The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 783: Mysterious Trash

The fact that he couldn’t replicate the top ten and bottom ten Talents supported Dragon’s hypothesis that the head and tail ends of Talents were connected.

Gao Yang was curious about Zhang Wei’s Confidence since it corresponded to Qilin’s Eidos. He tried several times and couldn’t replicate or inspect Confidence.

Zhang Wei never used Confidence on Gao Yang—he had never used the Talent on anyone, in fact. He didn’t know what use the Talent had and how to use it.

That led to Gao Yang being unable to inspect it with his system, and so far, he still didn’t know the Talent’s ability and mechanism.

He did have some guesses, though.

It seemed that Confidence granted a greater resistance to poison than that of most awakeners, even Azure Dragon. On the last night of the Crimson Tide, Zhang Wei had been the first to wake up from Poison of Death.

Unfortunately, no one among the Nine Scions used poison, or they could try it on Zhang Wei.

Moreover, Zhang Wei had expressed more than once that he felt nothing when he met Qilin’s eyes. Of course, there was the possibility that he was simply thickheaded like Wang Zikai and thus couldn’t feel the psychic pressure.

Unfortunately, they didn’t have anyone with Talents to create illusions or inflict psychic damage, or they would be able to put that to the test.

To put it bluntly, Zhang Wei was now a mysterious “trash”.

They spent half an hour hashing out their plan for revenge. Then they each washed up and retired to their respective room.

Gao Yang was the last to take a shower. Dressed in a bathrobe, he dried his hair with a towel and returned to the living room. He saw someone sitting on the sofa. Qing Ling had returned from her patrol duty.

With the light in the living room off, the gray moonlight streamed in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, washing over Qing Ling. She rested with her eyes closed, her pretty face fair like jade.

Gao Yang went up to her and said quietly, “You’re back.”

Qing Ling opened her eyes. “I’ve been waiting.”

“I’m done using the bathroom. You should go wash up.” Gao Yang sat down on the couch.

Qing Ling glanced sideways at him. “I wasn’t waiting to use the bathroom, but to talk to you.”

Gao Yang quickly dried his hair and put the towel on his shoulder, turning to face her. “Go on.”

“Nine Frost told me the revenge plan.” Qing Ling’s eyes sharpened. “Count me in.”

“Everyone’s participating.”

“Let me join you.”

Gao Yang fell silent for a moment. “Qing Ling...”

“Don’t talk to me about danger,” Qing Ling interrupted. “My life’s my own.”

“That’s only part of it.” Gao Yang gave a serious explanation. “I’ve carefully considered what mission I should assign each of you according to your abilities and strategic positions...”

“You find me lacking,” Qing Ling cut him off again.

Gao Yang paused and let out a soft sigh, speaking seriously, “We’re all weak, Qing Ling. We can all die at any time. I cannot promise that anyone will be safe. I can only try my best to maximize our odds...”

Qing Ling leaned in and grabbed Gao Yang’s hand with both hands.

Gao Yang started before quickly realizing what she meant. He closed his eyes and opened them after two seconds, his eyes glinting.

“I’m joining you,” Qing Ling repeated resolutely.

Gao Yang pondered for a moment before nodding. “I’ll make the adjustments.”

Qing Ling blinked contently after getting what she wanted. She let go of his hands and rose to her feet, untying her ponytail to allow her long black hair to cascade down like a waterfall.

She quickly walked toward the bathroom. “Don’t sleep just yet. Help dry my hair later.”

“Alright.” Gao Yang smiled with resignation.

...

One o’clock in the morning.

In a meeting room at the Ocean River Union’s base, Qilin, Surnamed Li, and Yan Liang sat around a small table, on which was a cup of coffee, pu’er, and oolong each.

The drinks rippled slightly from the jammer placed on the table, which was dutifully creating a white noise.

Yan Liang told Qilin what happened in Aurora Town and the two pieces of information Liu Qingying gave him. Surnamed Li remained unfazed as she heard them talk. She wasn’t surprised that Gao Yang would include the entire Union in his revenge plan.

Qilin was calm, too. After a moment of thinking, he turned to Surnamed Li. “If the Nine Scions blow up the base with bombs, what do we do?”

“The base is several hundred meters underground. It’s not that easy to blow up. Surface-level detonation isn’t going to do much. The bombs have to be placed in the right spots deep underground.”

“Gao Yang has been here more than once. He must know that too,” Yan Liang said. “He must have found a solution before asking Liu Qingying for bombs.”

Surnamed Li smiled. “Even if he can detonate the base properly, we can still make a safe retreat. There’s a secret tunnel leading out of the base.”

“Gao Yang won’t know about it?” Yan Liang asked.

“He won’t. The tunnel hasn’t been used. I’m the only one who knows about it.” Surnamed Li thought for a moment before adding, “And thanks to the Rune Circuit from you, Wandering Tune’s Talent has reached level 4, which is another insurance.”

“Could we evacuate in time?” Yan Liang went through the worst-case scenarios.

“Have you forgotten my Talent?” Surnamed Li said assuredly. “I’ll be staying here. If Gao Yang’s revenge plan will endanger my life, I’ll sense it beforehand just like how it was when we were in Aurora Town. Given that, we’ll have ample time for evacuation or a more proactive reaction.”

Qilin remained silent.

“Are you still worried, Guildmaster?” Surnamed Li asked.

“Quite the contrary,” Qilin said. “I’m too assured.”

“What do you mean?” Surnamed Li hadn’t caught on.

“Haha.” Yan Liang had the same sentiment. “Don’t you think that things are going too smoothly, Madam Li?”

Surnamed Li thought for a moment before coming to a realization. “True. Gao Yang must be able to figure out how we’ll react. Why would he insist on carrying out the plan when he knows that the revenge plan won’t work? Could it be...”

“A distraction,” Qilin answered.

Surnamed Li nodded. “That must be it.”

“I agree.” Yan Liang picked up his cup of pu’er and slowly displaced the tea into his mouth. “I’ve more or less reached a conclusion during our return trip.”

“If we consider Liu Qingying’s first intel, we’ll see that what we know about Gao Yang’s plan is but the tip of an iceberg. The real plan is submerged in the ocean.”

Qilin and Surnamed Li looked at Yan Liang at the same time.