The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 333: Hundred Years of Solitude

“Haha, hahaha...” Alcoholic swung the empty bottle around and burst out laughing, her voice cracking. “Oh, fate, what a wondrous thing it is...”

She laughed for a good while before turning to her two drinking companions with content. “Alright, now that we’ve finished the bottle, I’ll tell you. My Talent is Time-Space Spirit, serial number 3.”

Qilin and Surnamed Li shared a look. That must be the top Time-Space Talent.

Alcoholic sounded quite proud. “As for what it can do...well, you only have to know two of them: spatial teleportation, and time travel.”

Alcoholic cackled. “But it isn’t as powerful as you would think. There are many restrictions. I can only teleport once every fortnight, and once every year for time travel, and for only one hour. Moreover, I cannot go to the same day twice.”

Qilin and Surnamed Li were bemused.

Soon, Qilin said, “Alcoholic, I have a question...”

“I know what you want to ask,” Alcoholic interrupted her. “I cannot teleport through the mist, which means my range of movement is limited to Li City and the other isolated islands.”

Surnamed Li then chimed in, “I also have a question...”

Alcoholic cut her off again, “Do you want to know if I’ve gone to the future?”

Surnamed Li nodded with a smile.

“I did. And not only the future, I’ve gone to the past as well.” Alcoholic’s voice dropped low as she trailed off. Her eyes looked suddenly ancient, and she leaned into the couch, letting out a long sigh.

“There is no past, nor is there a future.”

Qilin’s heart sank, catching onto what she meant.

Surnamed Li fell silent too.

“This damn world has neither a past or a future.” Alcoholic scoffed. “Do you catch my drift?”

Of course Qilin and Surnamed Li understood what she was saying, but it wasn’t easy for them to accept the truth.

In a much quieter voice, Alcoholic said with bone-deep tiredness, “The earliest point in time I’ve gone to is the year 1920. I cannot go any further into the past.”

“And the latest point in time I’ve gone to is the last night of the Crimson Tide. I cannot go any further into the future no matter what I try.”

“From 1920 to 2018.” Surnamed Li looked up. “A total of 98 years.”

“No, a hundred years.” Qilin’s voice grew colder. The conclusion shocked him to the core.

Surnamed Li started before quickly catching on.

That was right. It should be a hundred years.

If the Crimson Tide hadn’t arrived early, it should’ve come two years later. It was exactly a hundred years from 1920 to 2020.

In other words, the duration of the Mist World—or the lifespan of it, so to speak—was one century.

And due to the machination of the Godbearer Cult and the pride monsters, the end of the world would come two years earlier.

At that moment, Surnamed Li finally understood why Alcoholic turned from a strong, determined woman into an old drunk who spent more time wasted than sober.

Aging wasn’t the main cause.

The loss of hope was.

Alcoholic had long learned the limit and the end of the Mist World. No awakeners or monsters could escape the Heavenly Way and destiny. They were all birds in a cage.

The three of them fell silent, and the RV was dead quiet save for the sounds of rain hitting the car windows.

Alcoholic seemed tired. She closed her eyes and lay down on the couch, breaking into a song suddenly. In her old age, her voice had become hoarse and bleak, yet there were remnants of youthful clarity and innocence to it.

“The you I saw from the back was real, but you were not. There is no lingering attachment. A hundred years ago, you were not you, and I wasn’t I...[1]”

Qilin wasn’t pessimistic by nature. He wasn’t going to give up easily.

“Alcoholic, you’ve been to the last night of the Crimson Tide. Tell us, who won?”

Alcoholic shook her head. “I don’t know. I didn’t get to see the end of it...”

Qilin and Surnamed Li realized that while Alcoholic had traveled to that day, she wasn’t able to witness the fight to the end due to time constraint or other factors.

Alcoholic’s eyes were still closed, and her voice grew weak as she continued to sing, “Sorrow is real, and tears are false. There is no cause and effect. A hundred years ago, you weren’t around, and neither was I.”

Surnamed Li blanched suddenly. She opened her mouth, but couldn’t say anything.

She had foreseen it.

Qilin was still pondering, and only when he noticed Surnamed Li’s expression with a start did he lean in to check Alcoholic’s breathing.

Three seconds later, he pulled back. “She’s gone.”

Surnamed Li, who had always protected an image of elegance and grace, showed visible heartbreak and vulnerability. She shut her eyes and bit her lip. For a long moment, she didn’t say anything.

Outside, it was still raining.

Sitting in the driver’s seat and the passenger’s seat, Goldthread and Little Tian had been watching the RV by the lake, keeping their eyes on the warm orange light.

Suddenly, a sorrow and grimness that shouldn’t belong to someone of Little Tian’s age surfaced in his clear eyes.

He could clearly sense a life that was both tremendously powerful and tremendously fragile meet its end.

Ten seconds later, the light coming from the RV went off.

The drizzle continued. The quietly blooming lotuses in the lake looked lonely in their grace.

...

F Island, Naldives.

On the last day of their vacation, Gao Yang and his family hadn’t had anything planned.

They slept in until ten o’clock in the morning. After having a leisurely breakfast with Wang Zikai, they each packed up for the return trip.

Originally, Wang Zikai had the most luggages, but along with the villa, everything had been reduced to nothing and sunk into the ocean due to the fight with White Dew.

The silver lining was that Wang Zikai, knowing how unorganized he was, had left his passport to Gao Xinxin for safekeeping when arriving at Naldives, which ended up a lifesaver. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to go home until much later.

Their flight was nine o’clock at night.

In the afternoon, Gao Yang and his family, plus Wang Zikai, strolled in the tropical forest on the island. Came evening, they watched the beautiful sunset on the beach, feeling the sea breeze hitting their face.

They promised that three years later today, the summer Gao Xinxin graduated from highschool, they would come back here, along with Wang Zikai.

They were all happy when they made the promise—except Gao Yang. He didn’t know if he could even live another three years.

After dinner, they took a seaplane to the airport and caught the flight back to Li City. Arriving at dawn the next day, they went back to their actual home, and Wang Zikai returned to his.

They caught up on some sleep. It was already noon when they woke up.

Since there was no time to prepare a proper lunch, Gao Yang’s mother made everyone a bowl of noodles with tomatoes and stir fried eggs.

They slurped on noodles around the table. His father sang the chef praises, “Hm, so good! Not even the most luxurious meals made of the most expensive ingredients could compare to noodles made by my dear wife!”

His mother shot his father a cool look. “Shut it and eat. You don’t have to prove to us that you can speak.”

“The greatest value of going on a trip is to make you realize that no place is better than home.” Gao Yang blurted out the line he had seen online.

“Geez, you’re so cheesy, bro!” Gao Xinxin smirked. “You must have gotten a girlfriend. You’re becoming a bigger sap day by day!”

Rather than protesting, Gao Yang opted to play along this time. “Yeah, I found you a sister-in-law who’s got fair skin, a pretty face, and long legs. I’ll bring her back home someday.”

1. Faye Wong’s Hundred Years of Solitude ?