The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 781: Agents of Revenge

Blood trickled down from the corners of her mouth. On the disfigured face were two deep-set dark eyes.

“Making her talk is like pulling teeth. We didn’t get anything from her after all the interrogation.” War Tiger was getting a headache.

Azure Dragon, on the other hand, gained a newfound admiration for the enemy. While she had committed great crimes, she was a loyal fighter.

“Stop wasting time. Do it.” Dust spoke in a weak yet haughty voice. “Isn’t Vermilion Bird capable of questioning corpses? I’d like to see if she can question my soul.”

Yan Liang glanced at Surnamed Li. “You’ll make the decision, Deputy Guildmaster.”

“An eye for an eye. She’ll meet a swift end, and we’ll take the body for later questioning once Vermilion Bird returns.” Surnamed Li turned to War Tiger since he was the representative of the Twelve Zodiac Signs. “Does that work for you?”

“Yes.” War Tiger spread his hands and smiled shrewdly. “However, we must be present when you question her body. We’ve put in a lot of effort tonight after all.”

“Of course.”

War Tiger turned to Dust. “Any last words?”

Dust kept her head low, her speech slurring with her on the verge of death.

“Everyone! Lives are original sins, and desires, enemies. Without clarity, it’s doom...”

“When the sacred fire spread across the land, the heretics will be abandoned, and the believers blessed.”

“You’ll sooner or later return to nothingness, while we will reach the otherworld...”

War Tiger scoffed silently. The Godbearer Cult is an asylum for lunatics. The cryptic words can be intel, though. It’s better than nothing anyway.

He turned to Dead Pig and Liu Qingying.

Liu Qingying didn’t show anything on her face. She had been waiting for the day for ten years.

She had thought that she would get hysterical or timid when revenge was within reach, but she was unexpectedly composed, even calm.

It turned out that all her rage and hatred had been exhausted during the ten-year-long investigation and the countless times she missed her dear friend.

Looking at the monster welcoming death, Liu Qingying asked coolly, “Did Little Ba say anything before she passed?”

It took a moment for Dust to realize she was talking about Ba Qiuchi.

Dust lifted Goldthread’s disfigured face with resentful eyes and a taunting smile. “She didn’t make any sound outside of screaming. In less than a minute, her soul got burned to nothing.”

“That so?” Liu Qingying glanced at Dead Pig. The man had more or less recovered; only the long lines of brown scars indicated that he had been injured.

He was carrying a bottle of petrol. With an expressionless face, he went up to Dust and poured the petrol on her from the top of her head and down to the rest of her body, washing away her blood.

“No...no...”

Dust struggled but couldn’t move at all.

She didn’t fear death, but she didn’t want to get burned to death. It was perhaps due to Goldthread, the host, having been through a horrible fire that she knew all too well how terrifying fire was, or perhaps it was because she had burned the soul of many.

Liu Qingying took out a cigarette and exhaled deeply. Gazing at Dust with calm eyes, she said in the same mild voice, “Body should burn a little longer than soul.”

She cast the cigarette at Dust’s face, the embers sputtering.

Whoosh. Great fire suddenly enveloped Dust’s body and devoured her whole.

“Ahhhh!!”

“No...aghhhhh...”

Cruel flames tormented Dust, making her fall off the chair and roll around on the ground. Her screams echoed in the empty, humidly cold church. The wavering fire cast golden light on the stained glass and was reflected back in multiple colors, dancing on everyone’s face and in their eyes.

They all quietly watched the torture Dust was going through.

Liu Qingying watched the burning figure struggle and writhe in pain until it stopped moving, turning into a lump of charcoal. She didn’t even blink. She wanted to commit to memory the slight shift of the light in the church and every lick of the fire; she would remember the burnt smell and every scream ringing in her ears.

Oh, she would remember all the details and replay them in her Sweet Dream for her enjoyment.

A minute later, Dust died, and the fire went out.

Liu Qingying had gotten her revenge, but it didn’t fill her with any joy.

Suddenly, she heard the familiar voice again.

“Liu Qingying! You’re lucky!”

“You’re both a man and a woman. How cool is that?!”

“You’re the blessed child of God and the most perfect work of the maker! Oh, how I envy you! I would love to exchange places with you!”

Ba Qiuchi, you’re wrong.

God’s most perfect work was you. You were too good for this terrible world.

I would love to exchange places with you.

I wish you were the one alive at this moment.

...

Dust died. The charred body was put in a special body bag.

Members of the Ocean River Union and the Twelve Zodiac Signs took a short rest before heading to the station, stealing a bus and heading back to the main city of Snow Nation.

As for Aurora town, it was left in ruins with littering bodies in the aftermath of the fight. There was nothing they could do to clean up the mess, and they didn’t try. They would leave it to the Heavenly Way.

As they drove away, the Heavenly Way was already at work. The ground shook, and the damaged roads and buildings, along with the countless bodies, were sinking down with rumbling noises and disappearing.

It wouldn’t take long for identical buildings to sprout like bamboo shoots in spring. When the day broke, Aurora Town would be good as new like nothing had happened, only it would be a lifeless ghost town like the replica of the Gu Family’s Village in Li City.

One witness stayed alone in Aurora Town, appreciating the Heavenly Way’s conscientious and emotionless way of covering things up. It was a middle-aged man with blond hair and blue eyes, hiding in a crack in the steep bluff of the snowy peak behind the Sacred Mountain Church. Wrapped in a white cape, he was holding a pair of white tactical binoculars. He was entirely covered in snow, almost blending with the mountain entirely.

It was Gao Yang, in disguise.

Tonight’s battle was a trap set up for the Divine Scion and the Nine Scions. As the intended prey, Gao Yang wasn’t going to miss the show. He had long infiltrated the town, but he never planned to make an appearance. Even when his once roommate, Lin Dajian, got hurled into the sky by Azure Dragon and exploded into a soul firework, he watched quietly without moving.

Then he saw the monster primes show up and was treated to the mad spectacle of a monster swarm. He saw Team Azure Dragon fight to within an inch of their lives. And he saw once more the God’s golden line coming from Azure Dragon.

The last time at the Starcatching Pavilion, Gao Yang didn’t get a full view of the golden line since he was one of its targets.

Even Gao Yang had to admit that Azure Dragon remained the top bar in terms of destructive power among awakeners.

Still, Gao Yang didn’t surrender to his desire for revenge and recklessly attempt to kill Azure Dragon while he was weak. And indeed, Yan Liang and War Tiger arrived with a group of awakeners in time to turn the tide.

Gao Yang only had to think with his toes to know that it was Surnamed Li’s Prophet at work. She had seen the future of a monster swarm, and thus she arranged for reinforcements to come.

Not everything that happened tonight was expected, but things went in the general direction Gao Yang had predicted.

Soon, the battle came to an end.

Gao Yang was the first to notice Dust and Clear Mirror running away. At that moment, he finally made a move. He discreetly warned Liu Qingying with level 7 Telepathy.

[Train station.]

He purposefully obscured his inner voice.

And as expected of a shrewd woman like her, Liu Qingying didn’t show any surprise and told everyone that as her own speculation.

Gao Yang had asked himself why he intervened unnecessarily.

For one, he did wish for Dust and Clear Mirror to be captured so that the three organizations—well, two—would follow the leads to the Godbearer Cult.

For another, Gao Yang understood Liu Qingying as a fellow agent of revenge.

After making sure that those from the Ocean River Union and the Twelve Zodiac Signs had left Aurora Town, Gao Yang came out of the crack he had been hiding in and shook off the snow on his cape. With one hand on the rocky wall for support, he looked down at the Sacred Mountain Church and its tall spiral, the cedar forest drowning in white, and the town slowly disappearing in a localized land sink.

You’ve had your revenge, Miss Liu.

It’s now the Nine Scions’ turn.

A gust of wind carrying snow swept over him, rustling the strands of hair falling on his forehead.

Two seconds later, he disappeared from the bluff.