The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 340: Don’t Make Me

In addition to dorm rooms allocated to each member, the branch was also home to specialized spaces for recreation, entertainment, and training, as well as storage for a large amount of equipment and supplies. Its counterpart would be the underground sixth floor of the Millennium Tower.

The 52nd floor was the top floor of the hotel, a large space built into an emergency shelter, divided into the east, west, south, north, and central zones.

The central zone was the command center and meeting room for the core members.

The east zone was the living quarters set up with a hundred and more capsule beds—now increased to 200, divided for men and women.

The west zone housed the public washrooms and toilets. Due to the limited space, they were all small, narrow stalls.

The east zone was the canteen with a kitchen area. Food and drinking water enough to sustain 200 people were stored there, as well as canned food, snacks, and all sorts of drinks.

The north zone was a resting place with sofas and seats, the wall a large, fan-shaped floor-to-ceiling window that served as an observatory.

White Tiger was stationed at the command room in the central zone. In case of danger, he would activate Absolute Defense to cover the entire 52nd floor in his barrier.

To face the coming crisis, members of all three major organizations had gathered here, including a few unaffiliated awakeners.

The total number were 156, almost the entirety of awakeners in all of the Mist World.

Ten minutes before the Crimson Tide arrived, close to a hundred people gathered in the resting area in the north zone, standing before the window wall to witness the descent of the blood moon and the emergence of the blood fog, their hearts pounding.

Despite them being on the 52nd floor, blood fog reached half a meter at their feet in less than ten seconds.

It was everywhere. None could escape it.

Qing Ling and Officer Huang stood before the window, their expressions dark like the other awakeners.

Officer Huang’s phone was left on, and he was focused to the point of being neurotic.

He had lied to his wife that he had been assigned a secret mission for the next seven days, instructing her to not contact him unless there was an emergency. She didn’t seem to suspect anything.

Midnight had passed, and the Crimson Tide arrived.

He was terrified that he would get a call or a message from his wife, which could mean either of the two:

His wife was an elite monster.

Or an elite monster close to him suspected him of being an awakener and used his wife to set him up.

Officer Huang had considered installing hidden cameras at home to watch her during the night. If his wife fell asleep before twelve, she must be a wanderer. If she didn’t, however...

Officer Huang couldn’t bear to follow the thought. In the end, he didn’t have the courage to test her.

At this moment, it was all he could do to keep his phone in a tight grasp while praying that it would stay quiet from midnight to the break of dawn.

If it did ring, of course, he would make up his mind and go even if he would be marching to his death.

Qing Ling stared at the city cast in crimson red, her hands balled into fists.

Gao Yang hadn’t returned.

She knew that because Heavenly Dog hadn’t returned, and Gao Yang had asked for his help. After they did whatever they were doing, they should’ve rushed back to the 52nd floor of the hotel before twelve o’clock.

It seemed that the mission hadn’t been accomplished. Something had gone wrong.

“Green Snake! Yellow Ox!”

White Rabbit quickly came up with a tablet running a location tracking application. On the screen was the 2D map of Li City and the concentric circles of radar. There was a blinking red dot.

Qing Ling noticed it immediately.

“Heavenly Dog is in danger!” White Rabbit said.

Without a word, Qing Ling turned to leave, and Officer Huang and White Rabbit followed.

They came to a halt after taking a few steps.

Arms crossed, War Tiger had come up to stop the three of them. Wordlessly, he gave them a strange smile.

“Out of the way,” Qing Ling said harshly.

“Sure, but you’ll have to defeat me first.”

“Uncle Tiger, Heavenly Dog is in danger!” White Rabbit was anxious.

“During the Crimson Tide, members who leave for their own personal reasons must be ready to face death,” War Tiger lamented. “That is the rule.”

White Rabbit raged. “Heavenly Dog was called away by Seven Shadow!”

War Tiger was unfazed. “And he chose to help him.”

“I volunteer to go to Heavenly Dog’s rescue,” Qing Ling responded coolly. And Gao Yang, she didn’t say.

War Tiger shook his head with regret. “It’s too late, Green Snake. Whatever danger there was would’ve already happened, and someone Seven Shadow and Heavenly Dog failed to deal with must be a pride monster or a Spectre, who would easily kill you. I can’t let you die in vain.”

Clang.

Qing Ling swung her Tang Dao in the blink of an eye, and War Tiger blocked it with his shortsword.

“Don’t make me.” Qing Ling stared at him fiercely.

War Tiger sighed heavily. “That’s my line.”

...

Wang Zikai’s basement, the riverside residential area.

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

With that, his smile dropped altogether.

He took a step forward, and immediately, Gao Yang, Can, and Heavenly Dog took a step back.

No!

This isn’t the Wang Zikai I knew.

Do something!

Now!

Shit, stop standing around! Attack him!

Gao Yang yelled at himself in his head, but he couldn’t do it.

Knowing that they must not wait any longer, Can grabbed Gao Yang and Heavenly Dog with each of her hands.

Instantly, the three vanished.

Wang Zikai started. “Hmph? Where are you?”

“Gao Yang, where, where are you...” Wang Zikai took another step forward, but this time, his speech slowed, and his legs were wobbly.

Swish.

His bone claws retracted on their own as he fought his falling eyelids. His eyes closed and then opened with difficulty before closing again. And he wavered like a drunk man walking.

“Come on...train...”

Wang Zikai staggered forward.

Breaking out of his invisibility, Gao Yang came up to catch him with both arms, Wang Zikai’s chin resting on his shoulder.

Tightening his arms around his friend, Gao Yang maintained his composure for the benefit of the others, but in his heart, he was celebrating.

Great!

Wang Zikai’s a wanderer! Even though he’s unusually strong, he’s still a wanderer!

It wasn’t the Medicine D that had put him to sleep, but the rule of the Crimson Tide. And he had spoken strangely not because of an awakening monsterhood, but because of his mind slowing to a halt.

Gao Yang carefully supported Wang ZIkai lest he woke him up. He crouched down and was going to lay Wang Zikai on the floor, but thick blood fog had come up high enough to submerge Wang Zikai.

Wouldn’t that suffocate him?

Although Gao Yang knew he was probably overthinking, he still picked Wang Zikai back up.

“Come on, let’s go back to the living room.”

With Can and Heavenly Dog following him, Gao Yang walked out of the basement to the living room, placing Wang Zikai on a couch, away from the blood fog.

He let out a long sigh as he watched Wang Zikai’s sleeping face.

Although it hadn’t exactly been smooth sailing, all was well as long as it ended well. Thank heavens for the way things turned out.

Heavenly Dog was on his phone in the meantime. “It’s a misunderstanding. Yeah, there’s no danger. We’ll be back at once... Hm? You got into a fight? You alright? Uncle Tiger beat all three of you...well...”

...

A minute later, Heavenly Dog carried Gao Yang and Can in each arm and flew out of Wang Zikai’s place through a window.

Under the crimson blood moon, they glided across the lake covered in blood fog.

“Invisibility.”

Can called out, and the three of them disappeared instantly.

From the empty sky came Can’s voice. “This is genius, Captain! This is the safest combo there is! Oh, Brother Dog, please don’t get too high up. I, I’ve got acrophobia.”

“The higher we get, the safer,” said Heavenly Dog.

“Can, do you want to have some fun?” Gao Yang was in a good mood.

“Huh?”

“I’m wondering what will happen if I teleport to speed us up while we fly.”

Swoosh.

“Eep! Stop playing, Captain...”

“Cool,” Heavenly Dog said. “Why don’t you teleport us while I dive down?”

“Sure.”

“Brother, Brother Dog, Captain, please calm down—help!”