The Creatures that We Are

“Back off! Back off!”

Gray Bear hurled the announcement board in his hand toward the swarm of rune corpses before kicking the one that had gotten closest to him. Then he rushed toward the glass door—toward the source of danger—and attempted to shut it.

Bam, bam, bam!

But it was too late. The dozen and more rune corpses threw themselves at the door and shattered the glass, toppling the frames. Still, at least a good number of the rune corpses had gotten trapped.

Gray Bear moved back while knocking away the rune corpses lunging at him. Then one of them grabbed onto his foot from the ground, and he staggered and fell. A couple rune corpses leapt at him.

“Ahh help! Help…”

Can screamed. She had fallen as well, and a rune corpse had grabbed onto her ankle. Although she had been hitting it in the head with the golf club in her hand, she was too weak to do substantial damage.

At that moment, Xiran and Ronnie rushed up to her and kicked the rune corpse in the head. But then even more rune corpses swarmed up to the three.

Nine Frost and Black Sparrow had been fighting with their backs pressed together, unable to offer them any help. And Gao Yang had been dealing with two rune corpses with the dustpan in his hand, barely holding up himself, let alone going to his teammates’ rescue.

Don’t give up.

Think about what you can do!

…Nothing.

You’ll soon be bitten. Then you’ll die and become one of them.

You fail. There’s no turning things around. You’ll all die here.

Your family and friends will never see you again, and you will never learn the secrets of the Mist World.

Ring—

Gao Yang’s head rang, and the world spinned around him. While his body was still pushing itself to put up a fight, he had lost almost all his senses. It was as if his soul was slowly leaving his body.

In that moment of distraction, a rune corpse bit at him from the side. There wasn’t enough time for Gao Yang to get out of the way.

Swoosh!

Then a throwing knife buried into the rune corpse’s eye. The blood splattered on Gao Yang’s face.

Swoosh, swoosh!

Two more throwing knives arrived, hitting the eyes of the rune corpse pouncing on Gray Bear.

It’s Lithe Snake! Gao Yang realized with a start. There’s still hope! We can still turn things around!

Seeing the throwing knives, Gray Bear’s wavering will to survive recovered in an instant.

“Ha!”

Face covered in blood, he yelled and yanked the two knives out of the rune corpse’s eyes with both hands, stabbing the other two rune corpses in the eye. ṞἈＮǑβĚs̩

Splat!

The three rune corpses holding him down collapsed. Gray Bear didn’t immediately push them off since they served as cover to shield him from the other rune corpses. Instead, he propped himself up with both hands on the floor and propelled himself backward, sliding out from under the three rune corpses.

Scrambling to his feet, Gray Bear looked up to see Lithe Snake holding his shortsword in one hand and a piece of thick blue curtain in the other, running straight at them.

Like a descending god, Lithe Snake single-handedly turned the tide.

“Move!”

Lithe Snake swiftly dealt with the rune corpse in his way before throwing his shortsword to Nine Frost.

Nine Frost caught the sword and whirled around to make a swing, cutting off the head of the rune corpse ready to attack Black Sparrow.

Holding the curtain with both hands, Lithe Snake hurled it toward the air, catching the seven rune corpses chasing after Gray Bear like casting a fishnet. The rune corpses had lost most of their mental faculty. Caught by the curtain, they struggled blindly and madly, soon dragging each other to the ground into a heap of intertwined limbs.

“Follow me!”

Lithe Snake yelled and turned to run. Gao Yang and Gray Bear followed without hesitation.

The others abandoned the fight as well and quickly moved away from the rune corpses, catching up to the three. Lithe Snake led them to the room at the end of the corridor left of the main hall. The door was open. It had obviously been Lithe Snake’s hideout.

The rune corpses were still swarming toward them from the main hall. Gray Bear, Nine Frost, Gao Yang, and Black Sparrow moved back as they fought, barefly holding the rune corpses at bay. Still, the rune corpses continued to close in on them, approaching their only way to escape.

When Gray Bear dove into the room last and shut the door, the main hall of the teaching building was already packed full of rune corpses.

Huffing, Gray Bear pushed the door shut. Gao Yang and Nine Frost went up to help as well, not daring to be complacent.

“This…is the reception room!”

Yellow Butterfly immediately recognized the room. In the morning, Nine Frost, Dark Li, and she had come here as journalists, and Dai Xiaojun had welcomed them in this room.

It wasn’t big, and eleven people were quite the crowd here.

Bam, bam!

Bam, bam, bam!

The door was under the relentless abuse of the rune corpses. They couldn’t stay here for long.

Lithe Snake went up to the curtainless window and jumped onto the windowsill, kicking at the security bars outside. “The window leads to the flower beds. Originally, there were a few rune corpses, but they were drawn away by the music you played. We can go back to the construction site this way.”

Gray Bear called out, “Hey! Come here to keep the door closed!”

Black Sparrow and Xiuyi rushed to take Gray Bear’s place, while Gray Bear joined Lithe Snake in kicking the metal frame off.

It was firmly put into place, making it difficult for regular humans to destroy the frame through brute force.

Bam, bam, bam!

The slams grew more and more intense.

Gao Yang shouted, “Hurry! This is a wooden door. It won’t hold on for long!”

Clang, clang, clang!

Gray Bear and Lithe Snake put all their strength into their kicks.

“Yellow Butterfly, Can, come help!” Nine Frost commanded before rushing to the window.

Yellow Butterfly and Can immediately filled in Nine Frost’s spot and helped keep the door shut.

Nine Frost jumped up to the window and held onto the header above. “Follow my order. On the count of three, we kick together.”

“Three!”

“Two!”

“One!”

They lifted their legs and kicked the metal frame at the same time.

Clang!

It loosened.

Bam, bam, bam! Bam, bam!

Hearing the loud clang coming from the room, the rune corpses started throwing themselves at the door with reckless abandon. The wood plank that made the door wasn’t thick, and it seemed like it would break anytime.

“Quickly! We can’t hold on for long!” Gao Yang’s voice gained an edge of despair.

“Three!”

“Two!”

“One!”

Clang! Clack.

The metal frame fell off, along with the screws.

“We did it! Hurry! Go!”

Lithe Snake and Gray Bear jumped off the window, while Nine Frost knelt on the windowsill and reached out a hand.

“Ladies first!” Gao Yang called out.

Can glanced at him before rushing toward the window. Nine Frost grabbed her and pulled her out.

Then Yellow Butterfly, Xiuyi, and Ronnie escaped.

Gao Yang, Black Sparrow, and Xiran were left holding the door shut on their own.

“On the count of three, we run together!” Gao Yang said through clenched teeth.

“Got it!”

“Three!”

“Two!”

“One!”

The three of them pulled away from the door at the same time and dashed at the window.

Bam!

The door finally caved, and in rushed the rune corpses like they were in a race.

Black Sparrow was agile. She jumped out easily, her feet never even stepping on the windowsill. Xiran was a little slower. He stepped on the windowsill to climb up.

Gao Yang’s heart burned with urgency. He could feel the rune corpses rushing through the door reaching for his back. Without waiting for Xiran to move out, he leapt with all the strength he could muster, grabbing Xiran’s waist to bring him along as he flew out of the window.

Outside was a flower bed. The soil cushioned their landing. Nine Frost and Black Sparrow quickly pulled them up.

When Gao Yang looked over his shoulder, there were already seven or eight rune corpses jammed through the window, and they were almost climbing out.

Gao Yang’s hackles rose. He had been one step away from meeting his death.

“Let’s go!”

Houseau3's Thoughts

And the MPV goes to Lithe Snake.

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