The Creatures that We Are

Songstress knew that there was nothing more she could do. The ending had already been determined.

Facing her looming death, she realized to her surprise that she felt no fear, only some regret.

If possible, she would like to be back to the mezzanine level of her flower shop and laze about on the warm, cozy sofa, rewatching La La City and welcoming her end with the company of the upbeat yet melancholy tune played on a piano.

“La la la, la la la la…”

She sang it instead. It was as if she was brought back to the autumn night she finished watching the movie with Ghost Horse, back to the silent street where the lights were yellow and dim and the air was fresh.

They strolled as they talked about movies, about music, about how civet coffee was made, about the meaning of forget-me-nots, about if reincarnation was real, and about if there was a universal truth in the universe.

They talked about anything and everything, but shied away from talking about themselves. Their lonesome souls yearned for each other, but hesitated to make a step.

Suddenly, unbidden, the woman opened her mouth. With her hands behind her back, she stopped walking and turned around, looking up at the awkward-looking man.

“Is this a date?”

Three seconds were enough for Songstress to relive the most wonderful memory in her life.

Three seconds were enough for Liu Qingying to grip the Black Gold cube with both hands.

The singing stopped. Songstress looked at Liu Qingying calmly.

Click. Liu Qingying’s hands twisted, and the cube transformed into an irregular shape like a Rubik’s cube broken by a child.

Once she was forced to complete the mission, the green light in her eyes went out, and the force manipulating her was gone.

Liu Qingying was back.

In fact, she had been trying her best to resist the force when she realized that she was controlled, but it was akin to a mantis attempting to stop a car with its arms.

While Liu Qingying was mentally quite strong with two level 7 Psyche-type Talents, it was nothing compared to the mastermind’s Willpower.

What was done was done. There was no turning it around. Liu Qingying lost, even though she didn’t even know how, and to whom.

That no longer mattered to her.

Humanity’s fate and the ending of the tale no longer had any bearing on her.

At that moment, she felt no fear, and not even regret or grievance.

She sighed like a weight was suddenly lifted off her, like she had finally taken the last step to finish a marathon.

“I seem to have…made things worse.” Liu Qingying blinked at Songstress.

“We both did our best.” Songstress smiled and let out a long breath. “Finally, I can meet him again.”

Suddenly, Liu Qingying heard the voice of a girl echoing in her head.

“I’m Ba Qiuchi. Based on the poem. Easy to remember, right?”

Liu Qingying cracked a small smile.

“And I can finally meet her again.”

As soon as she said that, the Black Gold cube disappeared from Liu Qingying’s hands before appearing again after half a second, but it had morphed into a light gray spatial vortex that was quickly spinning.

Rumble. At that moment, the vortex sucked in everything around it like a black hole that consumed all. The entire underground sixth floor vanished. A circular vacuum of more than two hundred in diameter appeared under the Millennium Tower.

Three seconds later, the great spatial vortex that had devoured a great area exploded, like a greedy enormous monster throwing up what it had eaten after stuffing itself past its limit. However, what it threw up wasn’t what they had been, but things that had been crushed and recombined into countless colorful orbs.

Ranging from the size of a soccer ball to the size of a marble, the orbs scattered and filled the space like colorful candies filling a dispensing machine.

…

Millennium Tower, Daxu District.

Under the cold gray moonlight, the tallest skyscraper in Li City was brightly lit with flickering neon light decorating the Ferris wheel on the rooftop, which rotated slowly.

But then suddenly, the entire building turned dark. The electricity was cut off.

Soon, a tremor hit the Millennium Tower and the ground around it. Then the tremor grew in intensity, and the glass windows of the building shattered and splattered, causing a rain of crystal-clear, cutting glass shards.

Creak. The foundation of the building collapsed audibly. It sank as it leaned to one side. The concrete giant’s feet, which had been buried deep into the ground, turned boneless after the spatial bomb devoured and reconstituted it. It could no longer stay upright, but waver dangerously.

The owner and the organization that had paid to build the tower had high hopes for it: may it stand strong for a thousand years and light up the vast city of mist as all awakeners’ lighthouse; thus, it was named the Millennium Tower.

It was so young, around for less than six years. It had weathered elements and attacks with great heroic ambition, yet its foundation was destroyed, losing to an insidious scheme. What an irony its fate turned out to be.

It rumbled and howled with frustration as it toppled to the side, slamming into the streets, plazas, train stations, and residential buildings…then it crumbled into rubbles.

The Millennium Tower had collapsed. A sea of flames enveloped the area as smoke filled the air and police siren blared. It was like the doomsday had come early.

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