Chapter 13: Blue prints of Deception
She looked at me seriously, her eyes cold and calculating.
"It's simple, actually. I want to build a safe house."
A safe house? But why would she need a safe house? Was there something going on that she wasn't telling me, or was I overthinking?
Soon, a waiter came up to their table to clear up the empty dishes, and Yunxia paid for the meal with great pain in her heart.
After all, just like that, two thousand three hundred dollars was no small amount.
But remembering how delicious the meal was, maybe, just maybe it wasn't so bad.
After paying for the meal, the two stepped out of the establishment.
They were greeted by neon lights that shone from skyscrapers, illuminating the dark sky.
How time flies by when you're with good company.
They decided to continue their talk on their way to Mei's hotel.
Mei, unable to hide her curiosity, was the first to speak.
"You are really not gonna tell me the exact reason, then? Sigh, fine then, don't tell me. But might I inform you that I'm the architect you're looking for."
She turned her face away and pouted slightly, acting like a spoiled child, while still watching Yunxia's expression from the corners of her eye. She was expecting Yunxia to be shocked, impressed even, but she was met by an evil smirk.
Yunxia was definitely planning something, especially with that look that only villains would wear.
"W-why are you looking like that?"
She asked fearfully, already putting distance away from the girl who looked like an evil scientist planning world destruction.
Yunxia, as if waking up from her evil thoughts of turning her childhood friend into free labor due to still holding a grudge about the bills, finally spoke up.
"Sorry, I was just thinking of something important. But really, surprised that you learned such a hard course. You must be a genius, then," she said with a calm expression. She was definitely glazing Mei to get the job done for free.
"So why don't we get straight to the point then?" she continued. "I had a dream more like a trance while I was in the hospital. You know how they say people who died and came back from the dead can see stuff others can't? That's exactly what happened in my case."
Turning to face Mei fully, she held her by the shoulders.
"You once told me that Li Shen wasn't my match, and you were right. I also remember you once said one day the world would end, and my gut tells me… there's no harm in believing you this time around."
Yunxia's gaze met Mei's eyes earnestly. Although they held a bit of truth in them, the cold calculation was still there. She was definitely using Mei for her own benefit.
This was blatant manipulation: hyping and glazing in other words, exaggerated praise in order to put more responsibility and work on a person's shoulder. Yunxia had placed a trap that the naïve Mei couldn't resist, and she fell for it hook, line, and sinker.
"Finally, you no longer see me as some delusional teenager hungry for violence," Mei said while cracking her knuckles. "Alright, if the apocalypse is coming, we would need a lot of stuff and a lot of money. Luckily for you, you have me. Hehehe."
At that moment, Yunxia was having a bad feeling. After all, the last time she heard that kind of laugh was when Sysi was around, but she decided not to fret over it. After all, what was the worst that could happen?
Arriving at Mei's hotel room which was more like a suite than a room they were greeted with Madam Li and some other friends of Yunxia.
"Happy birthday!!" they shouted cohesively immediately as she entered the room.
Madam Li stepped up to her, pulling her towards the small group of friends who had all freed up their schedules to celebrate her special day.
Soon, everyone was drinking and chatting, asking her about her well-being and catching up with the past. Mei also joined the fray, drinking and eating like she hadn't just finished eating one thousand dollars' worth of food.
When they were all done mingling, they sang the birthday song and cut the cake, while presenting expensive gifts to her lots of luxury stuff but none really caught her eye. Not because she wasn't grateful, but because once the world ends, there would be no use for them. But she had to put on a smile and thank them wholeheartedly.
Soon, the cake, food, and drinks were almost finished, with a lot of people lying drunk over the sofas and floor mats.
"Sigh…" she had totally forgotten about this body's birthday, and now she ended up wasting time. Pulling the drunk Mei by the leg, she headed to a room to put her to rest.
"I can't wait to start designing our bunker, Yunyun," Mei said drunkenly, her words slurring slightly. At this point, Yunxia was trying her best not to use too much force, remembering her strength had been greatly increased.
She carried Mei gently and laid her on the bed, while Mei snored carefreely, dreaming of roasted pork and sake. Yunxia sighed tiredly. Even though she had gotten an architect, she was still getting delayed, which wasn't good for her since she was in a haste.
Looking around the room, she found the place was a mess with ink spilled on the floor and blueprints and drafts lying around.
"Messy," she mused aloud as she began to tidy up the room.
Placing the blueprints on the table, she smiled warmly, realizing that even though Mei acted dumb and carefree, she was still a valuable asset. But what she didn't know was that one of the people who had been mingling with the others had spied…
…
Outside Mei's hotel room
The rest of the friends were woken up by the slightly sober Madam Li and decided to pack up and leave, most of them making phone calls to their private chauffeurs to pick them up.
A black-haired guy was seen walking around the building, the shadows caused by the lights' angle covering him and hiding his features.
He whispered into the phone, probably reporting the day's incident to the person on the other line.
"Yes, from what I heard, she's looking for an architect who specializes in designing bunkers… the whole situation seems off."
As if to prevent him from continuing his report, some birds landed on the trees surrounding the building and began to chirp lightly, almost like a warning. But the strange guy continued his report, ignoring them—causing them to get angry and begin to dump on him.
Feeling disgusted, he tried shooing them away, only to get pecked until he was half dead. His screams rang out, but no one could hear, as if nullified by some unknown force.
…
The next day, he was rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment.
Meanwhile, at that same time he was taken to the hospital, Yunxia had just begun her day washing up and getting ready to meet the land agent whom she had booked an appointment to meet.
Having no other clothes to wear, she called for room service and ordered a pair of black AGOLDE jeans, a black COS shirt, and a pair of black Axel Arigato sneakers. Everything cost around $600.
"Sigh… just in less than a few hours of meeting up with Mei, I had already spent close to three thousand dollars," she thought while waiting for the room service personnel, still clad in only a white fluffy towel.
"Gooooddd mmmoorrnninggg!"
A sleepy voice came from the door on her right.
It was Mei, who had finally woken up. Still rubbing her eyes, she was still wearing the Balmain (embellished denim mini)—a denim patchwork sleeveless mini dress.
Yunxia looked up from the cup of coffee she was stirring. "You're awake, that's nice, because I need your help," she said, already walking towards Mei with a bowl of warm rice porridge. "Here, for your hangover," handing her the bowl.
"Thank you, Yunyun, I really missed your cooking," Mei responded, already drinking the soup with fervor. Her once pale face now seemed to brighten up.
Now filled with boundless energy, she quickly headed to the shower to freshen up. She suspected Yunxia was about to go out, seeing how she kept glancing at the door and telephone.
"Ring ring."
"Ding dong."
Both the telephone and the doorbell rang at the same time, causing Yunxia who had been waiting anxiously to be startled. She had been thinking about her dwindling wealth and was considering taking up a loan if the money wasn't enough to fulfill all her needs when they rang.
Standing up and adjusting her towel, she picked up the telephone before heading to the door.
"Hello, who is this?" she asked quietly while unlocking the door with the key card.
"Good morning, ma'am. We are calling to inform you that your orders have arrived. Please pick the goods from the porch of your room door. Thank you."
She chuckled to herself. Of course they would call her the exact time the order was delivered. She opened the door and was met by a robot holding out the clothes.
It was white and black, with a round oval body with a small screen that showed its eyes and mouth, and sounded exactly like the person from the earlier phone call. The only difference was that it kept repeating the same phrase:
"Please pick up your order. Thank you."
"I sighed. As expected from a high-end hotel like this." Carrying the clothes, she watched the robot zoom off and chuckled to herself. But for some reason, she felt weird, like déjà vu. She was forgetting something—that things weren't right. Everything seemed… off, too real to be reality. But brushing off her concerns aside, she entered the room and changed into the clothes.
Mei, at that moment, had already stepped out, now dressed in a black denim Reformation dress and white Veja sneakers.
"Yooshhhh, let's go!" she said happily, already packing stuff into her fanny pack, mostly candy bars and biscuits. "I'm ready, Yunyun, let's gooo!"
Already headed towards the door.
"Go to where?" Yunxia asked, definitely not in the mood to take Mei anywhere due to the amount of money she spends when Mei was around.
"To where you're going, obv," Mei replied, like that was the most obvious thing in the world.
Yunxia pinched the bridge of her nose, exasperated. It was like she was taking care of a child and not a grown-ass woman.
"Hold on, how old are you even Mei?" she asked, trying not to get angry with this hyperactive person bouncing in front of her, constantly annoying her.
"Why are you asking? How old do I look to you? Guess… come on, guess, guess, guess, guess!"
She kept on repeating the word "guess" like a child, and it took every ounce of Yunxia's self-control not to smack the shit out of Mei.
Sighing once again, she responded.
"10 years old. Hmm, did I get it correct? 'Cause that's exactly how you're acting. Now shut up and stay still for a moment, let me think!"
Her voice came out harsher than she expected, but the damage was done. Picking up the sulking Mei by the scruff of the neck, she left the building.
"What a morning."