Trafford's Trading Club

"That is to say, Customer came here right away as soon as you left Nanako behind, is that correct?"

Zhuge shook his head, "No...I, I dare not to go see her, so I made an excuse and went back home, then made another one to come out."

"Then Ms. Nanako must feel pretty depressed."

With the repercussions of the fright, Zhuge said shrilly after a moment of silence, "Na... She, what is she? Why can... she..."

He didn’t want to think about the scene he saw not long ago; rather, he was eager to hear the answers he wanted from this weird shopkeeper.

"Clay." Luo Qiu didn’t plan to hide it--- no inquiry, no explanation. The club was always honest.

"Clay?" Zhuge opened his mouth with incredibility. "How come!"

"Does Customer think the Nanako that appeared in front of you was inconceivable as well?"

"I, I do not..." Zhuge shook his head, then became rather angry, "But what I paid is..."

Luo Qiu suddenly turned indifferent, "Customer, do I have to evaluate the price you paid...? Well, there’s indeed a series of evaluation standards used in judging customers’ souls."

Zhuge was stupefied. A sudden horror emerged in his heart.

He was afraid of hearing some of the facts from the boss’s mouth... which he always heard since he was young.

"I’m not... I just..."

He suddenly didn’t know what he was trying to say--- because Nanako was made from clay, he decided to interrogate in rage? However, thinking of the requirement he raised, he only said that he wanted Nanako to come back to him. There was no term written about what Nanako actually was.

Originally... that was merely a virtual character in a mobile game.

It was only clay...

Zhuge suddenly understood, why Nanako never eat before him, why she only cooked egg fried rice, and why... he never saw her wash herself. Even in the park, she was so flustered after getting wet.

Nanako might be afraid that her body would melt and frightened him.

Did she think so?

Zhuge swallowed saliva, finally he asked the burning question, "Does she have her own thoughts?"

A long time had passed since Nanako appeared. Nanako always accompanied him, looked at him eating, and watching films with him. She would chat with him on the internet, even playing computer games with him, yet never feeling bored or tired.

It was quite weird.

It certainly was!

How could this kind of girl exist in the world? One who got everything ready for you quietly and always keep a sweet smile.

"Isn’t this what customer wants?" Luo Qiu said, "She cares about you, is willing to chat with you, and won’t look down on you."

"I!" Zhuge fell silence abruptly. He suddenly felt unprecedentedly agitated.

That was a feeling that had never arose even though he was taunted, rejected by girls after confessing in his puberty, or acting as a small person that was ordered by any other one in the office.

"I... I’m going back."

Zhuge stood up quickly, walking to the club’s door without looking back.

"Hope to see you again, customer."

Zhuge heard the boss’s voice at the moment he went out. He paused slightly, then pushed open the door and left without a response.

The second time Zhuge came, ended with no transaction.

...

You Ye walked over to him, holding the scented tea that Zhuge didn’t drink, and putting it on the tray that was held by Qin Chuyu, who then turned around to leave without saying anything... She still didn’t know until now why she was doing this job.

"There is no improvement." You Ye now said softly by Luo Qiu, "But being suddenly soaked by the spray is quite strange."

Luo Qiu took off the mask, holding the teacup, thinking of the matter that bet with Tai Yinzi. He suddenly asked, "50 years should be a very long time, right?"

It was not long to You Ye... but that period was twice of Luo Qiu’s current life.

You Ye just smiled to answer Luo Qiu’s question.

"Forget it, let’s change a topic." Luo Qiu shrugged, "Well, how’s the research going for that magical stone?"

You Ye was in charge of keeping that magical stone since they left Ulan Bator. Boss Luo thought it would be more effective to have the knowledgeable You Ye study it, rather than he spending time on authenticating the price of it.

You Ye came up to his expectation, "According to the description from Zhang Jiao, it has received radiation and material analysis. It’s made by an unknown material. As for the radiation, it had a pretty active period previously. I detected a rather weak ray which can accelerate the metabolism of cells."

"So the rebirth was due to this reason?" Luo Qiu asked curiously.

You Ye took a nod, "Yes. But this radiation has been decreasing constantly. It may be due to its special characteristics thus unable to permanently release it... All in all, it may be a meteorite that fell from outer space."

"A meteorite..." Luo Qiu nodded, "But why can it absorb souls?"

You Ye replied, "It should be the instinctive reaction of the meteorite. If souls were regarded as spirits, it actually absorbs something like spirit waves. What’s interesting is... there seems to be a special life bred in this meteorite."

"Is it alive?" Luo Qiu was shocked.

You Ye was not sure, "It’s hard to say... I haven’t seen it before, but it might not have its own consciousness. As for absorbing the spirits, it should be an instinctive reaction. Maybe it is the key to being ‘born’. Later on, I plan to have another analysis using fluorescence spectra and polarogram of an X-ray. You Ye will inform Master at the first moment if a further discovery has been found."

Boss Luo could only nod because he didn’t know what the hell was You Ye saying.

As the boss, he felt ill-at-ease to face her. It was like a slow learner facing the god of learning more or less.

"OK, I’m leaving now."

Ren Ziling... was still snoring loudly in her sleep in that restaurant.

...

...

Zhuge’s hand was holding the handle of the door, but he didn’t open it. He didn’t know why he was hesitating, except that he had a blank mind... The scene he caught a glimpse of was hard to be erased from his mind.

Yet, the door had been opened all at once.

As usual, Nanako was standing in the hallway. "Zhuge, you came back!"

Zhuge gazed at this sweet face in a daze, while his body retreated half a step by instinct.

"Zhuge, what’s wrong?" Nanako was confused, "Don’t you feel good?"

Nanako stretched out her hand, touching towards Zhuge’s forehead.

The face that made him happy got close to him, yet the scene she took apart her head emerged and became unparalleled clear.

Clay...

All of a sudden, Zhuge felt as if she had turned into a heap of upright clay... mud and was getting closer to him.

Terrified!

Closer and closer.

"Don’t!"

By instinct, or out of the fear in his heart, Zhuge waved his arm to knock away her palm nearing his forehead.

"Zhuge..." Nanako looked at him in a daze, the sweet smile disappearing in immediately, "Did... you... see... in... the park..."

Zhuge gaped as gazing at his own palm...

I... I...

"I... I... I..."

Stepping back, again, and again, Zhuge felt his mouth parched and his tongue scorched. He then turned about to run down the stairs crazily.

"Zhuge!"

He heard a call in a sobbing tone... however, he just wanted to run away, as far as possible. The happiness of his shattered in that instant.