The Creatures That We Are

“Aghhh—”

Veins popped up on Lithe Snake’s arms as he yanked his Black Gold shortsword to the right, attempting to use it like a crowbar to enlarge the crack in the bone so as to destroy the skull.

Clank.

But it was a naive plan. The skull didn’t crack further, while the shortsword broke at the hilt.

Roar!

From the chest of the white skeletal bird came a powerful roar. Its body dove down forward suddenly, and caught off guard, Lithe Snake fell off from high in the sky.

As he fell, he suddenly realized that they couldn’t deal with this monstrosity like they would a creature of flesh and blood. It was more like a giant robot made of material harder than metal. It had no sense of pain and couldn’t be destroyed through regular physical attacks.

Before he hit the ground, a Tang Dao flew to him.

He quickly grabbed its hilt, stopping his fall.

Adjusting his posture, Lithe Snake jumped and landed on the ground safely, returning to Qing Ling, Gao Yang, and Officer Huang.

“What do we do with this thing?!” Officer Huang shouted. “Should we run?”

Gao Yang smiled bitterly. “Run? Can you outrun it?”

As he spoke, the white skeletal bird perching on the hill extended its large wings, enveloping the entire hill, instantly trapping them inside the prison of white bones.

Gao Yang had lost count on how many times he had been in such dire danger.

He didn’t panic. After thinking for a few seconds, he realized that they had been going about it wrong from the very start. What they should go after wasn’t the lifeless skeleton, but what was controlling the skeleton.

“Officer Huang, you can make bullets curve, right?” he asked.

“What should I hit? Tell me!” Officer Huang asked urgently. He couldn’t die here. His wife was giving birth next month!

Gao Yang looked up at the chest of the white skeletal bird. Inside the rib cage, Hyena’s head could be made out, under which were countless black veins. And the veins, attached to the spine and spreading to the skull, wings, and tails, were what controlled the giant ‘mecha’ of white bones.

“The life monster isn’t resurrected,” Gao Yang said. “It’s simply a skeleton manipulated by Hyena’s lingering consciousness and the power of the holy water. We just have to destroy the control center.”

“I get it! Aim for Hyena’s head!” Officer Huang raised his guns and aimed high.

“It’s coming!” Qing Ling warned in a low voice.

More than ten tentacle-like white skeletal tails swept near the ground, coming after the four of them. Gao Yang grabbed Officer Huang from behind and teleported away.

Relying on their agility, Qing Ling and Lithe Snake jumped around to avoid the attacks.

In their eyes, the monster was a giant they couldn’t destroy, while the monster saw them as annoying flies it couldn’t catch.

Officer Huang shouted, “The gaps between the ribs are too small. We have to get closer!”

“I’ll try my best.” answered Gao Yang.

Midair, Gao Yang teleported again and landed on the giant skeletal bird’s lifted wing, still holding onto Officer Huang. Meanwhile, Officer Huang held onto his guns while staying as still as a stone statue.

Gao Yang felt as if he was holding onto a bodhisattva figure. There was something absurd about the situation.

Officer Huang had pushed aside all thoughts, entrusting his life to Gao Yang fully. While they moved, he did his best to aim at his target—Hyena’s head, protected by the rib cage. It could be considered the brain of the white skeletal bird.

Everything quickly whipped past him and even became upside down every now and then. He could hear gusts of wind assaulting his eardrums.

He continued to take aim and kept getting interrupted, sometimes because of Gao Yang teleporting to avoid an attack, and other times because of the movement of the giant skeletal bird.

Finally, ten seconds later, Officer Huang found a half-second opening.

Bang, bang, bang!

He made three shots each from his two guns in that half a second.

Clink, clink, clink.

Unfortunately, five of the bullets ended up hitting the hardy rib cage, not even making a spark, let alone leaving a scratch.

The last bullet, however, managed to dive through the gap between the bones in a slight curve with impressive precision, almost hitting Hyena’s head.

But it missed by a hair, hitting the black veins under Hyena’s head instead.

“Aghhh!”

Another pained scream burst out of the skeletal bird’s chest, and the skeletal bird toppled to one side of the hill like a bluff of bones.

Shit!

Officer Huang was ready to take aim again, but Gao Yang grabbed him and teleported twice to escape from the area of impact.

Bam!

The giant skeletal bird fell, the aftermath resembling that of a bomb going off, the dust rolling along the hill.

Gao Yang returned to Qing Ling and Lithe Snake, dropping Officer Huang. He panted with sweat covering his forehead. He had used Teleportation too many times in the past half an hour. He was almost reaching his limit!

“What a shame! Give me another ten seconds, and I’ll make a headshot!” Officer Huang said, frustrated.

“Leave it to me!” Qing Ling could tell that Gao Yang was running out of Teleportation uses. She let go of her blades and concentrated, lifting her hands.

Her two Black Gold blades glided to Officer Huang’s feet, hovering near the ground.

Catching on immediately, Officer Huang stepped onto the blades like he was riding skiboards. Then the two blades flew up toward the skeletal bird.

Unlike Qing Ling, Officer Huang wasn’t familiar enough with the blades to ride them freely like a cultivator. Instead, he wavered and wobbled like a drunk. It was all he could do to barely maintain his balance, and many times, he almost fell.

The giant skeletal bird slowly propped itself up. Officer Huang had been lifted to the air by the blades as well. Holding his guns, he took aim with full concentration and quickly identified the right trajectories.

Bang, bang, bang!

Officer Huang fired six bullets in half a second.

He was confident this time. He would surely...

Clink, clink, clink!

All six bullets hit white bones.

How?!

Officer Huang was shocked, but then he saw it!

Thin, dense bone stings grew from the rib cage in the chest area like thorns, completely sealing the small gaps between the rib bones.

You scumbag!

Officer Huang was ready to pop a vein. Hyena had been a cunning, insidious man in life, but even in death, he managed to be nasty.

“Watch out!”

Gao Yang’s shout alerted Officer Huang to the incoming danger.

Although he knew how high in the air he was, he jumped. A second later, a skeletal tail the thickness of a telephone pole brushed by his shoulder, leaving a deep gash on his left arm and tearing his muscles.

“Gah...”

Officer Huang cried out in pain, falling down while splattering droplets of blood, about to fall off the hill.

Gao Yang jumped and stepped on the Black Gold darts Qing Ling had lifted into the air. Then he leaped again and teleported, finally reaching Officer Huang to hold onto him from behind.

A few seconds later, Gao Yang made a safe landing with the help of the Tang Dao sent to him in time. He lowered the injured Officer Huang to the ground, his expression dark.

Things were getting tricky. They had to get things over with now.

That was when his eyes lit up. He saw hope!

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