The Creatures that We Are

Wang Zikai approached the colossal creature. It resembled a wingless phoenix. Its sacred-white skin appeared paradoxically smooth yet metallic, dotted with red spots that resembled congealed blood, grainy like rust on copper.

The creature's head formed a vertical oval, featureless except for a single vertical eye at its center, crackling with crimson energy strands. Its overwhelming wings stretched outward, the bones looking like an amalgamation of organic organisms and machines.

A massive cavity gaped in its oval abdomen—a rotting marsh of flesh and blood where something insidious had gestated before breaking free. Countless tendrils formed its tail, heavily corrupted by red spots like exposed blood vessels.

Wang Zikai launched himself at the monster's chest, targeting where its heart should be. From a distance, he looked like a tiny flying bug slamming into a behemoth—but this bug packed tremendous might. Red shockwaves rippled from the impact point.

The life monster howled, its body tilting backward. Sensing the threat, it swept its wings forward, each one as vast as a commercial plane. Countless white energy currents materialized, slicing through the air at Wang Zikai like razor blades and creating a localized tsunami in the Li River.

Amid the cyclone and tsunami, Wang Zikai curled into a defensive ball. Though unharmed, the force hurled him backward until—thump—something caught him two hundred meters away. He twisted around and realized that it was a wind barrier.

Drenched, Nainai had yet to retreat from the battlefield. Holding onto a lamppost on the riverside to stop herself from getting swept away by the cyclone, she used the last of her energy to stop Wang Zikai from flying away.

"This Empress grants you...waaah...”

Her grip failed, and the winds carried her away before she could finish.

Wang Zikai had no time to dwell on who his helper was. Using the hovering wind barrier as a launch pad, he made another powerful leap. The barrier shattered beneath him as he hurtled toward the monster once more.

An uneasy feeling crept over him, urging him to end this quickly. He channeled his energy, preparing to unleash Grim Reaper's Spear—his name for the retractable bone stings. The Ocean River Union's nickname for him, the Blond Grim Reaper, had delighted him so much that he'd embraced it fully.

"Die, bastard!”

Wang Zikai threw a punch at the life monster’s head, about to use Grim Reaper’s Spear. He was confident in piercing the life monster’s brain with it. But suddenly, his body turned heavy and slow, his energy stuttering uselessly.

Shit, it's Qilin's Statues!

He knew this technique all too well; it had nearly given him PTSD. Qilin had somehow reached the monster's head and caught him mid-leap with Statues. Though Wang Zikai's trajectory remained unchanged, he couldn't summon the Grim Reaper's Spear.

You can do it, Wang Zikai!

Eidos doesn’t work on you! You’re God Kai!

Without Zhang Wei's encouragement, Wang Zikai had to bolster himself. Gradually, the magical power of Confidence returned. His body broke free from the psychic restraint, energy flowing freely once more.

Then a high-pitched, lilting, and sacred shriek pierced the air.

The shriek blazed through the night like crimson moonlight, piercing every living soul within two kilometers, cleansing their minds, perhaps even their very soul.

Wang Zikai's mind blanked completely. He felt no pain, no hurt. It was a curious state of transcendence. His anger and excitement melted away, replaced by an otherworldly serenity. Fighting seemed pointless now; he could be home, sleeping peacefully on his sofa.

None of this mattered anymore, did it?

The life monster's wing bone struck his undefended abdomen like a steel beam. Crash! Wang Zikai plummeted, cratering the concrete levee in an explosion of rubble and dust.

The creature's endless scream echoed across the battlefield. If even Wang Zikai had lost his will to fight, the other awakeners stood no chance.

Members of the Ocean River Union, the Twelve Zodiac Signs, and the Nine Scions—they all dropped their weapons. They reverted to a pure, fragile state of ignorance. Some lasted three seconds, others more than ten.

Chen Ying, War Tiger, Lying Wood, and Gregor hadn’t gotten out of the area of effect in time. They struggled to move for more than ten meters before dropping to their knees. Eyes wide, they kept shedding tears and shaking, helpless and lost like a baby who had lost their mother.

War Tiger had better mental resistance than his companions, but he was still poisoned, and with the two statuses overlapping, he was rendered a helpless lamb on the ground just like others.

And Nine Frost, Azure Dragon, Raven Shark, Dead Pig, Nainai, Hong Xiaoxiao, Heavenly Dog, Mischievous Monkey, Zhong He—none had escaped the two-kilometer radius. Some still fought the effect, others had surrendered to it completely.

Members of the Ocean River Union were the closest to the life monster, and naturally, none of them was exempt. Some were already wailing like actual infants.

Surnamed Li had great mental resistance, but she only fared a little better. She had the same lost expression on her face, her tears dropping nonstop.

Qilin stood atop the life monster's head, blood still flowing from his right eye. His deep connection granted immunity to the creature's cleansing power, but maintaining control of this war machine would drain his energy and psychic power within three minutes.

Three minutes would be enough.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, dividing some of his attention.

...

Two seconds later, Puppet Azure Dragon, which had been in energy-saving mode, opened his eyes with cold flickering green light.

He slowly looked up and scanned the area for enemies. A lifeless corpse naturally wouldn’t be affected by the life monster’s cleansing power.

At the moment, the enemies closest to Azure Dragon were White Rabbit and Fat Jun, who were on one of the bridge piers.

After getting injured and falling into the river, the two had gotten into hiding for a while, only climbing onto a bridge pier after making sure that there was no one watching. Before they could collect their breath, though, the life monster’s shriek hit them from above, and the cleansing power overwhelmed them.

Azure Dragon glanced at White Rabbit and Fat Jun, who were about eighty meters from him. Then he looked at Raven Shark and Zhong He, a hundred meters from him on the river. The two had been forced to surface due to the cleansing power.

Azure Dragon concluded the most optimal solution. His fist clenched, launching an arc of golden energy toward White Rabbit and Fat Jun. Simultaneously, he leaped sideways toward Raven Shark and Zhong He—time was precious. Every target must die.

White Rabbit knelt helpless as the energy rushed toward her like a golden locomotive, casting her pale face in deadly orange light.

"White Rabbit!"

Fat Jun's cry pierced the air.

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