1:00 a.m., Shanqing District Third Hospital.
Gao Yang burst into the emergency building lobby and spotted his sister immediately. She was sitting on one of the blue public chairs, still in her pajamas and slippers, hair disheveled, face streaked with tears.
The moment Gao Xinxin saw him, she rushed forward and threw herself into his arms, sobbing again.
Gao Yang gently stroked her head. "Where's Dad now?"
"Second floor. I'll take you." She grabbed his hand and pulled him along.
On the way here, Gao Yang had already gotten the full story over the phone.
His father had been out entertaining clients late into the night and had been drinking. He called for a designated driver, but the driver was fatigued and crashed into a small truck at an intersection.
The driver died on the spot. His father, seated in the back and wearing a seatbelt, survived the worst of the impact—but was still seriously injured. After being pulled from the wreckage, he was rushed straight to the hospital. When the nurses were collecting his belongings, they found his wallet and ID and called his wife.
His mother nearly fainted on the spot. Without even changing clothes, she grabbed his sister and rushed out. Their grandmother wasn't well and was already asleep; they hadn't dared wake her, much less tell her.
Gao Yang and his sister burst out of the elevator. At the end of the corridor, he saw his mother—also in pajamas and slippers, hair wild, face haggard, eyes swollen red—sitting on a bench outside the operating room. The instant she saw her children, she stood up and pulled them both into a tight embrace.
"Mom, I'm scared…" his sister whimpered through tears.
His mother said nothing, but her hands were trembling visibly.
Gao Yang wrapped his arms around both of them. "It's okay. It's going to be okay. Dad's going to be fine."
…
The surgery dragged on for hours, stretching deep into the early morning.
When the doctor finally emerged from the operating room, his scrubs were soaked in blood. He wore a surgical mask, and his voice was weary. "He's temporarily out of immediate danger, but the outlook isn't good. We've done everything we can. The rest is up to him. Also… you should prepare yourselves mentally. Even if he pulls through this time, he may have to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair."
"Thank you, Doctor! Thank you so much… as long as he lives, that's enough…" His mother had no greater wish; tears of gratitude streamed down her face.
"Just doing my job." The doctor gave a polite nod and left.
The family continued their vigil outside until around 5 a.m., when another doctor came out to confirm that their father had stabilized and was no longer in critical danger. Only then did the heavy stone in his mother's heart finally lift.
Seeing how exhausted his mother and sister looked, Gao Yang urged them to go home and rest. Neither wanted to leave.
He spoke patiently. "None of us has slept all night. Dad needs someone here around the clock. If you two go home now and rest, you can come back this afternoon to take over from me. Besides, you're both still in pajamas—what kind of look is that? Go home, change, and sleep."
His mother finally relented. She looked up at her son with a tired but warm smile. "Yangyang's grown up."
Gao Yang blinked. "Has he?"
"Yes. Especially these past few months. You come home late a lot, but… you seem much more mature."
Gao Yang felt a complicated rush of emotions. After awakening, he hadn't become more mature so much as more cautious.
Soon his mother left with his sister. Gao Yang stayed outside the ICU, keeping watch. He was exhausted but couldn't sleep. His mind wandered, drifting back to childhood memories.
When he was little, they lived in a suburban county town. His grandfather was still alive then. The family of six lived in a two-story concrete house they had built themselves. There was a front yard, and outside the yard stood a ginkgo tree. Every autumn the ground would be carpeted in golden leaves.
They ran a small shop called "Happy Supermarket," selling snacks and daily necessities. It kept them fed but never made them rich.
His father was clever and always had a head for business. The house was full of self-help and success books. He loved to brag: once he saved enough capital, he'd partner with friends to open a factory. Then they'd move to the city, buy a school-district apartment, get a car, and give the family a good life.
The year Gao Yang graduated elementary school, his father actually made a small fortune and moved the family closer to the city.
He partnered with friends to start a food processing plant specializing in various bean products. To sell them, he was constantly visiting clients. His phone held thousands of numbers—all supermarket owners big and small. The better business got, the more socializing there was. Half the month he spent wining and dining clients, coming home drunk every time.
Tap-tap-tap.
Footsteps approached. Gao Yang snapped alert.
He looked up. It was the attending physician who had performed the surgery. Now out of his white coat and mask, dressed in casual clothes.
"Want some?" The doctor held two cups of coffee. He sat down beside Gao Yang and offered one. The rich aroma drifted over.
"Thanks." Gao Yang accepted it without ceremony and took a sip. Warmth spread through his body.
He glanced sideways at the doctor. Despite the mature aura of a middle-aged man, he looked surprisingly young—appearance-wise, no older than thirty.
Tall and lean, with sharp, defined features. Slightly curly hair, black-framed glasses that gave him an intellectual air. He wore a deep-gray British-style wool sweater, khaki trousers, brown Oxford shoes, a vintage quartz watch on his wrist, and a simple silver ring on his slender ring finger.
Without the white coat, he looked more like a melancholic literary youth.
He cradled the coffee cup in both hands, took a gentle sip, then tilted his head toward the window at the end of the corridor. The first light of dawn streamed in—soft, pure, almost holy, as if from heaven itself.
"This is my favorite time of day," the doctor said quietly, his voice low but gentle.
Gao Yang paused, realizing the man was speaking to him. After a long moment, he managed, "Because… the morning sun fills people with hope?"
"No. Because I can finally clock out." The doctor smiled.
Gao Yang laughed too.
"How old are you?" the doctor asked.
"Eighteen."
"Eighteen. So college entrance exams soon."
"Yeah."
"Any idea which university?"
"Not yet," Gao Yang said.
"With your dad's condition…" The doctor gave a small sigh. "I'd recommend staying local. The city university here is solid—one of the top-tier ones."
Gao Yang felt something was off. This doctor was being awfully… personal. He set down his coffee and subtly shifted away a little.
The doctor noticed immediately and gave a faint smile. "Are you afraid of me?"
Gao Yang's heart tightened. He said nothing, but his peripheral vision quietly scanned the corridor—elevator, emergency exit, windows—while he played dumb. "Afraid of you? Why would I be?"
"Afraid I'm a beast," the doctor said.
Gao Yang nearly jumped, but the doctor—Dr. Zhao—grabbed his wrist. The grip wasn't rough, but it was firm and controlled. Gao Yang tried to pull free but couldn't; the doctor was precisely matching and exceeding his strength by just a fraction.
Dr. Zhao's smile returned. "Relax. If I wanted to kill you, you'd already be dead."
Gao Yang thought about it and realized it was true. He slowly calmed down, feigning composure as he asked directly, "Are you an awakener… or a beast?"
"What do you think?" the doctor countered with a smile.
"I don't know." Gao Yang answered honestly. The more he learned about beasts, the harder it became to draw a clear line between them and humans.
"Talent: Red Eyes. Sequence number 131. I distinguish humans from beasts by body temperature. Overall, beasts run just slightly hotter, and the distribution patterns have subtle but consistent differences." Dr. Zhao looked at Gao Yang; a faint red glow flickered in his brown eyes. "So I could tell at a glance—you're human."
Gao Yang exhaled in relief. False alarm.
"I'm Baili Yi." The doctor extended his hand.
"Hello… Mr. Baili. I'm Gao Yang." Gao Yang shook it, visibly relaxing.
"You haven't been awakened long, have you?" Baili Yi asked.
"How could you tell?"
"You seem more afraid of beasts than most awakeners are."
Gao Yang paused. "Isn't that normal?"
Baili Yi gave a meaningful smile. "What's there to fear from beasts? As long as you follow the rules and keep playing the part of the innocent lamb, you'll be perfectly safe. They're not so much pretending to be human as they are possessing dual personalities and bodies—human and beast. As long as you don't flip their internal switch and activate the 'beast' side, in a way, they're just our everyday companions."
Gao Yang pondered. This explanation sounded a lot like what Officer Huang believed.
Baili Yi shifted slightly, leaning forward. The dawn light melted behind him, casting a soft golden sheen along the edges of his glasses. "Compared to beasts… humans are far more terrifying."
Gao Yang mulled over the words, unsure how to respond.
He changed the subject. "You're a surgeon. You operate every day. Most of your patients must be beasts, right? They never get exposed?"
Baili Yi shook his head. "When not beastified, their bodies are no different from ours. Just slightly stronger metabolism, self-healing, immunity… and their reproductive systems feel a bit less authentic. Though I've seen some that were frighteningly convincing. If I didn't have Red Eyes, I might have been fooled."
Gao Yang immediately thought of Officer Huang's "pregnant" wife. Maybe she was one of those eerily realistic ones.
Baili Yi sipped his coffee leisurely, as if discussing the weather. "Beasts have life cycles too—similar to humans. Fragile in youth, strong in adulthood, frail in old age. Because they diligently play human 24/7, their beast abilities gradually degrade. The older they get, the more severe the regression. Many elderly beasts, even when fully beastified, might not match an adult human in combat power."
Gao Yang remembered "Aunt He" from the love hotel attack. Officer Huang had said she was heavily degenerated; otherwise her strength would have been several times greater.
"Then my family… are they human, or… beasts?" Gao Yang desperately wanted the answer, yet dreaded it. Asking made his throat tighten and his heart race.
"I can't tell you. That would violate regulations." Baili Yi gave an apologetic smile. "In fact, just talking to you today already breaks the rules. Please keep this confidential."
Ironically, Gao Yang felt relieved. Then another thought struck him. "Are you part of the organization too?"
"Organization?" Baili Yi savored the word. "If you have to put a label on it… yes, I belong to one."
"Mr. Baili, I've only just awakened. I have so many questions." Gao Yang couldn't let this chance slip. He poured them all out at once.
"I heard beasts don't have real reproductive systems—so how do beasts come into existence? How do humans? Why do they insert us among them and go through all this trouble to play house? Why do we only awaken our talents after discovering the truth?
"Why do the beasts around us switch modes and try to kill us the moment we awaken? How many kinds of beasts are there? Are they all evil? Can humans and beasts have children? Is this only happening around me, or is it the whole world…?"
Baili Yi's smile turned amused. "Poor kid. You've really been bottling this up, haven't you?"
Gao Yang felt like crying. Ever since awakening, these questions had haunted him. Dwelling on them too long could drive a person mad.
"Sorry. I don't know the answers to many of them. And even the ones I do know… I can't tell you." Baili Yi paused thoughtfully. "How about this—I'll leave you with one last sentence."