The Creatures That We Are
Chapter 1260: Save My Brother

Chapter 1260: Save My Brother

The orphanage floated in the cosmos like a lone boat. A group stood below the camphor tree in the front yard like a ship crew waiting for their captain below the mast.

“Why hasn’t he come back?” Zhang Wei asked anxiously. He tried his best to cheer up and attempted levity, “He hasn’t been catfished, has he?”

No one responded. They were all lost in the storm of thoughts ravaging their minds.

Gao Yang was dead—more precisely, his fate had been killed by Pride. What did that mean? Now one knew for certain, but it couldn’t be anything good.

“No.” Wang Zikai rose to his feet, his expression eerily icy like he had torn off the mask of guilt and pain. “I have to talk to that woman.”

“About what?” Vermilion Bird asked.

“Pride killed Gao Yang’s fate. As Gao Yang’s system, she managed to sustain Gao Yang’s life. In other words, she took the killing blow to his fate. That’s why she left Gao Yang and arrived here before him.”

The others were shocked that Wang Zikai was able to connect the dots with such a clear mind.

In truth, Wang Zikai wasn’t an actual idiot. He simply didn’t care enough to think. He was so prideful that most matters didn’t register in his brain, and he deemed it beneath himself to think about them.

He seemed like a different person when he analyzed, “They must be talking in private because they have made a promise. Gao Yang’s likely asked to pay back the debt now. I’m gonna talk to her. If she wants payment, she can take my fate instead!”

“Brother Kai! Calm...calm down!” Zhang Wei ran up to him.

Wang Zikai stopped to look over his shoulder at Zhang Wei, his gaze cold and haughty. “Do you want to stop me, Zhang Wei?”

Zhang Wei froze under the stare.

Then Wang Zikai turned to the others attempting to stop him. “I’m going to save my brother. If any of you stands in my way, I’ll kill you. Do you understand?”

Familiar pressure came crashing down on them. Outside of Zhang Wei, all the others felt their knees go weak, their head lowering instinctively, and their breathing coming out in difficult gasps. It was a familiar feeling. Although it wasn’t as suffocating as Pride’s power, it was approaching it.

They fell silent. None of them wanted Wang Zikai to turn back into a death monster after everything.

“Good.” Wang Zikai turned back and opened the door to the orphanage.

It vanished.

The moment Wang Zikai opened the door, the whole orphanage was gone. He seemed to have opened the floodgate of time, and waves of memories swept him into the tide.

Wang Zikai suddenly found himself in a serene town on a spring afternoon. At the street corner was a pastry shop from a bygone period. A simple signboard with a red background and yellow text adorned the small rolling door. Cakes and other sweets filled the tilted glass shelves. The thick aroma of sweetness wafted along the street.

The owner of the shop was a rotund middle-aged man. He smiled as he put a cream cake into a box. A young couple dressed in old-fashioned clothes stood outside. The man was holding a girl with twin tails and chatting with the owner. The woman chimed in every now and then.

“Time sure flies. Your son is already six,” the owner said with a sigh. With practiced ease, he tied a bow on the cake box.

“Yeah. Yang Yang, come greet Uncle...” The man turned around. His smile stilled when he realized that his son was suddenly gone.

“Where is he?” the woman asked.

“Strange. He was right behind me!” The man panicked.

“Can it be...” The woman trailed off with a pale face, unable to continue.

“Brother’s missing!” The girl got anxious, too.

“Don’t be scared. We’ll find your brother immediately.” The man calmed his daughter and reassured his wife. “Don’t worry yourself sick. We know all the neighbors running these shops in this little town. There can’t be any human traffickers.”

“Yes, he must have run off to play somewhere,” the shop owner agreed. “Check the toy shop across. Most children gather there.”

The couple rushed toward Wang Zikai, the woman taking the cake, and the man carrying their daughter.

“Uncle Gao, Auntie Lin, Xinxin...” Wang Zikai lifted his hand with reddened eyes, but the three went right through him.

He paused. He should’ve known that this was only a memory rather than reality. He turned to catch up to them, but the surroundings suddenly changed.

Wang Zikai was standing in a small oasis of a park sandwiched between roads. There was a fountain, basic recreation facilities for children, and a few food stands.

Right in front of Wang Zikai was a small cart selling blue and white cotton candies. The owner was a young woman around twenty-five. She wore a light-colored patterned dress with her hair tied into a ponytail, which rested on her shoulder. She had bright, clear eyes and a gentle smile.

Wang Zikai started. Gao Yang’s system?!

“Here, who ordered the pink cotton candy?” The young woman raised her voice and asked the children crowding the cart.

“Mine!” a kid hollered with coins in his raised hand. “My cotton candy!”

Wang Zikai took a few steps forward when he noticed a black-haired boy beside him. His large, widened eyes were fixed on the cotton candy cart, his expression dazed as if he had lost his soul.

“Gao Yang!”

Wang Zikai recognized the six-year-old Gao Yang at first glance. He knew it was a memory, but he still reacted like it was real.

“Why are you here?” Wang Zikai reached out to grab him, but he couldn’t touch Gao Yang. “Your parents have been looking for you!”

“Little boy, do you want cotton candy?”

Wang Zikai looked up to find the crowd of children gone from the cart. The young woman wiped the sweat on her forehead with the back of her hand. He smiled at Gao Yang.

Gao Yang’s gaze shifted from the cart to the young woman’s face, but he didn’t say anything.

With a worried look, the young woman put aside her hesitance and walked up to him, slowly crouching down to ask gently, “Where are your parents, kid?”

Gao Yang looked confused. He repeated dumbly, “Mom...Dad...”

“Yes, where are your mom and dad?”

“Mom...Dad...where...” Gao Yang repeated once more.

Seeing his strange reaction, she took his hand. “Why don’t you wait for your mom and dad here with Sister?”

If his parents haven’t shown up by nightfall, I’ll take him to the police, decided the woman.

Gao Yang nodded in a daze. It didn’t seem like he had fully understood the situation.

The woman led him to the stool behind the cart, sitting him down. She was worried that he would be bored, but couldn’t just leave her shop unattended to play with him. Thus, she gave him a picture book. A kid had left it here when buying cotton candy in the morning.

“Read this, kid.”

Gao Yang took the book. It was titled “Sunflower Orphanage”.

It told the story of a kind, gentle woman taking care of a group of cute, bright children at an orphanage. Gao Yang flipped through it like he was dreamwalking. Then his gaze landed on a particular picture: inside the rundown dorm, the woman and the children celebrated a boy’s birthday. On the table was a cupcake with a single candle.

The boy pressed his hands together before the candle, closing his eyes to make a wish: “I want to find my mom and dad.”

Gao Yang looked up and blinked with his big eyes. He seemed to be filing the information in his head.

The young woman turned around and saw Gao Yang staring into space rather than reading the book. She asked with a smile, “Is the book not fun? Then do you want cotton candy?”

Gao Yang’s mind was still lagging behind the present. He mumbled, “Ca...cake...”

“You don’t want cotton candy, but cake? Are you hungry?”

“Cake...” Gao Yang said again.

“I don’t sell cakes.” The young woman’s eyes lit up. “Oh, I have spam. Do you want some?”