The Creatures That We Are

Gao Yang’s six senses slowly returned. He looked at Vermilion Bird. “I’m okay...”

“Then get up already!” Vermilion Bird reached out to help him up.

Gao Yang said weakly, “It’s fine...”

“Huh?”

“She left.”

Gao Yang was certain of it since the luck point bonus no longer applied.

Although he had endured her first attack, given her obviously great power and the ease with which she knocked him down, she could’ve gone for another few hits, while Gao Yang would only be able to endure for another seven to eight seconds.

Once Willful Power ran out, he would surely die.

Her power had vanished the moment he hit the ground, though, which meant that the attack was only meant to stop Gao Yang from approaching. The enemy didn’t intend to take his life.

With his stats reverting back to normal, Gao Yang let out a rough breath.

Vermilion Bird helped him up. The wanderers, having fallen to the ground, stood up with difficulty too, waking up from their ‘dreamwalking’. Fortunately, they were all wanderers. There was no elite monster among them.

Some of them screamed when they saw the scene and fell unconscious again.

“Ah, it hurts...”

“Somebody help...my legs, my legs are broken...”

“I’m hurt too, I’m bleeding...”

“Quick! Call 120!”

The wanderers who hadn’t blacked out again had modified their memories automatically. Many of them were injured from the fall, and they sat on the ground crying and groaning in pain.

A handful of them were uninjured. They looked around, confused about how they had gotten here and what had happened. Given the circumstances, though, they started helping the others hurriedly.

It was as if Gao Yang and Vermilion Bird had chanced upon the site of a great earthquake and luckily survived it.

Head lowered, the two of them weaved through the chaotic crowd and made their way out of the scene of the incident. It was then a number of cars showed up by the road. The drivers quickly parked the cars and got out to help the victims.

“Ah! He...is he dead?” A girl screamed.

“Move, move...I’m a doctor...” A man hurried up to the dead man, and the body was soon surrounded by people.

Gao Yang and Vermilion Bird happened to walk past them. Through the gaps amid the people, they saw that the man who seemed to have died was the middle-aged man who first called out ‘mother’.

He was bleeding from all his orifices, his eyes widened and his lips still curled into a wide smile. His fingers were distorted, and his body was already stiffening.

Vermilion Bird and Gao Yang sighed inwardly, staying silent.

A minute later, they got away. Vermilion Bird reached her car.

Before they got in, a strong beam of light came from the side. They turned around and narrowed their eyes, getting accustomed to the brightness.

It was Qilin.

He was speeding along the empty road on an electric moped, his curled bang tied up into a cute little top knot, his face still covered by a sheet mask.

He was wearing silk pajamas the color of a flamboyant purple, and in too much hurry to put on shoes, his one foot was bare, and the other foot wearing a white sock. Perhaps he had dragged his sock against the ground too hard when running, a hole was left on it, from which his toe popped out.

Ten seconds later, Qilin’s moped slowed while making rumbling noises, running out of battery.

Without hesitation, he hopped off his moped and limped his way to the two of them without his cane.

He only stopped after taking more than ten steps.

Ten meters from him, Gao Yang and Vermilion Bird stood by the road, their mouths agape in disbelief.

Their impression of their guildmaster was undergoing a tectonic shift.

Qilin, the gentle, graceful, strategic, decisive man who could kill hundreds of elite monsters with a glance, who could dominate all creatures in a certain range with a snap of his fingers, who took the top place in awakeners’ power ranking... The image changed a great little bit in Gao Yang’s and Vermilion Bird’s minds.

Qilin was embarrassed too. He awkwardly coughed twice and slowed down to walk gracefully toward them, peeling off the sheet mask on his face and pulling off the rubber band tying his hair, allowing his bang to fall down naturally.

“Did you run into a powerful enemy?” Qilin asked.

“Very strong...” Gao Yang smothered a laugh. “But we come out unhurt...”

“What is the enemy?”

“We didn’t get a clear look. We only know it was a woman...” Vermilion Bird broke. “I can’t, Guildmaster. Can I take a moment to laugh? I can’t keep it in any longer...”

“Me, me too...” Gao Yang lowered his head and averted Qilin’s eyes. “Although I’m a pro...”

“Calm,” Qilin softly uttered.

Instantly, Gao Yang and Vermilion Bird stopped finding what they saw funny. Their minds were so calm that they might as well be stone statues with no emotions and desires.

Qilin turned around and opened the car door to the backseat. “Give me a ride back, Vermilion Bird. Seven Shadow, brief me.”

“Yes, sir.”

The two answered at the same time.

They calmly got into the driver’s seat and the passenger’s seat respectively, closing the doors and the windows.

Soon, the car started and drove away from the scene of the incident.

Inside the car, Qilin snapped his fingers, making a bright sound.

“Hahahaha...”

“Hahahaha...”

Laughter from a man and a woman rang in the car, loud even through the windows.

...

Ten minutes later, Gao Yang and Vermilion Bird were back at Qilin’s clinic with him.

Qilin went to his bedroom and changed into respectable formal attire before returning to the therapy room, holding a short meeting on the sudden incident.

Gao Yang didn’t say that he had run into a terrible enemy who gave a 9000 times bonus, of course. He simply described the power and strength the enemy had shown—her power rivaled that of Spring, the leader of Spectres, if not greater.

Combining the terrible fate that had befallen Niu Xuan back in the Eleventh High School and the fact that the hundred and more wanderers at the crossroad had sacrificed themselves in unsound mind, Gao Yang speculated that the woman was either an awakener utilizing the power of a Rune Circuit, or an elite monster greater than a pride monster—of course, she could also be an elite monster using a Rune Circuit.

Vermilion Bird frowned. “I think it was an elite monster.”

Gao Yang nodded and sighed. “It’s a shame that I didn’t see her face.”

“Is she young?” Qilin asked.

Gao Yang shook his head. “I can’t see any details with the light coming from her back. Judging from her figure, she’s not a child, teenager, or an old woman, but most likely an adult.”

“That’ll rule out Sir Jiang.” Vermilion Bird’s gaze darkened. “Could it...really be a life or death monster?”

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