The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 342: Trouble

Wang Zikai woke up on the sofa bleary-eyed and saw Gao Yang sitting by his side, looking down at him with an inquisitive edge to his gaze.

“Whoa!” Wang Zikai yelled, suddenly wide awake. He sat up while scratching his head. “When...did I fall asleep? What are you doing, bro? You almost gave me a heart attack!”

Gao Yang sighed with feigned concern. “The special training didn’t go well.”

“Huh?” Wang Zikai paused before his memory came back to him, and he slapped himself on the thigh. “Oh, right! Special training! We were going to do that last night, weren’t we? How did I fall asleep?”

“That was the special training.”

“Huh?” Wang Zikai was flabbergasted.

Gao Yang sighed again. “To tell you the truth, Can, the girl from last night, has a Talent called Sleeping Beauty. It’s a powerful curse-like Talent.”

Wang Zikai blinked.

“She used Sleeping Beauty on you. The special curse will put you to sleep past midnight.”

Wang Zikai gaped. “Holy shit! That’s strong!”

“Yeah.” Gao Yang sighed the third time. “So you must fight it somehow. If you can overcome the curse of Sleeping Beauty, you’ll be able to fight the strongest villain later without being subdued by their hypnotic attacks. Then you’ll surely win!”

Wang Zikai came to a realization. “Bro, you...you’ve thought so far for me! Don’t worry, I won’t disappoint you. I won’t fall asleep tonight!”

Gao Yang nodded and patted him on the shoulder. “Yeah, it’s good for you to have the fighting spirit. Sleeping Beauty is powerful, though. I don’t think you’ll be able to overcome it quickly. Still, given your innate potential, I believe you should be able to do it after about a week.”

“I won’t need a whole week!” Wang Zikai declared with confidence. “Give me five days—no, three days!”

“Alright.” Gao Yang rose to his feet and glanced at the tea table on his side. “I bought breakfast for you. Eat up. I’m off to take care of something.”

“Hey, wait!” Wang Zikai called out after him. “What should I do during the day if you leave now?”

“Training!” Gao Yang put on a reprimanding look. “How are you going to fight Sleeping Beauty during the night if you don’t train hard? This is your special training! Keep in mind that this is for the ultimate fight!”

“Okay!” Wang Zikai was all pumped up.

“Right, I have preparations to make for the fight between you and the final boss. I’ll contact you once I’m done.”

“You got it!” Wang Zikai picked up a cup of soy milk and took a sip. “I’ll get started after breakfast! Don’t worry, bro. I’ll defeat the Sleeping Beauty in three days. Just watch!”

“Work hard. You’re the best.”

Pleased, Gao Yang nodded at him with a smile.

...

Gao Yang returned to the 52nd floor of the White Lake Hotel and spent the whole day in the base.

He and Officer Huang checked their phones every thirty seconds, even when they were eating.

Their lunch partner, White Rabbit, had had enough of it. “Yellow Ox, would you stop already? If you take another look at your phone, I’m gonna confiscate it!”

“Me checking my phone isn’t going to stop you from eating.” Officer Huang smiled bitterly.

“But you’re stopping me from enjoying the food!” White Rabbit lost her temper somewhat, and Gao Yang felt vicariously called out.

“Seconded,” Qing Ling added from beside White Rabbit.

“You have notification turned on. What’s the point of being glued to your phone? If you keep this on, something will happen even if it wasn’t supposed to.”

She’s got a point, Gao Yang thought and quickly shoved his phone into his pocket, swearing not to take another glance at it.

“Hey, hey, hey, don’t jinx it!” Officer Huang shot White Rabbit a glare before putting away his phone, focusing on eating.

At midnight, the Crimson Tide arrived on time.

The blood moon emerged along with the blood fog that permeated everywhere. The expanding sense of pressure returned like a smog, enveloping everyone’s heart.

The three major organizations had formed a temporary alliance. They sent two teams of three to patrol around the city.

One consisted of Heavenly Dog, Can, and Little Tian. It was a team composition that minimized risks, where Heavenly Dog would bring along Can, who could turn them invisible, and Little Tian, who could sense powerful living organisms in a wide range, and scout from high in the sky.

The other awakeners, with nothing to do, could only wait.

Gao Yang and Officer Huang sat on the beanbags before the window wall, holding their phones tightly without saying a word, looking like empty husks with their souls running astray.

If there was anyone who could read minds in their proximity, they would hear the two men repeating, ‘God bless me! Don’t ring, phone! Come already, morning!’

Indeed, some awakeners’ phones did ring during the night.

Every time, Gao Yang and Officer Huang would blanch with their hearts racing, only to realize belatedly that it wasn’t their phones.

“Elder Seven Shadow!”

Gao Yang turned around to find Green Tea walking up to him with a phone in his hand, his expression dark.

Gao Yang quickly connected the dots and shot to his feet. “Your phone rang?”

“Yes.” Green Tea spoke urgently at a faster pace.

“It was my younger brother’s girlfriend.” His eyes flickered, and he added in wishful thinking, “She may not be a monster, but an awakened human.”

Gao Yang didn’t say anything. That was a possibility, but the possibility was as slim as winning a lottery.

“She and my brother rented a place outside their college,” Green Tea continued. “She woke up at midnight to find my brother unconscious, and she couldn’t wake him up. She was worried that he had fallen ill, but the emergency call didn’t go through. She then called me.”

Gao Yang could guess what Green Tea was asking for. “You want to check on them and would like me to go with you.”

“Yes.” Green Tea tightened his grip around his phone. “I can’t just do nothing. Even if she is a monster and is using my brother to lure me in, I have to go.”

“Wait, you could’ve just asked another member of the Union. Why turned to Seven Shadow?” Officer Huang, who had been listening, didn’t want Gao Yang to get into danger for Green Tea. “You aren’t that close, are you?”

Green Tea stared at Gao Yang. “We’ve gone on a mission together. I consider us friends. And I’ve asked a Union member, Joker. With the three of us going together, I’m certain nothing will go wrong.”

Gao Yang didn’t say anything.

He was surprised that someone as aloof as Joker would be willing to take the risk.

Green Tea sighed. “I’ll be able to deal with an elite monster on my own, but if she takes my brother hostage, I’ll be in trouble without friends.”

He turned to Gao Yang and said in an imploring tone, “Joker can differentiate between monsters and humans to confirm their identities, and you, Elder Seven Shadow, have Teleportation and a bright mind. You’re my only option if there’s a hostage to rescue. My little brother is all I’ve got, Elder Seven Shadow. Please help me. I’ll repay you...”

“Enough already,” Gao Yang cut him off. “Let’s go.”

Green Tea paused. He didn’t expect Gao Yang to agree so readily. “Alright, let’s go.”

Gao Yang decided to help Green Tea for two reasons.

First, he had been the key vote that outed Green Tea during the Werewolf game run by Sir Zuo. Although it turned out to be a simple game, Gao Yang still felt guilty about it, and he offered his help to make amends.

His second reason was a selfish one: should the same thing happen to him for the next few nights, he might need Green Tea’s help.

“I’ll go with you.” Officer Huang stood up.

“You don’t have to,” Gao Yang turned him down. “The more isn’t always the merrier.”

“But...”

“What if your phone rings?”

That immediately convinced Officer Huang. He sighed. “Alright, just be careful.”

Green Tea and Gao Yang went to the back office for basic medicines and equipment before heading to the elevator to the exit. Joker had been waiting beside it for quite a while.

He had transformed into a mundane young man with no features standing out.

The three of them left the White Lake Hotel and hopped into Green Tea’s car, heading to the A College.

Green Tea, burning with anxiety, drove quickly.

In the passenger seat, Joker didn’t say much as he looked out of the window, keeping an eye out for potential threats.

Meanwhile, Gao Yang was still holding his phone and worrying about it ringing. The three of them didn’t say anything during the drive.

The city in slumber saw no traffic on the roads. Soon, Green Tea reached an apartment building near the A College, where many student couples rented a room together.

The three of them walked into the lobby. The security guard manning the front desk had fallen asleep in the chair.

They quickly went into the elevator and made it to room 1003.

Green Tea rushed up to the door. Gao Yang accessed his system to check for dangers. No warning as of yet, which meant there was no immediate danger waiting on the other side of the door, not that they weren’t stepping into a trap.

Green Tea hesitated to open the door. He turned to Gao Yang.

Gao Yang nodded slightly.

Taking a deep breath, Green Tea rang the doorbell.

Click.

Three seconds later, the door opened.

On the other side stood a young woman in pajamas. She had a round face, signifying a life of abundance.

However, she had an exhausted look on her face at this moment, and her hair was a mess, her eyes red and swollen. There were dried tear stains on her cheeks. “Brother, you’re finally here...”

Noticing Gao Yang and Joker standing behind Green Tea, she asked curiously, “And they are...”

“Friends. We happened to be hanging out, and they offered to help.” Green Tea had come up with an excuse beforehand.

Rather than asking another question, the girl opened the door fully to allow them entrance. “Come on in.”

With companions watching his back, Green Tea walked in without hesitation, unconcerned if his sister-in-law would attack him suddenly.

Gao Yang and Joker entered with a purposeful delay, trailing after Green Tea and the girl.

“Brother, when I woke up at midnight, I noticed something wrong with Xiaojun...”

The flat wasn’t big, and they could see the end of it upon entrance. On the far side of the room was a bed, on which lay a young man in pajamas.

“Xiaojun’s so deep asleep that I can’t wake him up... I was going to call an ambulance, but no one picked up. Since I couldn’t carry him on my own, I thought about asking for my neighbor’s help. However, I knocked on a few doors and no one responded... I, I don’t know what’s going on.”

She rattled off, clearly feeling anxious.

Expression grave, Green Tea strode up to the bed to guard his unconscious brother.

The girl was going to follow, but Green Tea stopped her. “Don’t come any closer, sister-in-law.”

“Huh?” The girl was confused. “What are you doing, Brother? Don’t dally around. Let’s take Xiaojun to the hospital at once...”

She trailed off, noticing the change in atmosphere.

Slowly turning around, she saw Joker blocking the entryway with his arms crossed. That was the only way out of the flat.

Gao Yang was keeping distance from her as well, his expression cold and his stance wary.

The flat was eerily silent with an undercurrent of tension.

The girl’s anxious and confused look gradually hardened. Two seconds later, her eyes glowed a faint green.

Growl—

Almost instantly, her mouth split open to her jaw, and viscous light-green liquid streamed down from the ugly maw. She lunged at Green Tea, who was closest to her.

A freerider, looking to make Green Tea its host.

Swoosh!

Prepared for an ambush, Green Tea quickly grabbed a pillow and shoved it into the open maw of the freerider.

That only stopped it for a short moment, but it was enough. Green Tea activated One-inch Punch with his other hand and hit the freerider in the chest.

The freerider flew off with the pillow in its mouth, crushing the glass of the tea table with a loud clang.

For a moment, white down and glass shards scattered all over the floor.

“Ugh—”

The freerider didn’t have the time to care about its almost shattered organs. Knowing it wasn’t Green Tea’s match, it scrambled to its feet and turned to lunge at Gao Yang instead.

The only thought in its head was to bite someone.

As long as it did, its energy, consciousness, and some of its memories would live on in a different form inside the awakener’s body, forming a symbiosis of sorts.

But it didn’t manage to get Gao Yang since Gao Yang had already teleported behind it.

Thud.

He pierced the freerider from the back with the dagger he carried with him.

The freerider screamed.

Pushing with more force from his arm, Gao Yang pierced the freerider’s heart with the dagger.

It stopped screaming and collapsed to the ground.

Blood quickly formed a pool. The freerider twitched while lying in it and slowly reverted back to its human form. However, traces of the transformation remained around her split mouth.

Joker slowly came up and drew a dagger he had on him, crouching down to put a hole into the freerider’s head. It was to make sure that it wasn’t feigning death to ambush them.

Things were dealt with swiftly, not even a moment wasted.

If Green Tea had come on his own, though, he might have fallen victim to the freerider.

After all, the freerider clearly wasn’t trying to hurt Green Tea by setting up a trap or threatening him with his brother. Its plan was distracting Green Tea with the unconscious Xiaojun so that it could catch Green Tea off guard, biting him and thus making him its host.

“Thank you,” Green Tea said with relief and gratitude. “I’ll remember this.”

Joker didn’t say anything.

Gao Yang nodded. “Let’s go.”

“Okay.”

Green Tea rose to his feet and turned to glance at his brother, saying in a heartbroken tone, “How is Xiaojun going to face his dead girlfriend when he wakes up tomorrow...”

“Warning...”

Since he had been watching out for it, Gao Yang used Teleport on reflex as soon as he heard the system.

Swish.

Between one blink and the next, Green Tea found himself teleported to a corner of the room, held by Gao Yang.

Three long, sharp white bone stings shot out to where he had been, by his brother’s bed, and the bone stings were his brother’s fingers.

Green Tea’s mind blanked.

He knew what it meant, but he couldn’t think, couldn’t follow the thought.

“No!” he screamed.

Swish, swish, swish.

The bone stings shot at Gao Yang and Green Tea again. They teleported to the entryway, standing by Joker.

“No, no, no. Why...why did this happen?” Green Tea sounded tortured.

The young man called Xiaojun sat up coldly and didn’t rush into the next move.

Gao Yang got a good look at him. The young man had a short, small face, fine and soft black hair, and gentle facial features, making him look harmless.

And Green Tea’s brother was a good boy. The brothers had depended on each other throughout their lives.

His little brother had always been meek and considerate. He trusted and respected Green Tea, even asking for Green Tea’s opinions before he started dating in college.

“Big brother.”

Xiaojun sat on the bed with his hand on his knees. Head lowered, he said ruefully, “Why didn’t you let me kill you and eat you? Then we’ll be together forever.”

An overtaker.

Gao Yang tapped into his energy with both hands. In his experience, overtakers were the strongest and most cunning monsters outside of pride monsters and the illusive life monsters and death monsters.

“Xiaojun, I’m sorry, I’m sorry...” Green Tea said with guilt. “I’ve been too careless. I should’ve hidden myself better. Then you wouldn’t have suspected me...”

“Brother.” Xiaojun stood up and shook his head. “It’s not your fault. You may be able to fool other monsters, but I’m an overtaker. How can you possibly fool me?”

“What do you mean?” Gao Yang asked.

Xiaojun scoffed, half of his face awash in darkness.

“To talk your language, my monsterhood is able to differentiate between regular humans and awakeners even when in slumber. It was simply suppressed by my personhood and the Heavenly Way.”

He shrugged. “So my monsterhood was bound to awaken when the Crimson Tide hit. This day was predestined to come.”

Good!

Gao Yang knew he was being apathetic, even shameless.

But at that moment, his first thought was of his family.

It seemed that he could at least rule out there being an overtaker among them.

If there was one, the overtaker would be able to tell awakeners from humans no matter how well Gao Yang had been hiding himself, only they wouldn’t break free of the constraint of their personhood and the Heavenly Way until the Crimson Tide came.

“Big Brother.” Xiaojun smiled at Green Tea while saying apologetically, “I’m sorry. I love you so much. You are the dearest family to me. I remember all you’ve done for me... But for some reason, I’m compelled to kill you. I cannot stop myself...”

“I beg you, Brother, please let me eat you and let us be whole. Then we’ll be together forever. I promise you that it’ll be quick, and you won’t feel any pain.”

“Brother.” The overtaker still wore the face of Green Tea’s brother, and he reached out with a yearning look. “I know. I know you won’t give up on me. Am I right?”

“You said that you would take care of me. You’re the only one who can save me now. I don’t want to die. Let me eat you. Then I’ll be a half-human. We’ll be together and live as a human...”

“Xiaojun...” Green Tea wavered and took a step forward.

“Wake up!” Gao Yang shouted. “It’s not your brother! You’re brother’s dead! It’s a monster!”

“Brother!” Xiaojun got riled up as well and said with reddened eyes. “I’m your brother. I’m only telling the truth. When have I ever lied to you? He is the one lying. He wants to drive us brothers apart...”

“You are not Green Tea’s brother,” Joker suddenly said, breaking his silence.

Xiaojun paused, unsure why Joker would say that. “That’s baseless.”

“His brother wouldn’t hurt him, just like he wouldn’t hurt his brother,” Joker droned.

Gao Yang was taken by surprise. He had thought Joker would say something like, ‘I can sense your energy,’ but instead, Joker went for a reason rooted in human nature.

Green Tea shuddered like he had woken up from a dream. That’s right. Xiaojun wouldn’t have hurt me.

He dropped the hand he had extended.

Tears fell from his eyes. He couldn’t just let go, so he asked tentatively for one last time, “Is there really no turning back, Xiaojun? Once the Crimson Tide ends, and your monsterhood goes back to sleep, we’ll still be brothers. Just like before...”

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh.

Clang, clang.

Three bone stings shot out suddenly. Gao Yang blocked two with his dagger, while one burrowed into Green Tea’s shoulder, the blood splattering on his face.

Green Tea remained unmoving.

“Move!” Gao Yang growled.

It was right for him to make this trip.

Tonight, he learned a valuable lesson: an awakener’s biggest enemy was never the monsters, but their own weakness!

“Stop being naive, human. There is no turning back.” Xiaojun, or the overtaker with his face, smiled. This time, it called Green Tea ‘human’ rather than ‘brother’.

Gao Yang wasn’t sure if he had seen it right, but at the moment, he seemed to have caught a hint of regret in the overtaker’s eyes.

“...Why?” Green Tea didn’t understand.

“It’s already time to choose sides, and all of you must die.”

Dark violet scales quickly sprouted out of its body and covered it from head to toes.

Its ten fingers morphed into bone stings, exuding an overwhelming killing intent.

[Warning, Luck acquisition rate increases to 2700 times.]

“Let us do this.” Gao Yang sighed and took a step forward. “Come on, Joker.”

Joker put his left hand on his face. When he let go, he had already turned into Gao Yang with 50% of Teleportation’s power and stats bonuses.

When he touched Gao Yang earlier, he had sensed Teleportation, Fire, Replicate, and Lie Detection.

Given Shapeshifter only allowed him to imitate one Talent at the moment, he chose Teleportation.

“No.” Green Tea stopped Gao Yang and Joker, his eyes sad yet determined. “That was my brother. I should be the one to kill him.”

...

Five o’clock in the morning, half an hour before sunrise.

A sedan drove toward the White Lake Hotel.

Joker was the one driving. Green Tea, taking the passenger seat, was wholly covered in blood. There were dried blood stains on his face and hair as well.

The five fingers of his right hand were all broken, and there were stabbing wounds of varying degree of seriousness in his abdomen, thighs, and right chest. Since he had been administered Medicine C in time, the injury didn’t pose a danger to his life.

Xiaojun, the overtaker and Green Tea’s younger brother, had its heart broken by Green Tea’s One-inch Punch. It went without suffering much.

Green Tea didn’t deal with the body, but simply erased the traces left by himself and his companions.

He had to wait until morning to call the police and tell them that his brother and his brother’s girlfriend had been killed by a burglar. Then he had to break down crying like he had just learned the bad news, completing the act.

In the car, Green Tea’s face was ashen. He stared at his feet with a distant gaze and said nothing.

He was wearing a pair of blue and white sneakers, which had been dyed a dark brown by blood.

It was a birthday gift from his brother and his brother’s girlfriend last month.

The young couple had bought the several thousand yuan sneakers, made famous by online celebrities, with money they earned from part-time jobs.

“Xiaojun,” Green Tea said with a smile in reminiscence. “The last time he celebrated my birthday, he said, ‘Brother, I’ve got a girlfriend. You should find me a sister-in-law quickly too...’”

Gao Yang and Joker didn’t say anything. They knew Green Tea was simply speaking because he needed to speak.

“I asked him why. And he said, ‘Brother, I’m all grown up. I can take care of myself. You should take care of yourself better...’”

Green Tea fell silent.

“Cut the crap.” Joker stared ahead with a tight grip on the steering wheel. “Cry if you want to cry.”

Green Tea burst into tears. The man towering over 6 feet 3 bawled until he was out of breath with tears and snots running down his face, like a kid who had lost his way.

...

The awakeners managed to survive the second night without major loss.

But not without any loss.

Five awakeners had been contacted on the phone. One among them didn’t pick up, while the other four did and left the 52nd floor, ready for death.

In the end, three of them returned, with two suffering some injuries.

One among them, however, didn’t return and had gone off the radar.

It was a member of the Hundred Rivers Union. Surnamed Li suggested for a searching team to be organized and deployed once day broke to look for their companion. Two hours later, the team tracked down part of the body and bagged it, sending it to the Northbound Funeral Home for storage before heading back to the 52nd floor.

Early in the morning, Gao Yang went to Wang Zikai’s place alone.

Naturally, he had failed to stay awake last night.

When he woke up to the sight of Gao Yang staying watch on his side, he ruffled his messy hair in embarrassment. “Hehe, I didn’t succeed last night. I fell asleep at some point. But don’t worry, bro, I’ll keep training. I will overcome it tonight.”

Gao Yang shook his head. “Don’t rush. Impatience can lead to worse failure.”

“Oh, you’ve got quite the shadow under your eyes today.” Wang Zikai noticed his sickly complexion. “Did you not sleep last night?”

How could I, when my family could call me anytime?

Gao Yang smiled. “Yeah, I didn’t sleep.”

“Bro!” Wang Zikai couldn’t be more touched. “I didn’t expect you to keep watch on me the whole night!”

Wait, I didn’t say I did.

“You must have been cheering me on until sunrise! I’ve disappointed you by sleeping through the night! I’ve let your training go to waste!”

Hey, hey. If you have to learn something, don’t learn overthinking things from me!

Ring, ring, ring.

The moment Gao Yang heard his phone ring, his face blanched, and he took his phone out of his pocket with trembling hands.

He told himself it was okay, that a call during the day meant nothing.

It was Gao Xinxin.

Gao Yang didn’t dare to pick up the call when he saw the name.

He handed his phone to Wang Zikai. “It’s, it’s my sister. Pick up for me.”

“Look at your face!” Wang Zikai laughed and picked up the call. “Hey, Gao Xinxin. Didn’t I tell you that we’re training? It’s best not to bother us for the next few days. I’m gonna be a pro gamer... What?!”

He shot to his feet and yelled, “For real?”

Gao Yang’s heart sank. Something had gone wrong.