The Creatures that We Are

Two minutes ago.

24-hour convenience store, a street block near the Starcatching Pavilion.

The automatic door opened. A burly middle-aged man walked out of the convenience store. He had blond hair, blue eyes, and a full blond beard. It was Gray Bear in disguise.

Carrying a bag of groceries, he walked quickly to the Starcatching Pavilion. He had just finished patrolling, and on his way back to base, he swung by the convenience store for some supplies.

The neighborhood was quiet. He made it past a street corner when a figure suddenly showed up, making a stab at his throat with a fierce glinting blade.

Gray Bear bent back to dodge the swing by a hair. Just when he was going to transform into a beast, he saw that the attacker was Lithe Snake.

He retracted his energy in time. Tamping down the urge to curse, he said in a low voice, “You psycho. Can’t you greet people like a normal person?”

He looked around to make sure there was no surveillance camera.

Lithe Snake’s dagger moved back into his sleeve. Nainai had disguised him as an older man, and dressed in the uniform of a cleaning crew, he was on his night shift.

“I’m messing around?” Gray Bear snapped. “I’m off my shift. I just swung by the convenience store to buy some stuff. You’re being nosy.”

“What did you buy?” Lithe Snake demanded like he was interrogating a criminal.

“Check for yourself!” Gray Bear handed Lithe Snake the bag.

Lithe Snake didn’t take it. His keen eyes zeroed in on Gray Bear’s bulging jacket pocket. “What’s in your pocket?”

Gray Bear paused and smiled awkwardly. “Nothing. Just a pack of cigarettes.”

Lithe Snake stopped asking and turned to leave.

After making two steps, though, he suddenly turned back and stabbed at Gray Bear’s heart with his dagger. Gray Bear blocked it by raising both arms, but it was simply a distraction.

Lithe Snake’s other hand sneakily stole the thing in his pocket.

“You fucking…give it back!” Gray Bear raged, trying to take the thing back. “Don’t think I won’t beat you up!”

Lithe Snake jumped away and inspected the object. It was a pink music box of a merry-go-round.

He knew that it would be Yanyan’s birthday after midnight. Can had bought a cake during the day and reported to Lithe Snake about it.

Lithe Snake was not only in charge of surveillance, but also somewhat of a Chief of Security of the Nine Scions. He must be informed about anyone coming and going from the base.

“Old-fashioned.” Lithe Snake threw the music box back disapprovingly. “Who gives music boxes as gifts now?”

“I’ll give her whatever I want to give her. It’s none of your business!” Gray Bear angrily shoved the music box back into his pocket and shoulder-checked Lithe Snake, continuing his walk forward.

Lithe Snake followed. The thing in his pocket suddenly felt heavier.

It was a box of playdough, the gift Lithe Snake had prepared for Yanyan’s birthday. He picked it because he thought the girl would like it. It was fun, and it would train her ability to make things with her hands and her creativity.

Now, though, he wasn’t as sure about his gift.

Perhaps a little girl would still prefer a more fantastical toy.

“How are things on Nine Frost’s side?” Lithe Snake asked after a while.

“Don’t worry. Everything’s fine.” Gray Bear lit a cigarette.

Nine Frost was hiding at a vantage point and scanning around with binoculars. He was probably looking at them right now.

They were approaching the Starcatching Pavilion.

Gray Bear exhaled smoke as he looked up at the bright moon above the Starcatching Pavilion.

“The moon is beautiful,” Gray Bear suddenly lamented. “The first date I went to with my then-girlfriend was at the Starcatching Pavilion. I still remember the feel of her lips. It was our first kiss.”

“The topic doesn’t suit you.” Lithe Snake scoffed.

Gray Bear ignored him and continued to reminisce, “If I hadn’t awakened, she wouldn’t have become someone else’s bride. I wonder what’s going on with her. Does she still remember the fool that loved her so much…”

“Stop destroying my appetite. I’d like to have a drink after heading back.”

“Sure. Let’s invite Buzhou and Wild Range too and have a good drink.” Gray Bear was immediately interested, his past romance forgotten. “Wild Range is quite a good drinker.”

“He’s fine,” Lithe Snake insisted. “I’ll drink him under the table tonight…”

Bam!

Things happened suddenly, without warning.

There was a loud bang that broke the sound barrier, and brilliant golden light washed over the entire area to light up the place like it was daylight. It was as if God had casually turned on the light after waking up at midnight.

Gray Bear and Lithe Snake felt a powerful suction that almost brought them to the sky, originating from the overwhelming dense energy quickly rushing past them.

A golden waterfall parallel to the ground emerged above their heads out of nowhere. It was the tail of a great wave of resonating energy.

It sliced off the top halves of the buildings on the sides of the road, and the wanderers inside the buildings were rendered into nothingness in an instant, not even leaving any ash.

Boom!

A second later, the Starcatching Pavilion a kilometer from them blew up.

The ground and mountain shook. The golden light overflowed.

Lithe Snake and Gray Bear saw a flash, their sights swallowed by golden light.

Three seconds later, their visions slowly recovered. The Starcatching Pavilion was no more. The short hill and the old architecture were razed to the ground like God had come down on it with a shovel.

Shards of golden energy fell like snow, filling the night sky within the one-kilometer radius. Then came the debris, rubbles, charred soil, and all sorts of burning objects of different sizes that couldn’t be identified, scattering and falling upon the rooftops, windows, signboards, roads, and cars like a meteor shower.

Gray Bear and Lithe Snake stared in shock.

What happened?

It was beyond their comprehension.

Then something round and bloody fell on the road near their feet, rolling toward them.

It was a man’s head. His mouth was widened in shock and terror, his skin scorched. His eyeballs had popped out, leaving only two brown sockets.

The golden energy had fused the octagonal leather hat to his hair and scalp like a microwaved ball.

Lithe Snake and Gray Bear recognized him immediately.

The head belonged to Wild Range, the man with a good alcohol tolerance.

…

Three minutes ago.

A kilometer from the Starcatching Pavilion was an office building. The company it once housed had gone bankrupt from bad business and moved out. On the top second floor, Nine Frost sat on an office desk near the window with tactical binoculars, disguised and dressed in a gray windbreaker.

This was a perfect vantage point that allowed him to take in all the buildings and roads a kilometer from the Starcatching Pavilion.

It was midnight. All the street lamps had gone off, and there was little light coming from the office and residential buildings. The downtown area and the streets with bars alone sparkled like a rolling river of light in the dark.

Nine Frost finished the canned coffee in his hand and picked up his binoculars to keep monitoring the area. If there was anything unusual, he would lock onto it and observe to confirm if it was a threat.

It was a boring job that required patience and perseverance.

It was about time for Gray Bear to end his shift, while Lithe Snake would continue his until the day broke. The man required less sleep, and he worked double time compared to other members.

Every time Gray Bear ended his shift, he would go to the 24-hour convenience store. Through the binoculars, Nine Frost confirmed that the now blond and blue-eyed Gray Bear was coming out of the store with a bag of things.

He locked onto Gray Bear and saw him walking quickly, only to get ambushed by Lithe Snake at the street corner.

Then Nine Frost witnessed their scuffle.

A pair of five-year-olds they were.

Nine Frost grumbled to himself and lowered the binoculars, taking a pack of choco sticks from his pocket.

Suddenly, there was a flickering light in the distant sky. Judging by the direction and the height, it must have come from the rooftop of the Rongsheng Financial Building three kilometers away. It didn’t seem like a signal light.

Nine Frost immediately picked up his binoculars and looked at it.

The tactical binoculars had an effective range of 2.5 kilometers, so Nine Frost couldn’t see the rooftop clearly, only that there was a group of people there.

A man seemed to be standing at the very front, his body flickering a golden light as energy rippled outward. Could it be Azure Dragon’s…Strongest Punch?!

Nine Frost had had the honor to witness Azure Dragon use his Strongest Punch once. At the time, he flattened a small mountain just to look for what could be a Rune Cave.

Nine Frost felt his blood go cold. He didn’t know what was going on, and he couldn’t afford to think about what had gone wrong.

But he had a strong hunch that the punch was aimed at the Starcatching Pavilion.

He grabbed his sniper rifle with one hand and reached into his pocket with his other hand, pressing a shortcut to send a preset message. It was only one word.

Danger!

Houseau3's Thoughts

Ugh. Here it comes...

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