The Creatures That We Are

The man soon lifted into the air, breaking off from the packed crowd. As he soared through the sky, he became increasingly excited, and he kept shouting, “Mother!”

The sight was familiar to Gao Yang.

Back in the Eleventh High School, Niu Xuan had called out to a ‘mother’ as he flew into the air, his body twisting until bursting into blood fog.

“Back off,” Gao Yang said in a low voice.

Sensing the danger, too, Vermilion Bird quickly moved a few meters back.

Gao Yang stared at the hysterical crowd. The middle-aged man who had been picked by their ‘mother’ was still shouting at the top of his lungs, his voice ringing across the empty road.

A wave of great mysterious force converged from all directions toward the crowd at the center of the road, propping them up from the bottom.

Soon, the second person lifted in the air. It was the young girl.

Then the third.

In only a little more than ten seconds, all hundred and more of them took flight and continued to soar. In a collective hysteria, they kept calling out to ‘mother’, the ecstatic look on their faces unnerving.

“Mother, mothermothermother...”

The overwhelming chorus of calls poured out, making Gao Yang and Vermilion Bird feel waves after waves of pressure and disgust.

Vermilion Bird took out her phone. She had a feeling that whatever they were going to face would be way out of her and Gao Yang’s league. She had to notify their guildmaster immediately.

Suddenly, the calls stopped altogether.

Bam.

Bam, bam.

Those lifted two to three meters into the air started dropping one by one, hitting the ground with a thud and losing consciousness.

The strange, insidious ritual was stopped short.

“What happened?” Vermilion Bird looked at Gao Yang, her face pale.

“There, our enemy.”

Gao Yang’s mouth was dry. He looked at the top of the building right before the crowd. At the edge of the rooftop stood a person.

At some point, the clouds obscuring the moon had dispersed, and serene clear moonlight illuminated the person.

Gao Yang could faintly make out an adult woman with a slim figure. Her hair was rimmed with a faint gold by moonlight.

Unfortunately, both her face and body were in shadow due to the backlight, and she was too far for Gao Yang to get a clear look of her.

“Did you call Guildmaster?” Gao Yang asked.

“I sent him our location,” Vermilion Bird said, her tone severe. “What are you planning?”

“I’m going to feel her out.” Gao Yang took a step forward.

“Are you out of your mind?”

Gao Yang didn’t say anything. He went through their current situation in his head.

Going at full speed while using Teleportation, he would be able to get to the top of the building in five seconds. If the woman attacked him, he would keep her occupied with Teleportation until Qilin came to help.

If the woman fled, Gao Yang wouldn’t give chase, but as long as he could get a good look at the woman’s face, they would have gotten some intel out of the whole ordeal, making it worth it.

Gao Yang dashed and teleported above a hovering wanderer. Using its shoulder as a stepping stone, he propelled himself further up, teleporting again to reach a condenser unit on the eighth floor. Then he jumped up once more, about to use Teleportation.

He would soon get close enough to the woman to glimpse her face.

[Warning...]

But then following the system’s warning, Gao Yang felt a tremendous intangible force crashing into him from above, similar to Spring’s Heavenly Might in power, but with a quicker initiation that left him with no time to react.

Instantly, Gao Yang felt his body become hundreds of times heavier, and the pressure was still growing.

The muscles and bones of his entire body threatened to break apart, and his chest was so constricted that breathing became as difficult as inhaling stones.

Moreover, the energy inside Gao Yang cut out suddenly under the pressure.

At that moment, there was nothing he could do but watch the backlit figure grow in distance from him. Her hair flew in the night wind. She looked so graceful and at ease, as if she had brought the tremendous power down on him with nothing but a gaze.

What is she?!

In his head, the system continued the warning in monotone.

[...You are under extremely great danger.]

[Luck acquisition bonus increases to 9000 times.]

The last time Gao Yang sensed such tremendous power, it was from Qilin, when he interrogated him.

Boom!

Gao Yang plunged down into the road, making a four to five meter deep crater. The resulting powerful currents and scattering of stone shards sent the wanderers in the area flying. He felt like a bowling ball knocking down the hundred and more pins.

“Seven Shadow!”

The few seconds it took Vermilion Bird to rush to Gao Yang, she had thought everything through.

Now, Gao Yang was stronger than she was overall.

While Vermilion Bird would surely have better stats should she temporarily increase her power by five times with Equivalent Exchange, Gao Yang had a lot of Talents, making him a better fighter in real battles.

If even Gao Yang had gotten taken out in a second, she would surely be no match for the enemy.

Only Guildmaster Qilin would be able to deal with the woman.

However, it would take at least 3 minutes for Guildmaster to get here considering how far they were from the clinic... No, that was still too optimistic an estimation.

Guildmaster has a limp! He may be strong in a fight, but he’s worse than a third-rate awakener in rushing anywhere. We’ll be lucky if he gets here in 5 minutes!

How were they going to survive 5 minutes?

Vermilion Bird despaired, but she didn’t give up on the slim chance that they could succeed.

Gao Yang must have been seriously injured even if not dead. It was a gamble she must make.

If Gao Yang died, she would bring him back with Equivalent Exchange. Even if she went into a coma for a year, at least Gao Yang would be able to take her away with Teleportation.

With her mind made up, Vermilion Bird reached the crater.

She gaped.

Lying at the center of the crater, Gao Yang didn’t look injured at all, not even the slightest. The only evidence of the great impact were his tattered clothes and tousled hair.

Unbeknownst to her, Gao Yang had given it his all to activate Willful Power a second before hitting the ground, increasing his Endurance to the max, over 5000.

That was how he managed to take the hit without getting injured.

Lying prone in the crater, Gao Yang panted heavily, his face pale.

Vermilion Bird jumped to his side. “You alright?”

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