The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 79: Hundred Rivers Union

Past midnight, the four of them arrived at the Walled City of Ten Dragons with their animal masks on.

They could’ve made it by twelve, but they ended up enjoying a meal of steamed clams at a street stand before taking their sweet time to go to the meeting. In the end, they were almost 20 minutes late.

That was exactly what White Rabbit was aiming for. “Only fools go to a meeting on time. Being late lends you authority. Got it?”

“I’m learning from the very best,” Gao Yang said. That was eye-opening.

The Walled City of Ten Dragons never slept, and the small hours saw the place lit up with flickering neon lights and bustling activities.

On the north side of the area stood a towering building that resembled a modern casino, on the ceiling of which was a large LCD billboard topped with a glittering golden qilin. The prideful, haughty mythical monster marked the place as a branch of the Qilin Guild in the Walled City of Ten Dragons.

The four of them walked in through the revolving door and found themselves in an extravagant lobby styled in the most luxurious way possible. Behind the front desk were two young women in qipao, one black, and the other white—both printed with the golden patterns of qilin.

“Twelve Zodiac Signs,” White Rabbit went up to them and said. “We’ve made a reservation for a trade late tonight.”

“Greetings. Your reservation number and passcode, please.”

“A19. The passcode is four eights.”

The woman looked up the information on the computer quickly before walking out of the front desk, spreading her arm to direct the four of them to their room. “Yours is the 6th trading hall. Please follow me.”

Past a quiet white hallway, they reached a metallic door at the end with a plaque that read, ‘Sixth Trading Hall.’

The woman punched in the passcode, and the four of them walked in once the door opened.

Gao Yang stayed quiet the whole time. Although he had prepared himself mentally, what he saw still caught him by surprise.

There were...way too many people inside!

The trading hall was about the size of a computer lab for media classes, at the center of which was a podium. Beside it stood an elderly man in a full suit with an impassive expression. He looked professional, fair, and authoritative.

On each side of the podium were two couches for guests. A man and a woman sat on the one on the left, both masked, and behind them was a packed group of people. They were all wearing masks as well. Judging from their builds, they varied in genders and ages. Gao Yang made a rough count; there were close to forty of them.

White Rabbit, Heavenly Dog, and Wu Dahai weren’t fazed. They seemed to have expected this.

White Rabbit and Wu Dahai sat down on the couch across from them, maintaining a powerful presence, while Heavenly Dog and Gao Yang stood behind them quietly like emotionless bodyguards.

“You’re 21 minutes late.” The man representing the Hundred Rivers Union spoke up with suppressed anger.

“Apologies. We have a lot on our plate.” White Rabbit didn’t sound apologetic at all. “Let’s get started.”

“Alright.” The woman had a delicate black box on her lap. Before she could open it, the man stopped her and said, “You show the ware first.”

White Rabbit shrugged nonchalantly. “Do it, Electric Mouse.”

With his legs crossed, Wu Dahai took out a Rune Circuit from the pocket of his leather jacket and threw it toward the podium. The trader caught it easily with an impressive show of reflex.

Although the dozens of people were all masked, their minute movements betrayed their shock. That was a Rune Circuit, yet the man just cast it like it was nothing?! Even though this was a territory of the Qilin Guild and most people wouldn’t dare start any trouble here, that was still an unreasonable display of confidence.

The trader took out a magnifying glass and inspected the Rune Circuit for half a minute. Then he inserted it into a notch in the podium. Soon, the lightbulbs on the podium flickered quickly.

“It’s real.” The trader’s voice was worn by years, but steady. He turned to White Rabbit. “Please swear upon your organization that the Rune Circuit is of the Psyche-type.”

“I swear upon the Twelve Zodiac Signs that the Rune Circuit is Psyche-type,” White Rabbit said with a hand raised.

“It is done.” The trader turned to the other side to look at the two representatives of the Hundred Rivers Union.

The man gave the woman a look. The woman then walked up to the trader, holding the black box carefully with both hands. The trader opened the box and took out the Rune Circuit inside to appraise it.

The same process was soon completed, and the representatives of the Hundred Rivers Union gave a guarantee that the Rune Circuit was the Damage-type.

The trade was completed.

White Rabbit and the man representing the Hundred Rivers Union went up to the podium at the same time and each took the Rune Circuit the other brought.

“The exchange is done without issues,” announced the trader. “I’d like to ask one party to leave the room first, while the other party is to stay here for another half an hour.”

“You were late,” said the man. “We’ll take our leave first.”

“Be my guest.” White Rabbit remained on the couch and made a gesture to send the guests off.

The man and woman quickly stood up and led the dozens of people out of the room. Then the trader took his leave as well. Before walking out of the door, he politely reminded them, “I’d ask the four of you to stay another half an hour.”

The metal door slowly closed, and the room quieted.

Now that they were alone, Gao Yang couldn’t help but smack his lips and comment, “That’s quite the entourage.”

“Aren’t you a smart one? Use your brain and think about why they brought so many people to the trade.” White Rabbit had already taken off her shoes and socks and fished out a bottle of red nail polish from her pocket.

“They are afraid of us?” Gao Yang guessed.

“Bingo!” Wu Dahai said proudly. “They may have greater numbers, but most of them are quite useless, and useless people have to stick together to protect themselves. They don’t want something as important as a Rune Circuit to be robbed from them.”

“They’re weak,” White Rabbit corrected. “Not useless.”

“Well, same difference.” Wu Dahai crossed his legs again. “We were told to stay here to prevent us from taking back our Rune Circuit after the trade. Qilin Guild won’t be there to enforce order outside this place.”

“That so?” Gao Yang felt a little bitter inside. In whichever world, the weak always had a difficult life.

After inspecting the Damage Rune Circuit in her hand, White Rabbit threw it to Wu Dahai. As someone with an Element-type Talent, Wu Dahai had no use for the Rune Circuit and thus wasn’t interested in it. He spared it a couple glances before giving it to Heavenly Dog. And Heavenly Dog handed it to Gao Yang after inspecting it for a little while.

Gao Yang took a close look. The Rune Circuit was just like the Psyche Rune Circuit they had acquired not long ago. The only difference was the pattern etched at the center. It was an irregular geometric shape with sharp angles that resembled a sea urchin.

“Keep it safe with you until we get back to the base, Gao Yang,” said White Rabbit.

“What?” Gao Yang was surprised. “Something so precious...”

“That’s why we need to train your mental fortitude,” White Rabbit said seriously as she painted her toenails. “You need to learn to keep a straight face even as the Tai Mountain crumbles before you, newbie. You still have a lot to learn.”

“Right.” Gao Yang thought that made sense.

...

Half an hour later, they left the Walled City of Ten Dragons and drove back to the Millenium Tower.

The underground basement became the new headquarters for the Twelve Zodiac Signs after its construction. Most members had been gradually moving to their new base with their belongings—outside of their captain, Dragon.

Gao Yang had asked Wu Dahai privately why Dragon had been so mysterious and never showed his face. Wu Dahai had responded with a mocking look, “Who do you think you are? I haven’t met Captain myself. Why would you have met him already?”

Gao Yang didn’t push, but the mystery shrouding Dragon had become thicker in his mind.

“How are Qing Ling and Officer Huang?” Gao Yang asked on their drive back. “Qing Ling hasn't been going to school these days.”

Wu Dahai laughed. “They are in training hell with War Tiger. Now that we’ve gotten the Damage Rune Circuit, War Tiger will make sure to go even harder on them to help them reach level 4 quickly.”

“Is that difficult?” Gao Yang asked. Then he was reminded of something. “Oh, sorry. Your Talent is only level 3...”

“Who are you to look down on me, bastard?!” Wu Dahai growled and reached over to grab Gao Yang’s hair. “You’re dead...”

Bam!

There was a dull thud. Then the car came to a sudden halt. Without the seatbelt on, Wu Dahai was hurled forward by the momentum and slammed his head against the window. He cried out, “What the hell, Heavenly Dog? You trying to kill me?!”

“Hey,” Heavenly Dog said with difficulty, his eyes fixed on the road ahead. “I...I think I hit someone.”