Chapter 3: We can die by it, if not live by love

I opened my eyes lazily, as the alarm clock on the bedside table beeped furiously. God, that has to be the most annoying sound in the whole world. I turned that thing off, as I got out of bed, rubbing my eyes as a small yawn escaped my lips. I walked into the living room, as I readjusted my clothes. Sharp cacophonic sounds of someone furiously bowing a violin flooded my ears. I turned to see Jamie on the couch fiddling with my violin.

“It’s not rosined enough, you sound awful,” I said as I walked past my partner on my way to the bathroom on the other side.

When I returned back into the living room I found her still trying to work a way with the violin, shuffling through my notes.

“I was trying to learn to play the little happy birthday jingle in time for your birthday,” Jamie pouted, putting aside the violin.

I laughed as I made my way towards the kitchen. “You’re holding the bow wrong dumbass. Keep at it though, maybe you’ll make it in time before my 30th birthday.”

“Meanie,” she said, as she slid the instrument back inside the case, getting up from the couch. Looking at the clock on the wall, she turned to me and said, “You’re up early… Got a job today?”

“Yeah,” I told her, making myself a morning coffee, “Not the kind I would’ve gone for, but they wouldn’t let me have my way this time”

“Serves you right,” she laughed heartily at my misery as she went into my bedroom where she’d spent the night, picking out clothes to wear for the day.

I sat down on a chair near the kitchen counter, sipping on the coffee I brewed, flipping through the new issue of Crater Daily, as Jamie made her way inside the bathroom to take a shower before she left for college.

About fifteen minutes or so later, she re-emerged from the shower, her short hair dripping wet, and herself clad in a towel that barely covered her fully.

“You’ll actually catch a cold if you walk out like that from a hot shower during winter,” I told her.

“Oh shut up, what are you my mom?,” she told me as she closed the door of my room shut behind her. I sighed as my attention was brought to an article in the newspaper by one W. Korspole.

She re-emerged from my room dressed in a white crop top with a pair of oversized jean trousers and a rather plain looking red jacket to top that all off. Putting a cute looking black beret on her head, she slung her bag on her shoulder. “Aight I’ll be heading off then,” she said.

“Have fun,” I told her.

“You should do your classes too, you’re a lot behind on your credits, y’know? At this rate, you might not get your degree…”

“Yeah yeah, whatever, just get going,” I waved my hand shooingly dismissing her.

Jamie pouted with light disappointment, before she said, “Aight, bye bye~!” and left.

I glanced back at the clock. Guess I should get ready too…

—

“I’m sure you have a mountain load of questions for me,” I told William, as the both of us walked west from the cemetery, which was located in the outskirts of the business district, towards the town centre. “I have a whole lot of questions to ask you, as well. So how about we take turns asking each other a question. I ask you something, you answer, and then ask me something that I answer, in turn. The only rule is that we both have to be 100% honest during this exchange, and once either of us runs out of questions to ask, the other has to stop as well. Does that sound good?”

William seemed to ponder on my suggestion for a quiet minute before he nodded.

“Alright, you’re my guest so, you get to ask the first question”

“Oh right… So uhh…” he seemed to stop and think for a good minute, before he said, “What is this PRECIPICE thing even about?”

“Starting off strong, aren’t we?” I chuckled a little, “What happened to making small talk… Well, I’ll tell you as promised… PRECIPICE is an agency that does a lot of behind the scenes work. We’re a multi-purpose clean up group, you could say… Also I only learnt recently that PRECIPICE is actually an acronym for Peace Regulation, Emergencies Control, Immediate Prevention, Intelligence and Containment Executive. Crazy isn’t it? I used to think it was just some random code name, but apparently not!”

I paused for a bit to take a look at William’s face as he seemed to be meticulously noting down all the information into a small notepad he’d pulled out of his back pocket.

“Well, there’s of course a lot more to PRECIPICE but… That’s all you’re getting from me for now. For any additional concerns, make sure to ask more specific questions here on out, yeah?”

He nodded. He seems to do that a lot, I thought. To me, he seemed like an exceedingly boring man with almost little intrigue factor. Nothing about him was extraordinary. He was the kind of person you’d sit next to on a train and forget of their existence almost immediately after they leave the seat.

—

“Are you bullshitting me right now, Xiaolei?” said Timothy Kyd, the Division Three Captain to me, his voice exasperated, if it wasn’t obvious already from the face he made, and the fact that he used my birth name to refer to me.

“With all due respect, Captain… The dude is beyond boring and ordinary. When I interrogated him, all I could get out of him was sob stories of his family dying and stuff we’ve already been knowing. Is there really any use–”

The captain cut me off before I could finish my sentence as he said, “Why do you think I entrusted you with this mission? Just idle chit chat with him won’t cut it, and you should know that better than me… Purposefully half-assing this mission won’t change the fact that I will get you transferred under my command sooner than later”

“Tch, you caught on?”

“That’s that, this is this. Be serious and focus on the mission at hand. This is a really important thing I’m leaving in your hands. Have you heard of the prophecy that’s been floating around Town Square for the past few months?”

“Oh yeah, the Shenron Doraemon or whatever, right?”

“Shinsakimon.”

“Meh, close enough”

“Han Xiaolei!”

“Yes sir!”

“Please…” he sighed, I could tell he was done with my shit

“From what I’ve heard, it’s something about the city getting destroyed by demons or whatever, around Christmas Day? Isn’t it just some BS from the internet forums? Kids with too much free time and anonymity doing their thing, I’d guess… The real demons if you ask me, is that computer thing. Those things terrify me”

“Do you know of deities?”

My ears, like Pavlov’s dog to the bell, stood alerted, as I heard him say that word.

“Oh, please don’t tell me…” I began.

“Yes.”

“It’s that serious? And you want me to handle that? Have you lost your fucking mind, Tim?”

“That’s not the language you should be using with your superior, Han. Also, yes. I know the capabilities of every single member of this agency, and you’re second to none when it comes to extracting information out of our suspects. You should understand how much of a catastrophe a deity being unleashed into a busy place such as Crater City can be. Do whatever it takes to get info out of that man.”

“Why him? While there was a certain thing about his aura that felt a bit amiss to me, it definitely wasn’t too alarming, and I just took him to be a depressed and dull individual.”

“Well, I have good suspicion about certain things pertaining to that man. I’ll tell you them, and your job will be to find out how on the money I am.”

—

I followed the Precipice agent named Liahan Beiker as he led me into a cafe located on the 4th Avenue of the Town Square. Aptly named “The 4th Avenue Cafe”, it was located at a pretty busy and central area of the district. The place seemed rather high end for a cafe, but then again, it made sense given the prime location it was situated in.

We took a seat in the cafe, a booth in a secluded corner of the already empty store. The rugged yet handsome looking man that accompanied me took the seat opposite to mine. He raised a leg on the other, leaning right into the wall behind him with a casual sense of familiarity. He probably visits this place often, I thought.

After he lit a cigarette, offered one to me that I declined, he turned to me, peering into my eyes curiously, as he took a drag. Exhaling the smoke out of his system, it seemed like he was about to ask me a question, but before he could have done so, we were approached by a waitress. And this might be unfair to my beloved late Maria, but the waitress girl’s beauty almost knocked me out. I was at an actual loss for words. I turned my eyes to face the table top, as I heard Mr. Liahan engage in small talk with her, before he placed his order.

“One Honey Yoghurt Parfait, topped with strawberries for me. And for the gentleman over there…” he seemed to pause, as he looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to place my order.

I felt my ears go red from the embarrassment at my own inability to participate in normal socialisation. My eyes didn’t leave the tabletop as I stuttered out, “Uhh just o- one Americano please…”

“You sure dude? The bill’s on me, feel free to order whatever”

“No… It’s fine…”

“One Honey Yoghurt Parfait, and one Americano it is then,” said the waitress with a smile.

“Don’t forget the strawberries on top, or I won’t leave behind any tips”

“As if you ever do that anyway you cheapskate,” she walked off to the station behind the counter, flipping him off.

He laughed, seeing her reaction

“Do you visit this place often?” I asked him, “You seem pretty acquainted with the staff here”

“Acquainted? That’s my colleague,” he laughed even harder as he replied to me.

“Colleague…? What are you talking about?”

“Oh, well, you see… All the staff that you’re seeing at this cafe are Precipice Agents. Division Four specifically,” he replied to me matter-of-factly.

I chuckled, he must be joking right? I looked around, my eyes surveying the exceptionally pretty men and women the cafe had employed as staff, buzzing about the counters, stations and tables, like any other ordinary place. It was then that I suddenly felt something touch my leg. I glanced below the table to see a cockroach poking my foot with its tiny little legs. I yelped, jumping out of the seat, from my deathly fear of insects. This sudden movement seemed to alert the little bug, because it flapped its wings and seemed to lunge into the air, flying straight at my face.

I froze in place, and before I could bat my eyelid once, a small piece of paper seemed to glide through the air right in front of my eyes at overwhelming speed as it struck the roach and pinned it straight against the wall beside Mr. Liahan as he ducked to his side.

My head turned first to the wall with the roach stuck onto it, before turning over right to see the person responsible for the incredibly skillful rescue. A man, about six feet in height, only a inch or so shorter than Mr. Liahan, with his long luscious brown hair tied in a ponytail, wearing rounded glasses on his face which seemed feminine due to his dainty nose and lips yet had a handsome edge to it due to the little stubble on his chin, walked up to us. “Please resume your seat, dear customer, I apologise for the inconvenience,” he told me as he gently held my back as I seated myself back down. His cascading longs overhanging to the front, with his soft voice and comforting presence, caused my heart to throb a little due to the closeness.

“Yo Jay, fancy seeing here, skipping out on classes, are we?” Liahan addressed the man to my side, with a smug look on his face.

The man he called Jay retorted with, “I could say the same of you, Han”

“Oh drop the act already please. You know I’m on a job right now”

“And so am I, what’s the issue here?”

“Hmmm, is that right? Look at the honours student, the pride of our college taking a day shift… Must be something really important, hm?”

The man with the ponytail seemed to gesture at my presence with his eyes, but Mr. Liahan almost instantly waved his hand dismissively as he said, “This guy’s no issue. He knows that it’s for his own good to keep mum. Isn’t that right, Liam dear?”

There’s a very clear threat behind his words, I thought, a light shiver running down my spine. I giggled nervously as I nodded. I’d be in big trouble if a word of what I saw and heard got out.

The other man sighed as he said rather hurriedly, “I’ve got work right now, dude. The long and short of it is that Kristen called me up earlier and gave me this job to complete ASAP”

“No shit?”

“No shit.”

“Damn, that’s crazy man… Didn’t think we’d work together so soon again”

“I’d rather not do that, thanks… Well then, Han, it was fun catching up for now. Meet you later, yeah?”

“The Floaters, 5PM today. Do not be late”

“That’s my line, Belphegor,” the other man said as he made his way outside the cafe, waving us bye.

“That’s Jacob Islodo. The best assassin we have,” Mr. Liahan informed me, as he dropped the nearly spent cig to the floor, stomping it out with the sole of his shoe.

“So you weren’t kidding about them being…”

“Nope,” he said with a smile on his face.

“Are you too…” I began nervously, “...an assassin?” I whispered.

He laughed, as he reassured me, “Hah, no. I’m more like… A civic probably… Or something like that”

The pretty waitress soon returned with our orders, placing them on the table. I had a light shiver as I remembered the impure thoughts that had stirred up in my head about her, not too long ago… Oh thank God, I almost escaped death today… Phew

“So is that what you meant by the clean up that PRECIPICE does?”

“Hm… Well, you could say that… But it’s really just part of it, our job is a lot lot more than just killing some humans…” he said, slowly enjoying his parfait.

As I took a sip of my coffee, I heard and saw in my peripheral vision sudden movement as Mr. Liahan jumped out of his seat. His eyes quickly scanning throughout the place, I could hear him whispering something under his breath.

“Yī… Èr… Sān… Sì… Yǒu sì gè shēngwù ma…?”
(TL: “One… Two… Three… Four… There’s four of them, huh?”)

Was it Chinese that he just spoke? I didn’t know, but he turned to look at me, his tone dead serious, unlike before, as he spat out “Stay there, do NOT move,” running out of the cafe, and right as the glass door shut behind him, I could hear a huge explosion. I turned around to see a huge cloud of smoke looming right through the glass.

What the hell just happened? What is going on? Just who is Liahan Beiker? What on earth is Precipice?

I need answers, and I need them right now

So I thought, as I decided to disobey the man’s orders. I walked towards the door slowly but unsurely, but I was stopped in my tracks by the waitress. She stood right there in front of me, blocking my way out. Her face was calm, too calm, borderline terrifyingly calm. She gave me a smile that made my knees shake out of pure primal fear as she softly said, “Please do as Mr. Beiker asked of you. Otherwise, we’ll have problems… I think you understand what’s best for you right?”

Scary! I just want to go home. Screw all this !!

> To be continued

Author's Note:
Pardon me if the Chinese that Liahan used in this chapter is incorrect. I'm not that well versed, but I wanted to have an Asian American as the main character.   

Once again, I'm grateful to everyone who has been reading the chapters, and a special heartfelt thank you to my proof-readers and editor. You guys are absolute life savers and I appreciate you all <3