The Creatures That We Are-Chapter 1108: Emergency Retreat

“It was purely a coincidence that Ba Qiuchi encountered me. Ripples of causality did happen between us, but the ripples were slight. It was still her own causality that determined her decisions and actions. I’ve calculated it on my Chessboard of Causality multiple times. No new paths were forged out of that.”

“Actually, I’ve calculated all the futures all of you may meet—the existing futures—and only when one future becomes reality will the other futures disappear.”

“I’ve seen the futures of when and where you’ll die as well. I’ve been doing the calculations every day, and the probability of each future is constantly changing.”

“Death is a great causality. I’ll never interfere with it.”

“At the end of the day, I’m only an indifferent spectator. I clap when you put on a show I want to see. No more, no less.”

Gao Yang nodded. “Very much like the Heavenly Way.”

“Yes, it seems you’ve figured it out,” Baili Yi said approvingly. “A Talent’s level-up always comes with great emotional surges and cementing resolves because that is when a choice is made. The Heavenly Way sees the choice and responds accordingly.”

“Heaven helps those who help themselves,” Gao Yang was reminded of the saying.

“That’s right.” Baili Yi smiled wryly. “And my calling may be acting as Heavenly Way’s cane. They are too old to walk on Their own.”

Gao Yang fell silent. They quietly drank their coffee, looking at the airport shrouded in the darkness of the night.

After a while, Gao Yang said, “I have a secret that I’ve never told anyone. It’s thanks to that I’ve survived to this day. However, the secret is a mystery to me too. I don’t understand it at all.”

Baili Yi quietly listened.

“If I tell you the secret now,” Gao Yang said, “Will it influence the causality of this round?”

“It’ll be your decision to tell me voluntarily, which won’t influence causality much. However, if I happen to know the answer to your secret and give you advice, causality will be influenced, even changed.”

“So there’s no point in telling you,” Gao Yang said. “You can only listen.”

“Afraid so. While it doesn’t matter to you, though, it will matter to me.”

“Why?”

“If I have more information on you, my calculations with the Chessboard of Causality will be more accurate. Perhaps that’ll allow me to see the further future.”

Gao Yang didn’t respond to that.

Baili Yi glanced down at his watch. “No rush. You may give it some consideration. We’ll chat later.”

Gao Yang started. “Something’s happening?”

Baili Yi smiled without a word. With a wave of his hand, he turned into a flash of white light, returning to the diary. At the same time, the surveillance cameras all around him malfunctioned for a moment.

Gao Yang pocketed the diary, waiting for the enemies to come. He wasn’t surprised. In fact, he welcomed an attack. While he couldn’t defeat the death monsters now, he wouldn’t be easily killed. And a fight might give him more information to better prepare for the final battle.

A minute passed.

No threat struck. Instead, his phone vibrated with an incoming message. What arrived was a preprogrammed text from Vermilion Bird, detailing her current hideout.

Gao Yang's heart lurched. The coded message meant that the death monsters had found Vermilion Bird and the others! He didn’t expect his companions to be the ones ambushed!

He quickly tapped into his energy.

Shit, I used Spatial Migration three days ago, so I need another three minutes to use Spatial Jump!

Just three minutes!

Gao Yang could force a premature Spatial Jump, but doing so would damage his energy pathways. He hadn't completely recovered from the death of his true double days ago. Compounding the damage would leave him severely weakened when he needed his strength most.

Gao Yang was put in a dilemma. If he rushed to his companions’ rescue now, he might lose the power to save them; if he waited the full three minutes, he might miss the critical window to save anyone at all.

Gao Yang activated Psychic Armor and made the most optimal decision: wait for the cooldown to end instead of forcing a Spatial Jump. If he sensed Qing Ling’s, Vermilion Bird’s, or War Tiger’s Golden Armor activating, that would mean his companions hadn’t successfully escaped and were forced to face formidable threats. Then Gao Yang would immediately rush to their rescue even if he had to damage his energy pathway.

He took a deep breath and sat down, eyes closed.

He quietly prayed that the Golden Armor didn’t activate, at least not in the next three minutes.

...

Basketball court, a town middle school, West Nation.

“Ah!”

Sunny cried out. Those who were awake stopped what they were doing, and those who were asleep jerked awake, turning to her.

“Run! Danger!”

Sunny’s Crisis Alert had reached level 4 with the Guard Rune Circuit. She could sense an incoming danger to herself or someone close to her 5 seconds to 1 minute ahead of time; the greater the danger, the earlier she could sense it.

Based on what had happened three days ago, Vermilion Bird, War Tiger, and Nine Frost had formulated a set of complex, thorough emergency responses.

Nine Frost and Chen Ying was the first line of detection. Sunny, the second. Everyone else stayed close to Sunny to maximize the efficiency of Crisis Alert.

Vermilion Bird and War Tiger scowled. Something had happened to Nine Frost and Chen Ying! Then they realized: the enemies were coming!

How did the death monsters find them so easily when Gao Yang wasn’t with them? This wasn’t the time to dwell on the question.

“Retreat!” Vermilion Bird immediately called out.

Everyone sprang to action. They had been conducting the drills thrice every day.

“Dimensional Storage!” Raven Shark opened a subspace.

“Portal!” Wandering Tune quickly conjured a portal the size of a manhole. The other end of the portal, same in size, was in a hidden place a kilometer away.

They would rush into the dimensional storage as quickly as they could. Then Raven Shark would shut it down and flee through the portal, jumping into the nearby river for a swift retreat via the waterway.

“Hurry!” War Tiger urged. “Those who can’t fight, first—”

Swish. Suddenly, fierce gusts whooshed past them. The group came to a halt, eyes wide with confusion like time had stopped.

A second later, three horizontal crimson lines sliced through them. Their bodies scattered into piles of flesh and blood.

War Tiger's head fell to the ground, mouth agape in frozen surprise. It hit a basketball, which rolled along the pooling blood and came to rest against a severed hand wearing a Black Gold ring.

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Blades of wind rained down once more, this time vertically slicing through the gymnasium, cubing the body parts on the floor.

The building collapsed in sharp pieces, bringing up ripples of dust. The rubble buried the severed body parts, dyed crimson by the voluminous blood.

Upon the ruin, a large round moon hung in the sky, casting the world in an eerie silver.

A chuckle drifted in the air.