The Creatures that We Are

The one lying on the floor was Yu Pengliang. Face twisted with fear, he pressed his hands to his neck, yet blood continued to gush out through the gaps between his fingers.

He opened his mouth to say something, but all that came out was air, and blood spurted from the corners of his mouth.

Soon, his head drooped and his hands went slack, unmoving.

“He…he killed him!”

“Help! Help…”

The other two boys had collapsed to the floor, legs feeling weak. They scrambled backward and struggled to pick themselves back up before rushing through the metal door, fleeing downstairs.

Gao Yang felt his hair stand on end.

A figure stood by the railing at the edge of the rooftop. It was Li Zhuanghu.

In his hand was an object glowing an eerie red.

His expression was a mix of fear, anger, and helplessness. Blood covered his mouth and chin, but it didn’t seem to be his own.

He bit off Yu Pengliang’s neck, Gao Yang realized.

Li Zhuanghu turned to Gao Yang. “No, it wasn’t me… He started it… He forced me to do this… I was only defending myself, I swear…”

“Li Zhuanghu.” Gao Yang raised his hands to signal that he meant no harm.

Slowly, he approached Li Zhuanghu. “Calm down. What’s in your hand is dangerous. Listen to me, you have to drop it…”

“No!” Li Zhuanghu trembled all over before raising his voice. “It was his fault! All his fault!”

The red glow intensified.

Red energy seeped out from his hand like delicate webs of blood vessels, climbing along Li Zhuanghu’s arms and quickly spreading through his upper body. Li Zhuanghu’s eyes became empty, and they glowed with the same eerie dark red.

Gao Yang’s heart sank. That was the Rune Circuit for sure!

“Li Zhuanghu! Drop it!” Gao Yang was anxious to stop the boy, but he couldn't get close for fear of triggering him.

“Stay away!” Li Zhuanghu climbed to the other side of the railing, holding onto the railing with one hand and the Rune Circuit with his other hand. His body tilted outward, ready to make the jump at any time.

“Don’t do anything reckless. I’ll stay right here!” Gao Yang promised in a loud voice. “I’m here to help. You must stay calm…”

“Help? How are you going to help me? I just killed a man. I killed him!” Li Zhuanghu seemed to have recovered some of his mental faculty, and the red light in his eyes slowly faded.

“No, they started it first, and you only defended yourself,” Gao Yang assured him gently. “It’s okay. I saw everything. I’ll be your witness. You’ll be alright…”

“No, no…” Li Zhuanghu shook his head in despair. “I’ll get caught. I’ll go to jail. It’s done, it’s all done… I won’t get into a college. I’ll disappoint my mom. There’s no hope for me…”

“Don’t say that, Li Zhuanghu…”

“Shut up!” He yelled, his eyes glowing an angry red again. “It’s because of all of you!”

“...”

“Why? Why did this happen? I didn’t do anything wrong! I worked so hard, so hard! I just wanted to get into a good college and find a good job so that I could give my mom a better life! Why wouldn’t you leave me alone? Why? Why must fate do this to me?”

Gao Yang stared. He knew that this was a monster who had been imprisoned by the Heavenly Way, yet he still felt a keen sense of pity and pain for him.

That’s right. He’s done nothing wrong. Why did all these happen?

“You’re right, Li Zhuanghu. They deserve death. Don’t give in. You still have a long life ahead of you. Don’t do anything…”

“Yes.” Li Zhuanghu stared at Gao Yang and sneered. “The one to blame…is the world.”

He let go.

“Don’t!”

Gao Yang rushed up to him, but it was too late.

Li Zhuanghu had jumped.

Gao Yang heard a heavy thud. And when he peeked down over the railing, Li Zhuanghu was already a broken ragdoll on the concrete path outside the teaching building. From the back of his head formed a pool of blood, and the Rune Circuit in his tight grasp was still flickering with a red light.

“Ah!” A scream came from one of the classrooms.

“Someone jumped!”

“He jumped!”

The students here for the evening self-study rushed out of their classrooms and crowded to the corridors, looking down at the bottom of the building. And those whose classrooms were on the first floor rushed directly to the dead, circling Li Zhuanghu’s body.

Gao Yang’s hackles raised. There was no time to dwell on it. He ran downstairs.

His radio sounded as he ran.

“Seven Shadow!” Nine Frost asked. “What’s going on?”

“Li Zhuanghu jumped! Right before the teaching building! Come at once!” Gao Yang flew down the stairs and shouted into the radio. “He had the Rune Circuit! We have to grab it!”

In less than a minute, he reached the first floor.

Li Zhuanghu was already surrounded by a crowd of students and teachers, leaving no gaps between them.

“Captain!”

Gao Yang turned around. The fourth and fifth teams had rushed over. Nine Frost, Gray Bear, and Lithe Snake took the lead. They exchanged a look with Gao Yang before turning to the crowd, and they caught on to what had happened.

“Gray Bear, do you have your police badge with you?” asked Gao Yang.

“I do.”

“Good. We’ll say we’re the police, that we received a report and are here to lock down the scene of death.”

“Got it.” Gray Bear took out his badge from his pocket. He, along with Gao Yang, Nine Frost, and Lithe Snake, made their way to the crowd.

Just when Gray Bear was going to give his spiel, however, screams erupted from the crowd.

“Ahhhh it’s coming back alive!”

“Help!”

“Don’t, don’t touch me… Gah!”

“Catch him! Catch him now!”

“He’s mad! Run!”

…

Chaos ensued. Soon, those who had been circling the dead scattered in all directions.

“What’s going on?” Nine Frost turned to Gao Yang.

Gao Yang shook his head, but instinctively stopped Gray Bear and Lithe Snake from approaching. “Wait, something’s wrong.”

In less than ten seconds, the crowd dispersed.

There were already more than ten bodies on the ground, including students and teachers. All of them had been bitten, mostly in the necks. Like Yu Pengliang from earlier, blood gurgled and gushed out of their wounds.

Covered in webs of red blood vessels, Li Zhuanghu was crouching on a teacher’s dead body and devouring his face, his eyes glowing an eerie red.

Gao Yang recognized the victim. It was Mister Tan, the PE teacher.

“Fuck!” Gray Bear cursed.

The others arrived belatedly.

“Captain! We’re here to…” Can’s worried shout was stopped short by Gao Yang’s hand on her mouth, but unfortunately, she had already drawn Li Zhuanghu’s attention.

His glowing eyes were blind, but his ears were keen.

Head cocked, he picked himself up in a stiff, twisted, and unnatural posture, his joints making cracking sounds as he moved.

His heart was bulging from his chest with a giant lump of fleshy growth. Inside, the Rune Circuit flickering red light could be faintly made out.

“Grrrr!”

Li Zhuanghu growled at Gao Yang and the others. Then the dead bodies around him seemed to have heeded his call, and they stood up with cracking joints like he had.

Gao Yang and his companions blanched wordlessly.

They were all thinking about one thing, about the one monstrosity commonly seen in horror films and games.

Zombies!

Li Zhuanghu was still standing where he was, while the other bodies dashed at them.

Although their movements seemed stiff and unnatural, they were fast, comparable to the speed of a regular person, and their strength was probably greater.

With their Talents sealed and almost no weapon to make use of, the fourth and fifth team were basically twelve regular humans. They couldn’t take on the reanimated corpses.

“Run!” Gao Yang ordered without pause. “Now!”

Houseau3's Thoughts

A surprise zombie outbreak!

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