The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 56: Mist

“What I’m going to tell you now will all be in the test, class.” White Rabbit waved the tongs like she was waving a teacher pointer. “Different types of Talents require different Rune Circuits to level up.”

White Rabbit patted Qing Ling on the shoulder. “Like this girl’s Metal belongs to the Element-type. Then she would need Element Rune Circuit to level up. Unfortunately, our organization doesn’t have it.”

“Where can I get it?” Qing Ling asked.

“There are a total of twelve Rune Circuits in this city, and each of them is one of a kind. They aren’t one-use things, of course, but there’s a cooldown of a few days until they can be used again.”

“Wouldn’t that make the Rune Circuits hot commodities?” Officer Huang got to the crux of the matter.

“That doesn’t even begin to cover it,” White Rabbit said seriously. “People literally die for them. Awakeners are all fighting to get their hands on one. Rune Circuits are the top reason for conflicts between awakeners, and eighty to ninety percent of awakeners’ death can be attributed to them.”

“Teacher White Rabbit.” Gao Yang raised his hand. “I have a question.”

“Ask away.” White Rabbit gave each of them a look. “And eat. Come on. The meat’s gonna go cold.”

Everyone started moving their chopsticks—except for Wang Zikai. He was never one for lectures and had fallen asleep at some point, even starting to snore. The fight at Gu Family’s Village had taken a toll on him.

Gao Yang asked, “You said that there are only twelve Rune Circuits in this city. What about the other cities?”

“Ah, I almost forgot to tell you the most important thing. You should prepare yourselves...” White Rabbit said cryptically, and everyone pricked up their ears.

Then Wu Dahai stole the spotlight by interjecting, “There are no other cities.”

A stunned silence permeated the table.

Gao Yang broke the silence by asking, “What do you mean? There are no other cities?”

“Haha, idiot.” Wu Dahai was enjoying Gao Yang’s shock. “I meant it literally.”

“You all grew up in Li City, didn’t you?” White Rabbit smiled. “Have you ever left? The suburbs and the rural areas of the city don’t count. I meant if you’ve ever truly left.”

No one gave a positive answer.

Officer Huang put down the chopsticks he had eaten meat with and said, “I started working at a station right after I graduated from the academy, and I had two chances to leave the province for further study. However, both times I wasn't able to make it for one reason or another.”

Gao Yang sucked in a breath, remembering a well-known movie. “The Truman Show?”

The others gasped in realization.

Fat Jun was the only one still wondering what Gao Yang meant. He quickly took out his phone and looked the movie up. He exclaimed, “Holyshit! No way! That’s...that’s insane!”

“Unfortunately, it’s all true.” White Rabbit cocked her head and smiled with resignation. “The four million monsters and the less than four hundred humans are all that make up our world.”

“But that doesn’t make sense.” Gao Yang tried his best to drudge up the memories in his head. “My dad went overseas with a client before. They even visited the beach and took a lot of pictures. If there were only one city, how could the world operate in such a realistic way...”

White Rabbit didn’t immediately respond. Instead, she asked, “Back when you were in the underground version of the Gu Family’s Village, you saw the barriers around it, didn’t you?”

“Yes.” Officer Huang’s memory of the village was still fresh. “No matter how we tried to walk out of the village, we couldn’t. It was unbelievable, like there was a magical barrier of sorts.”

“Li City was surrounded by barriers like that too. Awakeners have been trying to look for an exit, but so far we haven’t had any luck.” White Rabbit’s words took a sudden turn. “However, the city does have official channels.”

“Official channels?”

“Yes. Airplanes, high-speed rails, and highways. They take you to other places, but those destinations are nothing but big bubbles with barriers as well. Don’t even think about getting out of the train or car on the way. Many awakeners have tried. Some even attempted to jump off the plane halfway.” White Rabbit crossed her arms. “They all failed. It’s impossible.”

White Rabbit turned to Gao Yang. “When your dad went abroad, he took a plane, didn’t he?”

“Yeah.” Gao Yang tried to rationalize everything. “You mean we cannot walk out of the city, but we can go to Naldives[1] on a plane, and on the way, we cannot get off the plane. Not even if I were Superman and could fly.”

“That’s it.” White Rabbit nodded. “There’s nothing in the middle. What seems to exist is nothing but an illusion. Of course, it’s also possible that there is something in the middle, but it’s not open to any humans or monsters.”

Wu Dahai interjected again. He had something to share about this. “I’ve been to Naldives many times, Gao Yang, and I took the time to explore it. I found the border quickly. The place is much smaller than Li City.”

White Rabbit leisurely enjoyed her food, giving everyone some time to digest all the information.

A minute later, she cleared her throat. “Listen to me carefully and do your best to understand it. First, forget everything you learn in geography class.”

“Now close your eyes and imagine the world as a vast ocean. On the ocean are many isolated islands. Some are big, like our Li City. There is a population of four million with only four hundred humans. Everyone else is a cutie...”

“Cutie?” Fat Jun cut in.

“That’s what those in our field call monsters,” Wu Dahai explained.

White Rabbit raised her chopsticks and said, “Some islands are particularly small, like Naldives.”

“All islands can only be reached through the official channels, while no creatures can enter the ocean. We can at most walk on the beach and look around. However, what we’re seeing is only the mist on the ocean. No one knows what’s inside the mist. As for how the world came into being, it’s a mystery like its past, present, and future.”

“Crazy.” Officer Huang took a big drag of his cigarette. “Absolutely crazy!”

Gao Yang was reeling with shock as well. His perception of the world broke down entirely. What kind of world had he transmigrated into?

Fat Jun pulled at his hair, on the verge of a mental breakdown.

Qing Ling was the only one completely unfazed by the revelation. She only cared about leveling up.

“I know it’s hard to wrap your heads around, but it’s the reality we’re facing.” White Rabbit was just about to explain further when her attention was drawn by the spicy rabbit heads the waiter brought to the table. All thoughts other than digging into her favorite dish evaporated from her head. “Take over, Wu Dahai!”

There were two rabbit heads on the white plate. They had been roasted to a golden color and glistened red with all the chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns coating them. There was a grotesqueness to the presentation.

Eyes glinting, White Rabbit forewent chopsticks and grabbed a rabbit head with both hands, quickly taking a bite. Red sauces streaked down from the corner of her mouth, and there was a cracking sound of bones breaking every time she chewed. The way she wolfed down the food was in stark contrast with her usual self.

They all spent some time watching White Rabbit devour the rabbit head before Wu Dahai took over the conversation. “Where were we?”

“The twelve Rune Circuits are very precious,” said Gao Yang.

“Ah, that’s right. All awakeners are fighting over them. Our organization has found the Life Rune Circuit. That was why Cute Little Lamb and Dead Pig were able to reach level 4 with their Talents.” Wu Dahai sounded proud. He lowered his voice and said, “Now that we’ve gotten another, we’ll study it and find out its type.”

Wu Dahai gave Qing Ling a look. “I don’t think it’ll be Element-type though. Doesn’t feel like it. It won’t help you push your Metal to level 4.”

Disappointment flashed through Qing Ling’s eyes. She lost interest in what else he had to say and began to eat her plate of spicy rabbit heads.

“Have all twelve Rune Circuits been found?” asked Gao Yang.

“Of course not! This one included, only six have been found so far,” Wu Dahai said. “The other four are with the other organizations. Everyone hides them like the greatest treasure.”

“Where are the other Rune Circuits?” asked Gao Yang.

“We don’t know.” White Rabbit had finished about half of the rabbit head. Her lips were red from the stimulus of the spice like she had put on lipstick.

She sucked on her thumbs and forefingers to savor the taste. “If the first Rune Circuit hadn’t been found by an awakener by chance twenty years ago, no one would even know they existed.”

“Anyhow, Rune Circuits are all hidden. Some may be found in special domains, some may be with a monster, and others may be accumulating dust in some hidden corner of an antique shop. Basically, awakeners have been looking for treasures all over the city with obsession since the first Rune Circuit was found, and that was when conflicts and deaths started growing in intensity and frequency.”

Finally having finished her plate of rabbit heads, White Rabbit wiped her mouth with satisfaction. “Alright, I’ve told you the basics. Now let’s go over the operation at Gu Family’s Village.”

1. The raw is actually a wordplay of Maldives by replacing the first word ‘ma’, which means ‘horse’, with ‘niu’, which means ‘ox’. ?