"Oiii! Glasses, do you hear me? Glasses —"
Arthur gritted his teeth in irritation as he walked in larger strides. Unfortunately, due to his short feet, the other two kids were able to catch up with him easily.
"It seems they are quite fond of you," Sandra laughed as she saw the two kids following Arthur like little ducklings. So, was Arthur the mother duck?
Arthur sighed in exasperation. Behind them, Walter seemed to be contemplating something deeply while James was grinning like an idiot, his pocket was filled with the 'historical objects' he had looted from the corpses. In front of them, Grigotto walked in a hurry. His complexion was still pale, but his condition seemed to be more better than before.
A while after they returned to the casino, Arthur immediately secluded himself in the corner, recalling all the informations he got from Sandra before while Chao Xiang and the little girl also followed him.
"That's right, I haven't asked your name," Arthur suddenly realized as he took another look at the little girl.
She had been silent ever since she stopped crying. Her hand was holding Chao Xiang's tightly as she let out a soft quivering voice, " — Zhi — I'm Xia Zhi."
"Is it the same 'xi' as 'xiang'?" Arthur asked Chao Xiang for confirmation. He didn't want to have another session of name repetition with the kid.
"Yup!" Chao Xiang nodded. His eyes looked as if he was proud that Arthur still remembered his teachings. Well, obviously. Our dear Arthur Rolyn was not just equipped with photographic memory, but also the ability to immediately apply what he had learned into practice.
"But her accent seemed to be a bit different from you," Arthur commented.
"Duh! Of course! You can't expect all regions in both ChenLu and ZhuFu to speak in similar accent, right? It's like finding one rotten apple inside an apple basket, then you think that all the apples inside are rotten too — when in truth, they're not," Chao Xiang explained in annoyed tone before turning his attention to Zhi who was confused by their exchange. "Don't worry, Zhi. Although this guy doesn't look reliable and a shorty, he's actually smarter and more calm than the adults."
"I don't know if you're actually insulting or complimenting me," Arthur sighed as he took out a small notebook from his pocket, listing all of the informations he had acquired until now. "The only remaining people here are me, you two, Della, Selena, Professor Anderson, Sandra Kleinn, Mr Walter, Tristan James, Grigotto, and the lady over there. Wait, there's also the bartender — a total of twelve people."
"Ah, that bartender guy — he always moved alone since before, didn't he?" said Chao Xiang suddenly. "I think he went out of the casino before us and returned much later."
"That's right. It was quite suspicious in itself," Arthur said as he continued writing. "Come to think of it, I haven't learn the lady's name yet — the one who stayed here with Professor Anderson, Della and her servant after we left the casino."
"Um —" A very soft voice was heard. Arthur looked at Zhi who seemed wanting to say something. He smiled slightly as if encouraging her to speak out loud. "That — I — I know her."
"Really?" asked Chao Xiang excitedly.
Seeing the excited Chao Xiang, Zhi seemed to had found her confidence as she continued to speak, "Um. My grandpa is a merchant. Every time I visit him, he always bring me to meet the buyers. The lady usually comes to grandpa's store to buy fabrics. Sometimes she comes herself, sometimes grandpa also sends the fabrics with ship — I think her name is Ms Winda."
"Is it Winda Lorraine?" Arthur said suddenly. "I think I once read an article in a newspaper about her opening a new branch of her boutique."
"Um um!" Zhi nodded excitedly, her flushed cheeks made her looked like a baby bird. Even the stubborn Arthur Rolyn had to admit that this little girl called Zhi was really adorable.
"As for the last guy — I'll just call him Mr Bartender," Arthur wrote another few sentences on his notebook. "Two kids, a post-graduate student, a professor, a fourth generation conglomerate, a journalist, a retired police superintendent, a clothes' designer, an archaeologist, a bartender, a daughter of rich family and her servant — I can't find any correlations between the remaining people — just what made us stood up from the other passengers?"
Arthur contemplated. What was the similarity between the survivors? Background? No. Age? Obviously not. Nationality? It wasn't either. Arthur felt like he was trying to figure out an unsolvable puzzle. He just couldn't find the right way to piece them together. If only there was even the slightest bit of link —
As Arthur was lost in his thought again, he didn't realize that Chao Xiang had moved closer to him, his eyes were smiling and twinkling brightly — as if he was anticipating in delight for whatever was going to happen next.
"Hey, hey, glasses! Are you in trouble? Do you need my help? Maybe a little hint from me?"
Arthur frowned as he was suddenly awakened from his thought again by Chao Xiang. "Hint? Haaa — are you kidding me?? This is not the time to play around. I need to find the link between all survivors as soon as possible before anything worst happen. So shut up and don't disturb me."
Chao Xiang's smile became brighter as he moved closer to Arthur, whispering to his ear, "Really? But you'll never solve it with your 'photographic memory' alone, you know?"
"Wha —??" Arthur reflexively pulled away to widen the distance between him and Chao Xiang. The bright smile on the little boy became eerier from Arthur's point of view. He was unable to calm his thought. There shouldn't be any instances where he accidentally hinted out that he had photographic memory — right? In the first place, the only people who knew about that fact could be counted in one hand. So, how did this kid —? "You — what are you talking about?"
'Calm down, Arthur,' he tried to reassure himself. 'The brat may just be bluffing. Don't let out even the slightest mistake if you still want to live in peace —'
"Ehhh? Are you trying to hide it? I mean — it's obvious. Before, when we're in the restaurant, you looked like you're trying to avoid looking at those corpses longer than a second. Well that action can also mean that you're frightened by the sight — any normal person will do. But from what I observe, you're the type to stay calm in any situations. Even after I woke you up, the first thing you do was assessing the situation, unlike the other adults who immediately got panicked, flocking the door like worms in heat. So, what made your face so pale when we saw the corpses? And what made you avoid looking at them for too long? Sympathy? Pity? Fright? Disgust? Well, those can also be the reason. But I think it's not only that. You see, I've been trained to assess people's mind from their complexion. At that time, I can see that there's something more to you. Now then, what if you have a 'talent'? A 'talent' associated with memory, remembering all the things you've seen and experienced. Then, all of your previous reactions won't need a reason anymore," Chao Xiang elaborated. His smile only got brighter and brighter. He looked so confident, as if he believed that his theory was one hundred percent correct.
Arthur gaped. 'This — what the hell is this kid??? No — from the start I already realized that he's not just your normal 8 year old kid. Who exactly is he? He mentioned my 'talent' before — wait, what if he has a 'talent' too? A 'talent' related to observation? No, he seems to be very confident in his guess. Come to think of it, normally in this situation children will unconsciously prefer to stick close to adults — but this kid follows me from the start. What can be the reason? Is it only because I assess the situation calmly? But if it's the case, Professor Anderson is a much better fit. Then what is the reason? From his explanation, it's easy to guess that the reasoning is made after finding out my 'talent'. He only wants to provide me with a logical point of view. So how does he find out? Right, there's that one, a 'talent' that enable someone to detect other people's 'talent' —'
"'Eye of Detection'," Arthur confirmed. He observed the little boy in front of him up and down. From what he had read before, the people who had 'talents' related to sight would have some kind of pattern on their eyes. But Chao Xiang's eyes didn't have that kind of pattern. The story would be different if he wore some kind of lenses to cover it —
Chao Xiang smirked. He noticed where Arthur was staring at. The little boy took off one of the lense on his eyes, holding it in his fingers with a smug face. Arthur looked at the lense and Chao Xiang's eye in turn. It turned out that he was wearing lenses all along! One of his eye now was the color of blood, but what distinguished it from others was a pattern that resembled radar on the place where the pupil should be.
"Why do you hide it?"
"Some personal purposes," Chao Xiang shrugged as he put it back on. "Then, we already confirmed that both of us have a 'talent'. Zhi, you have it too, right?"
Zhi looked confused, tilting her head. The action only made her already cute face becoming more adorable. "'Talent'"?
"Something special that makes you different from normal people, something only you have," Chao Xiang explained shortly. "From what I detect, it should be something related to prediction, right? Well, if you don't want to talk about it, you just need to nod."
"What happened to the option of shaking your head?" Arthur asked Chao Xiang in a mocking tone.
"Heh! My 'Eye of Detection' has never made a mistake!" Chao Xiang spoke arrogantly. "Maybe you can hide your 'talent' by acting like an honor student with a good memory, but it's useless in front of me! Hahahaha!"
Arthur gritted his teeth. This brat kept getting on his nerves. But the thing made Arthur annoyed the most was that Chao Xiang was right on the point. The kid's 'talent' was genuine, and he also seemed to be very proficient in using it. The question was — what did he trade for that proficiency?
In this chaotic era, nothing came without a price. The world always pertained the principle of of equivalent exchange — especially when it came to the special talents that only a selected few could have. As for Arthur himself — he shook his head. It was better to not think about 'that' in this situation —
Zhi nodded slightly, bringing a stunning brighter smile to Chao Xiang's face. The little boy then turned to Arthur again with a very proud look. "See, glasses? Alright, now that you have confirmed that all three of us have 'talents', do you think it's just a coincidence?"
"Do you take me for a fool?" Arthur glared at the kid. "Still, even if all the remaining people here have 'talents', I can't exactly guess what kind of 'talent' they have, right? Unless —"
Arthur paused as he scrutinized the kid. Chao Xiang returned his gaze with a smug smirk. Without saying anything, they were able to get their thoughts across. Perhaps the way their mind worked were more alike than they might have thought.
After seconds of trying to figure out each other's thought, Chao Xiang finally nodded. "Alright, I'll tell you. It's not like the information has any use for me anyway." He shrugged.
Chao Xiang glanced across the casino, before pointing out at Professor Anderson who was currently sitting comfortably in front of the poker table, examining the poker cards with great interest. "That granny, her 'talent' is related to thinking speed and stamina. I guess she can think faster than average people. As for stamina — maybe something like having more stamina than normal?"
"I see," Arthur nodded as he took note of it in his mind. "It makes sense when you look at all her accomplishments and behaviour. I've heard that during the war a few years ago, she dove straight into the warzone while it was raining with bullets and grenades. I can't think any normal granny could survive from that."
"That gossipmonger," Chao Xiang pointed at Sandra, his tone carried a hint of disgust. "She can make her body shrink. Now you know how she gets all the information she wants —"
"— but even with that 'talent' she still can't get through Virion's security," Arthur interrupted. "Being able to shrink her body doesn't mean she can always walk away unscathed."
Chao Xiang clicked his tongue before pointing at Grigotto. "That spoiled rich guy, he doesn't need air 'cause he can live without having to breathe and that weirdo —" he pointed at James, "— he can detect anything under the ground."
"'Anything underground'??" Arthur widened his eyes. "No wonder he could find those historical objects easily!" He exclaimed, recalling Tristan James' accomplishments of finding many antiquities and ancient records which he read in newspapers and books before shaking his head. "Although anyone with common sense will not dig any public nor personal property without permission."
"Yeah, right," Chao Xiang scoffed. "As for that Winda lady," he glanced at Winda who was tidying the billiard balls, "She can measure anything and any size with one hundred percent accuracy just by looking at it."
"It's not surprising," Arthur shrugged. "Take a look." He pointed at Winda who seemed to be dissatisfied with the result of her work, so she messed the balls before tidying it again. These actions kept repeating countless times until she let out a pleased face. Then, she started to clean the almost spotless billiard table, rubbing it a few times. "A perfectionist and cleanliness freak. How about the rest? What kind of 'talents' they have?"
Chao Xiang suddenly frowned. "Well — that's —" he sighed before continuing, "— honestly, I can detect that both bartender guy and blind big sis have 'talents', but — for some reason, I can't figure out what their 'talents' are — and there's no way for anything to escape from my 'Eye of Detection', so —"
"— it can only mean that both of their 'talents' are far stronger than the 'Eye of Detection', correct?" Arthur interrupted. "What about Della's servant?"
"She has the 'talent' to read people's mind."
"I see," Arthur nodded. 'No wonder I always felt her glaring at me when we're together before,' he thought. 'I think it was because she read my rude thoughts about Della inside my mind.'
"Then the most suspicious here are the bartender and the blind big sis, right?"
"Idiot. You're suspicious too," Arthur snorted coldly. "I still don't trust you — no, I don't trust anyone here. Since ancient times, it has been proved that humans tend to do the most reckless and unpredictable actions in dire situations. As such, there are no everlasting relationships in this world. The most important thing is what kind of unique benefit you can provide the other party."
"Well, from your tone I can tell that you're not just a normal good student," Chao Xiang shrugged. "Great! I think so too! So, let's us use each other to the fullest, 'kay?"
Chao Xiang smiled cheerfully while Arthur sighed. Just what kind of environment this kid grew up in? Well, in this situation, Arthur knew that an ally was absolutely necessary. There were some things he couldn't do by just relying on his photographic memory. And he still couldn't find the source of unsettling feeling he felt from Walter. It seemed to come from the past that he had buried deep inside his mind with countless piles of new memories.
Hm, what could it be? Although it was quite funny. Arthur, did you think just because you already locked those memories meant you could run away from it? When would you stop such cowardice act? It was unfortunate for you, Arthur, but things would not always go the way you wanted it to be.
"That's it," Chao Xiang said suddenly. "You know, I'm really bored. Why don't we play some card games over there?" He pointed at the poker table where Anderson was.
Zhi nodded in excitement, but Arthur was just silent as his mind was still wandering in contemplation. "Wait, what about Walter —?" he murmured, looking at Chao Xiang who was waiting for his answer. But before Arthur was able to ask the kid, a gruff voice was heard behind their backs.
"I was wondering why I found you familiar, so you're that stray kid," the owner of the voice said while scrutinizing Arthur. It was Walter. "How many years has it been, 3? 4? Your appearance doesn't seem to change much.
"Who —?" suddenly, Arthur felt goosebumps creeping to his spine. 'This feeling — right, why didn't I realize it sooner? It's him — that detective —'
His face was ghostly pale. His pen and notebook fell from his hands to the floor. Arthur looked like as if he was encountering the Grim Reaper ready to take his life. The sealed memory immediately surged into his mind, forcing him to remember — the sight, the things he felt, the things he had experienced —
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