The Creatures that We Are

Knowing how precious time was, Yan Liang didn’t even waste a second before acting. The mask on his face suddenly morphed, the eyes, nose, mouth, eyebrows, and scars turned into strange colors that clashed and darted around, but never breaking out of the constraint of the palette that was the mask.

At the same time, the space around Yan Liang distorted slightly the way scorching heat from the asphalt street distorted the air on a hot summer day.

He lifted his hands and parted his four fingers and thumbs, aiming at Lithe Snake and Qing Ling, and Gao Yang and Hong Xiaoxiao. From his perspective, it would seem like the angle between his thumbs and fingers was locking onto the targets gradually.

Two seconds later, he bent his thumbs, closing the gap between the fingers.

Meanwhile, Lithe Snake had been crawling on the ground in an attempt to flee, but his movement was stiff, and his thinking slow. Looking at the wall before him, he even had to put his mind to figuring out a path of escape, which should’ve been part of his instinct and would take him less than 0.1 seconds.

Qilin made him dumb.

Lithe Snake hated the feeling of helplessness. He jumped back onto the wall and devoted three hundred percent of his attention to gathering his energy to his hands and feet with difficulty.

Like a gecko, he crawled toward the second floor with hands and feet.

Good. There’s a window on the left. I’ll vault in and…and jump out of the window in the back. Then I should…I should be able to escape the psychic control.

After a dazed moment, he felt something pulling away.

What happened?

Lithe Snake slowly looked down. His chest seemed intact, but something was missing inside.

His heart was gone.

It hadn’t been broken by a punch, pierced by a weapon, or crushed by a hand. It vanished from his chest without being touched.

Lithe Snake threw up a mouthful of blood, falling from the wall.

The pale face with a long thin scar looked shocked and confused, his widened eyes staring at the sky as he met a death he refused to accept.

The same thing happened to Qing Ling at the same time.

Unlike Lithe Snake, though, Qing Ling didn’t attempt to run. While her thoughts were slowed, she did her best to activate Metal and send her blades flying toward Yan Liang to stab him.

The next second, though, her Black Gold blades vanished but remained detectable, only they had been moved.

Realization struck. Qing Ling’s dulled brain came to a speculation on Yan Liang’s ability.

Something to do with spatial distortion! Or telekinesis!

However, she didn’t have the time to sort out her thoughts.

A strange coolness hit her left chest, where her heart should be.

No. No, I can’t die here.

She threw up a mouthful of blood and dropped to her knees. While she looked unhurt, a part of her chest had been emptied.

Eyes widened, she reflexively tried to turn around but didn’t have the strength to. She toppled helplessly, her face pressed to the rough surface of the ground with her eyes widened, gazing at Gao Yang’s direction.

It’s so dark. I can’t see anything.

Qing Ling hated the feeling. It felt like she had reverted to her childhood self, who could only hide under her bed and tremble in fear.

I must get stronger. Stronger still. Much stronger.

Then I won’t be scared anymore.

Blood streaked down from the corners of Qing Ling’s mouth and her nostrils. Her pupils dilated, and her lips parted without any sounds coming out. The light in her eyes faded gradually until she went completely still.

…

While Lithe Snake and Qing Ling were taken out in an instant, Gao Yang and Hong Xiaoxiao were hit with the same attacks.

However, Gao Yang managed to escape the same fate.

Without hesitation, he activated Willful Power as soon as he got hit by Qilin’s Statues, pushing his Charisma to the max and activating level 6 Psychic Armor, reaching absolute composure and rationality.

He thus recovered seventy percent of his control over his body and mind. Grabbing Hong Xiaoxiao, he teleported back to Wang Zikai, who was still standing in the center of the road.

The moment Gao Yang and Hong Xiaoxiao vanished, an almost imperceptible spatial distortion hit where they had been. One had to look closely to see the slight transparent ripple in the air.

Meanwhile, Wang Zikai’s not-so-intelligent mind came to a complete halt due to Qilin’s Statues. He stood where he was, feeling like he had lost his memory after binge drinking. All he could think of was who he was, where he was, and what he was doing.

When he finally remembered a little something, a pale Gao Yang and Hong Xiaoxiao appeared beside him.

“Go!”

Gao Yang grabbed him by the elbow.

Whoosh. Gao Yang teleported to Lithe Snake and Qing Ling with Wang Zikai and Hong Xiaoxiao. The next second, an invisible distortion followed like an obsessive grim reaper.

Yan Liang was surprised. He didn’t expect Gao Yang to be able to move so quickly even under the effect of Qilin’s Statues. As expected of the Divine Scion.

Of course, a large part of it was thanks to Gao Yang’s Teleportation. Without the Talent, Gao Yang would’ve died many times over.

Yan Liang moved his hands. Instead of trying to lock onto Gao Yang, he speculated the general direction Gao Yang would teleport to and used another skill, Spatial Blender.

The skill covered a greater area with hundreds of spatial vortexes the size of a ping-pong ball, hitting everything in a certain area. While it couldn’t kill with precision like how he had killed Lithe Snake and Qing Ling with a single move, it was good for catching an agile target like Gao Yang.

With the wide range the skill covered, Gao Yang would get many holes put into him, and while losing some muscles, a bone, an eye, or a few teeth wouldn’t necessarily kill a target, the target would lose much of his mobility.

Yan Liang drew his power and pushed it to his palms, about to make a predictive move, but then something strange happened.

Having grabbed Wang Zikai and Hong Xiaoxiao, Gao Yang stayed where he was instead of teleporting.

He saw Lithe Snake and Qing Ling dead on the ground. Their bodies looked intact, but the lumps of tissues not far from them looked like hearts. And in his state of absolute rationality, Gao Yang realized what had happened.

Yan Liang had carved out Qing Ling’s and Lithe Snake’s hearts. They were dead.

With Hong Xiaoxiao’s hairpin, Lithe Snake could be brought back if they managed to flee with him, but Qing Ling didn’t have a hairpin. With her heart carved out…

What did it mean?

It meant that Qing Ling was dead. There was no second chance. Fresh Snow couldn’t save her. Vermilion Bird couldn’t save her. Hong Xiaoxiao couldn’t save her.

No one could bring her back.

She was dead, gone for real. It wasn’t a game, a test, an illusion, or a nightmare.

Something broke in Gao Yang’s head.

While he should be absolutely calm and rational, and his brain didn’t register any sadness, it went blank like his soul had been pulled out of his body.

Hum.

The familiar ring in his head returned.

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