The Creatures That We Are-Chapter 56: Mist
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Chapter 56: Mist
āWhat Iām going to tell you now will all be in the test, class.ā White Rabbit waved the tongs like she was waving a teacher pointer. āDifferent types of Talents require different Rune Circuits to level up.ā
White Rabbit patted Qing Ling on the shoulder. āLike this girlās Metal belongs to the Element-type. Then she would need Element Rune Circuit to level up. Unfortunately, our organization doesnāt have it.ā
āWhere can I get it?ā Qing Ling asked.
āThere are a total of twelve Rune Circuits in this city, and each of them is one of a kind. They arenāt one-use things, of course, but thereās a cooldown of a few days until they can be used again.ā
āWouldnāt that make the Rune Circuits hot commodities?ā Officer Huang got to the crux of the matter.
āThat doesnāt even begin to cover it,ā White Rabbit said seriously. āPeople literally die for them. Awakeners are all fighting to get their hands on one. Rune Circuits are the top reason for conflicts between awakeners, and eighty to ninety percent of awakenersā death can be attributed to them.ā
āTeacher White Rabbit.ā Gao Yang raised his hand. āI have a question.ā
āAsk away.ā White Rabbit gave each of them a look. āAnd eat. Come on. The meatās gonna go cold.ā
Everyone started moving their chopsticksāexcept for Wang Zikai. He was never one for lectures and had fallen asleep at some point, even starting to snore. The fight at Gu Familyās Village had taken a toll on him.
Gao Yang asked, āYou said that there are only twelve Rune Circuits in this city. What about the other cities?ā
āAh, I almost forgot to tell you the most important thing. You should prepare yourselves...ā White Rabbit said cryptically, and everyone pricked up their ears.
Then Wu Dahai stole the spotlight by interjecting, āThere are no other cities.ā
A stunned silence permeated the table.
Gao Yang broke the silence by asking, āWhat do you mean? There are no other cities?ā
āHaha, idiot.ā Wu Dahai was enjoying Gao Yangās shock. āI meant it literally.ā
āYou all grew up in Li City, didnāt you?ā White Rabbit smiled. āHave you ever left? The suburbs and the rural areas of the city donāt count. I meant if youāve ever truly left.ā
No one gave a positive answer.
Officer Huang put down the chopsticks he had eaten meat with and said, āI started working at a station right after I graduated from the academy, and I had two chances to leave the province for further study. However, both times I wasn't able to make it for one reason or another.ā
Gao Yang sucked in a breath, remembering a well-known movie. āThe Truman Show?ā
The others gasped in realization.
Fat Jun was the only one still wondering what Gao Yang meant. He quickly took out his phone and looked the movie up. He exclaimed, āHolyshit! No way! Thatās...thatās insane!ā
āUnfortunately, itās all true.ā White Rabbit cocked her head and smiled with resignation. āThe four million monsters and the less than four hundred humans are all that make up our world.ā
āBut that doesnāt make sense.ā Gao Yang tried his best to drudge up the memories in his head. āMy dad went overseas with a client before. They even visited the beach and took a lot of pictures. If there were only one city, how could the world operate in such a realistic way...ā
White Rabbit didnāt immediately respond. Instead, she asked, āBack when you were in the underground version of the Gu Familyās Village, you saw the barriers around it, didnāt you?ā
āYes.ā Officer Huangās memory of the village was still fresh. āNo matter how we tried to walk out of the village, we couldnāt. It was unbelievable, like there was a magical barrier of sorts.ā
āLi City was surrounded by barriers like that too. Awakeners have been trying to look for an exit, but so far we havenāt had any luck.ā White Rabbitās words took a sudden turn. āHowever, the city does have official channels.ā
āOfficial channels?ā
āYes. Airplanes, high-speed rails, and highways. They take you to other places, but those destinations are nothing but big bubbles with barriers as well. Donāt even think about getting out of the train or car on the way. Many awakeners have tried. Some even attempted to jump off the plane halfway.ā White Rabbit crossed her arms. āThey all failed. Itās impossible.ā
White Rabbit turned to Gao Yang. āWhen your dad went abroad, he took a plane, didnāt he?ā
āYeah.ā Gao Yang tried to rationalize everything. āYou mean we cannot walk out of the city, but we can go to Naldives[1] on a plane, and on the way, we cannot get off the plane. Not even if I were Superman and could fly.ā
āThatās it.ā White Rabbit nodded. āThereās nothing in the middle. What seems to exist is nothing but an illusion. Of course, itās also possible that there is something in the middle, but itās not open to any humans or monsters.ā
Wu Dahai interjected again. He had something to share about this. āIāve been to Naldives many times, Gao Yang, and I took the time to explore it. I found the border quickly. The place is much smaller than Li City.ā
White Rabbit leisurely enjoyed her food, giving everyone some time to digest all the information.
A minute later, she cleared her throat. āListen to me carefully and do your best to understand it. First, forget everything you learn in geography class.ā
āNow close your eyes and imagine the world as a vast ocean. On the ocean are many isolated islands. Some are big, like our Li City. There is a population of four million with only four hundred humans. Everyone else is a cutie...ā
āCutie?ā Fat Jun cut in.
āThatās what those in our field call monsters,ā Wu Dahai explained.
White Rabbit raised her chopsticks and said, āSome islands are particularly small, like Naldives.ā
āAll islands can only be reached through the official channels, while no creatures can enter the ocean. We can at most walk on the beach and look around. However, what weāre seeing is only the mist on the ocean. No one knows whatās inside the mist. As for how the world came into being, itās a mystery like its past, present, and future.ā
āCrazy.ā Officer Huang took a big drag of his cigarette. āAbsolutely crazy!ā
Gao Yang was reeling with shock as well. His perception of the world broke down entirely. What kind of world had he transmigrated into?
Fat Jun pulled at his hair, on the verge of a mental breakdown.
Qing Ling was the only one completely unfazed by the revelation. She only cared about leveling up.
āI know itās hard to wrap your heads around, but itās the reality weāre facing.ā White Rabbit was just about to explain further when her attention was drawn by the spicy rabbit heads the waiter brought to the table. All thoughts other than digging into her favorite dish evaporated from her head. āTake over, Wu Dahai!ā
There were two rabbit heads on the white plate. They had been roasted to a golden color and glistened red with all the chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns coating them. There was a grotesqueness to the presentation.
Eyes glinting, White Rabbit forewent chopsticks and grabbed a rabbit head with both hands, quickly taking a bite. Red sauces streaked down from the corner of her mouth, and there was a cracking sound of bones breaking every time she chewed. The way she wolfed down the food was in stark contrast with her usual self.
They all spent some time watching White Rabbit devour the rabbit head before Wu Dahai took over the conversation. āWhere were we?ā
āThe twelve Rune Circuits are very precious,ā said Gao Yang.
āAh, thatās right. All awakeners are fighting over them. Our organization has found the Life Rune Circuit. That was why Cute Little Lamb and Dead Pig were able to reach level 4 with their Talents.ā Wu Dahai sounded proud. He lowered his voice and said, āNow that weāve gotten another, weāll study it and find out its type.ā
Wu Dahai gave Qing Ling a look. āI donāt think itāll be Element-type though. Doesnāt feel like it. It wonāt help you push your Metal to level 4.ā
Disappointment flashed through Qing Lingās eyes. She lost interest in what else he had to say and began to eat her plate of spicy rabbit heads.
āHave all twelve Rune Circuits been found?ā asked Gao Yang.
āOf course not! This one included, only six have been found so far,ā Wu Dahai said. āThe other four are with the other organizations. Everyone hides them like the greatest treasure.ā
āWhere are the other Rune Circuits?ā asked Gao Yang.
āWe donāt know.ā White Rabbit had finished about half of the rabbit head. Her lips were red from the stimulus of the spice like she had put on lipstick.
She sucked on her thumbs and forefingers to savor the taste. āIf the first Rune Circuit hadnāt been found by an awakener by chance twenty years ago, no one would even know they existed.ā
āAnyhow, Rune Circuits are all hidden. Some may be found in special domains, some may be with a monster, and others may be accumulating dust in some hidden corner of an antique shop. Basically, awakeners have been looking for treasures all over the city with obsession since the first Rune Circuit was found, and that was when conflicts and deaths started growing in intensity and frequency.ā
Finally having finished her plate of rabbit heads, White Rabbit wiped her mouth with satisfaction. āAlright, Iāve told you the basics. Now letās go over the operation at Gu Familyās Village.ā fr eenovelkiss.com
1. The raw is actually a wordplay of Maldives by replacing the first word āmaā, which means āhorseā, with āniuā, which means āoxā. ?