The Creatures that We Are

“Ah—”

Gray Bear’s scream resounded throughout the school. He was close to blacking out, and he only managed to stay conscious by grinding his teeth together so hard that they almost broke.

He reached under Xiang Xiaoqin’s armpit with his other hand and turned around, bending down to throw her over his shoulder, slamming her into the floor. Despite the audible impact, Xiang Xiaoqin didn’t feel any pain, and she looked a little confused.

With a naive look on her face, she said while her eyes glowed a cold blue, “Uncle, you shouldn’t hit people. It’s wrong to use violence.”

Still lying on the ground, she tried to grab Gray Bear with her other hand. Before that could happen, Nine Frost made it to them with a dive and grabbed onto her arm with both legs, his hands clamping on her wrist and pulling with all his power.

Even though Xiang Xiaoqin’s strength was buffed by the Rune Circuit, at this stage, she couldn’t free herself when two adult men were going all out to keep her subdued. For a moment, she remained prone on the ground, her two arms locked.

“Ah, I get it now. We’re playing a game, aren’t we?” A smile bloomed on her face again. Her head had become a complete mess, her emotions jumbled. “Tee-hee, let’s all play together.”

She bent her legs and stomped, lifting herself half a meter into the air along with the added weight of Gray Bear and Nine Frost before slamming back onto the ground. The impact almost broke the two men apart, but their grips remained firm.

“Hurry!”

Seizing the opportunity, Gao Yang and Black Sparrow dashed at her and each held onto a thigh, and following Nine Frost’s method, they locked her limbs with their legs and seized her ankles with both hands, pulling back with all the strength they could muster.

In a strange yet effective way, the four of them kept Xiang Xiaoqin immobile.

Xiang Xiaoqin’s expression was still free of anger. Instead, there was a hint of strange shyness. “Stop. Boys and girls should keep a polite distance…”

Her body started to slowly but firmly exert strength, and the four of them could feel her breaking out of their hold.

“Yellow Butterfly!” Nine Frost called out.

Yellow Butterfly had already rushed up to them. Kneeling on Xiang Xiaoqin’s abdomen, she tore her uniform open along with the white t-shirt underneath. As they thought, there was a Rune Circuit flickering with blue light in her chest, embedded into her heart and flesh and protected by her collar bones.

Yellow Butterfly thrust a dagger into her chest.

“Ahh—”

Xiang Xiaoqin’s face twisted in helplessness and fear, barely resembling herself. And she began to struggle with her limbs. Gao Yang felt as if he was holding onto a large python rather than a leg.

“Hurry!” Gray Bear said, face ashen. “I’m at my limit…”

The others were in a similar place. They were all holding onto Xiang Xiaoqin with their jaws clenched, prepared to die doing their part.

Without stopping, Yellow Butterfly pushed down on the dagger. Finally, the Rune Circuit peeled away by a crack from Xiang Xiaoqin’s collar bones and flesh, splattering blood on Yellow Butterfly’s face.

“Ahhhh!”

Like a fish out of water, Xiang Xiaoqin arched and thumped madly, shaking the four people holding onto her limbs.

Yellow Butterfly felt as if she was lying on a trampoline. The body underneath her kept bouncing and falling and shaking.

She knew that her companions must be close to falling apart, and she was running out of time.

Teeth clenched, she inserted her fingers into the crack underneath the Rune Circuit, and tightening her grip, she yanked.

Hiss—

The Rune Circuit detached, peeling away from Xiang Xiaoqin’s chest inch by inch, along with the countless spiderwebs of tendons and veins that seemed to have a life of their own.

The great pain translated into a furious growl and escaped Xiao Xiaoqin’s throat, and she grew several times stronger. When she raised her frail-looking right arm, Gray Bear found himself lifted into the air.

Bam!

She slammed him down.

Head hitting the floor, Gray Bear saw stars, and he had already let go of her arm when he realized it.

Bam!

Two seconds later, Xiang Xiaoqin did the same with her left arm, and unable to withstand the powerful impact, Nine Frost’s grip loosened as well.

A second later, Xiang Xiaoqin grabbed onto Yellow Butterfly’s delicate, fair neck with both hands. To her, breaking the woman’s neck would be as easy as breaking a scallion.

Gao Yang shuddered. He could almost picture Yellow Butterfly’s death.

“Xiang Xiaoqin!” Yellow Butterfly suddenly exclaimed. “Look at me!”

The cool blue glow in Xiang Xiaoqin’s eye sockets seemed to waver for a moment.

Yellow Butterfly hadn’t let go of the Rune Circuit, but she didn’t dare make a pull either. Instead, she continued to appeal to Xiang Xiaoqin’s rational and emotional mind.

“Look at me! Am I pretty to you?”

“Pretty, pretty…” Xiang Xiaoqin stopped. Her obsession when she was alive was to become beautiful.

With her words, Yellow Butterfly had bought them time and delayed her death.

“You can be pretty like me!”

“No, no. I’m not pretty. I’m average…”

“You can! You can be pretty like me!” Yellow Butterfly went on. It almost seemed like a brutish way of brainwashing. “Believe me! You will become pretty like me!”

Xiang Xiaoqin looked lost and shocked for a moment like she had seen something revelatory. Then her lips curled into a strange smile. “Pretty. I can be pretty like you…”

Swoosh!

With a shortsword, NIne Frost severed the tendons and veins connecting the dangling Rune Circuit to Xiang Xiaoqin’s chest. Xiang Xiaoqin’s body stopped moving at once like a machine being powered off, and she lost all her strength.

Yellow Butterfly pulled back and rolled off Xiang Xiaoqin’s body, dropping the bloodied Rune Circuit and breaking into a coughing fit with her hands covering her neck.

Gao Yang and Black Sparrow hadn’t quite wrapped their heads around what was happening. They couldn’t believe they had succeeded.

Slowly, they let go of Xiang Xiaoqin’s legs and knelt on the ground, heaving.

Xiang Xiaoqin lay dead on the floor, her chest a mess of blood and flesh. Her face was pale with empty eye sockets, but the smile remained on her face.

They helped each other up. While they were still reeling from the earlier fight, they couldn’t help but feel thankful for Xiang Xiaoqin’s disoriented mind. Things would’ve ended differently if Xiang Xiaoqin’s obsession had been a hateful one, or if she had been driven by more killing intent.

Yellow Butterfly picked up the Rune Circuit and handed it to Nine Frost before turning around to grab the supply bag on the ground. “Gray Bear is hurt. There are still two shots of Medicine C.”

Gray Bear held onto his broken right hand. His five fingers were twisted into braids.

Despite the sickly look on his face, he said defiantly, “This is nothing.”

Nine Frost closed his eyes. “Feel that?”

“What?” Black Sparrow asked.

“I feel it.” Gao Yang stood where he was and sensed his energy awakening little by little.

His Talents were coming back.

Thank heavens he could stop being a regular human. Like a drowning man finally grabbing onto a lifebuoy, he was filled with a sense of security.

He should access his system for an overall check and allocate his points when he had the chance.

“Ah. Finally, the mission is over.” Black Sparrow let out a sigh, breaking into a smile after the near-death experience.

Bang!

Then a bullet penetrated her temple.

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