The Creatures That We Are-Chapter 1121: Specific

Gao Yang hesitated, then asked, “Are you crying, Captain?”

“Yes.” Dragon lowered the mug and wiped a teardrop from his face. “People cry when they are sad. Is it so strange?”

“Yeah,” Gao Yang said honestly. “I never expect someone like you to cry. It’s too sudden.”

Dragon narrowed his eyes slightly. “I haven’t cried for many years. I don’t even remember the last time.”

“So you were sad?”

Dragon nodded. “Yes.”

“Why? Because of the Miracle Rune Circuit?” Gao Yang tensed. “Have you glimpsed God as well?”

Dragon shook his head. “I would like to, but no. I just remembered a dream I had a long time ago.”

“What dream?”

“I dreamed that I opened the Gates of Closure but saw nothing.” Dragon smiled ruefully, looking earnestly sad like a child would. “I was sad.”

Gao Yang froze, remembering a dream he had had, of the black and white walls, the marsh and river, the massive tree giving birth to monsters...

“Captain, did you dream of the Gates of Closure because you had been thinking about it?”

Dragon shook his head again. “When I had the dream, Qilin hadn’t even brought up the Gates.”

“No wonder you’ve so staunchly believed the Gates’ existence,” Gao Yang said with realization. “You saw the Gates in your dream long ago.”

Dragon nodded. “It wasn’t a simple dream, but I have no way of proving it to you.”

“I understand,” Gao Yang said. “I once dreamed of a place beyond this world. I believe that to be more than a dream, too.”

“Such is the power of the head and the tail.” Dragon tapped on his temple with an index finger. “Our dreams transcend the present, allowing us to see the past or the future.”

Gao Yang recalled how his consciousness had temporarily inhabited his past self, confronting the entity that wore Nainai's skin in the abyss. A thought struck him.

“Perhaps those weren’t dreams. Perhaps our consciousness has gone to the past or the future, stopping there temporarily. Something like a...the transmigration of the consciousness.”

Dragon considered it. “Perhaps that is the case.”

Gao Yang shared another speculation, “That may be the reason Greed couldn’t pry into mine or your fate. Our consciousnesses aren’t always in this world, and our fates aren’t simply linear.”

Dragon’s eyes lit up with joy, but then the light turned sorrowful. He raised his head and returned the Miracle Rune Circuit to Gao Yang. “Here.”

Confused, Gao Yang didn’t take it. “You need the Rune Circuit more than I do, Captain. My Lucky is only level 6. It’s far from reaching level 8. I don’t even know if it’s possible.”

Dragon nodded. “My Overlord is level 7.”

“Then you should have this,” Gao Yang insisted. “We only stand a chance of winning if you reach level 8.”

Dragon sighed softly. “I’m sorry, Gao Yang. I can’t offer much help in the Battle of the Curtain Call.”

“What do you mean?” Gao Yang didn’t understand. “Are you hibernating again?”

Dragon held his gaze calmly. “I’m not going to sleep anymore. It’ll be forever the next time I go into slumber.”

“Then you... Have you run out of battery?”

“Exchanging a few moves with the death monsters isn’t enough to exhaust me.”

“Then why? I don’t get it.”

“Gao Yang.” Dragon placed the Miracle Rune Circuit in Gao Yang’s hand. “The Battle of the Curtain Call is your mission, not mine.”

“Then what is your mission?”

“That comes after yours.”

“I’m lost.”

Dragon blinked cryptically. “I can’t tell on heaven.”

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Gao Yang swallowed the comment, but he couldn’t just let it go. After a silent moment, he asked, “Are you really not going to join the fight?”

“I will fight,” Dragon said. “But I’m afraid I can’t take on all seven death monsters. I can at most take on one, and it can’t be Pride, the strongest among them.”

Gao Yang took two seconds to process what he just said. “Wait, did that mean you originally planned to take care of all seven of the death monsters on your own?”

Dragon said like it was obvious, “Yes.”

Gao Yang stared. “Captain, are you...being serious?”

“It’s doable if Overlord reaches level 8.” Dragon paused. “I think.”

“You think?” Gao Yang couldn’t help but let a sarcastic comment slip. “How specific.”

Dragon chuckled openly, hearing his unspoken words. “You don’t know how powerful Overlord and Lucky are, Gao Yang.”

“And which among them is more powerful?”

“Lucky,” Dragon said without hesitation.

That surprised Gao Yang. “Why?”

“You’ll know.” Dragon smiled and gestured to the Miracle Rune Circuit. “Take this. Wait until the Battle of the Curtain Call is won.”

“Okay.” Gao Yang pocketed the Rune Circuit and didn’t press further.

As Dragon returned to his coffee, Gao Yang remembered something. “Oh, War Tiger said that you are no longer the leader of the Twelve Zodiac Signs.”

“Yes.” Dragon blew at his coffee. “I’m disqualified.”

“Even so, there’s something I’d like to consult you about.”

“About Ke Yo?”

“Yes.” Gao Yang wasn’t surprised that Dragon would notice; in fact, it would have been stranger if Dragon hadn’t made the connection.

“Go over the issue first,” Dragon said.

“Do you even need me to, Captain?”

“Still, do it. I may have missed something.”

“Alright.” Gao Yang went over the information at hand in his head and shared his deduction:

“Four days ago, Wrath attacked us in Ni Nation. When we fled, I sacrificed a true double. The double sent a message to me by killing himself, leading to me speculating that Greed had taken over Surnamed Li’s body.”

“I confirmed this in Li City—Surnamed Li, Heavenly Godbearer, and Greed were one and the same. Last night's attack proved it.”

“Based on that, I have a hypothesis.”

“I separated from the group in case Surnamed Li’s Fate Slides was used, yet the others were still found. That meant I wasn’t the one Surnamed Li tracked, but someone else—most likely Ke Yo.”

“Now we know that Fate Slides isn’t an ability of Surnamed Li’s Prophet, but Greed’s power.”

“Ke Yo was a member of Tails, serving the Godbearer Cult. It’s very likely that the Heavenly Godbearer—namely, Greed—had done something to her, something similar to what Greed had done to Surnamed Li, only more discreet and with more restrictions. However, Zhuang Mei indirectly severed Ke Yo’s link to Greed. It wasn’t until the summoner prime woke Greed and Greed recovered all its energy that the connection was re-established. Through Ke Yo, Greed tracked down our hideout twice.”

Dragon quietly listened.

“And the death monsters were obviously prepared last night. Wang Shu’s Domain of Night didn’t do any damage, but it neutralizes Talents like Sensory, Telepathy, Avian King, and Strange—large-scale Talents based on willpower. Moreover, you can’t create an Overlord domain. I suspect that all Talents that create a domain, a forcefield, or a barrier may be restricted too.”

Dragon nodded.

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“And according to what Greed said, it’s impossible to glimpse into mine or your fate through Ke Yo’s Fate Slides. That’s been confirmed.”

“Therefore, the death monsters weren’t after me or you the last time, but the other awakeners. The death monsters had initially gone easy for us and bought time to let Greed secretly take over the awakeners’ fates. Greed almost pulled it off, until you showed up, and then I did. The death monsters had to retreat.”

“While the death monsters seem to lack unity, they must share the same overall goal. Everything may still be following Greed’s scheme. Whether Ke Yo likes it or not, she is Greed’s pawn and a major potential threat.”

Dragon nodded. “It’s more or less my conclusion.”

“So,” Gao Yang’s eyes darkened, “We have to do something about Ke Yo.”

“Do you have a plan?” Dragon asked.