The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 773: It’s Beautiful

The group spent the second day at the hotel, too. There seemed to be no plan to head to Aurora Town. Liu Qingying had stopped urging the leader of the group after her private conversation with Surnamed Li.

It wasn’t until three o’clock on the third day that they snuck into a bus station and stole a bus, heading to Aurora Town.

When the bus arrived at the station, the eight of them, without delay, rushed straight toward the Sacred Mountain Church at the foot of the snowy mountain in the back of the town.

Feather-like snow fell from the night sky, shrouding the town in a white haze. They wore white down jackets that served as camouflage and waded through the snow.

Since Surnamed Li couldn’t move well in the snow in her wheelchair, she sat on Dead Pig’s wide shoulders instead. For someone as large as a mountain like Dead Pig, she was light like a child.

It didn’t take long for the group to reach the entrance to the church.

Liu Qingying said quietly, “This is it.”

“And so we returned,” Azure Dragon said with a sigh.

Colorless frowned. She had no good memory of the place.

“Stay here.” Azure Dragon glanced at Six Rime. “We’ll go in and check things out.”

“Yes, sir.” Six Rime walked up to him.

Azure Dragon warned, “But don’t relax your guard.”

Colorless, Liao Liao, and Zhong He nodded slightly. Without missing a beat, they moved out to circle Surnamed Li, Dead Pig, who was carrying her, and the noncombatant Liu Qingying.

With their six senses pushed to the limit, Azure Dragon and Six Rime walked into the open door of the church.

The interior was damp, cold, and dark. Azure Dragon detected a weak heartbeat as soon as he reached the heart of the main hall, which came from the confessionals not far from him.

Judging by the heartbeat, it didn’t belong to their enemy, but a “regular person”.

Azure Dragon came to a halt, glancing at the confessionals before turning to Six Rime.

Reading his unspoken intent, Six Rime lifted her left hand, and white mist rose from the ground, spreading to the confessionals and seeping through the gaps of the doors.

Ten seconds later, Six Rime nodded at Azure Dragon, meaning there was a regular person inside, and no enemies or trap.

Azure Dragon nodded and went up to the confessionals.

Six Rime conjured an ice sword, throwing it to Azure Dragon. He caught it and easily broke the latch, opening the door.

Inside the cramped space, a young man sat unconscious. His body was tied up by hemp rope. Bottled drinks littered around him.

There was the smell of urine. Azure Dragon and Six Rime immediately held their breaths.

It seemed that the young man had been kidnapped for a few days, his life sustained only by these drinks. His dignity was never considered.

Azure Dragon cut the rope with the ice sword.

“Hm...”

Lin Dajian came to, looking at the two figures outside with bleary eyes. He thought he was dreaming.

The past few days had been a blur of dreams.

He dreamed about Interpol coming to save him again and again, but he always woke up to the despairing reality of being locked up here.

He couldn’t hold in his urine and thus was forced to wet his pants. Every day, a masked man in black would come to feed him a few gulps of drinks roughly before vanishing. He felt like an animal locked in a pig pen.

He didn’t know how long the torment was going to last. Sometimes, he even wished for death to come sooner.

“What’s your name?” Azure Dragon asked.

Lin Dajian started. Finally, he realized that it wasn’t a dream.

“Lin Dajian!” he yelled, overcome with emotions. “I, I’m Lin Dajian! I was kidnapped! Are you here to save me? Please, please get me out of here...”

He was frail and had been immobile for too long, so he fell as soon as he tried to stand up, lightheaded and legs giving out like jelly.

“Don’t be scared. We’re here to save you.” Azure Dragon took two steps back with an impassive face, taking off his long down jacket and throwing it to the floor. “Take off your clothes and put this on.”

“Okay. Okay...” Lin Dajian sobbed. “Thank you...thank you... Thank you so much...”

Lin Dajian couldn’t afford to care about the cold. He quickly stripped down and wiped his lower body roughly with his clean shirt. Then he put on the long down jacket and wrapped it around him.

Azure Dragon and Six Rime stood at the door. Azure Dragon asked, “Can you walk on your own?”

“Yeah, yeah...”

“Come on out.”

“Okay, okay.”

Lin Dajian wobbled out of the church. Outside was a dark snowy land. He looked up to see the snowy mountain, forest, church, night sky, and aurora...

Only then did he realize that he was in a foreign land.

At that moment, the joy of surviving a crisis washed over him like a hot spring despite the cold. He had thought a lot the past few days. Mi Shi was missing. Gao Yang dropped out. Qiu Qiu got killed by a robber. It was said that Room 509 was cursed, and Lin Dajian had to believe them. He almost accepted the fate of going insane until a pitiful death claimed him in the confessionals.

Thank God he didn’t die. He was saved.

It was good to be alive.

Lin Dajian felt genuine relief. He had endured terrible torment and despair for days, and he lived. What awaited him was hope.

He couldn’t wait to go home and take a bath before having a good sleep. He would buy all the discounted games and feasted on meat and alcohol. Oh, and he would confess to Sister Xia. What was so scary about being rejected? It was nothing compared to what had happened to him the past few days.

He laughed and went up to the group in the snow. Were they really his rescue? They didn’t look like a proper team.

“Thank you. Thank you so much...” Lin Dajian broke into tears, overwhelmed. “If not for you...”

“Azure Dragon!”

Surnamed Li suddenly shouted from Dead Pig’s shoulders, interrupting Lin Dajian.

Lin Dajian jumped. He didn’t know what was going on.

Surnamed Li had foreseen the next ten seconds.

“Soul Bomb!” She didn’t have the time to explain further.

Everyone started, their hearts skipping.

Azure Dragon reacted in an instant. Without hesitation, he rushed toward Lin Dajian at supernatural speed and grabbed his elbow, hurling him toward the sky.

Whoosh. A powerful shockwave rippled across the snow under Azure Dragon’s feet.

Lin Dajian felt a great force. Then his world turned upside down. Cold wind whipped past his ears as he launched into the sky like a rocket.

In his blurry vision, he saw the stained glass windows and the tall peaks of the church, followed by the grand snowy mountain and the wondrous aurora in the night sky.

It’s so beautiful.

Lin Dajian had almost forgotten fear, overtaken by an instinctual emotional response.

His world froze at that moment.

Then his soul separated from his consciousness, clumped up by a quickly activating energy and rushing out of his mouth, transforming into a sparkling nebula of dust.

Boom!

Lin Dajian’s soul exploded.

The eight people in the snow looked up and saw the firework of soul blow up in the night sky. Colorful lights danced on their faces. Their gazes were ones of shock and fear.

Thud.

Ten seconds later, Lin Dajian’s body fell back on the snowy ground. He was dead. Dust’s soul bomb had killed him before the freefall could.

“There, on top of the church!” Zhong He shouted at the peak of the church first.

They all followed his finger, and indeed, two tall, slim figures stood on a balcony of the tapered peak of the church—the twin overtaker primes, Clear Mirror and Dust, in the bodies of Luqi and Goldthread.