A Short Story Collection with Non-Human Protagonists - Chapter 21

Chapter 21: A Night at the Nightclub

Zheng Xinyan parked her Toyota Corolla, which felt like it was about to fall apart, on Sukhumvit Road. This was the district with the highest density of bars in the entire city, and the streets were filled with fashionable young people dressed for the heat.

“Where to next?” Zheng Xinyan asked.

The detective seemed quite unskilled at dating; her expression and posture were stiff, like a puppet waiting for instructions. Tata hopped out of the passenger seat, pulled open Zheng Xinyan’s door, and took her hand.

“Follow me.”

Oh, the detective’s hand. It had calluses from firing guns, scars from knives, and battered fingernails. It had touched blood, touched corpses, and touched the dampest moss and streams of rainy nights. Tata gathered her hand into His palm, and with it, took in all her memories, desires, and wounds.

If all humans were as lovely as the detective… then humans could be considered a fairly charming species.

the entrance to “The Abyss” was a foyer composed of nine mirrors. Pushing open a secret door and ascending a flight of stairs, multicolored spotlights began to slice through the darkness. On the dance floor, drunks who were intoxicated enough but not yet dead were bobbing their heads to the deafening music.

“Long time no see,” a red-haired female bartender greeted Tata. Tata nodded back.

“You know her?” Zheng Xinyan asked sharply. The detective’s brain was indeed sharp.

Tata leaned close to her ear, a smile curling the corners of His mouth. “Does it bother you?”

Zheng Xinyan gave Him a cold look and strode toward the booth area. Even sitting in such a dim, noisy place, the detective remained tense, her shirt as crisp as white paper, utterly out of place with her surroundings. Perhaps a proper dose of alcohol would help her relax a little.

“I’m going to buy drinks. What do you want?” Tata asked.

The detective showed little interest. “No need. I’m driving.”

“Then just burn the car; I’ll give you a new one.” Tata dismissed the concern and walked with light steps toward the bar.

He ordered two whiskies with spherical ice. Most human food was incredibly dull, but whisky was a rare and wonderful exception. The red-haired bartender placed the glasses on the counter, her gaze flicking behind Him. “Hey, someone is fishing for your rabbit.”

Tata turned and saw a tall, thin woman in a red velvet dress sitting beside Zheng Xinyan, whispering to her with a smile. Very bad.

“You know the rules. Don’t get too close to humans,” the bartender warned behind Him.

Tata knew. Of course, He knew. He just didn’t like others touching His things.

He walked back to the booth, set down the drinks, and grabbed the woman’s arm. “Excuse me, who are you?” Tata asked cuttingly.

The woman was around thirty, with skin that was exceptionally well-maintained and long hair tied in a trendy, voluminous bun. Her lips were painted as bright red as her dress, like a vampire who had just finished a meal and hadn’t had time to wipe her mouth. She smiled while looking defiantly into Tata’s eyes.

“Just striking up a conversation. If I’m not mistaken, this lady is single, right?”

Tata touched the woman’s skin but saw only a wasteland. This damn woman had undergone too many cosmetic procedures, hiding her past. The woman elegantly shook off Tata’s hand, winked at Zheng Xinyan, and then sauntered away, her red silhouette vanishing into the crowd.

A nauseating red.

“What did she say to you?” Tata turned to Zheng Xinyan. The detective held up a black card. “She gave me this.”

On the exquisite business card, a name and title were written in silver foil: Sunisa Songchan, President of Songchan Media.

Tata confiscated the business card. He smelled danger on that woman; Zheng Xinyan should stay away from her. Tata wasn’t trying to protect a specific human… He was just slightly reducing the trouble for a planet that already had enough of it. This only proved that Tata had a very kind heart.

He finally sat down and began to enjoy that cold, smooth whisky. Zheng Xinyan took only a tiny sip (as if it were poison) and continued to frown, enduring the noise and foul air. Tata had thought they could get tipsy, lose themselves on the dance floor, and perhaps let Him touch her latissimus dorsi and forearm muscles a little…

Tata really wanted to slip into the detective’s mind and teach her what true pleasure was. But He shouldn’t do that for a human, just as a human wouldn’t try to please an ant.

Oh, terrible. Looking at the detective’s furrowed brow, even the whisky became bland.

“Do you want to go for a walk?” Tata put down the glass.

Zheng Xinyan was clearly relieved. She nodded eagerly and stood up from the soft chair. “Let’s go.”

They left the air-conditioned chill of “The Abyss” and returned to the midsummer heatwave, walking aimlessly on the sidewalk. Standing side-by-side, they must have looked like a delinquent girl who had coaxed a beautiful lady into wandering the late-night streets—perfect for some forbidden plot.

The lights from each shop spilled over Zheng Xinyan, tinting her shirt with different hues. Tata skipped along to the music from the street-side bars, occasionally spinning around, every step landing on the woman’s shadow.

He heard a very, very soft laugh.

“What?” Tata turned to look.

Zheng Xinyan moved her gaze away from Him, a faint smile touching the corners of her mouth. “Nothing.”

The time on this planet seemed to stop suddenly. Tata stood still, gazing at the curve of Zheng Xinyan’s smile. He had seen her entire life, seen every difficult, bitter, and homeless day, and only then realized how precious and rare this tiny smile was.

In the depths of Tata’s heart, there was a slight, uncomfortable sensation—as if a small, green, newborn tree was struggling to break free from winter’s shackles and sprout from the earth.

Oh, that was impossible. Tata didn’t even have a heart.

The next second, He saw Zheng Xinyan’s eyes turn cold. Her right hand moved to reach for the service pistol at her waist, but she wasn’t carrying a gun today. Tata followed her gaze—

In a dark alley without streetlights, a group of hoodlums were surrounding a middle school student in a school uniform, kicking and punching him.

“This is all the money you have? You have the nerve to try and fool us with this?”

“D*mn, we need to give you a lesson…”

A yellow-haired punk held a gun, unzipping his baggy pants to urinate on the student.

Oh, Bangkok had far too many guns. Guns brought chaos.

“You punks, stop right there!” Zheng Xinyan shouted.

“What are you shouting for! Don’t you see I have a gun!” With a flash of light, that reckless yellow-haired punk actually fired a shot toward Zheng Xinyan.

Tata created a small pocket of void in the trajectory and swallowed the bullet.

“Sh*t, why did you actually shoot!”

“Run!”

The punks snapped out of it and started running, dragging the yellow-haired one with them. Zheng Xinyan started to give chase but was blocked by Tata’s hand.

“Shay, let me go.”

Even if she was a well-trained detective, she couldn’t use human flesh and blood to fight firearms. But she had a weapon far more powerful than a gun. Zheng Xinyan watched the corner where the punks had disappeared, thought seriously for a moment, and made a quick judgment.

“…Don’t overdo it.”

Oh, of course.

“But, you have to give me something else,” Tata added. A kiss… or something like that.

“Are you f*cking going or not?” The detective really had a short fuse.

By the time she blinked again, the girl had vanished from her side.

The punks were quite familiar with the local terrain, twisting and turning through the alleys until they reached a deserted construction site. They stopped there, leaning against a wall to catch their breath.

“Can you grow a brain!” someone smacked the yellow-haired punk’s head. He was still being stubborn: “What are you afraid of! It’s not like the cops can actually catch us!”

None of them noticed that the darkness surrounding them was growing denser. Space was silently warping. Something indescribable… was oozing out of the darkness.

Oh, Tata stretched and began to move His tentacles. He was very good at dealing with these arrogant brats.

“AAHHH!!”

I don’t know who let out the first blood-curdling scream.

“No! No! Stay away!!” The yellow-haired punk’s scream nearly shattered his vocal cords.

Then, the street returned to silence. Tata admired His masterpiece with satisfaction. The punks were slumped in a pile in the corner, pupils dilated, talking to themselves—they had already lost contact with the human world. The urine the yellow-haired punk hadn’t finished earlier was trickling out of the fly of his pants. The gun sat soaking in his excrement. For the rest of his life, if he ever dared to touch a trigger again, he would immediately recall this unforgettable summer night.

“That’s enough. It’s over.”

Zheng Xinyan’s voice came from behind. Oh, He couldn’t let Zheng Xinyan see Him like this… Tata flusteredly began to retract His tentacles, but stopped upon sensing something unusual about her.

The detective stood a few meters away, staring straight up at Him. There was a bit of confusion in her eyes regarding the unknown. But there wasn’t a single shred of fear.

“What exactly are you?” Zheng Xinyan asked Him very calmly.

She couldn’t possibly imagine the massive earthquake currently occurring within Tata’s mental world. Mountains crumbled and the earth shook. No one had ever looked directly at Tata’s true form and remained unharmed. Simply seeing His appearance was enough to make people leap from heights or drive a blade into their own brains to end their lives. Going mad was the most merciful ending.

And this detective named Zheng Xinyan, from the Bangkok Central Police Headquarters, had become a unique anomaly in the uncountably long history of this planet. She wasn’t afraid of Him!

Tata was a bit excited, almost wanting to roll around in the void. He smiled, though it only looked like a deeper shadow tearing through a patch of darkness.

“I am Chaos,” He said.

Chaos is time. Chaos is the universe. Chaos is all things. It has no temperature, no volume, and no speed. Chaos simply exists.

Whoosh.

Until the black mist dissipated, and the teenage girl in the tattered skirt and dreadlocks stepped out of the chaos. She walked over to Zheng Xinyan. The detective nodded to Him, likely as a way of expressing thanks, but didn’t give Him another look.

The situation wasn’t great. Tata found Himself sinking deeper into that inexplicable feeling. At this point, Tata had to admit He might actually like weirdos. Brave, beautiful weird women with very sexy muscles.

Fifteen minutes later, they handed the terrified punks over to the police on duty nearby. The two of them (arguably) sat on the curb, sharing a bottle of lemon-flavored soda. As an ending to a first date, it wasn’t bad, but there was room for further improvement.

“You can kiss me now, as the price for me helping you capture the criminals,” Tata announced His decree.

Zheng Xinyan adjusted her breathing helplessly, turned her head, and gave Him a quick peck on the cheek. Faster than a bullet.

No, not like that.

Before the detective could escape, Tata caught her chin with His fingers, brought Himself very close to her, and demanded a real kiss.