The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 585: Unlucky

“Yeah.” Gao Yang stared right at Hong Xiaoxiao quietly like he was staring into her soul. Hong Xiaoxiao didn’t dare to treat him lightly.

“There are five people in my family. I have a grandmother, both parents, and a younger brother. He’s just entering high school this year.”

Gao Yang’s right pinky trembled slightly on the table.

Eyes glinting, he asked, “Did anything change after your awakening?”

Hong Xiaoxiao paused before lowering her eyes and smiling bitterly. “Of course. I was completely out of my depth and didn’t know how I should face my family. It’s getting better now, but I still lock my door every night I sleep at home. I never did that before.”

“I’d suggest you not do that,” Gao Yang warned. “It’s suspicious if you’ve changed too much after awakening.”

“You’re right.” Hong Xiaoxiao came to a realization.

“Do you still love them?” Gao Yang asked.

Hong Xiaoxiao nodded. “I think so, but I’m afraid, too. I can’t put my feelings into words.”

“How did you awaken?” Gao Yang softened his voice.

“I started working at an insurance company after graduating. I was quite unlucky. I bought an electric moped in installments and it broke down after only a few days. I went to the shop and argued with the owner, but he refused to let me exchange it for a new one. He said it was my problem, and I needed to pay for the repair...”

Hong Xiaoxiao cocked her head and tugged at her lips, speaking quietly, “I had just spent the day selling insurance and failed to sell even one product. I was hungry and tired, and I had to pay 300 yuan to fix the moped.”

“That night, I rode my moped home, and I fell, scraping my palms and twisting a foot. I felt like the world was crashing down. I started bawling by the curb. Not long after, I heard a voice in my head. I later learned that it was my Talent and its serial number. Then my body glowed, and my injury healed instantly. I was stunned.”

“It was then a bus stopped by the road. The driver rushed out to kill me. Six Rime happened to be on the bus. She saved me and had someone clean up the mess, taking me to the Walled City of Ten Dragons. I met Elder Azure Dragon and Elder Vermilion Bird then. After that, I became a member.”

Gao Yang nodded. Then he glanced at Hong Xiaoxiao. “Drink your soup first, or it’ll get cold.”

“Oh, okay.”

Hong Xiaoxiao lowered her head and started having the soup, grumbling to herself, Why did he ask those questions? To find out more about me? Just to show his concern for a subordinate? Should I ask about Elder Seven Shadow’s family in exchange? Or it’ll be rude of me, won’t it?

“Elder Seven...”

“Just call me by name.”

“Gao...Gao Yang.” As a new member, there were many things Hong Xiaoxiao wasn’t allowed to know. “How many people are there in your family?”

“Just me and my sister. My grandmother died during the Tide, and my parents died a few days ago.”

The air was suddenly silent.

Hong Xiaoxiao’s smile froze, and she felt like cutting her own belly open in apology.

Thankfully, their two servings of sirloin steak arrived at just the right time to save her. The waiter poured black pepper sauce on the steaks for them, the sauce sizzling and splattering with oil.

They ate in silence for a long time, neither saying a word.

Gao Yang sliced the steak as he ate, while Hong Xiaoxiao sliced her steak into pieces first seriously like she was doing homework, and afterwards, she smiled with satisfaction.

Whoa, I’ve never had such premium steak. It must taste good.

She picked up a piece and was just about to eat it when Gao Yang spoke up.

“What’s your plan?”

Hong Xiaoxiao paused. “Huh?”

“Your plan for the future.”

“Oh, right.”

Hong Xiaoxiao put away her fork. “The economy’s in recess now, and graduation is often followed by unemployment. I finally got myself a job, so I want to quickly become an official employee and earn money to support my family, lessening the burden on my parents. Once I get paid, I want to buy my grandmother a basin to soak her feet in, as well as a pair of sneakers for my younger brother.”

Gao Yang paused. It seemed that Hong Xiaoxiao didn’t know that jinwu could be exchanged for money. That made sense. In the past, there were receptionists like Xiaoya onboarding the new recruits and explaining things to them, but now, no one was in charge of the process. There was a lot of common knowledge about the Mist World that Hong Xiaoxiao wouldn’t be immediately told about.

“Is that your plan?”

“Yeah.” Hong Xiaoxiao smiled bashfully. “Most of the time, I only make plans for the coming two months. There’s no use planning further ahead.”

“But you’re now in a different position,” Gao Yang reminded her.

“I know.” Hong Xiaoxiao pursed her lips. “But I feel like it’s not something I should be worried about. I’m just a nobody, and there are bigshots like you keeping the world from falling apart when the sky comes crashing down. I just have to do my job.”

Gao Yang was taken aback. He wasn’t sure if he should praise her for being level-headed or chide her for looking away from reality.

Considering that she was a new member with a great Talent, and that she hadn’t developed loyalty to the Guild, Gao Yang was thinking about recruiting her. Now, though, it seemed that she wasn’t sure about her path yet. It wasn’t the right time.

“Eat.” Gao Yang decided to drop the topic.

“Yeah.” Hong Xiaoxiao had been waiting for that. She picked up her fork and was about to pop it into her mouth.

“Hey.”

Someone interrupted her. Holding her fork and the square piece of steak, she turned around at the same time as Gao Yang.

The newcomer was a tall, slim man who seemed to be over 1.9 meters tall, wearing a distressed blue suit jacket and a black V-neck henley, paired with blue jeans and brown leather boots.

He had longer dark brown hair with slight curls, parted in the middle. His facial features were pronounced, and his cheeks hollowed, dotted with messy stubbles. There was an air of melancholy about him.

His voice was hoarse but velvety, and he looked at Gao Yang with a sharp gaze. “You’re the Divine Scion?”

A waiter carrying a bottle of red wine happened to hear him and collapsed to the floor like he had been electrocuted, the wine bottle shattered.

Hong Xiaoxiao gaped, eyes widened and caught completely off guard.

Gao Yang, though, was composed and unfazed. He slowly responded, “Yes.”

“Good, then I’ll have a duel to the death with you,” the man continued to say. “It’s one on two, though, which isn’t fair. So, accept my...” He raised his right hand and balled it into a fist. “Judgment.”

Boom!

Great energy exploded beside Gao Yang, vanishing as suddenly as its emergence, unable to be caught or predicted. Then warm blood splashed on one side of Gao Yang’s face and his chest.

Gao Yang didn’t turn around. He could tell what had happened by what he saw out of the corner of his eye: Hong Xiaoxiao, sitting across from him, was gone, rendered into a pool of viscous blood, just like a tomato getting crushed into pulp by a blender.

Hong Xiaoxiao died, and she didn’t even know what had killed her.

Gao Yang felt no shock or fear with level 4 Psychic Armor keeping him absolutely rational.

“Aghhh!”

Screams rang out across the restaurant. Wanderers collapsed in twos or threes, and the middle-aged pianist alone stood up coldly, quickly transforming into a monster. It was a summoner.

Without delay, the suited man pointed at Gao Yang with his right hand again. “Judg...”

Gao Yang flipped the table and threw it toward the suited man with one hand, hiding a blazing fireball behind it. Sensing the coming danger, the suited man quickly dodged to the side, and the table hit the piano behind him, causing an explosion that threw the newly transformed monster off its feet.

Gao Yang seized the opening to bend down and grabbed the first thing he felt on the floor before teleporting to the summoner. Before the summoner could get back to its feet, a knife pierced through its right eye socket, hitting its brain.

It collapsed with a spasm.

Gao Yang didn’t even turn around to check his enemy before teleporting through the wall to escape. The suited man watched him go. He didn’t give chase because he knew he couldn’t catch up with Gao Yang.

Standing where he was, he looked around at the unconscious wanderers lying prone on the ground, bemused.

He’s lucky. As expected of the Divine Scion.

I’ve failed the first assassination attempt. Now it’ll be much more difficult to take him out.

The suited man walked to another table and picked up a white napkin, wiping the blood Hong Xiaoxiao had splattered on the back of his hand. Then he walked away.