longer. Once we get all the Cocoons, we can act. The restoration of our lost civilization is just around the corner.”
Lakumu sat down on a bench. As he spoke, his expression grew excited, and his scorching body temperature and erupting flames instantly seared a black mark onto the bench.
Hearing the crackling sound, the cleaner slowly looked up. The sunlight was too harsh, so he could only clearly see two men, one standing and one sitting on the bench. He shook his head in confusion, then pulled his hat down lower and bowed his head to continue working.
“Our brothers will wake up soon.”
Such a sentence suddenly reached the cleaner’s ears. When he looked up again, the figures on the bench were long gone. The cleaner looked around; the park was empty on a workday. His heart suddenly felt fuzzy, and a chill ran down his back. He hurriedly swept up the last bit of trash, packed up, and left.
A gust of wind blew past, and pitch-black debris fell from the chair and the edge of the flower bed.
…
Yan Hengze finally couldn’t help but stand up and shake his legs. “Is Zhong Yi’s information wrong? We squatted from morning to afternoon, and from afternoon to night. We haven’t even left to eat. Where is the xenomorph?”
Gusts of cold wind blew. Xiang Zhengming wrapped his thin jacket tighter around himself. “I-I don’t know. Sigh, bro, did you see any clues?”
Li Nanyi shook his head. The Street Park was as quiet as ever. After all, it was close to midnight now; no one would come to stroll in the park in the middle of the night.
It had been a whole day with zero results. Just as the three of them were preparing to head back dejectedly, a smear of red suddenly rose from the artificial lake in the center of the park.
“Holy crap!”
Xiang Zhengming’s eyes went wide.
Recommended Reads
