UCPA Chapter 3: Knower

Chapter 3: Knower

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: PlumSauce

 

As a vampire, John had a very secular idea: did Coraci call the police just now?

Was it the police? Of course it wasn’t the police. John saw through a crack in the edge of his raincoat hood that a slender figure leaped up the long steps and shot at a place not far behind them.

It was a blonde girl in a bright yellow sports suit with a look reminiscent of Kill Bill. After firing a few shots with a happy smile, she threw the gun on the ground, pulled out a long machete from her waist, and rushed to the demon.

From this point of view, she was no longer visible–only the sounds of disorderly footsteps, the demon’s scream, and the sound of something being cut down.

Then another woman came up the stone steps. She looked a few years older than the blonde, with her black hair coiled into a neat bun behind her head. She was wearing a professional suit and shirt, holding an umbrella, and carrying a big bag. Her rimless glasses on the bridge of her nose were stained with a lot of raindrops, and her shoes were covered with plastic shoe covers. She looked worried.

“Carolyn! Don’t chop its hands,” cried the lady with glasses. “Geez! Cut off the wings! Enough! You’re going to kill it! We came in a hurry and we haven’t got permission yet!”

The desperate sounds that made people unwilling to picture the scene disappeared, and the blonde girl replied, “OK, OK, it’s your turn.”

Carolyn went back to her partner and took the umbrella. The girl with glasses took out a marker-like object from her briefcase, and quickly drew a small magic array of flashing neon lights in the air. She raised her hand and tossed the little array into the air like a badminton serve.

Coraci found John peeping, and quickly pulled up his raincoat hood to cover his face and forced him to curl up, covering his whole body under the raincoat and continuing to hold him firmly.

The small array exploded like fireworks in the night sky, and countless flashing fragments fell to the ground with the rain. John, protected by Coraci’s raincoat, did not feel any discomfort. At this time, he clearly heard the female demon’s scream.

The male demon in the house began to howl, and then many small strange sounds were heard near the house.

When all the sounds died down, the flashing fragments disappeared. The rain continued, but the demon was gone. Carolyn picked up an opaque crystal the size of a tennis ball from the ground and handed it to her partner.

Coraci moved away from John, lifted off his raincoat and looked him up and down, as if to make sure he was not injured.

“Did you draw a shield to protect him?” Carolyn walked over, her whole body carrying a sense of oppression.

She clearly looked like a young girl under 20 years old with a bright and sweet smile, but John really wanted to stand up and run away.

The black-haired girl also walked over. “Coraci, is this someone new you helped?” she exclaimed. “What’s their origin?”

She held out her hand to Coraci, who took her hand and stood up.

“He wasn’t rescued. He’s a friend,” Coraci said. “I have to thank him. If it wasn’t for him, I would have been killed before you came.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Lizbeth. You can call me Liz.”

John shook hands with her and introduced himself. At this time, Carolyn, the blonde girl, was running around in high spirits. She was searching in the rain to find numerous spherical crystals of different sizes.

“Coraci, it’s time to clean up the area around your house. The natural world is really brimming with vitality!” Carolyn stuffed all these things into Liz’s bag.

John could vaguely understand that she meant to ‘clean’ things like the demon.

The rainshower had passed, and gray traces of clouds appeared in the black sky. Coraci was talking to the two girls, with words like “arrest”, “execution”, “deportation” and “fugitive” from time to time. It was like a conversation between plainclothes policemen.

Perhaps sensing John’s gaze, Carolyn came over with a smile. “I’m sorry, I forgot you. Thank you for protecting the Knower. “

“The Knower?” John took a look at Coraci and guessed that the word should refer to Mr. Author.

Carolyn shook her wet blond hair like a little animal and reached out to John. John knew he didn’t like this girl, maybe he was a little bit afraid of her. There was a reason for this–he can’t help but be afraid of a lioness standing in front of him. However, he was still trying to be polite, so he returned the smile and was ready to shake hands.

Coraci seemed to notice something and shouted, “No,” but it was too late. When John touched the tip of the girl’s finger, there was a burning pain in his hand. He pulled back his hand in panic and retreated, leaving traces of scalded skin on his hand.

It was not serious, but it was painful. John pinched his wrist and looked at the blonde in horror. Once again, he thought of his original purpose today: to interview a horror writer and write a sensational and guiding article. He was so far away from his original purpose that he felt as if he himself had entered a horror story.

“My god! Sure enough! What the hell are you?” Carolyn exclaimed in surprise.

Coraci went to check on John’s injury and apologized on Carolyn’s behalf. John really wanted to generously say that it didn’t matter, but that would’ve gone against his heart.

Liz saw the situation, earnestly pulled Carolyn away, and grabbed her wrist. Carolyn’s fingernails were painted with silver nail polish, but it wasn’t ordinary nail polish. It was made of pure exorcism silver powder.

“Where are your manners? If you do this again, I will definitely make you write materials and declare them! ” Liz seriously pulled Carolyn aside and began a long-winded lecture. Carolyn played with the knife in her hand, rubbed the floor with her feet, pursed her mouth and lowered her head like a child being reprimanded by her parents.

Coraci looked at them, sighed, turned to John and said, “Please come in the house with me. I have some medicine for pain relief.” He looked at the wounds on John’s shoulder and hands. They were actually recovering rapidly, but John’s expression showed that they were painful. “And, we have to fill out that filing form.”

John felt like an ordinary citizen who had accidentally walked into a criminal gang’s lair. He wanted to leave immediately, but he followed Coraci back to the house. The two girls followed.

“Your two… Hai Jiu and Wu Jiu, are they okay?” John thought of the crystal spheres that the girls had just put away.

“They’re okay. There’s a safe room in the house for them,” Coraci said. He motioned John to sit down while he went to a cupboard on the side to get the potion. It seemed that he often encountered these things. “The fireworks that Liz just set off are from the exorcist’s Prison Cart. It’s a regional type of magic that renders the dark creatures within a certain range unable to move, and takes them back to the Association for further investigation.”

Coraci gave a bath towel to John and began to apply medicine to him. John still had an expression as if he had a dislocated jaw.

Coraci went on, “I made a shield on my raincoat that can block the Prison Cart’s effect. Otherwise, you might be stuffed into a magic sphere. Even if you are strong enough to not be stuffed in, you would’ve suffered painfully from the powder. I know that you’re very surprised. I’ve seen that reaction a lot.”

By this time, two shadows had floated out of the ‘safe room’ and had brought snacks for Carolyn and Liz. Coraci smiled at them, turned to John and said, “In fact, Hai Jiu and Wu Jiu originally couldn’t have done this. I helped them do some minor modifications. In this way, they not only retain the unique characteristics of incorporeal bodies, but can also help me organize the warehouse, etc.”

Coraci’s potion was really effective. The pain from John’s shoulder and finger injuries were completely gone. Coraci went to the bathroom, took off his wet clothes and came out in a white bathrobe.

Finding John staring at himself, Coraci opened his hand and said, “It’s okay. I know that bloodkin, who can withstand a little sunshine, can also tolerate the impulse to bite a human neck. I don’t think it’s necessary to avoid you.”

On hearing this, Carolyn started to fuss again, “Turns out it’s a vampire! Which jurisdiction?”

“Wild,” Coraci answered for John.

John looked at Coraci’s neck. He had eaten demon’s blood before, and now he was full. However, from childhood to adulthood, he was afraid of such words as ‘exorcist’ and ‘magic.’

Mother used to scare his little sister: if you lie, your nose will grow longer, and then you can’t drink fresh blood, and then an exorcist will come and splash you with holy water, and a hunter will cut off your nose.

At that time, using needles was not widespread, so it was terrible to have a long nose and exorcists were quite scary too. These words not only frightened his little sister, but also made John feel very uncomfortable since.

Later, John lived alone in the city, often watching horror movies, in which exorcists and ghost hunters often scared him into nightmares. He secretly had thought, Is there really such a terrifying human in the world? The conclusion: he saw one today.

John used the towel to dry his hair, looked at the form on the wooden coffee table and whispered, “Can I go now? There’s nothing I can help with…”

“Thank you very much, sir, but you can’t go yet,” Coraci sat across from him, pushing the form forward. “At least fill out this form. We don’t mean anything else. The Association has always required that every dark creature we meet must fill it out–it’s nothing against you personally.”

“And then I can go?” John took a look at the two girls.

Just now Coraci said that the black-haired Liz used magic. It seemed that she was the so-called Exorcist. Liz was quiet, gentle and had an ordinary aura, and John didn’t think she was such a scary person. On the contrary, it was Carolyn, who kept an excited smile all the time, as if she had a mental problem, and her whole body exuded a strange and terrifying aura.

John took the pen from Wu Jiu and began to fill out the filing form.

This form not only asked for basic personal information and race, as he had just seen earlier, but also asked about his range of activities and dietary staples over the past few years. The sections above were peculiar; the contact information below was far more ordinary, unexpectedly including fields for email address, Facebook profile, and basic work experience.

Coraci saw him stop writing and explained, “Don’t write your entire experience from childhood to today–that would take several pages. Just fill in your current status from the past 10 years. This is the main form. In the future, we will send the supplemental form to you online, which is more specific.”

Carolyn stretched out her head and saw John write “gas station temp worker”, “family restaurant part-timer”, “freelance writer” and so on. She looked up and said, “Are you still writing? Did you get to know Coraci through writing? “

She nailed it, and he had just met her today. John nodded.

Liz also took a look and said, “Mr. Lockland, because you’re wild, you don’t have a social security number, and you don’t have authentic identification papers. You can only do odd jobs and some self-employed jobs that don’t require identification, right? Maybe you don’t know, but in fact, you can also work at a regular company. The Association can help you with your legal status.”

“Legal identification?” John questioned.

Liz’s professionalism and soft voice almost made John forget that she was an exorcist, “This form you filled out is very helpful. If you want, later you can complete the supplemental form, and then you can go to the Association and fill out an employment application form. A staff member will be in touch.”

At this time, Coraci seemed to think of something, “By the way, speaking of a stable occupation… Mr. John Lockland, would you like to apply for a job in the Association?”

“I think he can,” Liz said, nodding. “Since you said he helped you today.”

John was more confused.

Whether it was the exorcist or the “Association,” the “Knower” and the strange magic, as well as the two demons he encountered today, he had reached a point where he felt like someone who was watching a horror film and sees a ghost in real life.

“I’m just an ordinary vampire…” John handed the form to Coraci. “I don’t mind if you call me ‘vampire’ directly. Really, my sister thinks it’s cool. I’m really ordinary. My family is in the countryside. I live in a big city just because I want to live in the city. Of course, it doesn’t guarantee that I will live a good life. Nowadays we only use fangs on animals, but we use needles on humans, and we guarantee that the needles are one-time use…”

“We are not interrogating you…” Coraci looked at him in embarrassment.

But John continued, “I know now, you are exorcists? Or at least this type of profession? I really wanted to interview Mr. Deville Coraci today. I really need to write an article. But I’ve decided not to write it. I won’t ruin your reputation or mention your private life. Is that okay?”

“We’re not threatening you, really,” Coraci looked at him helplessly. “You said that you’re using needles now. As long as you have registered with the Association, we will give you several encrypted websites where you can go there to buy food directly. You can pay on delivery, and you don’t even have to use needles anymore. We can also provide you with a legal identity, which can be changed when necessary. We specialize in this. As long as you register and pass the verification, you can enjoy basic protection.”

With that, Coraci pointed to a line on the form: Unthreatening Creature Protection Association.

“We’re all members of the Association, the Unthreatening Creature Protection Association. As you know, Liz is an exorcist, Carolyn is a hunter, they’re law enforcement, and I’m from the welfare department. You can think of it as a social worker. I know, a lot of people think that exorcists are just like those in movies. They either stand in front of people’s beds and sprinkle holy water, or take a knife and cut whoever they see. What the movies get right are only the law enforcement parts, like when the police shoot at fugitives who are resisting arrest. In fact, we have no right to harm law-abiding citizens at will.”

“If you do commit a crime, I would handle it,” Carolyn added with a brilliant smile.

John said nothing more. He felt that he needed time to digest what had happened today. Hai Jiu and Wu Jiu were helping the two girls make latte art. Carolyn even clamored for a cat pattern. There was peace in the room.

Coraci, in his bathrobe, took John outside and handed him a business card.

“I’m sorry. Your interview today was in vain. If you need anything, you can call me anytime. Next time we can meet in the city. I’m sorry to trouble you for coming out so far.” Coraci smiled apologetically.

“I’m sorry too,” John said. “I shouldn’t have… Well, I shouldn’t have hidden my identity… “

“No, you should hide it. You don’t need to apologize,” Coraci said. “After all, you saved me. When facing those demons, you confronted them head-on. I really admire you and am truly moved.”

John was embarrassed by his praise. When he saw the demon, John was actually frightened, but in his heart, he had a heroic desire to protect – Coraci was a human being, but he himself was not. Under those circumstances, he could only protect him.

Turning around to walk down the steps, John suddenly remembered another thing. He turned to Coraci who was about to enter the house. “By the way, can I ask how you identified me? Is it because…” He glanced awkwardly in the direction of the road. “Because I don’t have a car?”

He pretended he had driven, but really, he ran along the road. In any case, he ran fast enough. He just needed to avoid being seen by the drivers on the road.

Coraci grinned shyly, “As they said just now, I’m a Knower.”

“What is that? You seem to be human? “

“I’m really human,” Coraci said. “I was born with the blood of a Knower. My eyes are different from others. I can see and perceive the essential appearance or lineage of each creature directly. Even if I want to be deceived, I can see through any disguise.”

 

A little world-building note for this story:

From The Unthreatening Creature Protection Association’s Guide to Unscientific Monsters:

Vampires (Bloodkin):

By the way, I’ll take this chance to explain the vampire rules here. I’m not an expert, and John’s identity as a vampire exists only for the plot — this story isn’t about vampire culture, so you don’t need to worry too much about the details. Basically, it goes like this:

Sunlight

(We all know that vampires who can’t see any light at all are terrible for storytelling… so yes, this is a bit cliché, but it works.)

Older bloodkin can tolerate a little sunlight. For example, under the setting sun, they can sprint for an hour or two. In ordinary morning or afternoon sunlight, they can walk a short distance slowly and gently. Sun protection gear and high-SPF sunscreen also help them feel more comfortable.

If they spend several hours outdoors during the day, they can experience symptoms similar to human illness — basically, it’s extremely unpleasant. Long exposure can even be life-threatening.

Young bloodkin — those who were recently turned — cannot survive sunlight at all; exposure destroys them instantly.

Legends say that extremely ancient bloodkin can withstand sunlight completely, but these are just legends, like “some humans never stub their toes” or “some humans never get sand in their eyes.” Maybe they exist, but hardly anyone has seen them.

Special Abilities

Some vampires can turn into mist, others can become a black bird or a bat. John, by the way, can only turn into mist; he cannot become a bat.

The drawback of mist form is that he cannot interact with objects physically, and his movement is slow — slower than a human running.

All vampires have enhanced senses, superhuman strength and speed, and rapid wound healing. Basically, all the abilities you expect from vampires.

 

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