The Creatures That We Are-Chapter 1232: Next

Gao Yang, the Divine Scion, and Pride, the head of the death monsters, fought for seven seconds before they turned into two dogs and promptly blacked out.

That summarized what happened.

Having survived a calamity, the awakeners were left staring at each other and wondering what the hell had just taken place.

“Woof!”

“Woof!”

“Woof!”

It was the parrot that broke the silence and reminded everyone that they were still alive, living and breathing in the real world.

“Shut up!” Dr. Jia shot it a withering glare. “You’re an avian, not a mammal. Mimicking everything will only do you harm!”

“Not your business...not your business...”

The parrot flew toward Gao Yang and Wang Zikai.

“Hey! Come back here!” Dr. Jia chased after it.

The others followed.

One Stone examined Gao Yang and Wang Zikai. “Both are in a deep coma, but they aren’t in any danger of dying.”

“Captain just used the triple buff.” Liao Liao turned to Wang Zikai with a complicated expression. “What...about him, though?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Zhang Wei said with certainty. “Brother Kai killed Pride and exhausted himself.”

“You sure?” Old Seven asked.

“Of course I am!” Zhang Wei raised his voice. “Look how nervous he was about Brother Yang. If that’s not Brother Kai, I’d eat shit while doing a headstand!”

“Anyone with eyes could tell that,” Old Seven clarified. “I mean that...will Pride not return?”

Zhang Wei paused, his confidence crumbling.

“No one knows if his monsterhood has only been temporarily suppressed, or killed.” White Dew stared at Wang Zikai darkly.

“Yeah.” Dr. Jia nodded. “There’s the possibility that he’ll wake up as Pride. Then it will be even stronger without the Three Double-Hours of Heavenly Tribulation suppressing him.”

“That’ll be...bad,” Quiet Book said with a pale face.

“Then what do we do?” asked Sun Hu.

“Killing him now will be the obvious answer,” Gregor voiced the thought everyone had, yet the suggestion still startled them.

“But...” Hong Xiaoxiao hesitated.

“But?” Gregor asked with a smile.

“I don’t know. I just think...” Hong Xiaoxiao mustered her courage and spoke her mind. “That’s wrong.”

“Because your rationality and your conscience do not align,” Gregor said. “Pride is our enemy, but Wang Zikai is our friend and savior. Our conscience doesn’t allow us to kill our friend and savior just because we’re afraid of our enemy showing up again.”

The others nodded in agreement.

“How about this?” Gregor said. “We leave the decision to Gao Yang. He’ll decide what to do once he wakes up.”

“What if Wang Zikai wake up first?” White Dew asked.

“Then we’ll see what awaits us,” Gregor responded with a shrug.

Liao Liao smiled wryly. “Good job avoiding the responsibility, Mr. G.”

“Do you disagree?” Gregor asked.

“I’m all for it!” Liao Liao raised her hand. Love not taking the responsibility! Hooray!

“I agree,” One Stone said.

“Works for me,” Old Seven said. He could now go with the flow. “We’ve done what we have to do today. We’ll leave tomorrow for the future us!”

“Nicely said!” Zhang Wei concluded. “Our mission tonight is to win the Battle of the Curtain Call. And we won!”

He took a deep breath and declared, “Today, humanity lives!”

The words rang and echoed. They all remembered belatedly their reason for going into this fight. Wasn’t it to hear those words?

Humanity lives.

It was just that the victory felt different than what they expected.

Lovely Lamb spoke up then. Holding Quiet Book’s hand, she stared at Zhang Wei with wide eyes. “The evil dragon is dead. What’s next?”

That stumped everyone.

“Next...” Zhang Wei was going to come up with a lie, but he couldn’t say it. He deflated. “I don’t know.”

Lovely Lamb turned to Gregor.

Gregor crouched down with difficulty and patted her head. “The fight is over, Little Lamb, but the story is not. Tonight isn’t a period, but an ellipsis.” freewebnøvel.coɱ

Lovely Lamb lowered her head sadly, understanding only some of it. The evil dragon was dead, yet the others didn’t return, and there was no happy ending. It wasn’t what had been promised.

Finally, she realized that the adults had lied to her. Winning the fight did not lead to a happy ending.

Tears fell down her cheeks. She let go of Quiet Book’s hand and crouched down, sobbing quietly.

The adults looked at her, not having the words to say to her or the means to make things better.

Rustle. Soft footsteps approached. They turned around and saw a beautiful young man in a white robe slowly walk up to them, his silver hair flying and his heterochromic eyes glinting.

Dragon.

Their hearts skipped a beat.

Strange. Dragon was supposed to be one of their own. At this moment, though, he seemed so foreign and distant to them, not appearing as benevolent or hostile.

Dragon had always been a mystery. Now, he had become the absolute strongest being in the Mist World. No human or monster could rival him...or even meet his eyes.

His presence itself intimidated, instilling unease and fear in others. The feelings could not be offset by rational thinking.

Dragon could sense the change in how they saw him, but he didn’t seem affected.

He walked toward the crowd. Everyone made way for him in silence.

Dragon went up to Gao Yang and Wang Zikai. With a lift of his hand, the Miracle Rune Circuit returned to Dragon.

That broke everyone out of their stillness. Something gnawed at them. Most people here were members of the Nine Scions. They followed Gao Yang first and foremost. Yes, they had united when facing the threat of the death monsters, but now that the death monsters were gone, they remembered they had belonged to different factions.

Even so, no one dared to say anything.

Outside of Zhang Wei.

“Hey!” He went up to Dragon in irritation. “What are you doing, Dragon? How could you just grab that while he’s asleep? Brother Yang isn’t a petty man. You can just take the Rune Circuit once he’s awake.”

The air froze, the chillingness rushing into everyone’s lungs.

Some cursed in their mind, Are you out of your mind, Zhang Wei?!

Others were screaming, Fucking A, Zhang Wei!

Dragon regarded him calmly and said in a soft voice, “I’m running out of time.”

“For what?” Zhang Wei asked.

“Reaching level 8 with Overlord,” Dragon answered.

“Oh.” Zhang Wei nodded. “You mean that you have to reach level 8 as soon as possible for a strong enemy in the future?”

“A strong enemy?” Dragon said thoughtfully. “Perhaps.”

“So you don’t know?” Zhang Wei became even more confused.

“Hm.” Dragon nodded. “I don’t know.”

He turned to leave.

“Wait!”

Liao Liao called out, finally overcoming her instinctual fear.

Nine Frost had sacrificed himself. Gao Yang and Qing Ling were unconscious. She had to step up for the Nine Scions. She couldn’t just let Dragon walk away, or she wouldn’t know how to explain to Gao Yang later.

Dragon stopped, but didn’t turn around.

“Captain Dragon,” Liao Liao said with a lightness she decidedly didn’t feel. “Where...are you going? Are you not returning with us?”

“I’m not,” Dragon answered.

“Then...”

“Tell Gao Yang that he’ll see me when it’s time.”

With that, Dragon walked away.

Liao Liao fell silent, her mouth agape. She had a strong feeling that she shouldn’t keep asking, or things would be bad.

“Hey—”

Zhang Wei’s words were muffled by Liao Liao’s panicked hand. Under the white moon, Dragon walked alone upon the wasteland, soon vanishing like a fleeting dream.

Liao Liao let out a sigh of relief and let go of Zhang Wei. “At least we’re still alive... Let’s wait for Captain to wake up...”

Zhang Wei nodded despite the lingering frustration. “Fine.”

The others stared at the horizon. They felt out of kilter, like mismatched socks in a drawer.

Suddenly, a line of gold shone through the grey horizon. It spread before rising slowly. A bleak yet gentle morning breeze blew, awakening the colors of the world.

Gone was the white moon. The dawn broke.