The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 993: Opening Gates

Chapter 993: Opening Gates

Gao Yang stiffened, words dying in his throat.

Night wind whispered across their faces, rustling their hair.

Dragon chuckled. “Do you not trust me enough?”

“That’s not the problem.”

Gao Yang wasn’t lying.

Gao Yang meant it. If Dragon harbored ulterior motives—if he were truly the awakeners' greatest enemy—he could have eliminated Gao Yang within Overlord's domain moments ago.

“It’s just that...” Gao Yang admitted, “I didn’t expect things to go so smoothly.”

Yes, too smoothly.

After losing so much, enduring so much to reach this point, even this hard-won victory felt undeserved. Despite the twists, the threats, and the constant dance with death, it felt too easy.

Qilin dead. Twelve Rune Circuits gathered. The Gates within reach.

If Gao Yang's fate were a script, this final act seemed suspiciously clean.

Dragon nodded. “I can relate. Those who have suffered too many losses will find it difficult to believe a victory, no matter how much they crave it.”

Gao Yang remained silent.

Dragon looked at him calmly. “Gao Yang, when I tell you that head and tail would open the Gates, the meanings are twofold. For one, I only trusted myself and you to do it then.”

Gao Yang nodded. “I get that.”

“For another, the Gates of Closure literally cannot be opened by someone other than you or I. Others won’t be able to do it even if they get their hands on all twelve Rune Circuits, not even Qilin.”

Gao Yang was caught by surprise, but thinking about it, it made sense.

“So Qilin never planned to open the Gates, and he couldn’t even if he wanted to.” Gao Yang’s suspicion cemented.

“Yes.” Dragon nodded. “He had another ambition. I don’t know what it was, but it no longer matters.”

“It no longer matters,” Gao Yang echoed, bitterness seeping into his voice. Such simple words to dismiss so many lives lost.

“Gao Yang, I know you have many questions, but they don’t matter now.” Dragon lifted his chin slightly. “Come. Open the Gates.”

“But where is it?” Gao Yang asked.

Dragon smiled. “It seems far away when it’s right within your reach.”

Gao Yang thought for a few seconds before coming to a sudden realization. “The Miracle Rune Circuit?!”

Dragon nodded in silent confirmation.

No wonder Qilin never told anyone where the Gates were, Gao Yang realized. He only showed illusions, even to those he trusted.

The Gates of Closure wasn't a physical doorway, wasn't bound to any single location. It was the Miracle Rune Circuit itself—the head of the twelve, bearing privileges beyond the others. Most crucially, it maintained a connection to the world beyond the Mist, an official channel between realms.

If the Miracle Rune Circuit was the doorway, then the other Circuits were its keys, with Dragon and Gao Yang as its appointed keepers.

Gao Yang's fists clenched. He should have seen it sooner.

Dragon must have known everything so well because he was the chosen one with Overlord, the serial number 1 Talent. Perhaps these truths had come to him through “dreams,” like Gao Yang's visions of the black and white walls. Or perhaps Dragon had always known, like fish born knowing how to breathe underwater.

While Dragon had sought the Miracle Rune Circuit, it had been calling to him all along.

Dragon was born to open the Gates.

And so was Gao Yang.

They shared the head and tail Talents, yet their abilities had led them down vastly different paths.

They had joined this cosmic gamble at different times, with different stakes and different strategies. Yet their separate roads led to this single moment.

The Heavenly Way had made them each other's failsafe.

Gao Yang studied the spinning Rune Circuits. “How do I use this?”

Dragon shook his head. “I don’t know, but I have a feeling that the Miracle Rune Circuit will give us the answer when touched.”

Gao Yang's right hand reached toward the Miracle Rune Circuit, fingers halting just shy of contact.

He turned to Dragon. “Do you really not want to be the one to do this?”

Dragon shook his head. “I would like to open the Gates, but it seems that my current condition doesn’t permit it. I can sense the Miracle Rune Circuit calling to me, yet I can sense its rejection, too.”

“I may not be able to turn the key even if I hibernate until the doomsday, yet you don’t seem to have the same problem. Strange. Is that what Lucky truly means?”

Gao Yang fell silent. He had felt the Miracle Rune Circuit's pull, encountering no resistance at all.

“Are you done with your Lie Detection?” Dragon asked wearily, settling onto the ground with casual grace.

The target didn’t lie.

He was benevolent.

He was expectant.

Dragon took a deep breath and looked up slightly. “Gao Yang, I’ve been waiting for this moment my entire life. If possible, don’t make me wait any longer.”

Gao Yang shared that urgency, yet uncertainty held him back. What lay beyond the Gates? What changes would their opening bring? His hope for salvation warred with his fear of the unknown.

As his thoughts settled, he recognized the weight of all he wished to accomplish first.

He wanted to use the Life Rune Circuit to help Vermilion Bird reach level 8 and recover from Brain Fibrosis.

He wanted to master Time-Space Spirit, push it to level 8, attempt to rewrite the past and forge a better future.

So many regrets. So many changes he yearned to make. Yet his ultimate goal lay within reach—the power to open the Gates.

Would salvation lie beyond those Gates? Or would opening them simply finalize the manuscript?

Gao Yang was reminded of an RPG with multiple endings he played when he was a child. There was no walkthrough back then, and he saved every three actions, devoting himself so much to the game to the point of obsession. He tried to do all the side quests, open every chest, uncover every hidden map, and reach the level cap with his character. Yet when he finally faced the final boss, he hesitated.

It wasn't fear of defeat that held him back, but dread that the ending wouldn't be perfect—and once crossed, that threshold could never be uncrossed.

Time crawled by.

Suddenly, sacred light blazed from the Miracle Rune Circuit, calling to him.

Compelled, he reached out.

Ring.

Divine will took form as pure information, concepts flooding his mind like the moment he first beheld the Malediction.

Certainty filled him. He was meant to open the Gates, just as Dragon was. This was his moment. The unfinished side quests, the undiscovered chests, the unexplored maps—none of it mattered anymore.

Only the Gates mattered.

With newfound resolve, Gao Yang seized the Miracle Rune Circuit.

Wing. Energy erupted from his grasp, sacred golden ripples bursting outward at precise angles like a magnificent, intricate gyroscope.

Power awakened within him, rushing into the Miracle Rune Circuit. His energy pathways fused with it until the boundary between flesh and artifact blurred.

The rippling energy collapsed inward, concentrating in his palm.

He felt a burn.

The Miracle Rune Circuit vanished. In its place, a golden hexagram blazed on the back of his right hand. Gao Yang clenched his fist, gripping an invisible door handle.

Whoosh. The remaining eleven Rune Circuits scattered, spinning around him before streaking away in trails of colored light. Each trail carved through space, sketching the massive Gates and their intricate details.

The familiar relief took shape.

The ignorant delusion monsters lost in their emotions, violent wrath monsters seeking to destroy all, greed monsters craving to devour everything, cold and numb pride monsters watching from the sidelines, the loving life monster attempting to embrace all with their two arms, the skeletal death monster seemingly supporting all while piercing them through...

The Gates of Closure materialized—not the physical Black Gold construct from Qilin's illusion, but a doorway suspended between reality and void, formed by eleven streams of silent, rushing light.

Dragon sat on the ground, his loose black hair whipping behind him. Blood trickled down his upturned lips. His pale face shimmered from the scintillating light. His heterochromatic eyes were beautiful and broken.

In a clear voice with a hint of childlike wonder, he asked, “What’s behind the Gates?”

Gao Yang didn’t answer. He couldn’t.

Instead, he stepped forward and pressed his marked hand on the Gates of Closure.