The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 649: Sea King

Gao Yang knew the basic information of all Qilin Guild members like the back of his hand. Raven Shark’s Talent was Sea King, serial number 48, Summon-type.

Raven Shark was quite a character and rarely participated in any group missions. The former Guild members among the Nine Scions had never seen Raven Shark’s Talent and thus didn’t know how it worked exactly. Moreover, a Talent evolved as it leveled up.

Gao Yang could deduce from the name of the Talent that it was specialized for underwater fights and granted control over marine creatures, at least.

Based on what had just happened, level 6 Sea King also allowed the user to communicate with marine creatures and use them for scouting and battles to a certain degree.

The system’s warnings were proof of that.

The 5, 7, and then 12-time bonuses were most likely triggered by the small fish and shrimps becoming hostile to Gao Yang. As the swarm increased in size, and Raven Shark rushed from underwater after getting notified by the early scouts, their combined force then triggered a 3500 times bonus.

Of course, that couldn’t be the limit to Raven Shark’s power. Raven Shark never intended to kill Gao Yang, and he left after a “greeting”.

That, however, posed an inconsistency. If Raven Shark never intended to kill Gao Yang, there would be no need for him to expose himself. Wouldn’t that be akin to alerting the snake hidden amid the grass?

Raven Shark had a strange personality, but he wasn’t a psycho. It was said that his autism had been under Vermilion Bird’s treatment.

Gao Yang went over the whole thing and quickly came to a realization.

First, it was proven that Raven Shark could communicate with marine creatures and grant them a certain level of intelligence to use them as scouts, the target being members of the Nine Scions. Of course, they were limited to the rivers in Li City, at most including the river banks.

When Gao Yang came to the Old Fisherman Wharf, his disguise prevented the fish from recognizing him. He only took off his disguise for a short minute when meeting up with Chen Ying, during which the fish saw and recognized the leader of the Nine Scions. They then sent the information to Raven Shark, who was nearby.

Raven Shark thus swam over from the bottom of the river.

He must know that he wouldn’t be Gao Yang’s match.

Based on what Gao Yang knew about Vermilion Bird, she wouldn’t have her subordinates recklessly attack members of the Nine Scions, which meant their only job would be to monitor the group.

Raven Shark intended to keep an eye on Gao Yang and determine what he was up to. Then he would report to Vermilion Bird.

Raven Shark hid himself well. He never approached Gao Yang and sent only the fish to watch him. Gao Yang, indeed, was none the wiser.

However, Gao Yang happened to be playing a fisherman and was actually fishing. While he was a complete amateur, he luckily caught a large fish, and the large fish was coincidentally one of the fish assigned to monitor the Nine Scions.

Thus, the other fish granted some level of intelligence became hostile to Gao Yang, which triggered the system’s warning. Gao Yang realized that he was under watch and called a stop to his meeting with Chen Ying, just in time to avoid getting exposed.

What happened next was simple: Raven Shark wasn’t trying to attack or greet Gao Yang, but saving his friend—the large golden carp Gao Yang had caught.

The giant blue whale wasn’t summoned to swallow Gao Yang, but to upend the old ferry and allow the golden carp to escape.

Once that was done, Raven Shark ran.

Anyone else would find it foolish to expose himself to save a fish, but the autistic boy with Sea King saw the carp as a real friend, even more important than colleagues he wasn’t familiar with.

Gao Yang broke into a cold sweat. He was lucky to have caught the fish, or the secret dealing between the Nine Scions and the Hundred Rivers Union would’ve been exposed.

Going forward, he must avoid all rivers, and following the logic, it would be wise to avoid areas with birds, insects, and mammals, or there would be a risk of getting found out by friends of the awakeners with the corresponding Talents.

At the moment, it seemed that there were only two safe ways for meetings, Nine Frost’s Telepathy, and Liu Qingying’s Sweet Dream.

...

The day was short during winter. The sun was already setting when Gao Yang reached the river bank.

He had lost his fisherman hat and sunglasses when getting swept into the river by the giant blue whale, and his fake beard was drenched. The darker foundation he applied to his face was washed away as well, revealing his real skin color. And anyone would notice a drenched person like him.

Luckily, there was a mall nearby. Gao Yang decided to get changed. He had bought the fisherman’s clothes at the mall right before the meeting.

He made it to the back of the mall, which he had scouted out. He teleported right into a changing room of a clothes shop.

He hit the jackpot; the hoodies and jeans the previous customers had tried on were still hung in the changing room. Gao Yang shut the door and quickly changed into a dry hoodie and a pair of pants.

The clothes were a little too big. Gao Yang put on the hood to cover half of his face. Then he walked out of the changing room, paying at the cashier with wrinkled cash—he had dried the money with Fire upon getting out of the water.

With his hands in his pockets, he discreetly walked out of the shop, heading to the exit on the other side of the mall, which led to the home base.

At a corner, a girl happened to be walking toward him from his blind spot, and he failed to react in time, thus knocking into her shoulder.

“Ah.” The girl whined.

“Sorry.” Gao Yang didn’t even look at her as he apologized and continued to walk.

“Gao Yang!” The girl recognized him, however, and she called out in pleasant surprise.