The Creatures that We Are

A powerful presence came upon them. Gao Yang felt like the Tai Mountain was crashing down, and he was forced to drop to one knee under the pressure, his body almost falling apart.

The others weren’t doing any better. They had either gotten down on their knees or on all fours.

Strange noises swarmed up to them. Like tens of thousands of people were chanting an ancient litany at high speed, the chorus of voices overwhelmed them in waves, solemn and irresistible.

Gao Yang felt as if heaven and earth had flipped, and his head hurt so much it seemed like it was splitting.

Ronnie’s Disorientation robbed one of the ability to think, while this chorus of voices instilled in him a bone-deep sense of oppression and suffocation.

Gao Yang didn’t have the words to describe the fear and helplessness. His mind was being torn to pieces slowly but surely. If this went on, he felt like he would go mad before he died.

Fortunately, the voices quieted like receding tides soon, and Gao Yang made a sharp intake of breath like a drowning man who had just been rescued.

He settled himself and looked around. The others were also unhurt. However, they all looked pale and fearful, like they had seen the gates of hell.

“Y’all okay?” Gray Bear was the first to pick himself up. He reached out to help Xiran and Can to their feet.

“I’m, I’m alright…” Can’s face was pale, and her pupils dilated, her hands pressing against her chest. It was clear that she was still reeling from the earlier experience.

“What, what happened?” Xiran turned to Gray Bear, but didn’t get any answer. Then he turned to Gao Yang.

Instead of giving a response, Gao Yang looked into the distance.

The one thing he was certain of was that they had entered the Rune Cave. The system had said as much, and the system hadn’t been wrong so far.

After a few seconds, Gao Yang confirmed the fact with a sinking heart.

He turned to the others with a serious look on his face. “This is the Rune Cave.”

“Rune Cave?” Nine Frost frowned. “This is still the Eleventh High School, and none of us have moved. How did we get into the Rune Cave?”

“No, no…” Yellow Butterfly blanched, her voice panicked as she said, “I can’t sense my child.”

“Child?” Can opened her mouth wide. “Whoa, are you pregnant, Sister Yellow Butterfly?”

“She meant the golden eagle.” Gray Bear swatted Can on the head.

“Oh, right.”

“It’s not here.” Yellow Butterfly sounded confused. “It would never fly away on its own. Why…”

“I told you,” Gao Yang repeated for emphasis. “We’ve entered the Rune Cave. Your pet is outside.”

“Care to explain? Isn’t this the Eleventh High School? How is it the Rune Cave?” Black Sparrow frowned with befuddlement.

Gao Yang sighed. “This isn’t the school we were at, but a special subspace. It’s very likely to be the Eleventh High School from eighteen years ago.”

Nine Frost considered his words, not understanding fully.

“Look down,” said Gao Yang.

They all did, and those with keener observation immediately scowled in response.

“Wait!” Black Sparrow was shocked. “The weeds are gone!”

“That’s right. The track was filled with weeds, but now the lawn is so well trimmed…” Xiran noticed as well. “How, how can this be?”

Gao Yang looked over at them. “Who of you have been to a Rune Cave?”

“Six years ago, I accompanied Elder Azure Dragon and Black Tortoise to one and acquired the Knowledge Rune Circuit.” Nine Frost thought back to the memory. “The Rune Cave wasn’t located in the real world, and it wasn’t terribly dangerous.” R̃₳ɴŎᛒÊs

“Rune Caves differ,” said Gao Yang. “This one is similar to the first Rune Cave I visited.”

For the next few minutes, Gao Yang told the fourth team about his experience in the Gu Family’s Village.

Their expression darkened in response.

“Captain, do you mean that Niu Xuan transported us to a special subspace through whatever he did earlier, and in this subspace, the monsters would repeat what happened eighteen years ago again and again, like they were imprisoned?” Gray Bear attempted a summary.

Nine Frost added, “And one of the monsters is a boss monster mutated under the influence of the Rune Circuit, and we can get out of here by acquiring it?”

Gao Yang nodded. “At least that’s what happened in the Gu Family’s Village.”

Yellow Butterfly shook her head, unable to come to terms with it. “It’s, it’s only your speculation.”

“It can be proven easily.” Gao Yang turned to Nine Frost. “The subspace won’t be that big, and there will be borders. We only have to check.”

“Got it.” Gray Bear was eager to move. “Lithe Snake and I will go to the west…”

“No, we’re all going together.” Gao Yang cut him off. “No splitting up.”

Nine Frost agreed, “Let’s check the school gate first.”

The twelve of them headed to the gate with their flashlights. It took only two minutes of walking. And as expected, both the gate and the guardhouse were good as new, looking nothing like the building that had been abandoned for years.

“I’ll go ahead and check.”

Gray Bear took the lead and walked toward the guardhouse at the school gate, but no matter how long he walked, he could never reach it.

To the others, his walking figure appeared large in one moment and small in the next. The perspective didn’t make sense.

“Fuck, what the hell?!” Gray Bear was shocked. Still doubtful, he started running, yet he didn’t get any closer to the metal gate.

Black Sparrow was in disbelief as well, and she went up to check for herself.

Feeling curious, Can, Xiran, and Ronnie joined in and started running toward the school gate too.

In Gao Yang’s eyes, it looked like they had been running in place.

After all that, they finally accepted that there was a magical barrier they couldn’t cross.

“Isn’t this the mist surrounding the isolated islands?” Gray Bear turned back, dejected.

“It’s a little different,” Gao Yang explained. “If the Eleventh High School is similar to the Gu Family’s Village, in addition to the proper exit through the Rune Circuit, the barrier above us should be breakable—if there were an awakener with a Time-Space Talent among us, that is.”

He paused. “And they need to be able to fly to reach the barrier above.”

The response he got was a resounding silence.

None of them had Time-Space Talents, and none of them could fly.

“Captain, I, I still have a question.” Can timidly raised her hand, drawing everyone’s attention. She tensed up under the scrutiny.

“Go on.” Gao Yang gave her an encouraging look.

“You said that the villagers of the Gu Family’s Village had been repeating the same period of time in the past.” Can’s eyes flicked around to scan the surroundings. “But the school doesn’t seem occupied right now, does it?”

“Good question.” Gao Yang nodded with a smile. “Can it be that the students and teachers are still sleeping in their respective dorms because it’s midnight?”

“Um.” Can stuck out her tongue, embarrassed.

“It’s good to use your head more.” Gao Yang patted Can on the shoulder paternally.

“Let’s make sure,” said Nine Frost.

For the next twenty minutes, the group moved to explore the other barriers just in case.

In the north, they were stopped at the walls by the running track.

In the south, they went out the backdoor and climbed up the mountain, but just when they were happy to discover a hidden exit, they were stopped by the forest at the middle part of the mountain.

In the west was the student dormitory, and the wall behind it was the barrier.

The boys’ dorm and girls’ dorm stood side by side with a hot water dispensing room in between. From the boys’ uniform and blankets hung dry in the hallways of the building on the left, they confirmed that it was the boys’ dorm.

They walked to the entrance on the first floor. The metal gate was locked, behind which was a hallway, and many large thermos could be seen lining up at the corner[1].

“Lithe Snake, go check if there’s anyone in the dorm,” said Gao Yang.

Lithe Snake nodded. Given his Talent, he wouldn’t need to vault the metal gate. He jumped and stepped on the wall on the side.

However, he didn’t stick to the wall and climb up on all fours like the others expected, but instead fell right back to the ground.

“What’s wrong?” asked Gray Bear.

Lithe Snake frowned without a word.

He took a deep breath and jumped once more, but again, his hands and feet failed to stick to the wall, and he fell.

Gray Bear grew worried. “You alright, Lithe Snake?”

With his back to the others, Lithe Snake looked down at his palms, voice hoarse. “My Talent…has stopped working.”

1. In Chinese dorms, there’s usually no hot water, so students have to bring large thermos to the room with hot water dispensers during specific time to fetch hot water for everyday use. Given how big and heavy the thermos are, students often don’t carry them around, but instead leave them outside the hot water room. ☜

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