The Creatures That We Are
Chapter 1266: Gods War

Chapter 1266: Gods' War

They moved closer to the bluff and got a better look. Most of the people were obscured figures covered in membrane-like grey barks. Only a selected few had burst out of the membranes, part of their faces and bodies visible. But they weren’t fully grown yet. Many parts of their body were still missing skin, revealing the red muscle tissues and the blood vessels.

“So this is how monsters are born,” Liao Liao observed.

“Yeah.” Gao Yang’s eyes dimmed.

Dr. Jia inspected one of the people at his eye level—a tall, wide adult male who seemed more or less mature. After some hesitation, Dr. Jia poked him in the chest.

“Nice,” he said. “It’s bouncy, no different from a human’s.”

He stroked his chin and analyzed, “Now we can more or less be certain that monsters are byproducts of the war between the Gluttonous Snake and the Heavenly Way. The two walls colliding and making all that ruckus were them fighting.”

“Seems to fit.” Liao Liao nodded.

The others agreed.

Dr. Jia continued with his logical deduction: “Originally, the Gluttonous Snake and the Heavenly Way should be fighting here, in their arena. The infinitely tall and long walls were their infinite nature.”

“I can get behind that, but aren’t the two gods fighting...in a silly way?” Zhang Wei said.

“We may be the silly ones,” Adept Horse said.

“Huh?” Zhang Wei didn’t get it.

Liao Liao explained patiently, “It is because we cannot comprehend the war of gods that we can only see it in a way we understand.”

Zhang Wei understood partly.

Nainai and Wang Zikai crossed their arms like they didn’t care.

“Imbecile,” Dr. Jia huffed. “Think of it this way. Humans waged war and dropped nuclear bombs on each other. Then an ant died from the explosion. Even in its death, the ant would be unable to understand what actually happened. It thought it had been killed by a stone. And at that moment, it thought: human war seems so silly. Had I been a little faster, I would’ve dodged the stone and survived. Now let me ask you this: is the ant or the humans the silly one here?”

“I am! I’m the idiot!” Zhang Wei gave up on understanding everything. “You’re the smart guy, Dr. Jia. Then come up with some ideas.”

“What ideas could I come up with?” Dr. Jia shrugged. “Had I brought my lab, I would at least be able to take samples and conduct studies...”

“Right ahead!” Chen Ying shouted. She had been keeping watch.

They followed her line of sight and saw moving black spots at the end of the grey path.

Chen Ying activated Clairvoyance. Her face darkened. “Shadows...black human-like shadows...”

Gao Yang patted her on the shoulder and used the replicated Clairvoyance. He quickly got the full picture she had seen:

The massive tree growing out of the center of the river had grown so much that some of its dense branches stabbed into the black and white walls. They became “official channels” connecting the two worlds. From the black walls, countless black shadows emerged—all humanoid and varying in sizes and shapes.

Male and female, old and young. The people moved like wandering spirits. They walked along the branches that were the official channels in search of their “other halves”, which were the people growing out of the trees.

As soon as they found their other halves, they would attach themselves to them and enter into their bodies in the form of countless black strands.

“Careful, it’s coming!”

Gao Yang deactivated Clairvoyance. A flat black stencil was right before them. The figure was among the first to emerge from the black wall and had made it to them in the meantime.

Bang! Adept Horse shot a light-element bullet at the figure, but it flew through it without doing any damage.

“Stop attacking. Let’s observe it first.” Vermilion Bird used Unreachable, and all of them became invincible through their enchanted Black Gold rings.

Still, they moved to the sides to make way.

The seemingly weightless flat figure passed by them like they didn’t exist. It walked up to the person Dr. Jia had observed earlier and slowly attached itself to it, entering the body as numerous black strands.

Ten seconds passed.

“Ah...ugh...”

The person under the thick membrane was animated—or awakened. It groaned, but not out of pain. The membrane broke, fluctuated, and peeled away. Viscous blood and brown sap oozed out.

Finally, the adult male with a strong build was born. It fell to the ground before them, completely naked.

In thirty seconds, its body became fully grown. Then, grey-green scales emerged from parts of his skin before quickly receding. Its face changed shapes like the creator’s invisible hands were molding it. One second it looked like a human, then the next, it turned into a monster.

It was as if its personhood and monsterhood were warring inside it until reaching an equilibrium.

A minute later, the man settled down as a “human”.

He slowly rose to his feet and turned to walk to the end of the branch, his eyes blank. At first, his movement was stiff and slow, and he stumbled, but soon, he gained better control of his body. He picked up his pace and started running.

Once he reached the end of the branch, he jumped and took flight, floating toward the white wall like a human kite.

“Fascinating! Let’s follow!” Dr. Jia looked like a kid in a candy store.

Gao Yang had guessed what would happen. Without a word, he conjured a golden vessel with Absolute Defense and carried everyone to follow the man.

A few minutes later, the man entered the wall and vanished. More people followed suit, flying headfirst into the white wall.

“Let’s get in, too!” Dr. Jia shouted.

Gao Yang manipulated the Absolute Barrier to approach the white wall, but they still couldn’t touch it.

Dr. Jia wasn’t surprised. He shouted in excitement, “Everyone, we just witnessed the birth of monsters! Do you know what that means?”

“What?” Zhang Wei asked.

“That I’m a real genius!”

Dr. Jia paused for a few seconds, but no one praised or flattered him. Unfazed, he continued, “My hypothesis was right. The black wall represents the Gluttonous Snake, and the white wall the world of the Heavenly Way. The black figures came from the Gluttonous Snake’s will.”

He pointed at the giant tree trunk behind him. “The creatures growing out of the branches are the byproducts of the two gods’ war, namely the manifestations of the humans who exist and not exist. They embody the Heavenly Way’s will—their personhood—as well as the Gluttonous Snake’s will—their monsterhood.”

“Once the two combine and lead to their birth, they head to the Heavenly Way’s world. There, life monsters will plant the seeds in monsters so that they will give birth to more monsters, but that’s only the physical representation. It doesn’t matter. The origin of the monsters lies here.”

They all understood what he meant, and none disagreed with the interpretation.

They turned to Wang Zikai at the same time.

No matter how strong Wang Zikai was, he was a pure monster. That meant he was born here as well.