The Creatures That We Are

“Double.”

“Ah...”

Gao Yang didn’t hide his disappointment before the system. “It’s not House. Am I not supposed to be lucky? But I can’t even win the jackpot with a one in a third chance?”

“How can you be sure that comprehending Double is unlucky?” The dorm keeper cocked her head and smiled.

Ugh, you’re being cryptic again, system.

Gao Yang sighed. Forget it. He should be content with comprehending a Talent with only two tries.

“Tell me about Double, system. The Talent list doesn’t have detailed information.”

“Double, serial number 65, Support-type.” The dorm keeper started explaining. “Level 1 Double allows the creation of 1 double for 10 seconds.”

“Level 2 Double allows the creation of 1 double for 30 seconds.”

“Level 3 Double allows the creation of 1 double with concrete form for 1 minute.”

“Level 4 Double allows the creation of 1 double with concrete form, and the double has 15% of the owner’s stats. It will last 1 minute provided it isn’t destroyed by enemies.”

Gao Yang grasped the key information quickly. “So the double created with level 3 Double can act, and that of level 4 Double can even put up a fight.”

“Yes.”

“What about level 5?”

“In addition to what’s possible with level 4 Double, double created once the Talent reaches level 5 will be able to use the other Talents of the owner with 20% stats and 20% Talent power.”

“It’s a good Talent.” Gao Yang felt better about the Luck points he had used.

“Stats bonuses of level 1 Double: Constitution + 10, Endurance + 10, Attack + 10, Agility + 10, Willpower + 10, Charisma + 10. Status Screen updated automatically.”

With a wave of her hand, she conjured a translucent screen.

[Constitution: 476 Endurance: 483]

[Strength: 1013 Agility: 1570]

[WIllpower: 1312 Charisma: 381]

[Luck: 813]

Gao Yang nodded. “Alright. I’m off.”

...

When Gao Yang opened his eyes, the car was quiet. His teammates were resting with their eyes closed as well.

After twenty minutes, they arrived somewhere near their destination.

Against the bluish black backdrop of the night sky, the winery could be made out not far away, the light on.

Officer Huang drove the car into a small grove. They got out of the car and walked, avoiding the main road and approaching the winery from the side.

Gao Yang told Chen Ying to stand by in the car, but Chen Ying insisted on moving with them.

While her Talent didn’t give her much battle power, she was much stronger than regular humans overall. She wouldn’t drag them down.

Gao Yang didn’t insist.

The six of them snuck toward the wall on the side of the winery with the night as their cover. Indeed, there was a watchtower behind the wall, where two armed mercenaries kept watch. They didn’t chat, but instead looked over the area with full concentration. It seemed that the patrols here were much more professional than the armed guards at the beverage factory’s warehouse.

Still, they were nothing when facing awakeners.

Gao Yang teleported to the watchtower and easily dealt with the two guards.

The others vaulted over the wall.

Gao Yang took Chen Ying to the watchtower, having her keep an eye on the whole winery from the vantage point, while the other five of them slowly approached the mansion at the center of the premise.

Meanwhile, Chen Ying helped them avoid the patrols through a small earpiece. Despite their caution, however, they still ran into two guards who were on their way to relieve themselves. They were just going to shout when Lithe Snake silenced them with two throwing knives.

Officer Huang and Gao Yang immediately went up to drag the bodies to a dark corner.

Pausing every once in a while to take cover, the five of them finally reached the garden before the winery.

“Duck,” Gao Yang ordered quietly, having sensed something.

His five teammates quickly dropped down and hid behind a juniper at the heart of the garden.

Through the branches and leaves, they could see six armed guards standing watch outside the front door to the mansion. A black sedan parked by the path.

An extravagant red carpet draped the stairs leading to the door. Three people walked out from the living hall of the mansion.

At the center was a middle-aged man in dark-blue suits with a Black Gold fountain pen in his breast pocket. He wasn’t wearing a smiley mask, revealing a flat, average-looking face with no remarkable features under his brown hair. His lips were curled into a half smile. No one would even spare him a glance in a crowd.

If someone knocked into him accidentally, he would likely lower his head and apologize. He seemed like the typical middle-aged office worker with no rough edges.

Yet he had a corrupted, twisted, and insidious heart.

On the suited man’s left was a short, fat bald man with an ugly face covered in scars. There were lumpy bumps all over his head.

On the right was the one in a heavy white spacesuit, face obscured by the dome-shaped helmet.

Gao Yang immediately recognized them as Tails’ No.10, Hyena, and Astronaut from left to right.

Lithe Snake recognized his sworn enemy at first glance too. Face dark with burning rage, he quickly drew the shortsword sheathed by his waist.

“Patience.” Gao Yang kept Lithe Snake’s arm down, making him a promise. “I’ll let you have your revenge, but first, we must learn as much about them as possible.”

Officer Huang added, “You’ve been looking for him for twenty years, Lithe Snake. Another few minutes aren’t long in comparison.”

The fire in Lithe Snake’s eyes dimmed, and he calmed down quickly, putting the shortsword back.

Gao Yang enhanced his hearing to the limit, but still couldn’t make out what the three of them were saying.

“Dammit, we’re too far. I can’t hear them.”

Gao Yang paused and turned to look at Nainai.

Nainai knew what he was thinking. “I can shrink myself down, but we’re too far from them. Once I reach them, they will have already finished talking.”

“Allow me.” Qing Ling curled her fingers, and a Black Gold dart flew in front of Nainai.

Nainai’s lips twitched. “Oh, right. That works.”

She shrunk down to the size of a pinky and jumped onto the dart hovering near the ground, making a cool posture like a cultivator flying on a sword. “Let’s go.”

“You better hold on tight,” Qing Ling warned her in a low voice.

Immediately intimidated, Nainai lay down on the dart instead, putting her arms and legs around it.

Swoosh.

The dart, with Nainai riding on it, quickly flew across the ground, quietly approaching the three people at the front door.

“Ahhhh—”

Nainai felt as if she was on a rollercoaster ride. She screamed, but her scream was no louder than a mosquito and didn’t attract any attention.

About three seconds later, the dart had already found a shadow to hide in near the three.

Their conversation reached Nainai.

“This is the last time,” Hyena said irritatedly.

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l