The Creatures that We Are

Gao Yang and the others quickly left the cafeteria for the half-constructed indoor basketball court. It would soon be the nap break at noon, and there wasn’t anyone outside the buildings. Gao Yang told the group hiding in the back hill, namely Black Sparrow, Can, Ronnie, and Xiuyi, to meet up with them too.

Soon, Yellow Butterfly, Nine Frost, and Dark Li also snuck in. All twelve members of the two teams had gathered.

“You three sure take your time!” Gray Bear had gotten tired of waiting.

Nine Frost said, “We were looking for Li Zhuanghu, but couldn’t find him anywhere.”

“What a coincidence. We ran into him at the cafeteria during lunch.” Gray Bear told them about the bullying they witnessed.

“Where is he now?” asked Nine Frost.

“Who knows? He’s probably back in his dorm room getting changed.” Gray Bear shrugged. “The five of us are playing construction workers. We can’t chase after him.”

“We looked for him for a long time, but didn’t see him.” Yellow Butterfly added with certainty, “What happened at the Eleventh High School eighteen years ago must have something to do with Li Zhuanghu.”

Gao Yang wasn’t surprised about that. It made sense to him.

Yellow Butterfly told them about meeting Xiang Xiaoqin. “Xiang Xiaoqin is a classmate of Li Zhuanghu’s.”

“Second class of third year?” Gao Yang remembered the classroom that was most well-known at the school, the ‘haunted’ one.

“Yes.” Yellow Butterfly nodded and smiled wryly. “Originally, Xiang Xiaoqin was the one subject to the most serious bullying.”

That surprised the others.

Yellow Butterfly gnawed at her bottom lip. “It’s a little convoluted. I’ll make it brief.”

“Li Zhuanghu and Xiang Xiaoqin were the best students of the second class of third year, and they often got the top and second places in exams. There was a pretty girl in their class. Let’s call her the Class Flower[1] for now.”

“The Class Flower is vain. For the final exams, she forced Xiang Xiaoqin to help her cheat. When the teacher found out, the Class Flower refused to admit the fact. Scared, Xiang Xiaoqin told the teacher the truth when asked. It was far from the first time the Class Flower did things like this. The school had enough and had her transferred away.”

“Unfortunately, Yu Pengliang has a secret crush on the Class Flower, and what happened made him furious. He started to bully Xiang Xiaoqin, the most serious instance being the one time he and a few other boys dragged Xiang Xiaoqin to the rooftop, planning to take humiliating photos of her…”

“Bastard!” Gray Bear spat out.

Sympathy colored Yellow Butterfly’s voice. “Li Zhuanghu happened to witness what happened. Normally, he was the kind of person who didn’t pay attention to anyone or anything other than the textbooks, and he was called bookworm and aerobics leader for that. While people didn’t really like him, he didn’t have enemies, either. If only Li Zhuanghu had turned a blind eye that day as well, he wouldn’t have gotten into this mess. However, he took a stand and stopped Yu Pengliang.”

“So Yu Pengliang shifted his target to Li Zhuanghu,” Gao Yang said.

“Yes. What came next were all forms of bullying. As long as they were out of sight of the teachers, Yu Pengliang stopped at nothing to hurt Li Zhuanghu.”

Yellow Butterfly sighed. “Li Zhuanghu was known for enduring hell without batting an eye. He had thought that things would be fine after he graduated, that he only had to stay strong until then.”

“But Yu Pengliang didn’t plan to let him off easy. He announced that he wouldn’t let Li Zhuanghu take the entrance exams in peace, and the bullying escalated. Sometimes, he even barged into Li Zhuanghu’s dorm room at midnight to humiliate him, preventing him from getting sleep. As a result, Li Zhuanghu’s study suffered.”

“That’s way too much!” Can found it difficult to keep listening, and her face flushed with anger.

Yellow Butterfly nodded. “To Li Zhuanghu, who came from a humble background, his only hope was to get into a good college. If even that was taken away from him, he would lose his will to live.”

“Xiang Xiaoqin has witnessed everything from start to finish, and she told the teachers about it. However, they didn’t take it seriously enough and only reprimanded Yu Pengliang.”

“A few days ago, Xiang Xiaoqin ran into Li Zhuanghu on the rooftop. He looked dazed and ready to jump. If she hadn’t stopped him in time, he might have taken his own life already.”

A short silence followed.

Then Nine Frost added, “We noticed something when we went to the rooftop.”

Yellow Butterfly explained, “Do you remember the comment wall of the rooftop water tank when we were investigating the school last night? There was a line that stood out.”

“I remember,” said Gao Yang.

Nine Frost said, “When we went to the rooftop, that line wasn’t there yet.”

Gao Yang paused, thinking back to the line and reciting it, “I’ll wait for you in hell.”

Yellow Butterfly nodded. “We asked Xiang Xiaoqin to give us Li Zhuanghu’s assignment.”

She handed Gao Yang a torn piece of paper. “Look, doesn’t the handwriting seem similar?”

Gao Yang tried his best to think back to the words on the wall to compare with the handwriting of the assignment, his brows knitted into a frown.

He said honestly, “I don’t remember very well, but it seems similar.”

“That’s what we think too.”

Yellow Butterfly looked at Nine Frost then at the others. “My theory is that whatever happened in the Eleventh High School, Li Zhuanghu must have played the major role. He must have done something extreme with the Rune Circuit and brought about serious consequences, leading to the Heavenly Way inflicting punishment on the whole school, turning it into another Gu Family’s Village.”

Gao Yang nodded. That seemed to be the most reasonable theory at the moment.

“Zzzzzt—beep—”

The radio in Nine Frost’s hand suddenly crackled to life.

“Who can it be?” Gao Yang tensed up.

The others jumped as well. With all twelve of them here, who could be using a radio at their frequency?

“Don’t worry,” Yellow Butterfly explained. “I gave Xiang Xiaoqin a radio so that she would be our informant.”

“That’s way too risky!” Gray Bear was surprised. “She’s a monster. What if she’s toying with us?”

“She would’ve come after us already in that case.” Nine Frost didn’t seem concerned. He handed the radio to Yellow Butterfly.

Gray Bear stopped protesting.

“Hello?” Yellow Butterfly said gently. “Xiang Xiaoqin?”

“Sister Xiang Hong, the noon break just ended. I’m in the restroom…” The voice on the other end of the line sounded urgent.

“Take your time,” Yellow Butterfly assured her.

“Li Zhuanghu didn’t come back to the classroom. I asked around, and no one knows where he is. Yu Pengliang and his gang aren’t here either. The teachers can’t find him… Someone’s coming. I need to go—”

Beep.

The line was cut.

Yellow Butterfly held onto the radio, not sure what to do.

“Something’s going to happen.” Gray Bear crossed his arms with a grave expression.

He wasn’t the only one who felt that way.

“LI Zhuanghu and Yu Pengliang must still be on campus,” said Lithe Snake. “This is a Rune Cave. They can’t leave.”

“But our roles don’t allow us to run around in the school. There’s no reason for construction workers to show up in other parts of the campus.” Gao Yang turned to Yellow Butterfly. “What about you?”

Yellow Butterfly shook her head. “After all we did in the morning, the school is getting impatient with us. If we show up again, they’ll most likely kick us out.”

“Oh, oh, oh, I’ve got this!” Can suddenly raised her hand excitedly. “I’ve got an idea!”

“What is it?”

“Muhaha, muhahaha.”

Can cackled and turned to Gao Yang.

1. In Mandarin, the most beautiful girl in the class is known as Class Flower, and the most handsome boy the Class Grass. The same applies to the best-looking people of the school, referred to as School Flower and School Grass. ☜

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!