The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 194: Asthma

Gao Yang was a little surprised. He didn’t expect Yellow Butterfly to have asthma.

Awakeners should be physically stronger than regular humans. Why would she be sick?

No, wait. Even though awakeners had a stronger physique than regular humans, if their Talents didn’t grant bonuses in Constitution and Endurance, it was unlikely that the awakening would have changed their physiology entirely, and thus their inherent diseases wouldn’t have been cured.

Yellow Butterfly’s Talent was Avian King, a Summon-type Talent. Following the way his system broke down abilities, the bonus stat points granted would be Willpower and Charisma rather than Constitution and Endurance.

“Where’s your inhaler?” Black Sparrow felt around Yellow Butterfly’s pocket. The inhaler wasn’t there.

“It’s...missing...” Yellow Butterfly’s breathing grew even more erratic, and she could barely talk.

Black Sparrow’s face darkened. She looked at Nine Frost. “It must have dropped somewhere between the infirmary on the third floor and this broadcast room.”

No one disagreed. They had been through hells to get here. It was very likely for the inhaler to have dropped on the way.

“Can you hold out on your own?” Nine Frost turned to Yellow Butterfly. “Just wait until Old Joe fixes the machine...”

“No.” Back Sparrow knew Yellow Butterfly’s condition. “She won’t make it that long.”

“Leave...me... Don’t...” Yellow Butterfly gasped for breaths with a pained look and kept shaking her head, refusing to be a dead weight to his teammates.

“Stop talking.” Black Sparrow grabbed onto Yellow Butterfly’s shoulders. “Look at me, Yellow Butterfly. Take a deep breath. Breathe...”

Huff, huff. Yellow Butterfly struggled to breathe, but it wasn’t very effective. She looked to be in serious pain, and every short gasp she took made everyone felt a sympathetic pang.

After a short moment of silence, someone stood up.

“No, we must grab her inhaler, or she’ll die.” It was Dark Li. The fake-looking smile that seemed permanently fixed on his face was gone.

“How?” Gray Bear asked. “We don’t know if it’s dropped in the corridor or the stairs, and there are rune corpses everywhere outside. If you open the door, you die.”

Dark Li stared at Nine Frost with determination, his expression dark. “I won’t let Yellow Butterfly die, Captain. Open the door. I’m going out!”

“No,” Nine Frost shot him down. “It’s suicide.”

“But...”

Thud, thud. Gao Yang stood before a wall and knocked on it.

“Captain?” Gray Bear turned to him, unsure of what he was doing.

“For buildings like this one, usually, the layout is the same for every floor.”

“The director’s office on the second floor we were at corresponds to this room, but this room is only half its size.”

“There’s a divider to make an extra room!” Xiran’s eyes glinted under the glasses.

Gao Yang nodded. “Gray Bear, knock the wall down! I have a plan. Let’s keep it brief.”

Without another question asked, Gray Bear moved up to knock on the wall, making sure where the divider was before slamming into it with his shoulder.

Bam!

Bam!

It only took two hits for Gray Bear to put a hole into the divider. He lifted his foot and kicked on it, creating a long, thin crack that could fit a person.

Gao Yang was the first to get into the space on the other side. Then Nine Frost and Gray Bear followed.

It was a storage room.

Gao Yang perked up. Bingo! Lucky me!

“Come on. Let’s pile the tables, chairs, and cabinets into a barricade.” Gao Yang made the instructions, and the others quickly followed.

With all the items in the storage room, it took no time for them to build a barricade. Gao Yang squeezed through the only crack they left on purpose and opened the door of the storage room, banging on the door to make noises.

Then he quickly moved back to the other side of the barricade. “Block this part too!”

They quickly closed the crack with a cabinet.

Meanwhile, the rune corpses in the corridor heard the noises and moved to the storage room. They tried to get to Gao Yang and the others, but were stopped by the barricade.

“Hey, come over and help!” Gray Bear called out, and Ronnie and Xiuyi joined in keeping the barricade upright with their bodies.

“Keep drawing their attention by making sounds!”

Gao Yang returned to the broadcast room through the divider. “Dark Li, the hallway should be free of rune corpses now. I don’t know how many we’ll encounter in the stairway, but there shouldn\'t be too many. I’ll look for the inhaler with you.”

“No need. I’ll do it myself...”

“We can help each other, and the success rate will be higher.”

Dark Li nodded at him with a grateful look. “Alright.”

He glanced at Yellow Butterfly and turned to walk to the door.

“I’ll go with you.” Black Sparrow rose.

“Take care of Yellow Butterfly,” said Gao Yang. “The more isn’t always the merrier.”

After a moment of hesitation, Black Sparrow nodded.

Gao Yang and Dark Li each picked up a golf club and exchanged a glance. They opened the door and immediately rushed out, closing the door behind them.

As expected, other than the two rune corpses on the floor whose heads had been smashed earlier, the other rune corpses were all crowding into the storage room next to the broadcast room.

Gray Bear’s curses could be heard from the other side of the wall. “Come at me, sons of bitches! Come bite me! Hahaha, you can’t, can you? Die!”

You’re having too much fun! Gao Yang grumbled to himself.

The light was on in the corridor, so it was easy to see what was on the floor. They didn’t spot the inhaler.

Gao Yang and Dark Li exchanged a glance. The inhaler was likely somewhere on the stairs.

They gingerly snuck past the storage room filled with rune corpses before picking up their pace, rushing to the stairway.

It was dark here with the light off. Gao Yang and Dark Li slowly made it down the stairs with their backs pressed to the wall.

Gao Yang pointed at his own eyes with two fingers before pointing at the floor. Then he pointed at Dark Li’s eyes before pointing at their surroundings.

It meant that he would look for the inhaler, so Dark Li should watch out for threats.

Dark Li responded with an OK sign.

They made it to the fourth floor and didn’t see the inhaler.

Then they inched their way to the third floor, still moving along the walls. When they got to the corner, Dark Li grabbed onto Gao Yang’s shoulder.

Gao Yang looked up to find three rune corpses standing there.

With their backs to Gao Yang and Dark Li, they were facing the window in the corner. Moonlight streamed in and illuminated the top of their heads and a third of their profile. Their vicious, numb-looking faces made them seem like devils from hell.

And as if to taunt them, the white inhaler with blue cap was by the heel of the rune corpse in the middle.

Dark Li saw it too. Without hesitation, he slowly crouched down and took off his shoes.

Gao Yang grabbed him, shaking his head. It’s too dangerous!

Dark Li gave him a bitter smile, his gaze determined. There was no changing his mind.

Yellow Butterfly’s asthma attack could kill her any second.

Gao Yang stopped protesting. Dark Li must have been ready to risk his life when he decided to make this trip.

Taking off his shoes and holding them in one hand, Dark Li snuck toward the three rune corpses barefooted, taking one step at a time.

Low, unintelligible rumbles came out from the rune corpses’ throat, and their bodies twitched regularly. They hadn’t noticed anyone approaching.

When Dark Li was a meter away from them, they suddenly went stiff in alarm and turned slightly to the side, their keen ears twitching.

They hadn’t turned fully around, but Dark Li knew that they would notice the moment he took another step.

Dark Li held his breath, his forehead breaking into cold sweat.

His rational mind told him that he must not go any further, but the inhaler was right before him. He couldn’t watch Yellow Butterfly die, or he would never be able to live with himself for the rest of his life.

Dark Li clenched his teeth and threw his two shoes to the stairs below.

Thud, thud.

“Grrrr...”

As expected, the three rune corpses turned to the side, drawn by the sounds. However, only one of them moved down, while the other two merely turned to the source of the sounds.

“Grrrr...”

Worse still, the rune corpses in the third floor corridor had heard the sounds as well, and they were moving toward the stairs.

Dark Li took a glance and sweated harder, his scalp feeling numb. There were at least seven of them.

It was now or never. He knew things would only get worse if he waited.

Resolved, he took a step forward and reached out to pick up the inhaler.

Due to his nerves, he failed to control his hand properly, and the hard blue cap of the inhaler scratched the floor when he picked the inhaler up, making a quiet sound.

One rune corpse jerked around. It heard him.