The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 798: Fold

A strangely guttural and urgent sound came from deep in his throat like the cacophony of countless cries echoing in a valley, compressed to the point that it fit in his small ribcage. Then it was forced out of his throat.

Something bizarre happened.

Sir Jiang’s legs silently bent. It folded forward at the price of breaking his kneecaps. Then his remaining arm bent at the elbow before bending toward the white light orb on his chest with his armpit as the rotating point.

At the same time, his legs continued to fold, and his head folded toward his chest, too.

Like a black shirt and a pair of black pants, Sir Jiang folded silently and neatly until his entire body fit into the white light orb on his chest.

Shortly after, the white light started spinning at high speed, and threads of energy shot out in all directions.

Swoosh.

A ray of white light got spat out, flying toward Gao Yang.

Gao Yang quickly raised his hand, gloving his entire hand and arm with the golden energy of Absolute Defense before catching the flying object.

He looked closely and realized to his surprise that it was the Time-Space Rune Circuit.

No wonder Sir Jiang was so strong. His ability was Pride Space, and he had been carrying the Time-Space Rune Circuit with him. While he couldn’t merge with it to reach level 8 Talent as humans did, he could still borrow the Rune Circuit’s power.

In the past, Qilin had gone to the length of giving the Twelve Zodiac Signs two Rune Circuits in exchange for the Time-Space Rune Circuit not just to level up Gao Yang’s Teleportation to level 4. There was a more important and hidden reason—to make Sir Jiang stronger in preparation for the civil war that might break out.

Sir Jiang was gone now, and the white energy orb dissipated, leaving only a crack in the space.

Hum. The crack vanished in the blink of an eye like it had never been there, and Sir Jiang was nowhere to be seen, too, as if he had been erased from the world.

Gao Yang quickly came to a rough conclusion.

Sir Jiang had created a spatial crack with the Rune Circuit and his own power, which had an extremely limited space that could only fit Sir Jiang in the folded state and nothing more, not even the Rune Circuit. Thus, it got spat out.

Gao Yang was frustrated to have let Sir Jiang slip, but there was nothing he could do about it.

He put away the Time-Space Rune Circuit and went to help his teammates.

The explosion left the deep pit of ruins a vast, empty space. The other battlefield was a few hundred meters away from him, but Gao Yang had still heard Ke Yo’s whistle faintly while fighting Sir Jiang.

He turned around just in time to see countless strikes of lightning gathered in the sky before coming down upon the sarcophagus on the ground like a downpour. Then the world went pale. All he could hear was the thunderous chorus.

Boom, boom, boom, boom—

A few seconds alter, Gao Yang opened his eyes to see Qing Ling making the finishing move. It seemed that she didn’t need his help.

When he rushed to his three companions, Qing Ling was administering her injured arm with a quarter dose of Medicine C. Then she put the syringe back into her waist pack.

The Nine Scions only had two shots of Medicine C left. Nine Frost’s team had one, and Gao Yang’s team had the other. They had to be frugal.

“Captain!” Can was relieved to see Gao Yang unhurt. “Where’s Yan Liang?”

“He escaped,” Gao Yang said.

“It’s okay. We’ll have another chance,” Can comforted him.

Gao Yang didn’t say anything to that.

The four exchanged a glance before turning around at the same time to look at the small golden cage fifty meters away. Azure Dragon and Six Rime remained trapped inside. Over the past few minutes, they could only watch as Zero Hatred got killed and Yan Liang folded into himself before vanishing.

The barrier would last another six minutes or so, but Gao Yang didn’t plan to drag things on for that long. It would be meaninglessly draining him of his energy.

They came up to the barrier and sat down with their legs crossed, taking a short break and considering their strategy.

Gao Yang had replicated three Talents before coming here: Chen Ying’s Explosives Expert, Nine Frost’s Weak Point, and Hong Xiaoxiao’s Gamer.

Explosives Expert was meant for the powerful explosion to kill a large number of their enemies at once, which was the key to this revenge plan.

Weak Point was meant for Azure Dragon—he would be the one to come if Qilin didn’t, and he would be the most powerful enemy they had to face here.

As for Gamer, Gao Yang had considered if he should replicate it for a long while. In the end, he brought only one Black Gold hairpin, which meant he would only be able to bring back one companion if something happened.

With all the Talents Gao Yang had, he had a limited reserve of energy.

It wouldn’t do much for him to prepare three Black Gold hairpins. He had to fight and use other Talents. Absolute Defense, especially, took a lot of energy. He had to preserve as much energy as possible.

Gao Yang wouldn’t be able to save three people; even bringing back one companion would be difficult. Giving three enchanted hairpins to each of his companions would be a meaningless waste of energy.

And even if Gao Yang could save all three of them—the plan must be a failure for him to have to do that. Then the enemies wouldn’t give Gao Yang the half minute he needed to activate Gamer, and the mission would end in total party kill.

Gao Yang had wished to kill everyone other than Six Rime and Azure Dragon. The pair would survive for sure with Six Rime’s Talent and Azure Dragon’s physical prowess. He hadn’t expected Sir Jiang and Zero Hatred to survive too, albeit both having been seriously injured.

Gao Yang hadn’t spent too much energy on Sir Jiang, but dealing with Zero Hatred had taken a great toll on Qing Ling and Can.

Gao Yang activated Psychic Armor to think with a clear, rational head, quickly coming up with the most optimal option.

“I’ll deal with Azure Dragon. Qing Ling, Six Rime’s yours.” Gao Yang stared ahead at their enemies.

“Okay.” Qing Ling sat cross-legged beside Gao Yang with her weapons laid on her lap, eyes closed in rest. She was doing her best to recover as much stamina and energy as possible.

“Can, Ke Yo, go invisible again and provide support at your discretion.”

Can and Ke Yo nodded. “Understood.”

“Ke Yo,” Gao Yang warned. “Remember, you can only use your whistle twice.”

Ke Yo paused. “Why?”

“Azure Dragon’s Limitless Evolution allows him to develop immunity. Once you get to the third whistle, he will have become immune to the power, and your whistle will only hinder us.”

Ke Yo’s face darkened. Azure Dragon was too formidable an enemy.

After a few seconds, Ke Yo mustered the courage to say, “Captain, I have an idea. You can reset this place and the two of them with Gamer. Then they will become unconscious for a moment...”

“The opening is too short,” Gao Yang cut her off.

He had considered the possibility, but Time Reset wouldn’t work on the two with the Absolute Barrier shielding them; as soon as he dissolved the barrier, though, Azure Dragon and Six Rime would attack immediately. They wouldn’t give Gao Yang thirty seconds to reset this place.

Ke Yo continued, “There’s another...”

“There’s still not enough time,” Gao Yang interrupted her again, having guessed what Ke Yo was going to say. “As soon as my barrier disappears, they will move immediately. Two seconds are more than enough for them to get out of range.”

Qing Ling added, “Even if we keep them busy for two seconds, we will all end up in your Strange Realm together. Then there’s no telling who will be the ones to die.”

Ke Yo grew quiet, realizing how naive she was.

The ideas she came up with were options experienced ones like Gao Yang and Qing Ling would’ve considered and found unviable.

“Listen, if we can’t kill Azure Dragon in two uses of our Talents, we won’t have a third chance,” Gao Yang said gravely. “In fact, even the second time we use our Talent, the damage we do will already be compromised.”

They all fell silent. Although they had come with the determination to risk their lives, only now did they feel the pressure of facing a powerful foe keenly.

“Catch.” Gao Yang gave Can the only enchanted Black Gold hairpin on him. Can caught it with surprise.

“Captain, I don’t need...”

“This is an order.”

“Understood.” Can shut her mouth and put the hairpin in her coat pocket.

Gao Yang took a deep breath. “We rest for another minute.”