The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 402: Eureka

Gao Yang originally planned to pull from the Time-Space, Poison, Element, and Support-type once he had accumulated enough Luck points; Alcoholic’s Time-Space Spirit, X’s Pestilence, Lilia’s Elemental, and Scarlet Fox’s House were now released back into the pool.

Well, White Tiger’s Absolute Defense and Black Tortoise’s Puppeteer were, too, but he excluded the former since the Guard Rune Circuit hadn’t been found, meaning the Talent would be stuck at level 3, while the latter worked in such an insidious way that it went against Gao Yang’s moral code to choose it.

Looking at the claw machines of Time-Space, Poison, and Element, however, Gao Yang realized how many unclaimed Talents there were.

Even the one with the least Talents, the Time-Space machine, had five small nebula-like clusters of energy floating inside.

According to his past experience, it would take on average three attempts for him to comprehend a Talent successfully, which would take him 1440 Luck points!

Even though his Talent had leveled up and thus his chance of success increased, it would still take him two times at least, which would require 960 Luck points, not an amount he could just squander.

If he had gotten a Talent outside the top 100 instead of a powerful one, he would suffer great loss.

The Support-type claw machine did have fewer Talents left—three, one of them must be House.

Gao Yang had learned from Vermilion Bird about the mechanisms of House. Combined with Vermilion Bird’s Equivalent Exchange, it was a Talent with remarkable abilities. If his Luck had an effect inside the realm of House, too, it would be a game-breaking combo.

Think about it, if I run into an enemy who’s much more powerful than I am, and I use House to forcefully make our odds even, betting part of our lives and hurting them at the cost of hurting myself, won’t my teammates get to make the final blow, while I get healed by Vermilion Bird’s Equivalent Exchange? That’s the perfect strategy, isn't it?

And Vermilion Bird and Scarlet Fox had pulled off the same trick many times. Unfortunately, Miao had already made a move that would ensure mutual destruction back then, which couldn’t be stopped even if Scarlet Fox critically injured Miao. Therefore, he could only take Miao with him to stop the skill from triggering.

Nevertheless, it took a few seconds for House to activate.

It was far from easy to restrain an opponent for a few seconds in a fight between powerful individuals.

No matter how amazing a Talent House was, at the end of the day, it was a move to trap someone in one’s energy realm. An opponent at the level of a pride monster would be able to easily detect the energy disturbance when a realm was formed and avoid it.

The enemies Gao Yang would face in the future would be no lesser than pride monsters. Thus, while House sounded powerful on paper, there were many variables to consider in a real fight.

Wait, am I thinking about combos now?

Ha, Teacher War Tiger, I’m following your example in the end.

Gao Yang looked at the three clusters of energy inside the claw machines and made up his mind.

As soon as he had enough Luck points saved up, he would attempt to comprehend a Talent. If the other types of Talents remained as numerous as they were now, and House was still unclaimed, he would pull for a Support-type Talent, trying his luck on the one in third chance.

The three organizations were getting increasingly wary of each other though. There was no telling if whoever comprehended a top 12 Talents would let others know about it. It was likely for such people to keep their Talents hidden as a trump card.

Gao Yang sighed. He felt a headache brewing. It was so very difficult for someone to get stronger quickly without turning to the dark side.

Things were much easier for psychopaths like X. He simply resorted to the insidious plan of killing all awakeners with poison so that he could take his time comprehending all the Talents.

What an irony that the rule-abiding ones had to struggle, while the rulebreakers often got what they wanted.

However, could those who had broken rules and forsaken principles and morals still be considered humans? Or were they worse than monsters?

The nature of humans.

The nature of monsters.

...

Realization struck Gao Yang suddenly, and he broke into goosebumps.

Could the correct answer pride monsters were looking for be the divine nature?

How could the divine nature be found in the Mist World, where human nature and monsters’ nature ran rampant?

Was that why Sir Zuo wanted to help X become God? Because the pride monster believed that by acquiring the power of a god, X would gain the nature of one too?

Hm, that’s a possibility.

Overjoyed with his eureka moment, Gao Yang couldn’t wait to share it with his only witness. When he turned around, however, bunny girl White Dew wasn’t there.

“System, where are you?”

“Yes?” White Dew’s gentle, careless voice came from another direction.

Gao Yang turned to the source of the voice, only to see White Dew standing before a pool table.

Under the hazy, disorienting light, she bent down with a cue stick, her sensuous body pressed to the table. With one eye closed, she adjusted the angle of the stick.

The arousing movement, the captivating posture, the dignified presence, the alluring air... She wasn’t hitting the ball into the pockets, but Gao Yang’s virgin heart.

“Ahem.” Gao Yang turned away awkwardly. “Nothing. Go on.”

Dear Fresh Snow, what kind of memories do you have in that little head of yours?

...

The next morning, Gao Yang woke up at seven o’clock. He had been sleeping a lot less ever since his awakening.

To his surprise, Mi Shi was awake before him. He stood on the balcony outside, doing tai chi under the warm morning sun.

After the exercise, he returned to the room to find Gao Yang already washing up. Surprised, he asked softly with a smile, “I’m heading out for breakfast. Are you coming with, or should I get takeout for you?”

“Let’s go together.” Gao Yang wanted to get to know the campus better.

Mi Shi and Gao Yang went to the cafeteria for breakfast, getting two portions of takeout back to their room.

Lin Dajian had woken up by then, leaving Qiu Qiu the only one lying prone on his bed with a massive hangover, speaking in a pained voice that could be confused with sleep-talk. “My...my head hurts. I can’t get up... Answer the roll call for me...”

At eight o’clock, Gao Yang, Mi Shi, and Lin Dajian went to their core class together.

Having missed a month's worth of classes, Gao Yang couldn’t be more confused, but he did his best to take notes and cram the information into his head, planning to look to Mi Shi for some private tutoring.

Came noon, the three of them went to the cafeteria for lunch.

Still hungover, Qiu Qiu showed up too in full getup, looking well put together—if a little overdressed. He sauntered over their table and sat down.

“You aren’t eating anything?” asked Lin Dajian.

“No, I asked a lady out. We’re having steak.” Qiu Qiu flipped his hair casually.

“You got rejected yesterday, and now you’re on to your next target?” Lin Dajian teased. “Are you a playboy or what?”

“What do you know? This is what we call stop loss!” Qiu Qiu took out his phone and opened a picture on his social media. “Look, this is my date. She’s a sophomore. Isn’t she hot?”

Everyone put down their chopsticks and leaned in for a look. Gao Yang glanced at his screen too and almost choked on rice.

It was a fit girl with tanned skin and bright, confident smile, dressed in a tight yoga shirt and pants and taking a selfie with her phone before a full-length mirror.

Underneath the picture was a popular meme, ‘Do you even lift, boy?’

Isn’t this Zhou Jing, Can’s roommate?

Gao Yang had met the girl back when they went to the Eleventh High School at night with Niu Xuan and his lackeys. Thinking back, that felt like a lifetime ago.

“She’s fit, but her face and overall look are far from Qing Ling’s level.” Lin Dajian was blunt.

“Beauty is multi-faceted, bro,” Qiu Qiu insisted. “I don’t blame you for not having the eyes to spot it. Old Shi would’ve understood...”

“Hahaha!” Lin Dajian laughed even harder.

Gao Yang wasn’t sure what was so funny about all that, and he looked confused.

Lin Dajian glanced at his phone. “Oh, it’s Wednesday. Old Shi, it’s time for the elective class taught by your goddess!”

Mi Shi’s face flushed. “Stop telling jokes like that! It’s inappropriate! I just like her classes.”

“Old Shi!” Qiu Qiu smirked. “You’re a good guy, but you can be so fake sometimes! Hunger and lust are but parts of human nature. What’s so wrong about liking women? What’s so wrong about having a crush on a married woman? While Cao Mengde may be dead, his spirit lives on...[1]”

“Enough already.” Mi Shi’s face darkened, his gaze turning threatening.

“Alright, alright. I’ll stop. You know I run my mouth a lot. I’ll stop joking.” Qiu Qiu grinned and looked at his phone again. “Folks, my date is calling me. I’m off. Wait for my good news!”

After he left, Mi Shi turned to Gao Yang suddenly. “Do you want to come with me to the elective class, Gao Yang?”

Gao Yang was surprised by the invitation. He asked with a smile, “What’s the class?”

1. It’s sort of a running gag in China that Cao Cao had a thing for married women, and those who covet married women are often called cao zei, literally a thief with the surname Cao. ☜

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