The Creatures that We Are

Can, Xiran, and Ronnie were in a dimmer area, farther from the bonfire.

There were a few monsters lying on the ground around them, each covered in a good number of bullet holes with streams of blood converging to form a viscous pool.

The firelight cast from some distance away danced in the pool of blood.

It caught Gao Yang’s eyes. Something was wrong.

Activate Gecko!

Gao Yang gained night vision, which allowed him to see the faint footprints in the pool, resembling the webbed feet of frogs.

Splat, splat.

The steps were slow and light.

Amid the chaos of the fight and the cacophony of noises, Gao Yang slowly approached the trio lest he alert the enemy.

Gao Yang had never seen a monster like that. Its soft scales shifted and changed according to the light in the environment, blending into the dim corner almost perfectly. He was only able to make out the silhouette because of the faint light caught by the slightly shimmering scales as the monster slowly walked.

It was a monster with the ability of a chameleon, no doubt.

Can, Xiran, and Ronnie didn’t know what was going on. They were away from the battlefield with no dangers around, and they grew complacent.

“Whew, that was close.” Can wiped the sweat from her forehead. Staying invisible for so long had exhausted the energy in her body.

Xiran and Ronnie didn’t say anything. They keenly noticed that something was wrong.

Gao Yang was slowly making his way to them from the center of the battlefield, his expression tense. He gradually picked up his pace yet never dared to go into a run, like he was worried about disturbing something, and his sharp gaze was fixed on their left.

Xiran and Ronnie exchanged a look before gingerly drawing their guns from their waists.

Gao Yang suddenly started dashing and shouted, “Left!”

Realizing that it had been spotted, the chameleon monster cast away its remaining patience and lunged at the trio, giving up on staying invisible.

Bang, bang, bang!

Xiran and Ronnie fired at the now exposed monster.

The monster screamed. While it had been hit with several shots, however, it didn’t collapse, but instead continued to charge at the trio.

Fortunately, enough time had been bought for Gao Yang to close in on the monster and stabbed its waist with his dagger, knocking it to the ground.

“Fire!”

Half crouching, Gao Yang pinned the monster down with a knee on its chest and pressed his right hand to its head, shooting out a burst of intense fire.

The chameleon monster struggled desperately, whipping its powerful tail at Gao Yang.

Having foreseen that coming, Gao Yang pulled out the dagger with his left hand and made a backhand swing, penetrating the monster’s tail and intercepting the attack.

The pain of being burned spread through the chameleon monster, and it soon lost the ability to resist. It was all it could do to spasm and flail around instinctively until it stopped moving altogether.

In only a few seconds, the monster’s head was charred, and the pool of blood evaporated into crimson steam.

Gao Yang stopped his fire and pulled out his dagger, rising to his feet coldly.

In the eyes of Can, Xiran, and Ronnie, their captain was like the God of War being reborn in blood.

“You’re so cool, Captain!” Can crowed.

Gao Yang swallowed his words and frowned.

A small, agile figure jumped through the window behind Can and lunged at her.

Gao Yang’s breath hitched. He hadn’t noticed another monster.

“Watch out!” he shouted.

Xiran and Ronnie were now a little farther from Can, leaving her without support.

Swoosh!

With the last second of active use for Gecko, Gao Yang threw his dagger.

The dagger brushed past Can and stabbed into the figure mid-air. It fell and landed by Can’s feet.

Finally, Can came back to her senses. She panickedly drew her gun and aimed at the monster. “Die!”

All the while, Gao Yang had been rushing toward Can.

He didn’t expect Can to get rid of the monster on her own, but it shouldn’t be difficult for her to buy two or three seconds with the gun.

Yet he didn't hear any shots.

Can had her back to Gao Yang. She was holding the gun with both hands, aiming at the monster at her feet, yet she didn’t pull the trigger. She had been in a trance since she called out for the monster to die.

What’s going on?

Is she too scared to act?

Is it an intimidation skill of the monster?

Caught off guard, Gao Yang could only rush up to her as fast as he could. He saw the monster jump up and raise its bladed arms to slash down at Can’s small stature.

Swoosh!

Splash.

Last second, Gao Yang managed to push Can away, and the blade that should’ve hit her in the chest ended up slicing three fingers off Gao Yang’s hand.

White hot pain translated into an overpowering dizziness in the back of his head. Jaw set, he hit the monster in the abdomen with a side kick, sending it flying to a corner.

“No! No…”

Can collapsed to the ground and shouted, overwhelmed with emotions.

Bang, bang, bang!

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

Xiran and Ronnie had finished reloading, and they rained down bullets at the monster.

After the barrage of shots, the monster stopped moving, its head tilted and its arms dangling down. A pool of blood formed beneath its legs.

Gao Yang covered his bleeding stumps and growled with a severe look on his face, “Why didn’t you pull the trigger?! Do you have a death wish—”

He stopped himself when he saw the tears streaking down Can’s face.

“Why,” she sobbed, “Why you…?”

After a pause, Gao Yang turned to the dead monster.

It shrunk quickly and transformed back into its human form. Under the dim light, Gao Yang got a clear look at the tattered Japanese highschool uniform and the hair tied into twintails.

‘She’ was covered in bleeding bullet holes, her head dropping and her eyes bulging, the pupils dilated.

Huan Huan, Can’s roommate.

—Ugh, I can’t believe my roommates! Even the one other single one ends up getting a boyfriend! She’s going on a date with him tonight without telling me!

Gao Yang recalled Can’s words.

The roommate she was talking about was Huan Huan.

She must have been on a date with her boyfriend in the area. It should’ve been a wonderful, romantic night.

But because of Niu Xuan’s command, she became puppets doomed to be killed.

“Captain! You’re hurt!”

Xiran and Ronnie didn’t know Huan Huan. They cared more about Gao Yang’s injury.

Xiran was a little angry with Can. He rushed up to her and yanked the supply bag off her shoulder. “Stop crying! Give me this!”

He fished out a syringe of Medicine C and pulled off the cap to give Gao Yang a shot.

“No need.”

Face ashen, Gao Yang turned Xiran down through clenched teeth.

Although Medicine C could quickly stop the bleeding and mend the wounds, it wouldn’t reconnect his fingers. He wasn’t ready to say goodbye to them yet.

Gao Yang had replicated Gecko. Although he had exhausted the use time, the passive effect of the Talent was limited by the storage time instead. And as expected, he could still sense the energy circulation of Gecko inside his body.

Gao Yang tried to focus his energy where his fingers had been sliced off, and the stumps stopped bleeding immediately. Then, at an observable rate, the missing appendages began to regrow, starting from the white finger bones, followed by the flesh and blood as well as the tendons and veins, and finally, the skin regenerated to cover all the internal tissues.

In less than twenty seconds, his three fingers grew back.

Gao Yang was drenched in sweat, and he let out the breath that had been trapped in his lungs.

He didn’t expect the three fingers to take this much energy to regenerate. If he lost an arm or a leg and tried to grow them back, he would most likely black out from exhausting his energy.

While Gao Yang was focused on recovering his fingers, Ronnie and Xiran had been keeping watch in case of any ambush.

Gao Yang looked around. There were almost no monsters left alive in the auditorium.

The twelve members of the fourth and fifth team were all alive, and none had suffered serious injury. The victory in sight further boosted their morale.

The only exception was Can, who sat by Huan Huan’s side like she had lost her soul.

Houseau3's Thoughts

It's a cruel world where your loved ones may turn against you anytime

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