The Creatures That We Are

—What’s going on?

Gao Yang was confused, but at the same time, what was happening seemed familiar to him. He seemed to have heard someone describe it.

Ah, isn’t this what happened to Dick as he was tortured, as Chen Ying described?

It’s the Astronaut!

Gao Yang’s head jerked up. As expected, a figure in a heavy white spacesuit emerged from inside the observatory, taking off the orange opaque helmet and tucking it under the armpit.

Gao Yang started. Astronaut was a woman!

Her soft blue hair was on the thin side, and her complexion was dark, her face so sunken that the cheekbones almost protruded from the skin. It was difficult to tell her exact age, but she should be no older than 30.

Her eyelids were thin but swollen, her eyes covered in earthworm-like capillaries. Her eyes were pure black, like two lifeless ink stains.

The inside of her spacesuit was connected to numerous oxygen tubes and IV tubes; the former went to her nostrils, while the latter went to the veins in her neck.

She didn’t have to introduce herself for Gao Yang to figure out who she was. He had speculated that the Astronaut could be the owner of Talent: Patient.

He was right.

The woman carried with herself a terrible virus, necessitating her isolation from the outside world with the spacesuit, or the virus in her body would infect all beings within a certain radius indiscriminately.

Now it seemed that the effective range of the virus was within fifty meters.

However, it would take time for the infection to happen, and how long it took would differ on an individual basis, but no longer than three minutes. That was why she had stayed hidden in the observatory tower rather than coming out to help her companions even when they were struggling.

Of course, Patient must be greatly harmful to herself, too. That was why she needed the treatment system inside the spacesuit to sustain her life.

“No.8 of Tails, Blood Amber.” Without speaking through the filter of the helmet, the woman’s voice was surprisingly soft and serene.

“Enough already. Put your helmet back on.” Madam Wu gave her a disgusted look. “Or I’m not gonna be able to take it either.”

“Yeah.” Blood Amber put the helmet back on.

In two seconds, Gao Yang felt his physical condition stop worsening. However, he still felt weak, his chest tight and the urge to vomit overwhelming. He tried to tap into the energy in his body, but ended up throwing up another lump of black blood clot.

It seemed that he wouldn’t be able to keep fighting in the short term. In fact, he might not survive if he didn’t get treatment immediately.

In comparison, Madam Wu, who had been almost fully replaced by Black Gold outside of her brain, could resist the virus much better, thus maintaining half of her fighting power.

Confidently, she sauntered over to Qing Ling, her now skinless lips curving into a cold smile. The damn woman puts me in such a pathetic state. I won’t rest easy until I kill her.

Qing Ling was still lying prone on the ground, her hair messy and her face pale. Dark blood streaked down from the corners of her mouth. She had lost her ability to move completely.

Having read Madam Wu’s intention, Gao Yang tried his best to move toward Qing Ling while on his knees, shielding her with his body.

“Ha, trying to play hero at the last moment of your life?” Madam Wu towered over them, her right hand morphing into a sharp blade. “I’ll give you a hero’s death!”

She stabbed at Gao Yang’s face with her blade hand, already picturing it piercing through Gao Yang’s mouth and coming out from the back of his neck.

But it didn’t happen.

Madam Wu’s hand froze midair, like an intangible force had stopped her.

She was caught off guard. Soon, she realized that a translucent golden barrier had blocked her hand. It came into formation with difficulty, flickering due to the unstable energy.

Gao Yang sensed then that the barrier had been conjured with energy coming from behind him.

He looked back in disbelief. His father had woken up at some point, his shirt torn and bloodied, while his chest had more or less healed. Medicine C had done its magic.

With one knee on the ground, he raised a hand and splayed it at Gao Yang, golden light scintillating in his eyes.

He was furious, but his gaze was determined.

...

Ten minutes ago.

Gao Shou thought it was all an absurd nightmare.

The family was on an outing. They should’ve spent a pleasant day at the farmhouse in the rural area, amid the pleasant nature and fresh air. His wife and kids had gone to the mountain in the back to forage mushrooms. He just had to kill time until his family returned.

But then a bald man who looked like trouble showed up out of nowhere, asking him about Zhuang Mei, the owner of the farmhouse, as well as any relatives Zhuang Mei might have.

Gao Shou had an ominous feeling. Had Zhuang Mei become indebted to a loan shark, and the man was here to collect the debt?

Instead of answering the question, Gao Shou asked who the man was, and what business he had with Zhuang Mei.

The bald man lost his temper immediately, toppling Gao Shou’s wheelchair with a kick before raining punches and kicks down on him.

There was no chance for a man with physical ability to endure the abuse, and Gao Shou howled with pain while begging for mercy.

The bald man ordered Gao Shou to call Zhuang Mei, telling him to lure her to a specific location. Gao Shou, however, only pretended to play along, and he called Gao Yang instead, telling him to call the police.

The bald man caught on and quickly grabbed the phone, beating him up again.

The thug was strong. Gao Shou felt like he was going to get beaten to death.

Soon, his son and his daughter-in-law showed up—in a way completely unimaginable to him. They flew over on a blade! Like they were characters from some xianxia drama!

Then Gao Yang jumped down from more than ten meters up in the air. Ten meters, not ten centimeters! A normal person would’ve gotten crippled, if not killed.

Yet Gao Yang, his dear son, wasn’t injured at all. He even got flames burst out of his fist like a magic trick.

Things got increasingly surreal. The bald man demonstrated unnatural raw power and clashed with Gao Yang, having a conversation that didn’t make sense to Gao Shou at all.

Then the bald man knocked him out.

When Gao Shou came to, disoriented, he was somewhere else, his neck in the bald man’s tight grip and his breathing difficult. From his half-closed eyes, he could only see an observatory the construction of which had halted.

A sharp pain stabbed at his chest, like someone had pierced through it with a blade.

The great pain knocked him unconscious again. Before he blacked out, he heard Gao Yang shout, “No!!”

At the last moment of his consciousness, Gao Shou thought, Ha, don’t panic. It’s fine. I’m just having a nightmare.

That’s right! I must still be bathing in the sun and waiting for my wife and kids to return from the mountain. The sun was warm, and I fell asleep at some point, having a dream.

Dreams are always the opposite to reality, right? So I don’t have to worry. Everything’s gonna be fine once I wake up. Perhaps Zhuang Mei will have already finished making a fragrant dish of braised chicken with mushrooms. Then my dear Lin Yue will wake me up, and we’ll eat together...

Some time passed. When Gao Shou opened his eyes again, he wasn’t in his wheelchair before the farmhouse, dammit, and the nightmare hadn’t ended.

His chest hurt, and he didn’t have any strength in his body. He could hear the clinks and clanks of blades clashing. Then there were explosions...

Wait, I’m not on a battlefield, am I?

Hm, something isn’t right.

Gao Shou realized with a start that he could feel things in his legs.

Moreover, he could move them!

He didn’t have the time to find joy in the revelation. As soon as he rolled to an upright position, he saw his son kneeling on the ground, throwing up black blood, while his daughter-in-law was also lying prone, covered in injury.

Finally, Gao Shou accepted the truth he should’ve accepted long ago: it’s all real!

Then a blonde woman who looked like a robot transformed her right hand into a sharp blade, walking up to Gao Yang to stab his face without hesitation.

Gao Shou felt as if his blood was flowing in reverse. He couldn’t make it in time to block the attack for his son, but he had to do something, anything.

At that moment, a strange energy rushed up in his body. It was foreign to him, but at the same time, it felt like something recovered after a lifetime, distant, grand, and ancient.

The energy activated his brain and spread through his body, forging brand new paths while granting him unusual intuition and battle instinct.

He awakened.

The gears of fate slowly turned, but he didn’t know what it meant at that moment yet.

Without thinking, he splayed his right hand at his son, and energy came out of the tips of his fingers naturally, conjuring a translucent golden barrier to block Madam Wu’s fatal strike.

Ah! Did I do that?

I don’t know what’s going on, but that’s kinda cool, isn’t it?

He was pleased with himself, but also furious with his enemy. He growled at the robotic woman before him.

“He’s just a kid! I’m the one you should come after!”

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