The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 299: Late Night Stroll

It was one o’clock in the morning when Azure Dragon got a call from White Tiger and Vermilion Bird.

He, Colorless, and War Tiger were crammed in a small inn room, the atmosphere tense. The call from Vermilion Bird and White Tiger was put on speaker as the two questioned Sarah’s body.

Although the body wasn’t too damaged, there remained residue of a foreign energy—the curse. Vermilion Bird tried her best, but still only got a minute out of the body.

With the questions Azure Dragon and the other two had prepared beforehand, Vermilion Bird went through the list in the order of importance, and she only got answers from Sarah regarding a third of the questions.

A minute later, the interrogation ended.

Azure Dragon exchanged a few words with White Tiger before hanging up.

“Let’s go to the Sacred Mountain Church,” Azure Dragon said. He walked up to the coat stand and quickly put on the black down jacket and the fleece-lined trapper hat.

War Tiger and Colorless had been listening to Vermilion Bird’s interrogation of Sarah’s body, and they agreed with the decision. They started putting on warm clothes as well.

Once they were ready to go, they looked up where the Sacred Mountain Church was on their phone before quietly leaving the inn.

The snow had stopped in the Aurora Town during the day. They even saw a few hours of sunlight.

Once night fell, however, a snow storm returned to the region, freezing everything between heaven and earth.

The Sacred Mountain Church was once a base for the Otherworld Order.

Located at the foot of the northern mountain of the town, it wasn’t that far from Sarah’s place.

Following the map, the three reached the end of the main street and crossed a frozen lake. Then they made it through an area of abandoned old cabins and a small grove before arriving at their destination.

During the walk, they pieced together what had happened according to the information Vermilion Bird had extracted.

Sarah’s parents had always been followers of the Otherworld Order. When Sarah was six, her parents died in an avalanche, and Sarah was taken to the Sacred Mountain Church.

In addition to being the homebase of the Otherworld Order, the place also served as an orphanage, and Sarah grew up with a few other orphans there.

When Sarah was eighteen, the Otherworld Order arranged a marriage between her and a man she didn’t know at all, a foreigner.

After that, she got pregnant and gave birth to Lilia a year later.

It wasn’t long until Sarah’s husband died in an accident, which warranted further investigation.

Sarah stayed at the Sacred Mountain Church to raise her daughter while working, and naturally, the mother and daughter were followers of the denomination.

The year Lilia turned eighteen, the higher-ups of the Otherworld Order suddenly announced that Lilia was the daughter of God, that she had to execute the mission God assigned her.

Lilia was thus taken from Sarah, and the mother never got to see her daughter again.

In the beginning, Sarah held true to the doctrines of the denomination; she believed that Lilia was the reincarnation of the daughter of God, and that she wasn’t actually Lilia’s mother.

As her yearning for her daughter grew in intensity, however, she could no longer keep fooling herself. She begged the Church to let her see her daughter, but she was turned away.

Since then, Sarah’s mental state had been deteriorating, and it took only two years for her to fully lose her mind.

According to what the Qilin Guild knew, Lilia went abroad to Li City for study and awakened with Talent: Detonation. At the time, the Qilin Guild took notice of her and planned to recruit her, but she turned them down.

Not long after, Lilia disappeared.

According to the statement provided by Elder Seven Shadow, the Godbearer Cult had sent an awakener named Mad Red after the Twelve Zodiac Signs for their Rune Circuit. The operation ended up a failure.

After a few days, Mad Red retaliated, and before Seven Shadow killed Mad Red, the man had mentioned a sister—that was very likely Lilia.

In theory, Mad Red must have gotten Detonation after Lilia’s death.

However, before getting killed by Seven Shadow, Mad Red had made clear his drive to save his sister, which meant that Lilia must have still been alive.

Then how did Mad Red acquire Detonation? That was a question they couldn’t answer yet.

War Tiger took the lead. He pulled back the face cover of his trapper hat to gulp down some liquor. Then he shared his conclusion, “Based on what we’ve learned so far, we can make the educated guess that both Sarah and her husband were humans.”

“And most likely unawakened humans,” Colorless added from the middle of the line.

“But Lilia awakened.” War Tiger smiled, turning to Colorless. “Didn’t the Union publish a paper on the conditions for awakening recently?”

“Yes. We believe that regular humans have a chance of awakening when they come into contact with an awakener. It’s a necessary condition, but whether it’s a sufficient condition is another story.”

Azure Dragon said in a low voice from the back. “From what we know about the Godbearer Cult, they have a variety of members, including monsters, humans, half-humans, and Spectres. Lilia’s awakening must be part of the Cult’s plan.”

“But what for?” Colorless asked.

“We don’t know. But Lilia must be the key.” War Tiger paused and snorted. “Since when have I started to state the obvious?”

“Then I’ll ask an obvious question: where do humans come from?” Colorless asked.

Azure Dragon was silent for a few seconds. The foretold mutual doom made it a wise choice to share information, at least some of it. “The Guild has two hypotheses. First, humans are born into Li City between humans.”

“That’s obvious.” Colorless nodded. The Hundred Rivers Union had a lot more members, and the birth of a child wasn’t that rare an occasion. For example, Old Wang and Sha Ye had a daughter.

“However, the Heavenly Way maintains a human population of about four hundred in Li City,” continued Colorless. “Given the rate at which awakeners die, we can’t produce enough offspring to supplement the number.”

“Yes,” War Tiger said. “And most humans have monsters as family, which is at odds with the hypothesis.”

“That leads me to the second hypothesis,” said Azure Dragon. “A bigger percentage of humans have been brought to the Mist World.”

War Tiger pressed, “Is it a hypothesis, or something the Guild has confirmed.?”

“I can only tell you that there’s more speculation to it than proven facts.” Azure Dragon’s answer was quite vague.

“The Union has considered the possibility as well, but who can be transporting the humans?” Colorless was unconvinced. “The Heavenly Way is intangible. It’s not an actual being. It can’t be the one doing something like this.”

Worried that she might not have made herself clear, she added, “I mean it’s a complicated, cumbersome process to bring a human infant to the world and place them in a family of newly-wedded wanderers, having them raise the child as their own. The Heavenly Way can’t do that, can it?”

War Tiger nodded, understanding her point.

He turned to Azure Dragon and suggested, “Can it be that that is exactly what the Heavenly Way has been doing? But not on its own, but assigning others to do the work. For example...”

“Monsters,” Colorless interjected.

Azure Dragon was silent.

“I believe it can be either the pride monsters, life monsters, or death monsters.” War Tiger continued to speculate. “And aren’t the pride monsters split into a hostile faction and a neutral faction? It’s entirely possible that is the case.”

“We’ve never encountered any life monsters or death monsters,” said Colorless.

“They must be real if the Qilin Guild says so.” War Tiger directed the conversation to Azure Dragon on purpose.

Azure Dragon smiled. “I know what you’re doing, War Tiger. All I can tell you is that life monsters and death monsters do exist.”

War Tiger grinned at him. “We’re now on the same boat, Old Dragon. Why don’t we speak openly?”

“How about this?” Azure Dragon made some concessions. “After the mission, I’ll bring the issue to Guildmaster Qilin. If he believes that what we’ve discussed is related to the Godbearer Cult or the Crimson Tide, he’ll tell everyone about it.”

“Haha, I sure hope so.”

War Tiger took another swig. “At the moment, survival takes priority. If you have any tricks up your sleeves, use them.”