The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 1074: Wait Patiently

The little red dot marked a place Gao Yang couldn’t be more familiar with: his old home in suburban Li City.

“Captain, isn’t this where you used to live?” Nine Frost knew the place.

“Yes,” Gao Yang said.

War Tiger laughed. “Then it must be the place! Little Yang Yang, your grandmother has more secrets to be discovered!”

He was overjoyed that their stagnating investigation had suddenly seen substantial progress. It turned out that the ordeal wasn’t a marathon, but a sprint.

“It’s still too large an area.” Vermilion Bird turned to Dr. Jia. “Can you narrow it down further?”

Dr. Jia shrugged. “I can, but the more I try to narrow it down, the less accurate it will be. That won’t help. It’s better to just search the place on the ground.”

“What are we waiting for?” Zhang Wei hollered. “Let’s go!”

War Tiger crossed his arms, nodding in agreement.

The others turned to Gao Yang for a decision. He met their expectant and eager gazes. He knew how they must feel: it had been two months. Their hope had begun to waver, and seeing a ray of a breakthrough, they couldn’t stand to stay put any longer.

“We move now.” Gao Yang stood up. “Get ready. We set out in ten minutes.”

“Everyone?” Nine Frost asked.

Gao Yang nodded. “Everyone—”

Bam! Wang Zikai suddenly barged through the door, face flushed red. “No, you’re not going!”

Gao Yang started. He hadn’t expected Wang Zikai to be eavesdropping.

Not that Wang Zikai had planned to. He'd arrived half an hour earlier, assuming Gao Yang must have finished catching up with Vermilion Bird after their night-long talk.

This was Gao Yang's nineteenth birthday. The celebration had to be perfect. Wang Zikai had planned everything: gaming at home during the day, pretending to forget the birthday. Then in the evening, he'd drive Gao Yang to pick up Gao Xinxin. They would surprise him with their gifts and celebrate through the night.

But the plan had derailed at the first step—Gao Yang wasn't answering his phone.

Left with no choice, Wang Zikai had driven here to fetch him. Finding Gao Yang in a secluded meeting, curiosity got the better of him, and he listened in from outside.

The room waited for Wang Zikai to explain his outburst, assuming he had tactical concerns.

Wang Zikai said after a pause, “Whatever the mist and the source is, you don’t have to find it today! Wait until tomorrow!”

“Why tomorrow?” Dr. Jia couldn’t wait to find out where the source was. It was his nature.

“Because today...today...” Wang Zikai didn’t want to reveal Gao Yang’s birthday. “Gao Yang and I have things to do. You’ll go tomorrow!”

“What things?” Dr. Jia pressed.

Wang Zikai suppressed an eye roll. Read the room, you fucking sociopath!

“What things?! What things?! What things?!”

Dr. Jia’s parrot extended its wings on his shoulders, repeating the words in excitement.

Fucking bird, I’m gonna rip out your feathers sooner or later!

“Just things!” Wang Zikai insisted unreasonably. “You’re not going today!”

Gao Yang had guessed Wang Zikai’s reason. However, he couldn’t allow the celebration of his birthday to delay their effort; he was Gao Yang, but also a leader. His personal affairs must not interfere with their work.

He addressed everyone, “Plan’s unchanged. Gather at the square outside in ten minutes.”

“No, Gao Yang, today—”

Whoosh. Gao Yang teleported to Wang Zikai, covering his mouth. Then the two of them vanished.

The others exchanged confused glances. One Stone alone broke into a gossipy smile. “Ah, youth.”

Gao Yang had taken Wang Zikai to the rooftop of the Black Tortoise building. He let go and said, “Whatever you have to say, do it here.”

Wang Zikai grumbled, “Why can’t you just delay it by a day? It’s not gonna kill you! Gao Xinxin only has a day off today, not tomorrow. Have you ever considered how a miserable high schooler feels?”

“Wang Zikai.” Gao Yang smiled bitterly. “You know how much I’ve been messing around the past two months. Now that we finally have progress, I can’t delay our work further for personal matters.”

“And you won’t! They can go look for the mist or whatever. You stay in the city and give orders from here!”

Gao Yang shook his head. “I discovered the clues. I have to personally confirm it. And if there’s any danger, my Absolute Defense can protect everyone.”

Wang Zikai’s expression crumbled. “You always have your reasons. I can’t convince you.”

Gao Yang smiled wryly.

After a moment, Wang Zikai's shoulders slumped. “How about this? Your old place isn’t that far from here, only a two-hour drive away. I’ll give you six hours. Return before five in the afternoon!”

Gao Yang hesitated. “I can’t promise you. Dr. Jia’s narrowed it down, but it’s still quite a big area. And even after we find the source, there may be a threat—”

“Then bring me!” Wang Zikai fumed. “I’ll take care of whatever threat there is! Six hours, and you come back with me to pick up Gao Xinxin! You gotta spend the night with us whatever happens! Everything else can wait until tomorrow!”

His childish tantrum touched and amused Gao Yang. He nodded with a soft sigh. “Alright. Come with me.”

His reasoning was simple: it would be great if all things went well, and if not, having Wang Zikai, their top-tier fighter, would give them extra insurance.

While Wang Zikai was stubborn, he wouldn’t be unreasonable when things turned dangerous.

...

Gao Yang had Wang Zikai go to the square first; Wang Zikai jumped down from the rooftop.

Left alone, Gao Yang watched as his companions gathered below.

After a bemused moment, he went downstairs to the third floor, entering the room at the end of the corridor. It was Gao Yang’s personal office. Walking to his desk, he unlocked the drawer and retrieved the diary and Black Gold fountain pen.

He sat down and opened the diary, writing with the Black Gold pen:

What’s the source of the blood mist? Where is it?

The writing vanished quickly. Then the same response came:

Wait patiently.

Gao Yang sighed, slamming the dairy shut.

Since Qilin’s death, Gao Yang had been writing in the diary every few days. Whatever he wrote, though, the diary either refused to respond or responded with the same words: wait patiently.

There were numerous occasions where Gao Yang considered just burning the damn cryptic thing, then perhaps it wouldn’t be so “patient”. In the end, though, he couldn’t do anything but put it back into the drawer.

As he reached to lock it away, a thought struck him. Perhaps he should take it on this trip. If they found the blood mist's source, maybe the diary would finally have something different to say.

He'd tried placing it with the twelve Rune Circuits before, but nothing had happened. Still, trying something new couldn't hurt.

Gao Yang slipped the diary into his coat's inner pocket, feeling its weight press against his chest.