The Creatures that We Are

After a stunned moment, Nainai blushed from her face all the way to the back of her ears, and her heart started racing too.

She, she, she, she complimented me!

She complimented me… Wait, who cares if the woman praised me?!

Calm down, Nainai. She’s manipulating you! You’re the descendent of the Creator Witch and the First Fallen Angel. You deserve all the praise in the world!

But she complimented you! That Qing Ling!

Nainai stood rooted to the spot as she warred with herself in her head.

Dressed in loose cotton pajamas, Hong Xiaoxiao emerged from her room, bleary-eyed. “Everyone…returns safely. Good.”

“Xiao Xiaohong, wake Can! We should have a good late-night snack to celebrate!” Wang Zikai hollered.

Hearing about food woke Hong Xiaoxiao up properly. “Oh, I’ll be right back.”

Hong Xiaoxiao was just about to return to the bedroom when the bag of food in Wang Zikai’s hand opened. A can of cola floated out of the bag, and a straw was put in before getting sucked on.

Can showed up then. Holding the can of cola, she cackled. “Tee-hee, I’ve already followed the smell out.”

“You little brat!” Gray Bear patted her on the head lightly. “You’re always a smartass. I told you to keep watch on Captain, but you got lazy instead.”

“I didn’t!” Can combed her ruffled hair with a hand. “I only went into the room when Captain woke up.”

“Everyone.” Gao Yang stood up and took out a burner phone. “This is a night for celebration, but there’s something we have to do before that.”

“What is it?” Can turned to Gao Yang.

Walking across the dark living room, Gao Yang went to the balcony lit by moonlight, looking down at the slumbering Li City.

He raised his phone and clicked the send button for the group message he had written.

“To declare war.”

…

Meanwhile, the Sea View Tower.

Before the window wall in her private bedroom, Surnamed Li couldn’t stop shuddering, her face pale and expression panicked. Despite the strong heating in the room, she felt cold.

She had a dream earlier.

She dreamed of a terrible future, and it was concrete rather than blurry.

When she woke up, her Prophet reached level 7.

Ding. Her phone, placed on the nightstand, rang. After a pause, she moved her electric wheelchair forward and picked up the phone. There was a message from an unknown number.

Reading it, Surnamed Li’s expression grew grave. Then she closed her eyes and exhaled a long breath, having come to a decision.

She called Chen Ying.

“What can I do for you, Madam Li?” Chen Ying picked up quickly. It sounded like she had been asleep.

“Gather all the team leaders, Chen Ying. We’re holding an emergency meeting.”

…

Meanwhile, in the closed-down Blue House Psychiatric Clinic, Qilin sat on a sofa in the counseling room, unable to sleep. He listened to a classical piece as he nursed a cup of hand-ground coffee.

Ding. The phone on the table rang. Qilin bent down to take it, seeing a message.

His expression remained impassive as he read it.

A few seconds later, he put down his phone and took off his glasses, wiping the lens carefully and thoroughly with a silk handkerchief. Then he put his glasses back on.

A bystander would assume it was a trick of the light that his green eyes seemed colder somehow under the glasses, like a layer of frost forming on the calm surface of a serene lake under the moonlight.

He remained unmoving, composed and ponderous.

The only sound filling the room was the tragically rambunctious classical music.

…

Meanwhile, in the Rabbit Room on the underground sixth floor of the Millennium Tower, War Tiger and White Rabbit were playing a game on the sofa. After Electric Mouse’s death, White Rabbit had become his gaming buddy, and the two were equally terrible at games, alternating between the winner and loser.

White Rabbit sang praises to her favorite work while playing. “The story’s awesome, Uncle Tiger. It’s now on the fifth volume. It’s more epic than Doruto[1]. You’ll love it.”

“What’s the title again?” War Tiger asked without really paying attention.

“My Buddy is the Chosen One.”

“What kind of name is that?”

“Just try it! The rating’s really high!” White Rabbit had made the recommendation to many. War Tiger’s resistance had made her more insistent on selling it to him as a real fan.

“That must be all bots.” War Tiger snorted with a cigarette in his mouth. “Stop wasting your time on shit like that, Rabbit. I recommend The Big Three. That’s what we call an epic. It’s on a whole nother level…”

Ding.

Their phones rang.

War Tiger narrowed his eyes and quickly picked up his phone. White Rabbit put away her controller and unlocked hers.

They both fell silent for a moment.

War Tiger dropped his phone on the table and leaned back into the sofa, crossing his legs and taking a deep drag of his cigarette, exhaling smoke. “It’s only been a few days, but our Little Yang Yang is all grown up.”

White Rabbit reacted in a more serious manner. Gaze heated, she clutched her phone and read out the message in an emotional and dramatic tone.

“To all awakeners in the Mist World.”

“We’re all lambs amid a pack of wolves. We don’t know where we came from or where we’re going.”

“Treading on thin ice, we never know whether we’ll see the next day’s sun. We’ve all lost much, or even everything. It seems like an eternal slumber is our only end.”

“But we never lose hope, and we never stop.”

“Generation after generation, one leader after another, one by one. We throw ourselves into danger and give our lives to light up the endless night, chasing the faint dream of dawn.”

“Finally, we get to where we are today, having collected all twelve Rune Circuits with the Gates of Closure right before us.”

“The irony is that at some point, our biggest enemy is no longer the vicious monsters, but the unpredictable human heart.”

“Qilin, the head of the Qilin Guild, maintains an honorable and selfless front, when in truth he is ambitious and authoritarian.”

“As everyone knows, he has never shared the Miracle Rune Circuit with anyone or told anyone about where the Gates of Closure was over the past twenty-something years.”

“And now, he wants the twelve Rune Circuits for himself so that he alone may open the Gates.”

“A terrifying prospect it is that he may not be working for the salvation of all humanity, but for his own ambition.”

“Gao Yang, formerly Seven Shadow of the Qilin Guild, found out the truth and almost got killed for it, framed with the seven sins he had not committed.”

“He has awakened for around six months, serving the Twelve Zodiac Signs and then the Qilin Guild. He worked dutifully and risked his life numerous times, losing many of his companions. During that time, he has found five Rune Circuits for the world of awakeners, but never considered keeping any for himself.”

“There were numerous times when he almost died in his fight against the Godbearer Cult, life monsters, and the Malediction, and he lost many more companions and then his parents.”

“Like you, he has lost almost everything, but hold onto hope and his dignity and principles as a human.”

“Now, he is left with no choice but to start the Nine Scions with companions who share his view.”

“We may be weak, but we will not submit.”

“We are born in the dark, but we will chase the dawn.”

“From now on, the Nine Scions will be officially at war with the Qilin Guild.”

“As long as the Qilin Guild does not make compromises in their ambition, the Nine Scions will fight to the bitter end with our lives on the line.”

“The Nine Scions.”

“December 10th.”

1. A reference to Boruto. ☜

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