Convention - Ch. 8 An Inexplicable Game

Diary Excerpt

“I took my father to the seaside, where the view was beautiful. He would have been delighted to see it with his own eyes.”

The second game.

Because of Mo You’s loss in the previous hand, she was still the dealer in this game. Mo You proposed the rule of reversing the order of dice shaking in the case of the dealer being the same person multiple times. So the order was reversed in this game, and it was Mo Xiao’s turn after Mo You.

Mo You opened the dice cup, took a look, and revealed a sly smile.

“Four sixes.”

After the last game, I have probably understood the skills of this type of game, if you have no excessive guts and calculation aspect, even if your luck is good, you can only be a loser.

“Four sixes …… I really want to open yours, but I hope the loser in this game is Huang Yuan.” Mo Xiao said.

“Stop acting, my dear sister, others don’t know about you, but you think I don’t know about you? You’re just like your stinking gecko, you know how to disguise all day long.” Mo You acted as if she just looked down at Mo Xiao and provoked her.

“It’s a chameleon, Missy, the temperament you show is still so vulgar, I’m afraid that even if you didn’t leave in the first place, you might still be kicked out by the Professor one day, am I right?”

“Aiyoo, sister you’re going on with that again, better continue the game.”

On the side, I watched the two of them tussling as sisters, feeling a little funny, sort of relieving some of the tension. Back to the point, I was a little confused about what Mo Xiao said. If I ended up losing, it would arguably be the most useless result because I didn’t know anything and didn’t have to abide by any ‘glory of the Mo family’ unless they asked me about my height and weight or something. Mo You should logically know this as well, so why would she drag me into this game? Wouldn’t it be more economical to face off against Mo Xiao alone?

“Ten five.” Mo Xiao said lightly.

“Director you again? I don’t have five on my side, not even one.”

“Ten fives.” Mo Xiao repeated. Wait, did she want to do that? I suddenly understood Mo Xiao’s meaning, she wanted to partner with me to carry out her scheme? If I continued to call higher, I would probably lose the game due to too many points, and then the two sisters would not get any valid information for this game. It seemed that this was Mo Xiao’s ploy to drag Mo You down with her so that Mo You would appear to be winning but actually losing.

The most ingenious thing is that if Mo You does not choose to open mine, then she will be in a situation where she will lose. Mo Xiao’s move is killing two birds with one stone. I have to say, this woman’s ability to judge and adapt to the situation is very amazing, maybe it’s like Mo You said, Mo Xiao is a cunning ‘chameleon’.

But at this moment, there are two options in front of me, whether to choose to win against Mo Xiao, or to side with Mo Xiao? I felt a little troubled, after all, I have a great chance to win this game.

“Young master, what are you thinking about? Hurry up, stop dilly-dallying. Also, didn’t you say you were going to get something to drink? Did you go to the moon to get it?” Mo Xiao continued to launch a psychological attack on me and Mo You.

“Open.”

After I said this word, the whole room fell into a brief silence, followed by a burst of wild laughter from Mo You.

“Hahahahahahahaha …… my dear sister, it seems that this little handsome boy does not want to be on your side. Just like in the past, no one will be on your side.” Mo You let out an exaggerated laugh that echoed the room.

“Director, I just wanted to ask you something, no offense.” Ignoring the laughter, I explained to Mo Xiao.

“Got it.” Mo Xiao’s expression didn’t change, that poker face made it completely impossible for me to see what she was thinking.

“Mr. handsome, you ask first.” Mo You said to me with a smile.

I looked to Mo Xiao, but my eyes never dared to look directly at her. Although she has always had a foul mouth and her personality is somewhat annoying, but she saved me after all and told me a lot of things …… Am I considered a traitor?

“Director, why do I have no memory?” I did not bother to ask why I was a death row inmate, there should be enough information to deduct a couple of things later. In comparison, there is more importance behind my memory loss.

Mo Xiao sighed and said slowly: “About three years ago, you were brought to the prison, also known as the Library. The prison was filled with death row inmates, many of whom were executed after only one day. At first, I did not know about you, after all, every once in a while, there will be prisoners brought in, nothing unusual, until one day ……”

Mo Xiao paused as if recalling the scene.

“Until one day, the Professor suddenly called me into the office and said that he wanted to perform brain surgery on a patient and needed my assistance, and that person was you. Later I learned that it was the Professor who had erased your memories, and all your memories were kept by her, and she was the only one who knew about it.”

“So that’s how it is.”

Hearing such an answer, I didn’t seem to be surprised at all. I had long suspected that my memories had been erased, and the only person who had this ability and was by my side could only be the doctors in the Library, although I didn’t expect it to be the Professor herself who did it.

“Well, I’m done, does anyone else want to ask?” Mo Xiao’s expression was suddenly a bit tired.

At this time, the big butler brought over several cups of unknown colored liquid, my mouth was dry, so I drank it down regardless of what it was.

“Sister, I do not want to ask any questions, just want to tell you a story.”

Mo You raised the corners of her mouth and her eyes curved, smiling at Mo Xiao and making a quirky request.

“Hoo-hoo — come, listen to me carefully.”

“Have you ever heard of a man named Bigan?” Mo You deliberately lowered her voice, looking a bit weird.

“Yes.” Mo Xiao’s expression was a bit strange.

Bigan? Isn’t this a historical figure in Chinese civilization, I learned in the history class in the Library that he was the son of Tai Ding, the monarch of the Shang Dynasty, who later became a minister of the Shang Dynasty and assisted the king at a young age.

“What I want to talk about today is not the real Bigan in history, but the mythical Bigan. Sister, you are very knowledgeable, so I don’t need to introduce this kind of common knowledge.”

“So what?”

“Did you know? In mythology, this Bigan, died because his heart was cut out.”

Hearing this, Mo Xiao was suddenly stunned for a moment, and then her eyes deadly stared at Mo You.

“Because Bigan burned the demon Daji, he was hated by many compatriots of Daji …… ah, you should also know about Daji, right? So Daji pretended to be sick and said she had to eat Bigan’s heart to get well. The king of the Shang Dynasty, who was a fool, heard that Bigan had an exquisite heart of seven holes, and even wanted Bigan to take out a piece of his heart to give Daji as a decoction to eat. Bigan had no choice but to show his loyalty, and could only tear off his own heart with his bare hands and leave.”
(TLN: An exquisite heart of seven holes — It means that his heart had seven holes and it allows him to see through all illusions, lies, and such.)

“I remember the story is that when Bigan was small, a god said to him that he would have a calamity later,” I added from the sidelines.

“Bigan escaped away on his horse, and at that moment, he met a woman who sold water spinach, and he asked the woman, ‘The vegetables can be heartless, so what will happen to a man who is heartless?'”
(TLN: Water spinach is hollow inside.)

While listening to Mo You’s narration, I looked at Mo Xiao, who showed an expression as if seeing something terrible, and even beads of sweat appeared on her forehead.

Speaking of this, Mo You couldn’t help but show a wry smile.

“Sister, why don’t you ask me this question! ‘Vegetables can be heartless, so what happens when a person is heartless?’ Hahaha, do you want to guess how I will answer you?” Mo You laughed out loud and drank the drink on the table in one go.

What is this situation?

I was a little confused on the side. Why did Mo You tell this story, this made no sense, and she even wasted such a precious opportunity. Is there something wrong with her brain? Why is Mo Xiao so nervous, I don’t know how many secrets the two sisters are hiding, much less being able to guess.

“You’d better ask a proper question, I’ll take that just now as nothing.” Mo Xiao said fiercely to Mo You.

“A question? I’ve already asked it, and you also told me the answer, which is the same as the information I got before, I’m afraid the person who knows your secret in this world — is only me, right?”

At this moment, a bad atmosphere filled the room between Mo Xiao and Mo You.

Mo Xiao did not hide her hostility and glared at Mo You, Mo Xiao felt that Mo You seemed to know something.

Mo You was on the opposite side of Mo Xiao, smiling at her tit-for-tat, returning the favor for that frank hostility. Caught in the middle, I felt uncomfortable all over.

“Come on, move on to the next game.”

Mo Xiao couldn’t wait to throw the dice back into the dice cup.

Honestly, I’ve only been playing for just a little while, but I already don’t want to play anymore.

I did care a lot about that I was a death row inmate, but from what I saw just now, even though Mo You took the lead to vouch for the truthfulness of the answer with the ‘glory of the Mo family’, it seems that this ‘glory of the Mo family’ is not something very important to her now.

“Ugh.”

I sighed, now this game has simply turned into a contest between two women, and I, however, am just a filler.

But what Mo You just said made me curious. Mo Xiao is hiding something, does she have any connection with the story of Bigan’s heart cutting ……

As I thought about it, I glanced towards the large man named Tang Ren behind Mo You, perhaps the only person who can interrupt this absurd and meaningless game at this time, I’m afraid he is the only one. The relationship between this guy and Mo You gives a different feeling, although he is always low and humble in front of Mo You, I always feel that the relationship between him and Mo You is not a simple master and servant, but like a parent-child relationship …… an enlightened parent and a capricious child.

That said, this big man’s standing posture is standard, chest straight like a rooster, legs straight as if a pole, head slightly raised, but do not give off any feeling of arrogance. He stood there like a rock, and when I looked at him during the game, it seemed like he didn’t look over at all. You can imagine how strong this person’s focus is, perhaps he was once engaged in some job that requires a high degree of self-discipline, such as a soldier, or a bodybuilder or something ……

Suddenly, Tang Ren, who hadn’t moved for so long, made a move. He turned his head slightly sideways, then pressed his ear with the hand that was behind his back. Although I can’t see what he is doing, I’m sure it is a common move when receiving messages with miniature headphones. It seems like he got some news, maybe heavy news enough to interrupt this ‘little game’. I sure hope so.

Sure enough, Tang Ren didn’t let me down, just as Mo You snapped shut the dice cup and started shaking them back and forth on the table, Tang Ren walked up quickly and whispered something in Mo You’s ear.

The sound of the dice hitting and rubbing back and forth in Mo You’s dice cup came to an abrupt halt, and in an instant, the entire room fell into the silence that it had initially been when there was only Mo Xiao and I. Involuntarily, I even breathed a little quieter.

“…… really?”

The ever-smiling Mo You frowned rarely, with quite a bit of incredulous look, and glanced at Tang Ren.

I also took the opportunity to glance at Mo Xiao, taking the opportunity to observe her attitude, but looking at her puzzled look, she also seems to be not quite sure what the hell Mo You’s planning.

A rhythmic sound suddenly rang out.

After receiving Tang Ren’s repeated affirmative answer, Mo You tapped her fingers on the table. Although I do not know much about Mo You, her daily playful and unpredictable appearance gave me a very deep impression. It was the first time I saw such a gloomy expression, which reveals a profound obsession that does not look like she can carry. It was as if fear, concern, and ecstasy were jammed together in an unstructured manner.

What was going on?

I wanted to ask this, and Mo Xiao also cast a curious glance at Mo You. She also seemed to be more and more agitated by our reaction, becoming fidgety and tapping her fingers on the table faster and faster.

“Bang!”

Finally, Mo You forcefully and loudly slapped the wooden table, like the sound of a blown-up balloon reaching its limit and bursting, which also made everyone in the room startled.

For a while, everyone in the room looked at Mo You, waiting for her to make a decision and tell the world what she thought in her mind.

Only to see Mo You fervently stood up from her chair and shook off her palm, which was red and swollen from slapping the table.

“Get everyone up for me.”

She said so as if casting an unquestionable oracle from the sky.

Tang Ren opened his mouth, wanted to say something, probably like ‘it’s too late’ kind of words, but nothing came out. He fell silent and can not say the words.

He just slightly bowed and exited the door.

“What kind of stuff are you up to again?”

Seeing that Mo You had made up her mind, Mo Xiao seemed to relax a bit along with the atmosphere in the room. She arrogantly turned her body to the side, clasped her hands to her chest, and then crossed her legs and made a little snide remark.

“I’m sleepy, I want to go back to bed after playing.” Mo Xiao said.

“Humph, I did not give you permission to sleep, what makes you think you can sleep?”

“Sleep is a necessary human physiological need, you think I need your approval?”

“Okay, you go to sleep, but you will miss a nice show playing out.”

Saying so, Mo You jumped up from the chair, stood on the high table, and looked at me coldly under the halo of the electric bulb.

I couldn’t help but swallowed, wondering what she was trying to do, but she actually bent down and overbearingly pressed her face towards me.

“Hey, kid, you are going, right?”

“Uh, to where?”

“It’s not that troublesome, don’t you want to know about your death row status and also about your prison?” Said Mo You. Mo You’s eyes rolled, the corners of her mouth raised an inconspicuous arc and glanced in Mo Xiao’s direction. “Instead of asking that person who won’t say anything, should we just go ask the person who is really in charge?”

“The person who’s really in charge ……?”

I think the Director’s position in the Library should already be very high, if she is not even considered the real person in charge, then there is only one……

“What do you mean by that!?”

Before I could answer, Mo Xiao slapped her hand on the table and the table shook. Even Mo You who was standing on the table lost balance, and almost fell headlong into my arms.

It took some time for Mo You to regain her balance and deftly jumped down from the table and replied playfully.

“Heehee, there’s no meaning, I just kind of want to see how the old lady is doing and go meet her.”

“You’re going to meet the Professor?” I asked hastily, the steward of the Library, only she can fit that role.

“Correct, you’re so smart, I’ll rate you five stars.”

“And what do you want to do when you meet her?”

“That’s out of your hands, I’m just offering you a chance, a chance to potentially get more truth than from my lying sister, so …… will you go?”

“Huang Yuan, don’t go!”

No sooner had the words fallen from Mo You’s lips did Mo Xiao tried to stop me before I could answer.

It seems clear that she thinks I will go and doesn’t want me to go.

“Who are you to stand in the way of someone else’s choice? Hmm? Even if you, an ungrateful daughter, choose to hide the truth, you still want to prevent others from seeking it?”

The petite god proudly looked over towards Mo Xiao’s side with an exaggerated smile on her face, that expression was like Gwynplaine who got an eternal smile through an unfortunate surgery, the smile almost grinned from the corner of her mouth to the root of her ear, which was full of teasing and malice far beyond normal human perception.

“Even if we don’t talk about this, let’s step back 10,000 …… no, one kyoto step, what is he to you? What’s he has to do with you? Why do you want to hinder him from making a choice?”
(Author’s Note: Kyoto is a unit of measurement.)

This made Mo Xiao speechless. Her hands uneasily grasped the handles of the chair, her legs unnaturally inward. It was the first time Mo Xiao like this. For a moment, she cast an indescribable sight at me, at first glance looks just expressionless sight, but carries some sincere pleading.

“…… sorry.”

Even in the face of such a look from Mo Xiao, after a few moments of contemplation, I made a decision.

“I want to go.”

There is no future without the truth.

Yes, I have to go, although I can vaguely feel that Mo Xiao’s desperate attempts to stop are with a reason, and may even be the correct choice.

But ‘there is no future without the truth’ is a line from a movie I love, but it’s not the most iconic one I remembered, instead it is the one that fails the most. Perhaps the director simply wanted a line that was deep enough to be a famous scene, but in the context of that scene, the line was too contrived. All that aside, I think it’s a great movie.

But I feel that there are no words more appropriate to the present situation than this line. Although it is contrived, I have to know what my past and why I am a ‘death row’ is about.

Mo Xiao heard my words and her body shook. I don’t know if it was because of anger, surprise or regret, or perhaps all of the above, but she stood up violently from her chair, and then her tense body relaxed again, as if that stand had exhausted all her strength, and sat back down in her chair dejectedly.

“Oh, is that so ……”

She said pretending to be calm, resting her hand on her chin, looking at me, and then at Mo You.

“Then I’ll go too.”

“Oh? Sister, why do you want to go too? Didn’t you just run away from home? So little fortitude? Are you going to give in right now?”

“Whatever you think.”

Mo Xiao replied with an expression of indifference.

Leaving that small room, the night’s freezing wind is cold to the bone, Mo You seems to be very used to this kind of weather, and she was the first to go out, now her figure couldn’t be seen between the crooked walls.

Mo Xiao and I hadn’t had time to walk from the outer wall back into the room below, and our hands were already a little numb and stiff, although it had only been for less than a minute.

“Ah-choo!”

I couldn’t help but sneeze, then rubbed the tip of my stiff nose with some annoyance.

Mo Xiao glanced at me, said nothing, took off the white coat that never left her, and put it over me.

“Ah …… thanks.”

“Don’t misunderstand.”

Mo Xiao said stiffly, listening to her tone, she was perhaps angry with me.

“It’s just that you just sneezed and your spittle splashed on my clothes, I’m disgusted. When you go back you have to wash it with laundry detergent until it is the color phase X0Y0Z0 and return it.”

“…… okay.”

Am I making a fool of myself? Or is this a euphemism with her unique style?

I don’t know what Mo Xiao’s trying to do, like why she is desperately trying to prevent me from going, but for some reason, I feel that what happened in the past few days seem to have made certain ties between her and me, perhaps the so-called suspension-bridge effect. Although I still don’t know if we can be considered friends now.

The night was cold, but after being ordered by Mo You, it was also very lively, several searchlights together illuminated the large open space below the city, people carrying things, coming and going. But being seemingly busy does not mean it is good. It was clear that this seemingly busy crowd was operating disorderly.

“That’s a lot of inefficiencies.”

I said to myself, more than 70% of the people down here were just wandering aimlessly. Or rather — were looking for things that needed help, and the remaining 30% were just doing jobs that one adult could do, like moving things or something, but with more people giving a hand, which was not very meaningful.

“Huh? You can tell?”

“Sort of.”

“It’s over-mobilizing, and there’s no way you’d bring so many people if you were going to a place like that.”

“You know where we are going?” I asked.

“Sort of.” She replied, following my tone of voice. “If we’re going to meet the Professor, I am 80 or 90 percent sure of where she is right now.”

“Where?”

“I won’t tell you,” Mo Xiao seemed a bit squirmy, “it’s not a place where a big scene could come in handy anyway.”

“I don’t think they intend to take many people there either, you see.” Saying that I pointed to the place where the people who were busy for nothing below were gathered, where several helicopters were placed steadily. Looking at the shape, it was obvious that they were not the kind of private toys that Mo Xiao got from the pub. From the capacity, it is at least a police or military kind, the least is medical, only the spray paint is so worn that even the base color is not visible.

And there are five of these high-capacity helicopters on the tarmac and they only gave two of the helicopters a treatment. Since the helicopters were to be used, it meant that the place to be visited should be quite a distance away, and if they were to take enough people, how could they not let the other three stand idle?

I told Mo Xiao what I thought, and she nodded and smiled slightly.

“Although it is a logic that even a monkey can understand, but you will more or less think about the problem, it’s also a kind of progress.”

Mo Xiao’s expression suddenly turned gloomy again.

“But this journey, I’m afraid it will be very dangerous.”

“Why?”

“I just complimented you for using your brain a little bit, have you forgotten? You’re a prisoner on death row, and now you have to go back to your captors and ask a bunch of questions, isn’t that just throwing yourself into the net?”

“Maybe so. But …… I think I still have to know, I have to know what kind of person I am.”

“Knowing the truth does not guarantee happiness.”

“‘There is no future without the truth’.” I couldn’t help but say the line that came to mind earlier.

Hearing this, Mo Xiao froze for a moment and seeing this reaction from her, I instantly regretted it. It looked like she was going to make fun of me, it was a terrible line.

“The Garden of Life and Death?”

But to my surprise, the name of the movie came out of her mouth.

“…… you’ve seen it?”

“It’s really “Garden of Life and Death” huh, that line sounds like something that would appear in a suspense or sci-fi movie, I thought you were quoting from another movie.”

“I didn’t expect you to watch that kind of drama, I thought you only watched medical documentaries.”

“Forget it, from a professional’s point of view, those things are just for the amusement of children.”

“By the way …… where did you watch “Garden of Life and Death”? I remember that there is no such film in the Library’s viewing library, right? There are no such works with no scientific and educational significance in the Library.”

“I ……”

Hearing this question, I was stunned, I clearly remember all the plot and process of this movie, but since I did not watch this movie in the Library, then ……

Just as I was rambling my thoughts, I was suddenly tapped on my back.

“You two, please hurry up.”

I turned around and it turned out to be Tang Ren, who was as tall as a tower in this night.

“If you want to go together, the preparation is already in place.”

As I expected, the only people to board the helicopter, was just about ten people, a helicopter five people, but unfortunately Tang Ren, Mo Xiao, and Mo You are on the other one, only I sat alone in the middle of a bunch of strangers do not know what to do, and most of these guys are wearing gas masks guys so they all look about the same ……

I sat in this small tight place, slightly uneasy, I have not been able to forget the last plane crash. Moreover, this place is too crowded, I don’t know what Mo You brought, but there are a dozen boxes here. Making it a little hard for me to squeeze in with these guys wearing gas masks.

But in the middle of this group of tall guys, I spotted a familiar figure. I didn’t even have time to notice it until it is during flight, and if you add him, it would be eleven people in total.

“Yo, Lei Ke, you’re going too?”

That was undoubtedly Lei Ke, although he had replaced his hood with a steel helmet and wore a set of bulletproof vests with pockets everywhere, armed to the teeth, there was no way I could have been mistaken with that small-handed, small-footed, short body.

When Lei Ke heard my question, he jumped up from his seat, pointed at me, pointed at himself, and then looked at me with his hand in a chicken-like manner, justifiably.

[I’m the one who has to ask you why a weak chicken who can’t defend himself like you should come along.]

Probably the meaning.

“Mo You called ……”

I haven’t finished my words yet, suddenly the other four people sitting pointed a gun at me. They scared me that my tongue knotted and didn’t dare to move.

If Lei Ke hadn’t waved his hand at these people, I think I really might have become a sieve.
(TLN: Shot till the point of a sieve.)

“Uh, did I just say something wrong?”

“How dare you call Lord You by her name without honorifics, by doing so you deserve to die!”

Saying so, one of them pointed a gun at me again.

“Then, then I’ll start again, Lord …… You told me to come, so I came along.”

[So that’s how it is, it’s Mo You who told you to come].

Lei Ke nodded thoughtfully.

[Well, when we get to the place later, you have to follow us closely. You are such a weak bone that if nobody watched over you, you might get eaten up in three minutes.]

“Do you know where we’re going?”

[Black Market.]

“Black Market?”

It sounds like a very dangerous place, but what is the Professor doing in a place like the Black Market?

Thinking about this, I absently looked at the distant horizon. The sky was already showing a bit of fish-belly white.

“What’s going on?”

It should be near midnight when we set out …… it has only been less than half an hour, how is it dawn already? I suddenly recalled what happened when I went to the Eternal Undead, I remembered as if it was still evening outside, but it was already late at night inside …… what is the principle of this?

I shook my head, it seems that this does not seem to be something that can be figured out just by the brain.

As the plane moved forward, I felt as if the climate was getting warmer, partly probably because it was going to be morning soon, and partly because our destination was also a little warmer. Almost no one spoke along the way, only Lei Ke expressed something to me, Belita and George did not come, but Mo You came herself, which made him feel strange.

Far away, I saw some familiar scenery on the ruins below me, and in the distance, it seems to be a bridge. This place…… this place is Dyson Bay!