The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 1020: Similar Words

“Don’t be nervous. I’m just chatting.” Vermilion Bird lit another cigarette with a smile. “You’re the only one without an S Chip on our team. I want to hear a different perspective.”

Gao Yang didn’t respond.

“I know you believe everything you’re seeing to be fake, that we’re merely figments of your imagination. You’ve never really trusted us.”

“I’m sorry,” Gao Yang admitted openly. “I cannot and do not dare to believe this world, or everything will be a joke—what I believe in, the effort I’ve made, the sacrifices, what I love, what I’ve lost.”

Vermilion Bird’s gaze softened as she considered his words. “When we first met, I had a strong feeling that we knew each other.”

Gao Yang smiled faintly. “Did Can tell you about my dream?”

She nodded. “She said your dream starred people sharing our names. To be frank, I don’t consider that a mere coincidence. Perhaps you have a superpower allowing you to see the future in your dream.”

“Give me your hand.” Gao Yang reached out to Vermilion Bird. “I’m going to show you something.”

Vermilion Bird took his hand and accepted the dream sequence he sent her with his I Chip. Her left eye flickered as she went through it quickly in her head.

It was Gao Yang’s memory of meeting Xia Li for the first time in the morgue, in the Mist World.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you. I just did a necropsy and didn’t get to wash my hands.”

“Huh?”

“Good news is I was wearing gloves.”

“Oh.”

“Bad news is I took them off mid necropsy.”

“What?”

“Good news is I was cutting up a small animal.”

“Ah.”

“Bad news is the small animal was a poisonous monster.”

“Huh?” @@novelbin@@

“Good news is I’ve been making all that up.”

“Right.”

“Haha.” Vermilion Bird pulled back and laughed. “The woman’s fun. Is she the one with my name in your dream?”

Gao Yang stared at her. “She’s you, and you, she. In my eyes, you’re the same person.”

Vermilion Bird frowned slightly.

“Yet in your eyes, you share only your name with her.” Gao Yang chuckled. “So either my perception is compromised, or yours is.”

“Still, I cannot feel what you feel. I live by only my perceptions. Thus, I can only trust myself. I cannot trust you.”

“Following the logic, what causes your cognitive issues? There’s only one explanation: you’re all products of my thoughts in this dream. No matter how inconsistent and contradictory it is, it stands...”

Gao Yang's mind began to fragment. Colors drained from his face as tremors ran through his body. “So there’s only one solution: I must find the flaw. I must get out of here. I...”

“Gao Yang.” Vermilion Bird placed a hand on his shoulder.

It was gentle, yet unbelievably weighty. Gao Yang’s soul instantly found its way back to his body when it was tearing apart.

Vermilion Bird said earnestly, “Gao Yang. I feel like this is the name you prefer.”

Gao Yang stared at her, dazed.

“Don’t be scared, Gao Yang. Treat us as dreams. Treat this world as fake. Would you hear me out, a figure in your dream?”

Gao Yang nodded.

“Qilin’s Jupiter Virus isn’t what it appears to be, Gao Yang.”

“I’ve long suspected that everyone who contracted the virus is connected.”

“I’ll give you an analogy that’s perhaps a little inappropriate. We’re not lost in a single-player game, but entering an online game where we’re all connected through our dreams.”

“I know all of our dreams differ, that we’re all the protagonists of our dreams, but that’s only on the surface. Perhaps on a deeper level, in another dimension, we’ve all been pulled into the same dream. That’s the truth of the Jupiter Viruses.”

“That’s why our dreams feel so real. While the world we see is false, everyone we met and the love we shared are real.”

“That’s why we find it difficult to move on after waking up. We all suffer serious side effects as a result.”

“Because we’re obsessed with our reality. The obsession is our hope and also our nightmare. It makes us push the world away. It makes us into imaginations and falsehoods in each other’s eyes.”

“I’ve never told anyone this, Gao Yang. I know I’m being all over the place, even...a little crazy.” Vermilion Bird smiled genuinely, a rare flash of vulnerability crossing her eyes. “But somehow, I feel like you’ll understand me.”

Gao Yang was silent for a moment, then he met her eyes. “An old friend said something similar to me. He said that while the world was fake, love was real. And that was enough.”

A pause, and he smiled ruefully. “I blame him for fooling me.”

Vermilion Bird chuckled. “You already have the answer. He merely put it into words.”

She extended a hand. “I’m going to find Qilin and heal all Jupiter Travelers, Gao Yang. I want everyone to be the light in their loved ones’ eyes, rather than the shadow of their obsessions over what’s true and what’s fake.”

“Will you lend me your strength?”

Gao Yang didn’t say anything.

After a long while, he took her hand.

...

Mirage, Durian Street, late at night.

Inside the Mirror Booth, Yan Feng, Gui Zhe, and Berserking Lion all lay unconscious on the ground. The mission was going according to plan.

Gao Yang and Lithe Snake each held a laser handgun to Yan Feng’s and Berserking Lion’s temples. Vermilion Bird had confirmed that Yan Feng was a high-grade replicant. Part of her consciousness turned digital and hacked into Gui Zhe’s brain.

In roaming state, Vermilion Bird frowned. It seemed things weren’t easy.

That, however, was a relief. The fact that she had met obstacles meant that Gui Zhe’s S Chip had a high level of firewall, proving him to be the mastermind of the operation.

“Thirty seconds left.” Gao Yang had been counting down, his palm sweaty around the handgun.

Lithe Snake kept his gaze on Vermilion Bird.

“Twenty seconds.”

Lithe Snake would be the one to make the call. If Vermilion Bird failed to finish the hack in three minutes, Lithe Snake and Gao Yang would kill the two men first to eliminate the threats.

“Ten sec...”

Before Gao Yang could finish, Vermilion Bird suddenly opened her eyes, sucking in a deep breath. Her face was pale as she held a hand to her mouth to fight her nausea.

Seven seconds remained.