The Creatures that We Are

Everyone fell silent and quickly turned off the flashlights.

“Which classes are you from? What are you doing so late at night?”

The voice grew closer from inside the metal gate, and a figure emerged with a flashlight. It must be the teacher in charge of dorm keeping, which proved Gao Yang’s speculation that there were people in the dorm.

However, there was no time for them to dwell on it.

“Come on.” Gao Yang made the split-second decision.

They rushed away quickly to the shaded path. Just when they were going to settle down, they turned to see a flashlight swinging.

“Shit,” Gray Bear cursed under his breath. “He doesn’t know how to give up!”

“If you were the dorm keeper and saw a group of people sneaking around outside the dorm, wouldn’t you chase after them?” Lithe Snake asked coldly.

Of course they would do the same in the teacher’s shoes.

From the teacher’s point of view, it was a serious matter for a dozen ‘students’, men and women, to stay out late rather than sleeping in their respective dorms, and it was indeed a matter that must be addressed.

“This isn’t the time to talk about it,” Yellow Butterfly said worriedly. “Find a place and hide!”

“To the hill in the back,” Gao Yang suggested. “That’s outside the campus, and the dorm keeper won’t chase us there.”

The fifth team didn’t disagree, and the fourth team turned to their captain, Nine Frost.

Nine Frost nodded. “To the hill.”

They moved quickly to the back door of the school. Vaulting over the metal gate that didn’t count as an obstacle, they rushed into the small patch of woods on the hill in the back.

They stayed for more than ten minutes to make sure they had lost the teacher. Only then did they let out a sigh of relief.

Mosquitoes were rampant here. It was difficult to endure.

Gray Bear took out a sleeping gas grenade and threw it some distance away. Five minutes later, the gas dissipated. The twelve of them moved over, and there were indeed less mosquitoes harassing them.

That earned Gray Bear some approving looks. Who would’ve thought that sleeping gas worked as mosquito repellent? One truly never stopped learning.

They all took out their supplies, having some water and hardtacks.

As they recuperated, Gao Yang told the fourth team about his speculation that the monsters might have been silenced as well, and Nine Frost agreed.

Then they talked strategies.

Nine Frost started the ball rolling. “If the Eleventh High School is in a similar situation as the Gu Family’s Village, our goal now is to find the Rune Circuit.”

Gao Yang added, “Yeah, the Rune Circuit may be on its own, or it may be with a monster.”

“It must be with a monster,” Gray Bear said with certainty.

“Reason being?” Lithe Snake asked.

“It’s my intuition.” Gray Bear said, unabashed.

“The Rune Circuit won’t just run out on its own,” said Yellow Butterfly. “How should we find it?”

Gao Yang thought for a moment. “Like we’re playing an RPG.”

“What?” Gray Bear didn’t get it.

“Role-playing games,” Can explained. “Uncle Bear, you should think of yourself as the protagonist of a story.”

Nine Frost nodded. “Go on.”

“In an RPG, there’s always a main story to follow when entering a new map, which is the core event. The core event of the Gu Family’s Village was the entirety of the villagers killing Huazi and his family. The event lasts for roughly three days. That’s why those at the Gu Family’s Village had been repeating those three days. When we barged into the Gu Family’s Village, we chanced upon the story and flushed out the hair monster, thus getting the Rune Circuit.”

Nine Frost said, “So you mean that the Eleventh High School has a core event, which leads to those at the school repeating the same period of time. And the Rune Circuit should be with the main character of the core event.”

“Yes.”

The others looked thoughtful. Outside of the few people with a thicker head, the others had all caught on and nodded in agreement.

“There are more than a thousand people here,” said Lithe Snake. “How do we identify the core event?”

“We blend in,” said Gao Yang.

Nine Frost lowered his head and thought for a few seconds. “Like when you played cops back in Gu Family’s Village.”

“Yes.” Gao Yang’s eyes flickered. “In both the Gu Family’s Village and the Eleventh High School, the monsters were imprisoned by the Heavenly Way. Unlike the monsters in reality, they wouldn’t suspect us just because a band of humans are together.”

“However, we have to find ourselves identities that make sense so that we can infiltrate the Eleventh High School and identify the core event.”

“Ah!” Can had a thought. “Is the core event what happened in the school eighteen years ago?”

“Very likely,” Gao Yang agreed.

“Captain, what identities should we assume?” asked Xiran. “We can’t all be cops, can we?”

“How about journalists?” Yellow Butterfly smiled slightly, her eyes glinting. “I was a journalist for two years, and I could pretend to be here for interviews.”

“For what?”

“I’ll just tell them that there were anonymous complaints from parents claiming that there’s bullying at school, the food at the cafeteria is unclean, or that teachers are giving students physical punishments. Any excuse would do. The school will treat us with hospitality for fear of the matter escalating. We won’t make it difficult for them. Tell them we’ll leave after going through the necessary processes.”

Yellow Butterfly took out her phone. “Eighteen years ago, there were no smartphones. I can lie to them that this is a new type of recorder.”

“That works.” Nine Frost added, “But a journalist would at most have two assistants. Twelve people is too many.”

“True,” said Yellow Butterfly.

Gao Yang said, “Pick two assistants, Yellow Butterfly. Come morning, you should go to the superintendent as press and keep the radios hidden. Contact us if anything happens.”

“Then I pick Captain and Dark Li.” Yellow Butterfly smiled awkwardly. “I feel safer with them playing bodyguards.”

Nine Frost nodded. “Works for me.”

Dark Li didn’t say anything, but the stilted smile on his face became a little more genuine.

“How about us?” Gray Bear asked hurriedly. “Are we just gonna stay here as mosquito food?”

“There are other excuses we can use.” Gao Yang thought of something. “When we went past the auditorium, did you notice a building under construction?”

“I don’t remember it,” said Gray Bear.

“That should be the indoor basketball court,” Xiuyi said in his youthful voice. “I read about it when I looked into the Eleventh High School. The construction is only halfway done at this point in time.”

Gao Yang looked over the trees. Judging by the color of the night sky, there was still quite some time before dawn would break.

“The dorm keeper should be gone,” said Gao Yang. “Let’s check the basketball court under construction.”

None of them disagreed.

They went out of the woods and made sure the dorm keeper wasn’t around before vaulting the metal gate. Then they ran to the indoor basketball court.

The two-storied building was halfway done with the foundation completed, and the scaffolding around it hadn’t been torn down yet.

They dove in and saw bags of cement, bricks, and all sorts of construction tools.

In one of the rooms, they found quite a few futons on the floor, littered with cigarette butts and empty liquor bottles. On the makeshift clothing stand were a few safety helmets and orange vests. And a few pairs of black boots lined the wall.

Gao Yang took a yellow helmet and threw it to Gray Bear. “Put it on.”

Gray Bear did. Gao Yang then asked, “Does he look like a construction worker?”

“He doesn’t look like one, he is one!” Can gave him a thumbs-up with a grin.

Gao Yang did a quick inventory of the helmets and clothes. “These are enough for five of us to play construction workers.”

“Me, me, me!” Can raised her hand eagerly. “I’m in, Captain!”

“Stop playing around.” Gao Yang didn’t even spare her a look. “Gray Bear, Lithe Snake, Xiran, me, and Old Joe will be the construction workers.”

“Captain, you don’t look the part at all!” Can shouted.

Gao Yang grabbed a handful of ash from the ground and wiped it on several parts of his face. Then he put on a helmet and an orange vest, finally a pair of boots.

“And now?”

“Whoa!” Can said with admiration and gave him another thumbs-up. “You’re born a construction worker, Captain!”

Old Joe was a member of the fourth team, so he first turned to Nine Frost for confirmation. Nine Frost nodded, giving him the go-ahead.

Gao Yang said, “Ronnie, Can, Xiuyi, Black Sparrow, standby in the back mountain and keep watch on our supplies and equipment.”

“Black Sparrow, you will be the temporary unit leader,” Nine Frost chimed in. “Radio us if there’s any problem.”

“Leave it to me.” Black Sparrow nodded with her hands behind her back.

“The day will break soon,” said Gao Yang. “Take a quick rest and recover your stamina.”

“Black Sparrow, you four should split into two pairs,” Nine Frost added. “Take turns keeping watch and sleep during the day.”

“Okay.”

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