The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 339: The Arrival of the Tide

He looked up to see Gao Yang, Can, and Heavenly Dog standing before him, stunned and face ashen.

“What is this, bro? Why did you tie me up?” Wang Zikai shouted at Gao Yang.

“Wang Zikai! Calm, calm down and listen...”

Gao Yang was taken completely by surprise. He hadn’t anticipated this scenario.

Although he had considered the possibility of Medicine D being less effective on Wang Zikai given his unique nature, and thus he might not stay asleep for as long, how could Medicine D, which could keep an elite monster unconscious for 48 hours, last only ten minutes on Wang Zikai?

It was absurd!

What monster are you, Wang Zikai?!

“You better fucking explain to me, Gao Yang!” Wang Zikai was a little angry.

He suddenly turned to Can and Heavenly Dog fiercely. “You two, it must be your idea!”

He got worked up and started struggling against the restraint. “You are not driving us apart!”

Can blanched and staggered back reflexively.

Heavenly Dog also stepped back and raised his hands, prepared to activate his Talents at any time.

“Don’t!” Gao Yang shot Heavenly Dog a pointed look and said in a low voice, “Heavenly Dog, Can, leave.”

Can paused. “Captain, we don’t have time...”

“Out!” Gao Yang ordered in a more forceful tone.

Can clenched her teeth and hesitated a few seconds before leaving the basement. Heavenly Dog followed quietly with a final look at Gao Yang.

“Hey! You are not getting...” Wang Zikai continued to taunt them.

Bam!

The door to the basement slammed shut, leaving Gao Yang and Wang Zikai alone.

Under the dim light, the two of them shared a silent moment.

“I’m sorry, Wang Zikai. This is my idea.”

“What do you mean?” Wang Zikai couldn’t accept it. “Why did you tie me up for nothing, bro?”

“I...” Gao Yang racked his brain for an excuse. “It’s meant as a special training!”

Wang Zikai paused. “Special training?”

“Yeah! Training!” Gao Yang tried to calm himself despite the sweat covering his palms. “Do you remember Surnamed Li of the Hundred Rivers Union? The woman who bought us dinner at the Sea View Tower?”

“Oh, yeah. What about her?” Wang Zikai was getting pulled into Gao Yang’s story.

“She could see the future, and she foresaw a powerful villain, the ultimate final boss!”

He walked up to Wang Zikai slowly and said with feeling, “The villain is OP! Neither of us is their match, and both of us will end up killed. Not even you can rival them.”

“Really?” Wang Zikai wasn’t yet convinced. “That can’t be. I’m the chosen one.”

“You should be able to defeat them, but not when your ultimate potential hasn’t been fully awakened.”

Gao Yang patted Wang Zikai on the shoulder. “That’s why I decided to give you special training this week. Tying you up was only the first step to awakening your full potential.”

“Haha!” Wang Zikai bought it. “I knew there was more to the week!”

“Yep.” Gao Yang sighed in relief. It seemed that he had managed to convince Wang Zikai.

“What’s the training?” Wang Zikai sounded eager. “Am I supposed to break free on my own? Well, it’s nothing. Just wait.”

He took a deep breath and balled his hands into fists, tightening his jaw with veins popping out in his forehead. “Hmph...”

A few seconds later, his skin turned bronze and his muscles bulged dramatically, his body doubling in size.

“Ah!”

With a flex, Wang Zikai broke the hemp ropes and zip ties like they were as fragile as noodles, and they splattered all over. A broken piece hit Gao Yang in the cheek like a whip, leaving a burning red imprint.

“Haha! Whew—” Wang Zikai panted and stood up, stretching his arms. “This isn’t much of a training, bro. You have to make things harder. This doesn’t even count as a warmup.”

Gao Yang stood rooted to the spot, his mind blanking.

This was his closest friend, someone he knew like himself.

At this moment, however, Wang Zikai was so strong that he seemed wholly unfamiliar.

No, Wang Zikai is no wanderer!

He must be some kind of elite monster in deep slumber.

Bam!

Can pushed the door open with Heavenly Dog in tow. Both of them were anxious.

“Captain! It’s 12. We can’t wait any longer!” Can was close to begging.

Gao Yang felt a shudder in his chest then, as if an intangible finger had plucked at his heart.

Then he sensed it: an all-encompassing, overflowing pressure.

Can and Heavenly Dog felt the strange warning sign to varying degrees, too.

The three of them had never experienced the Crimson Tide as awakeners before, and inside the basement, they didn’t witness the arrival of the Tide.

Those at the White Tiger branch, though, had witnessed the strange phenomenon from the very start.

Late at night, Li City seemed no different from usual save for the fact that there were seventy to eighty percent fewer lights on in the residential and office buildings, and there was little traffic, making it clear that most of the city residents had fallen asleep.

Then as soon as midnight came, all street lamps and other lights in public areas went off. The jungle of concrete plunged into darkness.

The full moon in the sky grew large at an observable rate and turned a deep crimson red. It hung unnaturally low in the sky, looking down on all parts of the world like an eye of the evil god.

The red light was as intense as sunlight in day time, casting the whole city in an oppressive red.

Then the blood fog emerged on the horizon and the surface of bodies of water, quiet yet violent.

It started out like a red trembling line, but then everyone began to get a better look. The thick blood fog rolled and roared like a tide on steroids, spreading in all directions across the city.

In an instant, the blood fog had covered all land, reaching half a meter tall.

In fact, it didn’t only cover the land. No matter what floor one was on in a building, the blood fog would extend like red vines and climb up and through any obstacles to pool evenly at their feet.

Unless one could stay hovering in the sky, none could escape the fog that didn’t discriminate between targets.

In the basement of Wang Zikai’s place, Gao Yang, Can, and Heavenly Dog were still stunned into inaction. About ten seconds after the initial shock, the blood fog had already seeped in through the crack under the door, spreading at their feet.

Gao Yang looked down to find his feet obscured by the fog.

He paled and opened his mouth to say something, but couldn’t make a sound. It was all he could do to look at Wang Zikai, helpless and confused.

It seemed that Wang Zikai couldn’t see the fog, or he didn’t care.

He was still smiling. “Hey, why aren’t you saying anything?”

“Cap...captain...”

Can shook in fear, but instead of running away, she mustered the courage to take a step forward.

No matter what happened, she must not be a deadweight this time. She had to fight alongside Captain Seven Shadow.

Heavenly Dog quietly reached into the collar of his shirt with his right hand, crushing the deep blue button.

Then he raised his hands at Wang Zikai, readying his energy to activate level 4 Spatial Dissection.

No, no.

This is not supposed to happen.

Gao Yang’s eyes turned bloodshot, and his head was a mess. His rational mind was yelling at him to stop standing around, that the boy before him was extremely dangerous; he must either run, or fight.

But Gao Yang couldn’t do it. The past he had shared with Wang Zikai overflowed in his head, threatening to break his mind.

Swoosh.

Two seconds later, three sharp bone claws extended from the back of Wang Zikai’s hand.

He took a step forward slowly. In the basement awash in an oppressive red, his smile looked strange, and he drawled in a languid tone.

“Aren’t we going to train? What are you waiting for?”