The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 519: And Perhaps

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

Countless tiny light orbs were sucked into the gun barrels in an instant, compressed into a stable, blindingly bright golden orb.

The light scattered, and the shield crumbled. A powerful light element shockwave shot out of the guns like a radiant high-speed train, hurtling through the tunnel that was the hospital corridor, unstoppable.

Boom! If anyone were outside, they would see the inpatient building dimmed for a second, as if all the light had been absorbed by a black hole. Then radiant golden light exploded from the fifth floor of the building, the light beam shot through the wall on the side like a laser and hit the distant mountain a few kilometers away, triggering a burst of surging fire. It looked like the aftermath of a missile bombardment.

Back in the inpatient building, the fifth floor corridor had been charred by the light element shot. It was fortunate that no innocent victims had been claimed thanks to Mischievous Monkey sealing all doors, elevators, and stairways of the floor with earth elements, as well as Officer Huang limiting the diameter of the lightbeam.

Panting, Officer Huang looked at Mi Shi, who was ten meters from him. His pupils contracted.

In his mind, Mi Shi should’ve been completely melted by the light element attacks, but no. While Mi Shi’s head and half of his chest had been melted, making him look like a half-burned wax figure, most of the body remained intact thanks to Phantom, which was supposed to restrain him, but ended up blocking most of the attack like hard armor.

That was something no one had anticipated.

Having been seriously injured, Mi Shi drew all the power left in his tattered body, opening up a twisted large maw in his abdomen and concentrating all his green ray to ready a light beam. He was aiming at the room on his left—Su Xi’s room.

Hiss.

“No!”

Officer Huang rushed up.

Boom! A giant beam of green deadly light shot out, breaking Phantom’s restraint and penetrating the door sealed by earth elements, shooting into the room.

Bam! Outside the inpatient building, the green light could be seen shooting through the wall, leaving a strange green trail under the crimson setting sun, scattering down across the city as low-concentration sulfuric acid rain.

It all happened so suddenly that Zhong He, who was lacking in battle experience, belatedly came to his senses and retracted Phantom. Mi Shi’s body had collapsed to the floor bonelessly like a lump of flesh, having exhausted its vitality and energy.

Officer Huang rushed over to the destroyed door and looked into the room—if it could even be called a room.

Face pale, he slowly walked in. On the wall was a two-meter wide hole, and that was where Su Xi should have been on her bed. Now, she and the bed were nowhere to be seen, like they had never existed in the first place.

Outside the hole was Li City, shrouded in the light of the setting sun to paint a beautiful picture. The crimson sunlight shone on Officer Huang’s deathly pale face. The despair in his eyes froze over before his gaze blazed with tremendous fury.

Mischievous Monkey and Zhong He had reached the room too then.

“I...”

Before Zhong He could say anything, Officer Huang whirled around and punched Zhong He in the face. Zhong He staggered backward.

Officer Huang charged at him and pinned him to the wall, pressing his gun to the man’s chin.

Whoosh. Zhong He immediately armored himself from head to toe with a black, bullet-proof vest with Phantom. Level 3 Phantom might not be able to stop bullets shot with level 6 God of Firearms, though, especially when imbued with level 4 Light.

“Stop it, Yellow Ox!” Mischievous Monkey shouted.

“Why did you have to intervene?!” Officer Huang growled. “If not for you, I would’ve killed it! My wife and kid wouldn’t have died!”

Zhong He retorted, “If I hadn’t restrained the monster, you wouldn’t have the time to kill it, would you?”

“Then why didn’t you retract Phantom at the last moment?!” Officer Huang demanded.

“I forgot, alright! I comprehended the Talent not long ago. I didn’t have the experience...”

“You fucking piece of trash!” Officer Huang shuddered with fury. It was all he could do to stop himself from pulling the trigger.

“Yeah, I’m a piece of trash! I couldn’t protect my teammates during the Crimson Tide. I could only watch as they died. Now that I\'ve acquired Phantom, I still ended up doing more harm than good!”

Zhong He’s voice was brimming with guilt. He clenched his teeth and pulled all the shadow back into his body.

“Come on! Shoot me and rid the world of a piece of trash!” Zhong He screamed, his eyes red. “Then you can comprehend Phantom and save the world! You aren’t the only one who’s lost something. I lost all five of my family members. I lost all my close friends. I’ve wanted to die for a long time!”

The fury in Officer Huang’s eyes cooled little by little, replaced by thick guilt and pain. A few seconds later, he dropped the gun and staggered back, scanning the mess the room was in with sagging shoulders.

“Fuck.” He scoffed.

He quickly lifted his gun to his temple.

Mischievous Monkey started. “Don’t...”

Bang!

A bullet shot through Officer Huang’s temple, the blood splattering on Mischievous Monkey’s old face.

Officer Huang collapsed without making a sound.

Time seemed to come to a halt then. Zhong He was still standing against the wall, and he stared at the dead man at his feet, stunned. He couldn’t reconcile with what had just happened.

Mischievous Monkey froze, too. Things had gone completely out of hand.

It had been alright only a minute ago. How did they get to this point? Where did things go wrong?

It took ten seconds for Mischievous Monkey to come back to his senses. He wiped the blood off his face with a wrinkly hand, turning to Zhong He. “Call the Union. Have someone clean up the mess.”

“Okay, okay...” Zhong He took out his phone.

Mischievous Monkey walked out. “I’ll have a look outside.”

If there was an elite monster in the building, especially if there was a summoner, he had to take it out as soon as possible, or things would get even more troublesome.

Just when he was going to step through the door, a thin, short woman appeared.

Mischievous Monkey paused. He had sealed all the doors and entryways leading to this floor. How did she get here?

“Perhaps, do you like Odlanor?”

Dressed in an ill-fitted work suit, Hong Xiaoxiao clutched at the strap of her satchel, smiling a little awkwardly.