The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 689: Mission Failed

Goldthread brushed snow off his body and removed his sunglasses, revealing deep dark red eye sockets covered in dead brown muscle tissues and cold blue eyes.

He laughed hoarsely. “This is what happens to the host when an awakening is forced. Still, I don’t have any other choice if I want to complete the mission.”

He stared at Chen Ying. “Are you a friend or a foe, Chen Ying?”

“Dust! So you are hidden in Goldthread’s body!” Uncontainable rage flashed through Chen Ying’s eyes. “Did you kill Ba Qiuchi and Green Tea?”

“So you are no friend.” Goldthread scoffed, but it only pleased him further. He admitted easily, “Yes, they came to suspect me, and I had to silence them.”

“Your ability...” Chen Ying’s gaze turned derisive for a moment. “You aren’t human.”

The derision enraged Goldthread—or what had been hidden within him. He proudly raised his head. “In your language, I’m the king of overtaker, the overtaker prime.”

Greed monster, overtaker prime... So that’s what this is!

Chen Ying figured out many things then.

“Goldthread” took a step forward. “Ha, so how did you think Goldthread survived the fire? If not for me turning him into my host, he would’ve died already.”

“I didn’t force his soul out. I shared this body with him. When he was awake, he was himself, and when he fell asleep, I took over. If I forced myself to wake up, this would happen.”

“I’ve long grown tired of the body. I’ve always wanted a healthy, young, and beautiful body that matched my sex.”

“Goldthread” looked at Chen Ying with unbridled desire. “Fret not. I’ll make it quick. You won’t remember anything once you wake up. You won’t sense my presence. You’ll be you during the day, and I’ll take over during the night. Everyone will think that Dust has died...”

Chen Ying took a step back. “Don’t even think about it!”

“You don’t want your soul detonated, do you, Chen Ying?”

“Goldthread” made a threat. “I saved you back in the Walled City of Ten Dragons.”

Chen Ying tensed. When the ceiling came crashing down in the meeting room of the Black Tortoise building, Goldthread had tackled her out of the way, thus getting into contact with her. This meant that even when Goldthread was awake, Dust could leave a secret curse on someone they had physical contact with.

Chen Ying noticed something then. She quickly calmed down. “Give me a moment to consider it.”

“Haha, no rush...”

“Goldthread” was going to say something when a chill came from behind. It wasn’t a chilly wind of the winter, but a killing intent coming from the soul.

“Goldthread” quickly activated Gravity as they leaped to the left.

Face covered in blood, Can teleported behind them with a Black Gold dagger. If not for Gravity obstructing her, she would’ve sliced their neck open.

“Goldthread” rolled to a stand, confused when they saw that it was Can. Then they realized to their shock that there was another Can behind her.

A double!

“Goldthread” came to a realization. The Can holding a dagger rushed toward them again, left hand clenched into a fist and wrapped in blinding flames.

“Fire Punch!”

She made a regular Fire Punch, sending a small fire dragon hurtling toward “Goldthread”. “Goldthread” dodged out of the way, and the attack left a small ditch on the ground.

Can teleported again without delay, giving “Goldthread” no time to react, but “Goldthread” seized the brief opening to snap their fingers, activating the seed of curse inside Chen Ying’s body—they would claim as many victims as they could.

A second later, Chen Ying fell to the ground with a pained look on her face. She held onto her neck but couldn’t stop her soul from turning into countless dust particles, which rushed out of her body and converged into a nebula above her head.

Three seconds later, the nebular would explode.

The other Can didn’t give it the chance to.

She had already crouched down and opened her arms wide, shouting, “Time Reset!”

Countless soft strands of sacred white light rushed toward the dead “Gao Yang” and Little Tian, as well as Chen Ying, whose soul was about to explode, turning them into glowing cacoons.

With the miracle power of Gamer, all damage was undone, ignoring the restraints of natural laws and time and space. Everything was reverted to its condition three minutes ago. Whatever positive and negative states inflicted on the targets were lifted, including Dust’s curse.

It took half a minute for Time Reset to be completed. “Can” clenched her teeth with a pale face as she manipulated countless white tentacles with her ten fingers.

It almost exhausted her—Gao Yang’s energy to reset three lifeforms.

Even Hong Xioaxiao could only reset two lifeforms at once. Gao Yang only managed to reset three at the same time with his high Willpower.

With his energy quickly depleting, he could no longer maintain the double keeping “Goldthread” busy. It vanished instantly.

Having figured out that Can was actually Gao Yang, “Goldthread” quickly rushed toward the girl saving the fallen ones. Their mission was to kill the Divine Scion at all costs!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Three Black Gold darts stabbed at their back from above. “Goldthread” activated Gravity with a start, moving out of the way while slowing the darts down. After a slight delay, they continued to charge at “Can”.

Then countless fierce air blades came from above.

What?!

“Goldthread” could no longer continue forward. They quickly moved back and made three backflips, narrowly dodging the string of translucent air blades coming toward him.

They looked up to see a tall, slim ponytailed girl in a black outfit approaching at high speed, riding a long blade. Standing behind her was a girl with medium-length hair, wearing a parka with her arms wrapped around the ponytailed girl’s waist. They were the real Qing Ling and Can.

The two of them had been hiding on the rooftop of a building three kilometers away, watching everything play out with binoculars. Once the plan succeeded, they would immediately come as reinforcements.

With Qing Ling’s control of her blade and Can boosting her with wind, it took only 90 seconds for them to arrive at the scene.

Goldthread quickly put the pieces together with what they knew.

Qing Ling, with level 6 God of Blades and Level 6 Metal.

Can, with level 5 Invisibility and level 4 Gale.

Fake Can—Gao Yang—may still be able to put up some fight after saving the fallen.

After three minutes, Chen Ying, Little Tian, and Fake Gao Yang—whose real identity was unknown—could wake up.

I’ll be outmatched, and now that I’ve exposed myself, the mission is a failure.

“Goldthread” bolted without hesitation.

“Hop off. I’ll chase after Dust.” Qing Ling made a decisive call.

“Got it!”

Can let go of Qing Ling and jumped down to the snowy ground by the artificial lake. Making a sharp turn on her Tang Dao, Qing Ling chased after “Goldthread”.

Five seconds later, Can slowly landed beside “Can” with powerful wind propping her from under her feet, her hair dancing.

“...Captain!”

It was strange to see someone identical to her, to say the least.

Disguised as Can, Gao Yang finally finished Time Reset. He gasped for breaths with a pale face and dim eyes with all his energy exhausted, about to pass out. Can quickly caught him and jabbed his chest with an adrenaline shot.

“Hmph...” Gao Yang felt a warm current shooting to his head along his spine before spreading to the other parts of his body. He had recovered much of his strength and energy.

“Go...check on the three of them,” he said a little weakly.