The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 648: End of Deal

Gao Yang’s hidden goal was to rule out the possibility of Chen Ying being Dust once and for all. He would use Lie Detection on her when he met her first, but of course, since Dust was likely to have another personality or soul and could lie to herself, Lie Detection wouldn’t be enough.

If Chen Ying was Dust and had another personality or soul, at least Gao Yang would be able to make sure that he was talking to the personality that was Chen Ying with Lie Detection. Then, after making sure she wasn’t lying and was benevolent, Gao Yang would immediately touch her and use Replicate to identify her Talents, leaving Dust with no time to react.

If Chen Ying only had Psychometry and Skeleton Key, she was a hundred percent not the spy; if she had another hidden Talent, though, she was likely to be Dust.

Of course, the plan wasn’t without risk. Gao Yang didn’t know the exact way Dust’s Talent worked.

He had considered bringing Hong Xiaoxiao along.

Her Gamer would be a good contingency. The Talent wasn’t a magic bullet, though. When bringing back the same living being or resetting the same space, there had to be a three-day cooldown, and there was a limit to the number of uses.

When Gao Yang suggested the possibility, Lithe Snake had caught a mouse for Hong Xiaoxiao to experiment on. Indeed, the injured mouse couldn’t be reset again after two resets.

It took them more than ten days and several Black Gold hairpins, but the conclusions they reached were valuable:

Level 3 Gamer could at most reset a living being twice, while Hong Xiaoxiao could reset herself without limit.

That was why Nine Frost rejected Chen Ying’s proposal for Gao Yang and Hong Xiaoxiao to rule out the suspects one by one.

Nine Frost believed that the leader of the Nine Scions must not waste his chances of resurrection; they had a long way to go, and anything could happen.

Gao Yang pretended to look around. Then a woman in a fisherman hat, a windbreaker, and jeans appeared at the levee, a pack on her back. It was Chen Ying in disguise.

Things were going smoothly.

Suddenly, though, a warning blared in his head.

[Warning, you are in danger!]

[Luck acquisition rate increases to 5 times.]

Gao Yang was at first surprised, then confused.

Five times? What is that supposed to mean?

It’s dangerous, but not really?

Still, a danger was a danger. Without hesitation, Gao Yang looked at the figure on the levee and used Telepathy, which he had replicated from Nine Frost.

[Change of plan. Stop the deal.]

[Roger that. Be careful.]

Chen Ying was about to reach the stone stairs leading down the levee. She walked past it rather than making a turn or slowing down, like she was going to fish at a different spot.

Gao Yang sighed in relief. Once Chen Ying was away, all that was left for him to deal with was the enemy that posed a slight danger.

[Warning, Luck acquisition rate increases to 7 times.]

The system sounded another warning.

Gao Yang was increasingly confused. What was going on? Had his system gone haywire?

[Warning, Luck acquisition rate increases to 10 times.]

[12 times.]

[18 times.]

[29 times.]

...

For the next thirty seconds, the danger level continued to rise until it reached 3500 times at a minute’s mark.

Gao Yang could now clearly sense the strange disturbance under the ferry. He speculated that a large school of fish had gathered underwater.

The fish in the area had gotten hostile to Gao Yang and gathered around, and the danger level thus climbed to 3500 times.

Realization dawned on Gao Yang. He knew who he was dealing with now.

He remained on the foldable stool with the fishing rod in his hand, like he hadn’t noticed anything.

Gurgle. Bubbles rose from where the line went into the water. It seemed that another fish had bitten the bait.

Just like the previous time, Gao Yang stood up and held the fishing rod with both hands, lifting it forcefully.

The rod broke, but the thing he caught emerged from the water.

It looked like a giant blue whale triple the size of the ferry. As it leaped out of the water, it loomed over him and obscured the sky, the pressure tremendous as it opened its large maw to bite Gao Yang.

Gao Yang saw clearly then that it wasn’t a whale, but an amalgamation of countless marine animals and river water, assembled by a blue energy. Inside the “whale” was a frail young man glowing a blue light.

Two seconds later, the “giant blue whale” swallowed the old ferry and triggered towering waves that resembled a tsunami, leading to a downpour.

Then everything settled down. The waves were gone, and the downpour ended. Half of the wharf and the entire ferry were gone.

The giant whale had swept over the ferry and Gao Yang, dragging them to the bottom of the river. Then the whale broke apart into individual marine animals.

Gao Yang opened his eyes at the bottom of the river, getting a clear look at the attacker. It was Raven Shark.

Unclothed, Raver Shark was covered in smooth blue scales like a merman. All around him were glowing fish.

He was less than ten meters from Gao Yang. From a distance, his gaze was unfocused, shifting down to Gao Yang’s chest.

They couldn’t converse in the water. Gao Yang waited for Raven Shark to make a move.

However, Raven Shark didn’t attack him. He turned around and swam away, quickly disappearing.

Gao Yang was a little confused. He remained where he was, unmoving.

Only after making sure that Raven Shark was gone did he slowly vanish—the Gao Yang swept away by the whale was a double.

An invisible man floated not far away. It was Gao Yang’s true self. With the Talent reaching the end of its use time, Gao Yang reappeared.

To prepare for possible threats, Gao Yang had replicated three Talents from his teammates before setting out today: Telepathy, Invisibility, and Gale.

He had used two.

Gao Yang never intended to fight Raven Shark. For one, Raven Shark was a member of Team Vermilion Bird, and the Nine Scions had agreed not to kill a member of theirs unless there was no alternative. For another, Raven Shark had level 6 Sea King, specialized for underwater battle. Without access to Fire, Gao Yang might not be able to defeat him. That was why he fooled Raven Shark into making his move with a double.

To his surprise, though, Raven Shark never intended to kill him, and he left after dragging him into the water.

It didn’t take long for Gao Yang to reach the river bank. After making sure it was safe, he went over what had happened.

He came to a conclusion in a few minutes:

I got lucky.