The Creatures that We Are

Creak.

The mattress above Gao Yang sank further. The alarm blaring in Gao Yang’s head prompted him to hold his breath.

“Li Chaoqiang! Did you fart?” Yu Pengliang made the accusation even though he was the one responsible.

Fuck, the brat did fart!

It was certainly true that misfortune followed when one was down on their luck. Gao Yang had been through his fair share of dangers, but this was a brand new kind of suffering he had never experienced before. He never expected it.

“I didn’t. It must be Feng Zhi.”

“It wasn’t me! It must be you. I smelled onions. You were the one who had onions and eggs stir fry for lunch…”

Yu Pengliang cut in, “Enough already. Let’s talk business. What do you mean there’s something wrong with Li Zhuanghu?”

“I’m talking about his eyes. They look fiercer now.”

“In the past, he didn’t dare look at us even when we were messing with him. But did you notice this noon? His gaze on us was so vicious…”

“So? A wimp like him may think about revenge all he wants, but he’ll never actually fight back.”

“I heard Zhang Bei talk about it too, Brother Yu. He said that Li Zhuanghu had been hiding under his blanket and muttering in bed rather than sleeping recently, like he was talking to someone. What kind of freak wrapped themselves in a blanket in summer?”

“Really?”

“Really. And Zhang Bei saw it himself! He said that something was glowing inside Li Zhuanghu’s blanket.”

“A flashlight?”

“No, it was blood red, and it flickered. When Zhang Bei called out to him, the light disappeared, and Li Zhuanghu seemed to have hidden something inside his clothes. Zhang Bei said that he looked possessed.”

“What was he being so precious about?”

The Rune Circuit? Gao Yang thought with a pounding heart.

“Maybe it’s hidden in the bedroom. Look for it!”

“Okay!”

“I’ll search the bed. You two, check the closets and the restroom.”

The three pairs of feet quickly stood up and walked around.

Gao Yang felt the mattress over his head shaking. Someone must be tearing off the bed sheet.

Shit!

They would certainly look under the bed, and he would be exposed.

I’m just a regular person at this moment, Gao Yang thought quickly. Although I’ve been training lately, I may not be able to subdue all three of them on my own.

Should he lie that he had gone to the wrong room? They wouldn’t believe him. And someone like Yu Pengliang wouldn’t let such a matter go. Perhaps he would grab Gao Yang and claim that he had caught a thief. Then things would get even more complicated.

He had to run.

Gao Yang took a deep breath. He decided to climb out from under the bed, and before the boys recovered from the shock, he would run outside while covering his face.

“Brother Yu! Old Sun seems to have come to check the rooms!”

“Quick, close the door and hide in the restroom!”

The three boys hurriedly sorted out the mess they made and rushed into the restroom. And immediately after that, the dorm keeping teacher walked past the corridor and glanced inside through the window before leaving.

Two minutes later, three pairs of legs went out of the restroom. The boys had long forgotten about what they were going to look for.

“Whew, that was close. We almost got caught by Old Sun.”

“What are you so afraid of? What is he gonna do to us?”

“I’m not afraid of him, Brother Yu, but I’m afraid of my dad. If my dad gets called to school again this month, he’s gonna kill me!”

The three of them exchanged a few more words before sitting back down and resuming their card games.

Gao Yang sighed in relief. It had been an eventful noon.

What followed was a dreadful wait. The three boys chatted and boasted about themselves, their conversation so boring that Gao Yang almost dozed off.

He didn’t know how many times the bell had rung, but a long time had passed, and the sky outside darkened gradually.

Finally, the afternoon classes ended, and some students returned to the dorm.

“Brother Yu.” A boy greeted Yu Pengliang and his two sidekicks.

“Did you see Li Zhuanghu, Zhang Bei?”

“No, I saw him last at noon.”

“Fuck, where did the coward go? Zhang Bei, fetch dinner for the three of us. We’re gonna wait for him here.”

“Oh, right. Sure.” Zhang Bei left.

Ten minutes later, he returned with their dinner.

Yu Pengliang and the two other boys finished the food and continued to play cards. The other students in the dorm had left again for the evening self-study.

It was now entirely dark outside. Gao Yang was feeling antsy. He had been looking for a chance to get out of here, but hadn’t managed to.

This won’t do. I can’t waste more time like this.

And Yu Pengliang just had dinner. He isn’t gonna fart again, is he?

Humiliation could be worse than death!

Gao Yang resolved to climb out from under the bed first.

Then the door creaked open.

The three boys shot to their feet. Outside the door stood another boy. From Gao Yang’s perspective, he could only see a pair of legs.

“Aha!” Yu Pengliang yelled. “Fucking finally, Li Zhuanghu! What? Where have you been this afternoon?”

Li Zhuanghu didn’t say anything. He was still standing outside the door.

Clang!

Yu Pengliang flipped the foldable table they had played cards on with a kick. “I’m talking to you. Are you deaf?!”

“Yu Pengliang.” Li Zhuanghu sounded calm, eerily so. “Won’t you leave me alone?”

“Leave you alone?” Yu Pengliang scoffed like he had heard the most absurd joke in the world. “Not in this life! I’m gonna do this til you’re dead! You want to get into college? Only in your dream! As long as I’m here, you’re not gonna get a good day of study! You’ll be collecting garbage in the future!”

Gao Yang tightened his fists. This boy was trash through and through. As a monster imitating humans, he had only learned the worst of human nature and not the good of it. His malice ran bone deep!

Li Zhuanghu fell silent.

“Get over here!” Yu Pengliang rushed toward the door. Gao Yang could only see their feet, but he could guess Yu Pengliang must have grabbed Li Zhuanghu’s hair.

“I’ll grant your death wish…”

“Let go!” Li Zhuanghu growled and pushed Yu Pengliang away.

Yu Pengliang was thrown onto the bed, sinking and almost breaking the mattress.

Gao Yang suppressed a jump.

“You, you dare fight back?! I’ll kill you for real this time!”

Yu Pengliang leapt up and charged at Li Zhuanghu.

Li Zhuanghu turned around and bolted.

“Chase after him! Come on! I’m breaking his bones today!” Yu Pengliang yelled and ran out of the room. It took two seconds for the two boys to react and give chase.

Gao Yang immediately climbed out and followed them.

He ran to the hallway and looked down. The three boys were rushing toward the teaching building after Li Zhuanghu.

Running downstairs, Gao Yang turned on his radio. “I found Li Zhuanghu. He’s going to the teaching building!”

“How are things going?” Nine Frost asked.

“He was bullied by Yu Pengliang and lost control over his emotions,” Gao Yang said. He had a feeling that something crucial was going to happen.

It was the first session of the evening self-study. The teaching building was quiet, and the lights were on in all the classrooms.

Gao Yang chased the four boys to the stairway and straight to the rooftop. Throwing reservation out of the window, he flung himself at the metal door to open it.

Then he was shocked into halting his steps.

A boy lay prone in a pool of blood.

Houseau3's Thoughts

Eww.

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