The Creatures that We Are

A tall, slim young man appeared by the Green Lotus Lake, looking through the white marble railing at Qilin near the pavilion. Gao Yang wore his usual attire—a worn black coat, jeans, and Marten's boots, his messy black hair tied in a ponytail with loose strands falling across his pale face.

Translucent golden armor covered him. Combined with level 7 Psychic Armor and a Charisma exceeding 3600, he was confident he could prevent Qilin from killing or controlling him instantly as long as he avoided Brain Formatting at close range. If things turned dire, Absolute Barrier would give him time to even the odds.

During their morning strategy meeting, they had considered all the tricks Qilin could pull.

First were the borrowed Talents: Sister Ling’s God of Water and Praise, Nomad’s Rules of Jianghu, Flower’s Telekinesis, First Firelord’s Six Senses Judge and Mind’s Eye, Amon’s Arm Strength, Jing Ke’s Bone Growth, Stubborn Weasel’s Hedgehog and Bullseye, Yellow Lotus’ Muscles, Thick Earth’s Gambler, Zhong He’s Phantom, Blood Amber’s Patient, and Edmond’s Unreachable.

If they thought the worst of Qilin, the man could’ve turned all remaining members of the Ocean River Union into puppets.

But that seemed unlikely. The remaining Union members were noncombatants with Talents of little use to Qilin. Moreover, Surnamed Li wouldn’t permit it. Qilin would have to kill Surnamed Li too, and that wasn’t something he would do. At the moment, he still needed her support.

Qilin raised his prosthetic left hand, gloved in black, and checked his watch.

“I’m glad that you came on time.” Qilin looked dozens of meters across at Gao Yang. “I dislike tardiness.”

“Same for me,” Gao Yang responded evenly.

“I do.” Gao Yang raised his right hand, and two Rune Circuits appeared between his index finger and middle finger. “I brought all of them, but I have to confirm the hostages’ condition and make sure they are safe first.”

Qilin’s eyes darkened.

“How about this?” Gao Yang continued to play with the two Rune Circuits in his hands, the Support and Buff Rune Circuits. “As a show of goodwill, I’ll hand you these two, first.”

Qilin remained silent.

“If you disagree, the deal's off,” Gao Yang continued, denying him time to think. “You may get rid of the hostages. We're all going to die sooner or later. But I'll make sure you never find the Rune Circuits again.”

Qilin curled his lips. It seemed that he had expected Gao Yang’s reaction.

“You have three seconds.” Gao Yang began counting down. “Three.”

“I agree,” Qilin said.

Whoosh. Gao Yang created a double and moved along the corridor toward the pavilion, the Support and Buff Rune Circuits in hand. They met at the corridor's center, neither yielding ground. Gao Yang's double maintained his distance and tossed the two Rune Circuits. Rather than catching them, Qilin suspended them mid-air with Telekinesis.

Three seconds passed as he verified their authenticity. The Rune Circuits vanished in his hands. Satisfied, Qilin stepped aside, making way for Gao Yang's double.

Dense psychic energy surrounded the double like a cage of invisible needles, eliminating any chance of sudden movement. But Gao Yang's double had no such intention. He brushed shoulders with Qilin and walked toward those in the pavilion.

Immune to Eidos and Puppeteer, Zhang Wei remained clear-headed. His eyes reddened as conflicting emotions surged through his chest. Relief at Gao Yang's arrival warred with frustration at his own helplessness.

The emotions overwhelmed him, and tears spilled as he spoke, “Captain, you…you’re making a mistake. You can’t give the Rune Circuits to…”

“Shut up.” Gao Yang stepped forward, placing a hand on Zhang Wei's shoulder.

After a moment, Gao Yang moved to check Vermilion Bird, Lovely Lamb, and Wang Weiyan, verifying they were alive and free of curses or puppet contracts.

His double turned around, giving him an OK sign.

“Give me the rest of the Rune Circuits, Gao Yang, and you’ll get to take them with you,” Qilin said deliberately. “The civil war will come to an end. You, I, Dragon no longer have to shed blood. I’ll open the Gates of Closure and lead you out of the Mist World. Humanity will continue on.”

The Gao Yang by the lake raised his right hand. Two more Rune Circuits appeared in his hands—the Elemental and the Poison Rune Circuits.

“Answer me honestly, Qilin, and I’ll give these to you.”

“Captain, are you mad—” Zhang Wei was about to shout, but Qilin gripped his throat with Telekinesis and lifted him off the ground slowly.

“We can’t bring back bodies anymore, Zhang Wei,” Gao Yang said. “Stay put.”

“I…I’m sorry… I made a mistake. I’ll shut up…” Zhang Wei implored in humiliation, face flushed.

A second later, Telekinesis loosened its grip. Zhang Wei fell, coughing with a hand on his neck.

“Go on.” Qilin held Gao Yang’s gaze.

“You aren’t gathering the twelve Rune Circuits to open the Gates.” Gao Yang’s gaze darkened. “Am I right?”

Qilin stayed silent.

Gao Yang continued, “And there’s something I don’t get. You and Sir Jiang discovered the Gates of Closure, and you alone knew about it. If you never said anything, we would never have known. Wouldn’t that serve you better?”

“Sir Jiang and you didn’t want to open the Gates, yet you spread and promoted their existence. That’s contradictory.”

“My goal has always been to open the Gates.” Qilin smiled cryptically. “But I can give you two possible theories.”

He stepped forward with his cane. “Based on your hypothesis that I never intended to open the Gates, why would I spread news about the Gates?”

“First, the hypothetical Qilin wanted to use the Gates of Closure as a lure, mobilizing the awakeners to collect the twelve Rune Circuits. After all, they were difficult to find. That Qilin wouldn’t have done it alone.”

“Right.” Gao Yang smiled. “It does make sense. But there would have been a better solution were that the case. For example, that Qilin could have told everyone that the twelve Rune Circuits would make everyone stronger, and death monsters would sooner or later emerge to kill all awakeners. I believe then the awakeners would still stop at nothing to collect the twelve Rune Circuits to fight the death monsters. Once found, Qilin no longer had to find an excuse to gather all of them and secretly complete his ambition. And he wouldn’t be facing such resistance.”

“Indeed, the hypothetical Qilin would be better off doing what you said.” Qilin adjusted his glasses. “Why don’t you hear me out about the second possibility?”

Houseau3's Thoughts

We'll probably never get a straight answer from Qilin until he's dying or something. The man cannot simply speak the truth.

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