The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 661: Every One of You

Vermilion Bird jumped out of the window on the third floor, rushing across the plaza of the Walled City of Ten Dragons. She didn’t have the time to ride the slow-moving metal cage elevator. Using a small amount of her vitality with Equivalent Exchange, she doubled her physical power and jumped and climbed into Liu Qingying’s restaurant.

Her heart spasmed when she went through the window. There were signs of a big fight. The tables and chairs were toppled, and the air permeated with the smell of blood.

Raven Shark, Bumblebee, Stubborn Weasel, and Crimson Bee lay prone in different parts of the restaurant, their blood pooling and their conditions difficult to tell.

With her back to Vermilion Bird, One Stone was on her knees with her hands pressing into her abdomen. There was a pool of blood under her, too.

“One Stone!” Vermilion Bird shouted and rushed to her.

Not turning around, One Stone stopped her in a pained voice, “Don’t!”

“What happened?” Vermilion Bird listened and stopped approaching her recklessly.

“Haha, here you are.”

Ke Yo laughed.

Vermilion Bird’s head jerked up. Sitting on the cashier counter was Ke Yo, her clothes and face covered in blood and her lips curled into a strange smile.

“Ke Yo!” Vermillion Bird couldn’t believe it. “What did you do?”

Ke Yo hopped off the counter easily and took two steps to Raven Shark, lifting a foot to step on his head. “Nothing. I had a game with the others. It was quite fun.”

Shock and anger rushed into Vermilion Bird’s head. She clenched her fists but didn’t dare to just go up to Ke Yo.

What happened? Did Ke Yo recover her memory? Even so, she would never do something this cruel.

Had Yan Liang ordered Correcting Sickle to implant a large volume of false memories, resulting in her losing her mind?

“You came at just the right time, Sister Xia. I have a special surprise for you.” Still smiling, Ke Yo extended three fingers on her right hand, folding them one by one.

Vermilion Bird’s heart raced on high alert. She extended her six senses and watched out for any unusual energy ripples.

“Three, two...one!”

Ke Yo finished counting down and smirked.

Nothing happened.

There was no realm or attack. Kneeling on the floor, One Stone suddenly turned around. While her face was covered in blood, she was holding a party popper.

She aimed it at Vermilion Bird and pop! Countless thin strands of ribbons and sparkling golden confetti shot out.

Vermilion Bird gaped, stunned.

Raven Shark, Bumblebee, Crimson Bee, and Stubborn Weasel had got to their feet, too, aiming the party poppers they had been hiding at her.

Pop, pop, pop!

Golden confetti danced in the air.

“Happy birthday!” they shouted at the same time.

Click. The light in the restaurant went out, leaving only the kitchen illuminated. Vermilion Bird turned to see Liu Qingying, dressed in a sexy qipao, pushing a small cart to them, carrying a three-layer birthday cake with the candles already lit.

“Happy birthday to you,” she sang softly as she approached.

“Happy birthday to you...” The others sang while clapping, crowding toward Vermilion Bird.

Knowing that she had been pranked, Vermilion Bird wasn’t sure how to feel for a moment.

One Stone came up to Vermilion Bird. Vermilion Bird wiped some “blood” from her face and tasted it. It was ketchup.

The ketchup did smell metallic like blood, though, which was as easy as a bartender making a cocktail for One Stone with Talent: Pharmacist.

“Happy birthday to you!”

When the song was finished, the small cart had reached Vermilion Bird, too. She didn’t even have to count to know that there were eighteen candles on the cake.

“Make a wish, Sister Xia!” One Stone urged.

“I’ll deal with you later.” Vermilion Bird held her hands together before her chest. “First wish, I hope for world peace. Second wish, I hope for good health and safety for everyone I care about. Last wish...”

She kept her eyes closed and made her last wish.

A few seconds later, she opened her eyes and took a deep breath, blowing the candles out with a strong exhale.

“Nice!”

“Yay!”

The claps and cheers created a celebratory atmosphere.

“Thank you for remembering my birthday. I’m touched...” Vermilion Bird’s eyes glinted mischievously. She grabbed a handful of cream and threw it at One Stone’s face.

“Agh!” One Stone cried out, caught off guard.

Realizing that she was in danger, Ke Yo turned to run away from in front of Vermilion Bird, but plop! A blob of cream already hit her on the forehead.

“How dare you prank me!” Vermilion Bird grabbed two handfuls of cream. “And you! You are all dead, every one of you!”

“Ahh! Help...”

A cake fight broke out. It was chaos.

The only one standing around was a tall, oversized young man with a fair baby face, wearing a black T-shirt. Holding a paper plate and a plastic fork, he opened his mouth and closed it, unable to fit in with the crowd going wild.

He was Bumblebee, an Elite of Team Vermilion Bird with Talent: Decaying Particle, serial number 53, Poison-type.

“Get this!” Vermilion Bird had gotten excited. She threw a lump of cake at Bumblebee.

“Throw it into my mouth...” The man opened his mouth to catch it, but plop, the cream cake hit his thick chest and fell to the floor.

Stunned, he looked down at the piece of cake on the floor, heartbroken.

Please stop! I wanna have some cake!

...

After the cake fight, they cleaned up the mess and washed away the cream and ketchup they got on them, changing into the clean clothes they had prepared beforehand. They sat around the table and started having barbecues. It was to celebrate Ke Yo’s official joining and Vermilion Bird’s birthday.

Unfortunately, Xiao Xin was still helping Dr. Jia with an experiment, and Correcting Sickle and Small Luo had been called away to Team Yan Liang, or they would have the full team here.

One Stone was the one who organized the prank. She wanted to give Vermilion Bird a memorable birthday.

And she succeeded. Vermilion Bird would never forget the rollercoaster of emotions the experience gave her.

“Don’t touch me! Stay away!”

A woman shouted at Bumblebee amid the happy chatters.