The Creatures that We Are

January 20th, Major Cold[1].

Office of Deputy Guildmaster, underground base of Ocean River Union, nine o’clock at night.

Knock, knock, knock.

Sitting in her wheelchair, Surnamed Li closed the book in her hands, taking off the reading glasses perching on her nose and calling out to the door, “Come on in.”

The door opened. It was Qilin.

He was still dressed like a gentleman, but his cane had been replaced with one made purely of Black Gold.

“Free to talk, Madam Li?”

“Anytime.” Surnamed Li waved him over to have a seat.

Qilin closed the door behind him and sat down on the sofa for visitors. Without making small talk, he went straight to the point. “I’ve handed you the Knowledge Rune Circuit for a week. Have you merged with it?”

Qilin frowned slightly. “Can it be that the holy water is really needed for the first merge?”

Surnamed Li reached into her breast pocket to take the Knowledge Rune Circuit out and inspect it closely. “Before Prophet reaches level 7, the Knowledge Rune Circuit felt different when I touched it.”

“When I hold it now, I sometimes can’t sense its existence. It’s as if it’s always been an extension of my body, but that’s it. I can’t form a deeper connection to the Rune Circuit.”

Qilin nodded slightly. “The mummy in Ni Nation is in our hands, but Dr. Jia needs more time to extract holy water from it. Besides, our prior understanding tells us that impure holy water will turn awakeners into abominations, so it’s a last resort.”

Surnamed Li nodded.

“Moreover, I have a feeling that Gao Yang lied.”

“Why?”

Qilin said, “If the holy water were so important, he would’ve swapped the mummy out beforehand to prevent us from getting it.”

Surnamed Li thought differently. “If he had swapped it out, and Yan Liang noticed it, he would’ve alerted us and caused his revenge plan to fail.”

“True, but Gao Yang never intended to wipe us out with this plan, and he couldn’t even if he tried. Thus, this isn’t the final stage of his revenge. If he allows us to merge with Rune Circuits and reach level 8, the Nine Scions would not be our match going forward. Gao Yang must know that.”

Surnamed Li fell into thought.

Qilin sighed. “Gao Yang’s growing faster than I expected. He’s comprehended Absolute Defense, and he has the Guard Rune Circuit. With the life monster blood in him, he’ll get to level 8 before us in theory. Although level 8 Absolute Defense isn’t much offensively, it’ll prevent almost anything from damaging him.”

“And not even Prophet can see what’s locked by Chain of Fate.” Surnamed Li’s expression was grave. “It’ll be troublesome.”

“So, Yan Liang and I decided to make a dangerous move.” Qilin’s eyes darkened. “We must have more chips on our side.”

Surnamed Li started. “What are you going to do?”

Qilin slowly took a jammer out of his pocket and filled the space with white noise.

“Madam Li.” Qilin adjusted his glasses. “From now on, I’ll stay with you, and I’ve given myself a strong suggestion with Eidos so that I’ll kill you without hesitation if there’s a threat to me in the coming week. You better start taking the resurrection pills now.” ɌаNȱʙĘș

Surnamed Li was at first confused before her brows relaxed. She figured out what Qilin was planning. “You…want to use my Prophet to foresee your future?”

“Yes,” Qilin admitted. “What I’m going to do next may put me in the greatest danger if I fail. Then you’ll be threatened, too. You should be able to predict a great threat to you in the short term.”

“If I don’t see myself in danger, it means that your risky move will succeed,” Surnamed Li added in a low voice.

Qilin smiled. “Yes.”

Surnamed Li fell silent for a few seconds, her gaze complicated. “Are you going after…”

“We don’t have a choice to stop the Malediction,” Qilin cut her off.

Surnamed Li was quiet for a long while before she looked up at him. “It seems that you’ve made up your mind.”

“I have,” Qilin said openly. “But your support will be crucial.”

Surnamed Li sighed. “I’ll tell you if I see anything, but Prophet’s short-term prediction isn’t absolutely accurate. You should know that.”

“No plan is perfect,” Qilin said. “I’m ready for that much.”

Surnamed Li nodded. “Then let us do our best and leave fate to decide the rest.”

Their conversation was interrupted by a knock.

“Come in,” Qilin raised his voice and said.

The door opened. Yan Liang walked in, wearing all black and a mask on his face. He had put on the cybernetic prosthetics, looking smaller and frailer than before like a short coat stand.

“Is it made?” Qilin asked.

“It is, but Dr. Jia hasn’t tested it, so he can’t promise that it’ll work well,” said Yan Liang.

“We’ll have to trust in his Genius, then,” Qilin said.

Yan Liang laughed hoarsely. “At least he’s never failed with the previous commissions.”

“I talked to Madam Li. We follow our original plan.”

“When are we making a move?” Yan Liang asked.

Qilin thought for a moment and knocked on the floor with his cane. “Sooner is better. Let’s go for tomorrow. Wait for my signal.”

He glanced at Surnamed Li. “I’ll stay with her for the time being. I have to entrust this to you.”

Yan Liang nodded. “Wait for my good news.”

…

Meanwhile, in the Intelligence Department, underground base of Ocean River Union.

The walls of monitoring screens glowed with luminescent light as they watched all movements in Li City. At this time, most locations on the screens were quiet with almost no pedestrian. There was nothing noteworthy.

And according to Liao Liao, this job was nothing but a front. When trying to find a needle in the ocean, one should just enjoy swimming in it. No one was going to actually dive to the bottom of the sea to look for the needle.

Liu Qingying and Ting Ting were on shift tonight. They chatted while having coffee.

Ting Ting was still pumped from the movie she had watched with Miss, Slam Dunker. She couldn’t help but talk about it.

“It’s awesome! Some people say the movie isn’t well made, but to me, the moment the five players showed up alone is more than worth the ticket price! What’s more to ask?”

Liu Qingying propped her chin with a hand and listened intently, but the eyes under the sunglasses were distant, seemingly gazing over Ting Ting’s shoulders at something farther.

1. One of the twelve major solar terms, signifying the coldest time of the year. ☜

Houseau3's Thoughts

With everything going on Qilin kinda seems more like the main antagonist than the Cult😅

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