The Creatures That We Are
Chapter 1258: Insane

Chapter 1258: Insane

“Geez, you’re being dramatic...” Wang Zikai’s hand stilled mid swing. He started and growled, “What did you fucking say?!”

“I’m dead,” Gao Yang repeated.

“Gao Yang.” Qing Ling’s fierce gaze landed on him. “Explain.”

Liao Liao panicked. “Captain, don’t joke like that. This isn’t the time to lighten the mood with a joke.”

“Yeah, it’s not funny at all!” Zhang Wei hurried out.

Vermilion Bird paled. She could see how serious Gao Yang was. “What happened, Gao Yang?”

The others looked to him for an answer, their eyes confused and imploring.

Wang Zikai staggered back when realization overtook his shock. He almost fell like a drunk. “No, impossible... No...”

Gao Yang turned to him. “Seems like you remember, too.”

“No...no...” Wang Zikai yanked his hair, his face twisted with pain. “It shouldn’t! It absolutely shouldn’t be! You are alive... You’re...”

A few silent seconds later, Gao Yang said faintly, “Pride won during the Battle of the Curtain Call. It killed me in seven seconds.”

The bombshell rendered everyone speechless and disoriented. Gao Yang died? But he was right here, alive and well.

“I know it sounds absurd,” Gao Yang clarified. “Pride didn’t kill my body, but my fate.”

He turned to the dorm keeper with gratitude brimming in his eyes. “I am alive thanks to my system.”

The others stayed silent, their confusion compounded.

“But it’s okay,” Gao Yang continued. “At least here, life and death don’t matter.”

“What do you mean it’s okay?” Qing Ling’s icy mask broke, letting rare emotions slip through.

Vermilion Bird took a step forward. “Gao Yang...”

“I’m sorry. Give me a moment.” Gao Yang interrupted her. “I’d like to have a private chat with my system.”

“Haha, sorry. Let us catch up first.” The dorm put her arm around his with a bright smile. “Come. Let’s move this inside.”

The others watched in stunned inaction as the dorm keeper led Gao Yang into the orphanage and shut the door. For a stretched-out moment, none of them said anything.

Wang Zikai knelt and yanked at his hair in pain and regret, tears running down his face. Standing by his side, Zhang Wei hesitated to say something.

“Fuck.”

Gregor broke the silence. Ash fell off his half-finished cigarette.

“This is insane.”

...

The bedroom in the orphanage was a rectangular room lined with two orderly rows of bunk beds, sandwiching a cluttered aisle. At the far end was a large window, covered by thick curtains.

At the center of the aisle lay a small foldable table. Gao Yang and his system sat across from each other. There was a cupcake with a single candle on the table. The weak candle fire drove the shadows away from their faces and lit up their eyes.

“I’ll tell you my guesses first,” Gao Yang said. “The system provided by Lucky only quantifies the Talent user’s abilities. And you, with the system as disguise, had been helping me.”

“Luck Aura was your fate. The night of the Battle of the Curtain Call, you took a hit for my fate, so I stayed temporarily alive, while you died and came here.”

“Not entirely accurate, but more or less correct,” the dorm keeper said with a smile.

Gao Yang fell silent for a few seconds. “Thank you for letting me live for a little longer. It’s important to me.”

“No need for that. We’re old friends, aren’t we?” The dorm keeper leaned forward, propping her head with a hand. She said in a relaxed tone, “Besides, you didn’t disappoint me. You found me here.”

Gao Yang met her eyes. “We agreed to have a good chat now.”

“Yes.” The dorm keeper blinked at him.

“What are you?” Gao Yang asked.

“Haha, that’s direct.” She straightened up and waved her hand bashfully. “Nothing much. Just a nobody known as the first Divine Scion.”

Gao Yang fell silent.

He had made many guesses, but this wasn’t one of them.

The dorm keeper offered a hand. “Here, let’s shake hands.”

Gao Yang took her hand, and an unquantifiable amount of information, understanding, and intention streamed into him as a flow of energy. At that moment, the mental barrier between them broke down. There was no visible change, but they were now able to communicate with their minds alone, just like how Gao Yang had communicated with his system countless times before.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Gao Yang asked.

The dorm keeper smiled mysteriously. “I guide and never lead.”

Gao Yang realized, “We’re not in the Mist World and thus no longer bound by causality. Only here can you tell me the truth.”

“Yep.” The dorm keeper smiled mischievously. “We’re not in the boxing ring, but back in the audience seat. We can talk about anything.”

Gao Yang remembered something else. “So the line is from you as well?”

“Delusion, greed, wrath, pride, life, and death are all meaningless. Life is short and nothing but a grand dream.” The dorm keeper recited the line. “That's the line you’re asking about?”

Gao Yang nodded.

The dorm keeper chuckled with some pride. “I did say something similar. Those who came after me boiled it down.”

Gao Yang mused, It seems that the humans of the first round know just as much about the Mist World, if not more. It’s only that they weren’t able to pass down all the knowledge with the Gluttonous Snake interfering.

“How did the first round lose?” Gao Yang posed the question that had been bothering him.

“Who said we did?” The dorm keeper raised an eyebrow and shot back: “I didn’t lose. I simply haven’t won. And that’s the case for all rounds. We haven’t won. Just like you.”

Gao Yang’s eyes widened. “The war...doesn’t happen in a chronological order, but all at once.”

The dorm keeper nodded. “More precisely, everything happens all at once rather than in chronological order.”

Gao Yang considered that quietly.

“So,” the dorm keeper stared at him, “If you win, we win. If we lose, you lose. How does the saying go again? The winner and loser remain undecided. Every one of us is a packhorse...”

“Dark horse,” Gao Yang corrected.

“Ah, slip of a tongue.” The dorm keeper cackled while covering her mouth. Gao Yang knew she had made the mistake on purpose so that he would say those two words.

“I still have a lot of questions.”

“It’s straightforward. I can explain in a few sentences.” The dorm keeper rested her chin back on her palm. “Each person has a fate, energy, and a soul. Or you can call it fate, body, and consciousness. Simple, right?”

Gao Yang nodded.

“The soul of the first Divine Scion died ten thousand years ago. I’m merely the first Divine Scion’s fate.” She tilted her head and smiled. “As for her energy, you’ve seen it.”

Gao Yang uttered the answer before his brain registered it:

“Dragon.”