The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 27: New Talent

The Tang Dao in Old Man Zhang’s brain pushed further down, manipulated by an intangible force. However, Level 2 Metal simply wasn’t powerful enough.

Qing Ling had pushed herself to the limit, yet the blade would only go down an inch at a time.

Then two tentacles swiftly grabbed the blade and pulled it out, casting it aside. Old Man Zhang’s brain splattered blood all over. It was a mess, yet the cut was starting to mend—its recovery was slower than the tentacles’ regeneration, at least.

While it was badly hurt...it was still alive!

The rest of the severed tentacles crawled back to the main body. Then new ones emerged anew.

Qing Ling had landed wrong. Her face was pale and covered in blood. She staggered to her feet and tried to grab her weapon, but before she could do that, four tentacles shot out and seized her hands and feet.

She tried her best to break free, but it was futile. The tentacles continued to drag her toward the main body...

“Die!”

Gao Yang cried out as he rushed toward Old Man Zhang with the golf club raised high.

He knew that he was useless, that the only thing he could do was run away as far as he could. Yes, a wimp like him should’ve done that. However, the moment he saw Qing Ling getting caught, his feet acted on their own for some reason, and his brain stopped working. When he regained his senses, he was already charging toward the monster like a moron.

Before he could get close to Old Man Zhang, a tentacle slithered toward him and grabbed his calf.

With a yank, Gao Yang fell to the ground. He was getting dragged toward the main body as well. Soon, he would become Old Man Zhang’s late night snack along with Qing Ling.

“Grab on!” Officer Huang ran up and caught Gao Yang with one hand while holding onto a lamp pole with his other hand. Thanks to his God of Firearms, he was able to maintain a tight grip around Gao Yang’s wrist with supernatural strength. For a moment, he reached a standstill with Old Man Zhang’s tentacles.

But Gao Yang didn’t feel relieved.

Firstly, his body was like a rope used in a tug of war. Any second now, it would rip apart. Secondly, more and more tentacles were regenerating and joining the fight. They stood no chance of winning if they simply kept this on.

Most importantly, Qing Ling was getting dragged toward Old Man Zhang.

Calm down. Calm down.

This was exactly the moment he had to be calm.

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Gao Yang took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

[Access granted.]

[You have acquired 30 Luck points.]

—30 Luck points?!

[You have been through 6 minutes of great danger. Luck acquisition rate increased by 300 times.]

—Comprehend new Talent! Now!

[It takes 30 Luck points to comprehend a new Talent. Do you confirm?]

—Yes!

[Comprehending...]

[Comprehending...]

[Comprehending...]

[Comprehension succeeds.]

[Talent: Replicate. Serial Number: 18. Rune Type: Knowledge.]

[Level 1 Replicate: Allow one to replicate any Talent with a serial number greater than 30.]

[Method: Touch the target’s body for 1 second.]

[Number of Talent Replicated: 1. Storage Duration: 1 hour.]

[Use Duration: 3 seconds. Cooldown: 12 hours.]

[Stats Bonuses of Level 1 Replicate: Willpower + 30, Charisma - 10.]

—Good! Finally!

[Congratulations! You have comprehended a Talent for the first time. It now takes 60 Luck points to comprehend a new Talent.]

[Access ends. System hidden.]

[Beep—]

Gao Yang opened his eyes. One meter from him, Qing Ling was getting dragged toward Old Man Zhang with the side of her body on the ground. She did her best to find purchase and resisted the tentacles, but it was all in vain.

Gao Yang scanned the situation and came to a quick decision. “Let go of me, Officer Huang!”

“Are you out of your mind?!”

“Let go! I have a way out! Trust me!”

Every second was precious. Officer Huang had no time to hesitate. He let go of Gao Yang.

The tentacles pulled Gao Yang in with a powerful yank, faster than Qing Ling was getting dragged. When he moved past Qing Ling, Gao Yang extended his right arm to the fullest. He was going to touch Qing Ling’s head, but with their bodies being parallel to each other, he was always two centimeters short.

Gao Yang straightened his arm and splayed his fingers to the fullest, yet he still wasn’t able to reach Qing Ling, missing her forehead, nose, mouth, and chin by a hair.

Are we done?

Gao Yang’s heart sank.

No! His eyes glinted. There’s still hope!

Half a second later, Gao Yang’s right middle finger glided across Qing Ling’s chest.

Still struggling, Qing Ling noticed his strange action. She wasn’t angry, but simply confused. What was he trying to achieve? Was he just struggling? Or was it his strange way of saying goodbye?

[Detected one replicable Talent: Level 3 God of Blade. Do you wish to replicate it?]

—Replicate!

At that moment, Gao Yang felt a wave of energy rush into his body from his middle finger. It was strangely vivid like a living thing, and it still retained the imprint and energy of its original owner.

Gao Yang shouted, “Get me the blade!”

Qing Ling didn’t know what Gao Yang was trying to do, but instinctively, she made the right decision. She stopped struggling to grab onto the ground and instead focused on controlling her weapon.

Her Tang Dao lifted off the ground and flew toward Gao Yang.

Gao Yang caught it quickly. The moment his hand wrapped around the hilt, a sense of familiarity rose in his body, as if he had wielded this weapon tens of thousands of times.

Memory, posture, experience, instinct... Immeasurable information combined to form an energy that couldn't be described. It covered—enveloped him like a sacred life or a mysterious spirit, guiding him, dominating him, empowering him.

With a graceful flip of his right wrist, Gao Yang cut down the tentacles grabbing his calf.

He was only two meters away from Old Man Zhang’s main body. This was the most dangerous place to be, but also the most advantageous. His eyes had already identified the right opening and the best angle to swing the blade.

He made a sidestep and crouched down, lowering the Tang Dao.

With his legs, waist, and right arm lining up—he made a swing.

Shing. The blade cut through the disgusting lump of flesh diagonally from bottom to top.

That wasn’t the end. He quickly pulled back the blade and made another swing, cutting the remaining two-thirds of the flesh before it could even drop.

All that happened in a fraction of a second.

Blood gushed out first, and the scream followed half a second after the slash was made. It was soon stopped short, scattering in the rain of blood before the sound could even take shape.

Three seconds passed.

God of Blade was lost to him.

At the same time, the tentacles dragging Qing Ling loosened.

For a moment, Qing Ling didn’t move. But then she leapt to her feet and charged up to Gao Yang to grab the Tang Dao, making more than a dozen slashes at the dead monster and rendering it into pieces until there was no chance of it regenerating.

Under the moonlight, Qing Ling’s black hair was stained with crimson red. The blood streaked down her aloof face and white uniform.

She lifted her head slightly, her chest heaving. Under her feet was a mess of broken limbs and organs. She looked like a murderous angel falling to hell.

After a few seconds, she slowly turned around, her eyes cold and sharp as they found Gao Yang.

Sling. The bloodless Tang Dao kissed Gao Yang’s neck in the blink of an eye.

“You better explain yourself,” Qing Ling said with brewing anger.

“I’m sorry!” Gao Yang raised both hands in the air and hurriedly apologized, “I shouldn’t have touched you...”

“Who cares about that?” Qing Ling flipped her blade. “Talk! Why do you have God of Blades? Why have you been hiding your true power?”