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Eighth leaf
Yuu-chan 2025.03.19. 02:51
Seeing the city from the top of the Lighthouse, this time in the middle of the day, was an indescribable experience. The sun was glaring at him, yet because of the strong wind, even the light felt cold. Lu Feng unnoticeably changed a part of his skin into his tendril-skin, and sucked the light into his body. It was almost as refreshing as a warm shower in his home. He seemed to forget how it felt in the past – it’s been weeks since he entered the human world.
When he heard Dr Ji’s arrival, he changed back his face, and the sunlight became cold and piercing again.
“What… what are you doing there?”
Lu Feng stood on the very edge of the roof, on the short concrete railing. He looked back at his friend, who didn’t come beside him, instead, he abruptly halted in mid-step a few meters away, looking at him with a strange look. His hair squirmed because of the wind.
“Don’t go so close to the edge. You think I can catch you if you fall?”
Lu Feng never thought about falling; he knew, he could just let his vines burst out and dig into the building. But he had to admit, for a human to fall down, it was very dangerous.
“Are you afraid of height?” He asked calmly. Dr Ji clicked his tongue, and when Lu Feng glanced at him, he saw him crossing his arms as protection against the weather.
“Not particularly, but I don’t like it much either. What, is the situation that bad? Whom did you make cry? Do you want to jump now, because you feel so bad? Do you need another psychological assessment? A therapy? Do you want me to check your blood? Are you feeling unwell?”
Dr Ji wasn’t available the day after that dinner-night. He apologised profusely, and vowed on his own life that he would make it up for him next time. So they couldn’t hang out for a while. His enthusiastic effort to take care of his “sick” friend, and do whatever he needed to keep him alive must be the resolution for his absence. Lu Feng paused.
“Do I feel like a different person to you?” He asked back soon, ignoring those questions. Dr Ji suspiciously looked at him from head to toe, probably remembering the conversation from the other day.
“It’s not that.” He murmured. “Well, I did see your results in the database. You had not given wrong answers… and I don’t think you’re infected. But… You did change.”
“How so?” Lu Feng thought as long as he was out of suspicion it was still alright. Maybe there was room to act like himself, and not Lu Feng all the time, and still be safe, after all.
Dr Ji shivered, but obediently answered, shifting his weight from one leg to another.
“I think you’ve suffered a trauma. Your whole team was wiped out. I know… I know you are not the type of person, who would talk it out. I just want to make sure you can get over it. Damn it, Lu Feng, you were never affected by seeing people dying, and it was weird of you to act like that, but now, that you are affected… it’s even weirder.
Lu Feng frowned, and took some seconds to think about Dr Ji’s explanation.
“So it doesn’t matter what I say or do, it’s weird.” He concluded. Dr Ji showed a twitching smile before he shrugged again.
“You can say that. You were always a bit weird.”
Understanding that his friend was worried for him, and was freezing to death, Lu Feng hummed. He stepped back from the edge of the building. He cast a last look at the city – it seemed like a never-ending silver jungle. He couldn’t even see the other city this time, only the vast buildings and tiny roads with antlike people on them. He decided that he liked the night scenery better, and then turned away from it.
“Let’s go back, and eat in the cafeteria. Let’s talk there.”
Dr Ji was overjoyed, almost flying towards the door. At the Lighthouse’s top floor, there was a big waiting room, with some soft sofas and armchairs surrounding the coffee tables. It wasn’t far from the cafeteria, but because it was so high up, and most of the rooms here and the nearby floors were already abandoned laboratories or storage rooms, there weren’t many people around. The few that walked by still gave curious glances at Lu Feng; he didn’t belong to the Lighthouse, but because of Dr Ji, they didn’t ask anything. After exchanging nods, everyone left them alone.
They were eating instant noodles, it was enough to fill their stomach. Dr Ji warmed his palms on the cup of the noodles, while they were waiting for the hot water to cook their meals. He was still sniffing with a red nose.
“I have to go back soon. I just went absent from the lab without notice, I mean… I didn’t tell them, I’m coming up here. But I will chat with you, yes. See, good friend. Good enough. I’m here for you.” He was very proud of himself, clearly.
Understanding, that he had a little time, Lu Feng didn’t beat around the bush. Holding the warm cup with both of his hands as well, he just said:
“I've made the Arbiter cry. How do I make it up for him?”
Dr Ji almost spilled his noodle soup on himself.
“…From all the people I thought you made cry… this name wasn’t even on the list.” His mouth agape, he stared at Lu Feng in disbelief, before the curious sparks awakened in his azure eyes. “I don’t know if I want to hit you or congratulate you.”
Lu Feng felt a sudden wave of uneasiness, but he kept his calm and collected posture.
“Is it really bad?”
“Hah!” Dr Ji wanted to say something, but he forgot, and he was still in shock, staring at him as if Lu Feng was a new species to study. He needed several seconds to continue. “Are you for real-real? I’ve known him for years, and I’ve never seen him cry or laugh.”
“Well, I guess. I don’t know why he cried. I just asked him about my mother.”
The smile starting to grow on Dr Ji’s face suddenly melted off before it could bloom fully.
“Okay, I've decided about a kick, right in your balls.”
Lu Feng didn’t know what to say for a while.
“…I don’t understand.”
“I thought…” Dr Ji sighed. “I thought you don’t want to talk about this matter, because you’re just as upset about this as your mother, and you also don’t want to take sides openly, for the sake of your job, or something like that. But it turns out, you’re just clueless about everything?”
The rose wasn’t an impatient person, Lu Feng also wasn’t an impatient person, but after the countless “you are clueless” statements, even he started losing his cool.
“I guess so. Am I not allowed to know? Why does my mother and the Arbiter hate each other?”
But instead of finally giving him an answer, Dr Ji seemed reluctant. He wasn’t angry at him, but he also looked like he regretted coming up and eating with him. He started slurping his noodles before he spoke again.
“Lu Feng… how do you feel about Gao Tang?”
Lu Feng also started his noodles, and this question came so suddenly that it caused him to pause and accidentally drop his slippery food back into the cup.
He recognised the name from the certificate. He knew human emotions were very tangled, and relationships were difficult, but the fact that he had zero memory about this person made him believe, that Lu Feng didn’t really care about his superior.
“Nothing.” He said at last, after thinking about it. He suspected that he could tell the truth. This Gao Tang probably died outside the base already.
Dr Ji looked up, his face radiated disbelief again.
“Ah… I take back everything I said about your change.”
“If you change your mind on a daily basis about me, maybe you need psychological assessment…”
“Shut up!” After scolding him, Dr Ji sighed, and looked at his half-empty cup. “It looks like I misunderstood something. Well… I’m not sure if I should be the one telling you the story… Eh, it’s not even a story, it’s just a rumour, okay? And some people surely know about it too… I guess it’s still better if you hear about it from me. I’ve never asked An Zhe about this, and I didn’t want to discuss it with your mother either.” Dr Ji’s chopsticks were slowly stirring the remaining noodles. “You know that Lieutenant Gao was outside the base when he died…”
This was Lu Feng’s strong suspicion, so he nodded. However, Dr Ji didn’t even notice, and just continued his explanation, staring into his cup.
“This is the official version. There is another version of that day. Again… I’ve never seen it, and people make things up a lot. Well, if I would ask An Zhe, he would probably tell the truth, but I didn’t want to pressure him… So the thing is, on the day Gao Tang died, there was a commotion at the gates. It was said, that the new Arbiter shot a high-ranked officer. Strangely, anyone, who was present at the gates that day had disappeared one way or another. And the Judges would not say anything about it. But some… some people suspect, that it was a certain Lieutenant General who died that day… on the same day as Lieutenant General Gao died.”
The rose frowned, connecting the dots in his head.
“So you think the Arbiter shot Gao Tang.” He concluded. He probably should be upset for his superior. He wondered why his ancestor wasn’t.
“Me? Eh… I don’t know. Maybe.” Dr Ji was puzzled. He quickly stuffed some noodles into his face. “This matter is top-secret level information. It belongs to the Trial Court. Anything that they did or did not do… it’s their business. And, you know… I cannot take sides here. An Zhe… I’ve known him from a young age, and he has an extraordinary talent for recognising xenogenics. As an Arbiter, he did have the right to shoot anyone, even with such a high rank. It’s not like he enjoys it. I saw his psychological assessment results. He always answers beautifully, but right after that day, he received a terrible score on one of his tests. He was almost forced to step down from his position. However some professors insisted on taking another test with him, and since then, he had no fluctuations. An Zhe just did his job, and suffered from the consequences.”
Lu Feng hummed, after listening to these words carefully. He kind of wanted human Lu Feng to show up again, and have this conversation with his friend. Did he feel alone with his thoughts on his superior’s death? And his mother… probably, as Lu Feng’s superior, they knew each other well. Or just because Gao Tang was a Lieutenant, she hated the Arbiter. The Arbiter was just a Colonel after all.
He had no reason for finding this out, but… he still felt satisfied. He would be bothered not knowing everything about this human, who helped him approach his own remaining family.
“About him crying…” Dr Ji turned back to their original question. “Don’t worry about it too much. He is not that weak. He would be alright soon, even if you hurt him badly. He is not the type who holds grudges. You don’t have to do anything, but an apology would not do any harm either. Maybe you should just… talk about this whole thing with him. Maybe he would open up to you.”
Lu Feng forgot to mention, that the Arbiter planned to do this; the young man hadn’t reached out to him just yet. But talking about making amends reminded him of something else, and frowned.
“I have one more question. How should I make peace with my mother?” Lu Feng asked truthfully, not trying to hide the consequences of his last meeting with his mother. In the meantime, he finished his own meal, which was already a bit cold.
Dr Ji was taken aback, looking at him for a long moment, before he licked his lips.
“Why are you guys keep arguing?” He sighed.
“Now, come to think of it, I think I made her cry too.” Lu Feng added suddenly, ignoring the question again.
“Great. From today on, I officially name you Lu Feng, The Heartbreaker. How the fuck do you manage yourself? I’m surprised, you can still look into people’s eyes. Aren’t you ashamed? What did you do to her, hah? Mentioned Gao Tang in front of her? Or the Arbiter?”
“I told her I want to join the Trial Court.”
Lu Feng frowned when Dr Ji choked on his last sip of soup, and almost died coughing his lungs out. His face was not even red, but purple, and his eyes and nose were running. He leaned forward, but still tried to look up at him.
“Wha… what did… you… have you lost your mind?” He squeezed out the words. He also spilled his remaining food on himself, but didn’t realise it yet. “What did she say?”
“She sent me away.” Lu Feng patted Dr Ji’s back, who slowly regained his calm, and straightened up, sniffing and wiping his face.
“Ah.” He grunted hoarsely. “Expectable.”
“But now, I don’t know how to approach her again.” Lu Feng obviously wanted to approach her flowers, not exactly her, but because she spent a lot of time in that garden, it was almost the same. Probably this was Dr Ji’s thought process too, because he hummed again, and gathering back his dignity, he tried his best to advise him.
“Obviously, bribe her.” He said earnestly. “She is the happiest around her roses, so choose the place wisely… and give her more gifts. Bring her more seeds, or something.”
“I’m confined.” Lu Feng reminded him, but Dr Ji barely spared him a snoring sound; his mood suddenly dropped when he noticed the stains on his white lab coat, and viciously tried to remove the soup from the fabric.
“Haven’t you stored up a bunch of seeds already?” He almost scolded him. “Did you give her all the seeds you’ve collected?”
Lu Feng paused.
Like lightning, his head suddenly connected other dots. The seeds!
The Arbiter himself mentioned it, he took a few seeds from someplace in the Outer City, from his collection… Because of the dinner-night chaos, he completely forgot about this until Dr Ji brought it up, and a new rush of excitement filled his chest. He only showed a raised eyebrow of that excitement.
“Right…” He admitted in a lower voice. “But even if I get the seeds somehow… She doesn’t want to see me. What should I do if they don’t let me go up?” This was a valid worry. Because Lu Feng already tried, right on the next day of their argument, when he still had his paid leave days. The person at the reception said, his mom was not available that day… but Lu Feng somehow knew, she just didn’t want to talk.
“You can still go up.” Dr Ji said grumpily. He managed to wipe down the noodles off his coat, but it was still wet all over his belly and lap. “You can sneak up on her, and try before she curses you out.”
“How can I sneak up on her?” Lu Feng asked straightforwardly. Dr Ji snored again.
“Don’t you remember the secret staircase?”
Lu Feng stayed silent for a whole minute, his mind blank. He tried to remember, but his ancestor seemingly didn’t want him to sneak up on his mom.
However, he had no chance to answer, because his communicator rang. It was a surprise – other than Dr Ji, he rarely got any calls or messages. Now, that he had been forced out of his job as a soldier, people especially didn’t look for him.
When he saw the sender, his stomach started tingling.
“What are you grinning about?” He heard Dr Ji’s muffled voice from a faraway place, but he was still admiring the name and the number before he clicked to see the message.
“I know, this is a bit sudden… but I have to go to the Outer City for work, and I don’t want to break my promise about our conversation… Would you want to come with me, Lieutenant Lu? Let’s talk over there. You don’t have any other plans, right?”
“Hold on, what? What? What is he talking about… wait, why do you have his number? And why are you grinning like an idiot? Lu Feng! Planet Earth calls Lieutenant Lu Feng, do you copy?”
Lu Feng typed the answer, ignoring Dr Ji’s endless and invasive questions.
“Okay. Is that a date?”
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN DATE?!”
“Would you still come if it was?”
“H-h-hold on, didn’t you say, you made him cry… Lu Feng, what did you do to him?!”
Dr Ji forgot about his coat, and went wild, trying to take Lu Feng’s communicator from his hand, so the rose wasn’t able to answer right away, fighting for the ownership of the device, and before he lay down on Dr Ji to make him unable to move and climb on him anymore, several minutes had passed.
Grasping for air, he quickly sent a ‘Yes’, but right in the next second he got another answer – it seemed like he was only a moment late.
“You can come with me as my guardian then. I will use you as a lucky item, your presence will help me stay calm. Is that okay?”
Lu Feng felt an increasing firestorm in his stomach, as he saw this answer. He was furious. He glanced at Dr Ji, who was still struggling under him to get away, pressing into the sofa. Lu Feng wanted to iron this person directly into the carpet as a new pattern. Dr Ji realised, what he had done, and suddenly seemed so obedient, he even started begging for forgiveness. In his whining, the communicator rang again.
Maybe the Arbiter also realised, that Lu Feng didn’t mean to run away because he got a third message.
“…Forget what I wrote. I got impatient. Sorry. Then date it is. Let me get you at 4 p.m. at the Twin Towers.”
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