The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 567: I Love You

“Wake up! Wake up now!”

Qing Ling clenched her right fist and pounded Gao Yang on the chest. “You loser! Get up! You’re not dying, got it?! You’re not!”

She panted, the rubber band tying her hair snapped, and her black strands fell to cover her pale face. Head lowered, she was still clenching her right fist, her knuckles white and her hand shaking.

A drop of tear fell on her fist.

Suddenly, she lifted her head with widened eyes, quickly reaching into Gao Yang’s breast pocket to find a small blue pill bottle.

Isn’t this...Dr. Jia’s resurrection pill?

She suddenly remembered Gao Yang pulling Dr. Jia to the side for a few minutes when they left the Li City airport. When Dr. Jia returned, he had seemed disgruntled.

Gao Yang must have guessed that Dr. Jia had left himself with a pill and “borrowed” it from the man, taking it before the battle.

Relief washed over Qing Ling. She slumped down to the ground.

After a good moment, she finally said through tight lips, “Bastard.”

...

Rumble.

Suddenly, a dark red shimmering light flicked across the ground. Qing Ling felt her body grow suddenly heavy, and her blood threatened to freeze.

With difficulty, she looked up, her eyes filled with despair.

Although the Malediction had lost its form due to Gao Yang, it hadn’t died.

Sealed by Gao Yang’s blood, it could no longer change form and imitate others in order to curse all beings in the world. Skipping that, though, it reached the ultimate stage where it was going to destroy everything.

The ball of entangled black energy strands rotated at high speed, the sound made terrifying, eerie, and incomprehensible. At the heart of the black ball was a flickering dark red orb, which flickered like a pounding heart; it was the core of the Malediction.

With the core as the center, countless dark red blood sigils that were almost black came to form a giant curse pattern, expanding beyond the crater on the ground and almost covering the entire Green Lotus Park.

At that moment, everything between heaven and earth turned an oppressive crimson.

Within the Malediction’s self-destructive force field, Qing Ling felt her energy draining, her vitality declining and wilting. With the last of her energy, she supported Gao Yang with one hand in an attempt to take him away.

One, two... Before she could even take the third step, she fell with Gao Yang.

Rumble.

The dark red force field continued to expand in waves in tandem with the beating red heart of the Malediction. Face pressed against the cool rough ground, Qing Ling couldn’t muster any more strength, and her eyes fell close despite her resistance.

Suddenly, there was a flash of golden light, and the pressure and pain evaporated instantly.

Qing Ling’s blood started flowing again, and her heartbeat recovered its usual pace. Energy slowly returned to her body.

She heard footsteps. With difficulty, she turned to look at the source of the sounds.

A man and a woman were walking toward her, the former wearing suit pants and dress shoes, and the latter wearing high heels and a long dress.

Qing Ling managed to recover enough strength to prop herself up with a hand on the ground, getting a clear look at the newcomers—Gao Shou and Lin Yue.

There was a translucent golden barrier the size of a phonebooth around her, protecting her and Gao Yang. It was created with Absolute Defense.

Past level 4, Absolute Defense could create three barriers of different sizes at the same time.

Just when Qing Ling was going to say something, Lin Yue cut in.

“Qing Ling, the Malediction is going to destroy itself,” Lin Yue said in a cool tone. “Gao Shou and I must stop it, and we alone will be able to stop it. Otherwise, Li City will be razed to the ground.”

“You...knew already?” Qing Ling voiced her question.

“I only knew a few days ago.” Gao Shou glanced at Lin Yue with a smile. “Who would’ve thought that I’d get to be a hero too?”

“I’ve foreseen this day since giving birth to Gao Yang.” Lin Yue sighed softly. “The birth of the Divine Scion is bound to be followed by the birth of the Malediction. It is fate.”

“So whatever we do, it’s all meaningless?” Qing Ling couldn’t accept it.

“You, Tails, Zhuang Mei, and even Yun and I had failed to escape fate despite our best effort, but it’s not in vain. I believe there’s a meaning to our actions.”

Lin Yue looked down at Gao Yang with gentle eyes, who was in a state of apparent death beside Qing Ling. “Child, tell Yang Yang for me that his mom loves him.”

“His dad loves him too.” Gao Yang looked at Gao Yang gently, his gaze filled with the yearning to stay longer.

“No,” Qing Ling said. She could guess what was going to happen. And no, things must not turn out that way. Gao Yang had worked so hard with his life on the line in order to not lose his family.

How am I going to tell him everything once he wakes up? This is exactly what I most hate to do, what I most dread to do, and what I am worst at doing.

Having recovered some of her strength, Qing Ling rushed toward them, only to be stopped by the barrier of Absolute Defense.

“Come back!”

Qing Ling clenched her right fist and pounded on the translucent golden barrier.

“I’m not telling him what you said. You tell him yourselves...”

“Stop! Don’t go...”

Amid the oppressive and evil dark red force field, Gao Shou and Lin Yue walked toward the Malediction hand-in-hand, not hesitating or turning around once.

Gao Shou pulled off the circular jade pendant he had worn for years from his neck.

It was a gift from Lin Yue’s grandmother, and Gao Shou could never anticipate that the old woman had manipulated his future since then.

Still, Gao Shou had to thank her.

If not for her, Gao Shou wouldn’t have found such a beautiful and gentle wife and raised two extraordinary and kind-hearted children, leading a life of no regret in the Mist World.

Yes, he had no regrets.

Even his one regret of not having proposed to Lin Yue properly had been amended tonight with the help of their children.

Gao Shou turned to Lin Yue. “Do you have something to say to me, my dear wife?”

Lin Yue smiled and wrapped an arm around Gao Shou’s neck, standing on her toes to kiss him.

At that moment, she gave Gao Shou all the life monster energy left in her. Only the life monster who had given birth to the Divine Scion had the true holy water without any impurity—the holy water the Tails had been seeking.

Time seemed to rewind to the midsummer twenty-two years ago. The sky was a gentle orange red at sunset. On the rural path surrounded by the chirps of cicadas, warm breeze rustled Lin Yue’s hair and muddled Gao Shou’s gaze.

Lin Yue let go of Gao Shou with blood streaking down from one corner of her mouth. She smiled. “I like you.”

This time, Gao Shou didn’t freeze in shock like he had in the past, and he hadn’t slapped himself to make sure that he wasn’t dreaming.

He knew this wasn’t a dream, but the life he had lived through.

Eyes loving and tone gentle, he said, “I love you.”

As soon as he said that, his eyes quickly became bloodshot before turning a pure, clear white. The jade pendant in his hand floated, the surface melting away to reveal its true form. It was a Rune Circuit made of Black Gold, etched with delicate lines that resembled a circuit board with the pattern of a shield at the center.

It was the last among the twelve Rune Circuits to be found, the Guard Rune Circuit.