The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 610: One-Man Cavalry

Late at night, Hong Xiaoxiao walked out of the ATM room, heart pounding like she had done something wrong.

Well, she hadn’t done anything wrong, but it was still an insane move for her.

Under Lithe Snake’s suggestion and advice, Hong Xiaoxiao, who had just received her salary for the month, did something bold: she exchanged two jinwu for about three hundred thousand cash through Lithe Snake’s connection.

It was more than three hundred thousand yuan. Hong Xiaoxiao had never seen that much cash in her life, not even in her dream. Once, she dreamed about winning a hundred thousand yuan from the lottery, and she was depressed for so long after waking up.

Her briefcase was heavy with wads of dollar bills, and as she walked on the road, it felt like everyone was eyeing her suspiciously, and she worried that they would pull out a kitchen knife to rob her.

According to Lithe Snake’s instruction, Hong Xiaoxiao saved the money in an account, and every month, a certain sum of money would be wired to her mother's bank account in the name of Hong Xiaoxiao’s salary. It wasn’t a large sum, but enough for Hong Xiaoxiao’s family to pay for their living expenses.

Hong Xiaoxiao had resigned from her job as a salesperson, but she told her parents that she was going on a work trip to the West Nation, and that she wouldn’t be home for quite a while.

Thinking that she had done all she had to do, she made up her mind to enter the world of awakeners for real.

She would be lying if she said she didn’t feel any regret or reluctance. She hadn’t figured out if she was going to embrace her family completely or cut them off.

She envied those who had awakened early or would never awaken. They either had more time to think and deal with the predicament, or didn’t have to think about it at all. It could be considered a happy life to live and die in ignorance.

“Wake up!”

Hong Xiaoxiao patted herself in the face and took a deep breath. “Live, live well...”

Ding.

Her phone rang. Hong Xiaoxiao hurriedly took her phone out of her pocket. It was a message from “Elder Seven Shadow.”

Hong Xiaoxiao jumped. Ever since Lithe Snake told her the code phrase in secret, she had anticipated the day, but she didn’t expect it to come so soon.

Her mentor back when she worked in sales told her once, “Sales is about first impressions. If you see someone and think at first glance that they can be it, don’t hesitate and don’t be scared. Be confident and determined. Make the first step with the belief that you’ll succeed in selling the products to them...”

I’ve chosen Elder Seven Shadow. That’s my first step. There’s no turning around.

Hong Xiaoxiao tightened her grip on her phone and rushed to the head of the street. On her still-lit screen was a short message, consisting of five words and two punctuation marks.

—The odds be with, us.

...

Girls’ dorm, Fifteen Highschool, early morning.

The light had gone off for quite a while, and most students had fallen asleep.

“Gao Xinxin.”

Gao Xinxin’s mind was hazy from sleep when she heard someone call out to her. The voice was unfamiliar, and the tone unfriendly and irritated.

She opened her eyes to find two men standing by her bed.

“Agh!” Gao Xinxin jumped, suddenly wide awake. Clutching her blanket, she scooted to a corner of the bed.

“Who...who are you... Help, help!”

Gao Xinxin screamed, but no one responded. Her roommates had all lost consciousness.

Whoosh, whoosh. The man on the right lifted a hand, and his fingers turned into two brown vines, wrapping around Gao Xinxin’s neck to stop her from calling for help. He had expected her to lose consciousness, but instead, she kept struggling.

“It’s the type of wanderer that can modify its logic,” said the man.

Gao Xinxin tamped down her fear and thought, What’s a wanderer? Me? What manner of monsters are they? Why are they attacking me? What are they gonna do to me?

Moonlight shone through the window, allowing Gao Xinxin a good look at the two men. The man tying her up was tall and thin. His long brownish-green hair was tied into oily dreadlocks, resembling seaweeds. He had tanned skin, a long face, and light green eyes. A string of green leaves was tattooed on his chest all the way to his Adam’s apple like a spine.

He was Forest Crane, an elite of Team Azure Dragon. His Talent was Plant, serial number 34, Element-type, which allowed him to manipulate wood elements at will.

His companion was a man with shaved black hair, round face, fleshy nose, and short stocky figure, looking about twenty-seven or twenty-eight, dressed in a red long-sleeved jersey and pants with black stripes.

He was Crimson Bee, a member of Team Vermilion Bird at the Qilin Guild. With his Talent, Bee Venom, he had knocked out the other girls in the room.

“You’re Gao Yang’s little sister?” Crimson Bee demanded bluntly. “Blink once if you are, twice if you aren’t.”

“Hmm...”

Gao Xinxin clawed at the brown vines strangling her neck with both hands, her face flushed and her eyes brimming with tears of fear.

She blinked twice.

“Ha.” Crimson Bee scoffed. “She can’t even lie properly. It’s her. Let’s go.”

“Okay.”

Forest Crane raised his right hand to lift Gao Xinxin off her bed. He wasn’t going to go easy on her just because she was a girl, and he decided to strangle her until she lost consciousness before taking her away.

Three minutes ago, all members of the Qilin Guild received an internal emergency notification:

Seven Shadow had betrayed them. His sister was to be taken to the Black Tortoise branch, and all members would prepare for a fight.

Attached to the end of the notification were Gao Xinxin’s picture and information on her class and dorm room.

Forest Crane and Crimson Bee were the two members closest to the Fifteen Highschool at the time, so they were the first to arrive and sneak into the girls’ dorm, grabbing Gao Xinxin.

“Hm, hmph...”

Lifted off the ground, Gao Xinxin struggled as hard as she could, kicking Forest Crane with both feet, but the man didn’t even budge.

A few seconds later, she started to slip into unconsciousness from the lack of oxygen.

Crimson Bee turned to the window. It was then he suddenly saw a dark figure flying toward them at incredible speed like a cannonball.

“Watch—”

Before Crimson Bee could utter the next word, the figure had already smashed through the window, throwing a punch at Crimson Bee.

Crimson Bee didn’t even have the time to react.

Forest Crane was much stronger than Crimson Bee, and he reacted quickly. Before Crimson Bee even shouted the warning, he had already sensed a wave of killing intent from outside the window.

In response, he quickly let go of Gao Xinxin and activated level 6 Plant, transforming his arms into countless thick, sturdy dark brown vines to form a shield on his side, held to cover Crimson Bee.

Clang! Wang Zikai’s punch landed on the center of the vine shield, the power concentrated since he didn’t want to hurt Gao Xinxin and the innocent bystanders by accident.

A hole the size of a wash basin was put into the 50-centimeter thick shield, the force of the attack hitting Forest Crane in the chest.

Bam!

Armored by wood elements, Forest Crane took the hit head-on. He ended up slamming through the wall on the far end of the room like a fastball, flying out of the building and falling onto the running track, only stopping after rolling a dozen times on the ground. Blood gushed out of his mouth. He blacked out.

Crimson Bee got lucky. Since Wang Zikai had focused the force of his punch to avoid hurting the innocent, Crimson Bee only got thrown off his feet by the currents the punch brought about. His head hit the wall hard, and he seemed to have lost consciousness.

He was actually still awake, but he decided to play dead.

As a mediocre awakener, he had survived to this day not simply because of his luck. His experience told him that whoever the newcomer was, he would be able to kill him with a simple flip of the hand if he managed to take out Forest Crane with a punch.

And Crimson Bee was wise to play dead.

Wang Zikai didn’t have the time to waste on a small fry like him. Staring at Forest Crane, who had been knocked out of the building, Wang Zikai scoffed.

“You dare lay a hand on my best friend’s little sister? You’ve got a death wish.”