The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 765: Ocean River Union

Office of Deputy Guildmaster, underground base of the Ocean River Union, Nanji District, one o’clock in the afternoon.

Surnamed Li sat in her wheelchair with her body leaned back and her eyes closed at rest. The Qilin Guild and the Hundred Rivers Union had officially merged to form the Ocean River Union. All members of the Guild—outside of the still unconscious Xiao Xin—had arrived at the Union’s underground base.

They held a grand banquet for solidarity, where Qilin and Surnamed Li each gave a pompous speech. The whole ordeal was a meaningless but necessary process to go through.

Then the teams were rearranged. The job posts, responsibilities, resources, and interrelationships all had to be taken into consideration. Suffice to say that it was the most headache-inducing task to finish.

Qilin was in charge of only the decision-making. The administrative matters were entrusted to Surnamed Li with Yan Liang as support. The two talked to each of the members and listened to their needs, priming them for their new role.

Surnamed Li had been busy with work since last night and hadn’t had any shuteye.

After lunch, she finally had some time to take a break. The door opened then to reveal Yan Liang in his mask with lopsided features.

Surnamed Li immediately woke up.

“Did I wake you?” Yan Liang asked.

“No.” Surnamed Li put on the glasses hung on her neck. “Do you have the list?”

“It is done.” Yan Liang handed her a list politely. “Please have a look, Deputy Guildmaster.”

Surnamed Li took the list and went over it.

Guildmaster: Qilin

Deputy Guildmaster: Surnamed Li

Elders: Yan Liang, Azure Dragon, Colorless, One Stone, Liao Liao.

Team Yan Liang: Zero Hatred (Protector), Chaos Reflection, Correcting Sickle, Succubus, Xiao Xin, Miss, Harvest Song, Void, Sunny, 0618, Nomad.

Team Azure Dragon: Six Rime (Protector), Flower Turtle, Forest Crane, Old Lion, Flower, Bumblebee, Donxote, Wandering Tune, Tall Sky, First Firelord.

Team Colorless: Amon (Protector), Canary, Jing Ke, Rewind, Lin Fu, Musashi, Stubborn Weasel, Crimson Bee, Old Seven, Small Luo, Veggie.

Team One Stone: Rain River (Protector), Jiang Hao, Great Fortune, Citrus, John Doe, Tofu.

Team Liao Liao: Cold Cicada, Sister Ling, Ting Ting.

Yan Liang added, “Zhong He took some people to the Twelve Zodiac Signs, and Liao Liao insisted on not being an Elder. Thus, their former subordinates were assigned to different teams according to their will. The synergy of Talents was also considered.”

“Vermilion Bird’s on a long-term secret mission, so her team is also split up and reassigned. I make One Stone an Elder mainly in charge of medical treatment and support with fewer members. When there’s a mission, the members will be assigned to other teams.”

“With Liao Liao, I kept her title as an Elder, but she’s in charge of intelligence and coordination work and generally doesn’t have to go to the frontline. She agreed.”

“Elders are considered equals. All major decisions must be made with the agreement of half of the high-ranking members. The Guildmaster and the Deputy Guildmaster each have their veto power.”

“That’s it.”

Surnamed Li lowered the list. “Qilin promised me that we would deal with Dust after the merging of our organizations. It’s something that must not be delayed. The original members of the former Hundred Rivers Union harbor great resentment for Dust.”

“Don’t worry,” Yan Liang said. “We must kill Dust and the Divine Scion. We’re doing both at the same time.”

Surnamed Li nodded. “I have nothing else to say.”

“More and more people are comprehending new Talents these days. Liao Liao will have every member register their Talents and compile a file this afternoon. Guildmaster has already approved.”

“I approve too.” Surnamed Li waved him away. “Get on with your work.”

“Then I’ll take my leave.” Yan Liang turned to walk out of the office, closing the door behind him.

Surnamed Li leaned back into the seat and relaxed, closing her eyes. Her breathing soon evened, and she fell asleep.

...

Spectres’ Mansion in the remote forest, Xijing District, early morning.

Gao Yang had procured a secondhand sofa. While it was worn, it was comfortable and allowed one to sink into it, which helped Gao Yang have short naps.

Suddenly, he jerked awake, hearing light footsteps approaching him.

He looked up to see Can. She was holding a phone with the screen’s light cast on her face. She looked hesitant.

“Cap-captain...”

“You’re here for me?” Gao Yang asked.

Can hesitated before nodding.

“Come here and talk.”

“Okay.” Can sat down next to Gao Yang and handed Gao Yang the phone. “I couldn’t sleep, Captain, so I checked the social media of my old friends in private mode. I saw an update from Sister Zhou. This was posted yesterday...”

Gao Yang had already seen it.

It was a long post: Is Room 509 of the Li City University cursed or something? Please, please don’t let there be another incident!!

There were comments asking Zhou Jing what happened. Zhou Jing responded patiently. It turned out that Room 509 was found covered in blood with Lin Dajian nowhere to be seen. The initial theory was that he had been kidnapped.

“Captain, can it be...” Can didn’t have the courage to say it.

“Luqi. And Dust, too.” Gao Yang already had a conclusion. “They grabbed Lin Dajian to try to lure me out.”

“What do we do?” Can was lost.

“Let me see.” A voice interrupted. It was Nine Frost, who had just returned from a patrol and overheard their conversation.

He took the phone and quickly came to a conclusion. “This is obviously a trap, Captain, but we can step into it on purpose to secretly track down the enemies.”

“No.” Gao Yang rejected the proposal. “We do nothing.”

Nine Frost frowned slightly. “Nothing?”

“Yes, nothing.”

Nine Frost was quiet for a moment. Then he accepted the order with a nod.

“Go rest.”

Gao Yang ended the conversation there before lying back on the sofa and closing his eyes.

Can tiptoed back into her room with the phone. Nine Frost returned to his room, too, which was actually a small storage room with a hard mattress.

He closed the door and lay down on the mattress. Sleep eluded him. He reached his right hand into his pocket and took out an armband with the number 4 sewn on it. Faint blood stains lingered still.

He stared at the armband and slowly tightened his grip.

Someone knocked then.

Nine Frost was immediately alerted. “Who is it?”

“Your big brother!”

Nine Frost paused before answering the door. Wang Zikai stood outside in childish yellow pajamas, his blond hair thick and messy. He declared openly, “I can’t sleep.”

“So?” Nine Frost snorted. You don’t expect me to sing you a lullaby, do you?

“Actually,” Wang Zikai had difficulty saying it. “Well...”

“Just be out with it.” Nine Frost didn’t like beating around the bush.

“The thing is...” Wang Zikai scratched his face, his eyes darting around. “You’re too weak, so I’m gonna teach you a few basic martial arts techniques.”

“What?” Nine Frost thought he had heard him wrong. He was weaker than Wang Zikai, yes, but in terms of hand-to-hand combat techniques, Wang Zikai set the low bar.

“Ahem.” Wang Zikai corrected himself. “I’m not teaching you per se, but why don’t we have a sparring session?”

Nine Frost smiled. “You want to learn hand-to-hand combat from me.”

“What? Why would I need to learn from you?!” Wang Zikai was worked up, but he kept his voice down to prevent others from hearing. “Make no mistake. I have the serial number 0 Talent, Destiny...”

“Then pretend I didn’t say anything. I’m going to sleep.” Nine Frost made to shut the door mercilessly.

“Hey, wait...” Wang Zikai stopped the door with a foot and laughed awkwardly. “Nine Frost, teach me. But you must keep it a secret. You know I’m the actual leader of the Nine Scions. It’ll be humiliating if the others know that I need to learn from you. It’s not my reputation that’s at stake here, but Nine Scions’...”

“I’ll keep it a secret.” Nine Frost was pleased. Wang Zikai was strong, but it would be good for the Nine Scions for him to get even stronger.