The Creatures That We Are
Chapter 1273: Sunset Boulevard

Chapter 1273: Sunset Boulevard

Once he stepped through the screen, Gao Yang felt himself dipping slightly before his feet touched ground, as if he had merely gone down a step on a staircase. One thing Sunset Boulevard shared with the previous two worlds was its vastness. Its boundaries stretched beyond his sight, giving off an unshakable sense of loneliness.

One aspect in which it differed from the previous grand, fantastical rooms was how real it was.

Under the intoxicating warm light of the setting sun, Gao Yang and his companions found themselves walking along a mundane-looking road like a group of tourists. Some of them adapted quickly, while others became even more wary, thinking it incredibly abnormal for things to seem so normal.

They looked around. The billboards lining the streets were plastered with movie posters. Although they should be still images, those portrayed in the posters came to life when one looked at them for longer than a moment.

The beautiful men and women winked. The thuggish fugitives pulled their triggers. The dinosaurs and monsters breathed fire. The cartoon characters let out cute laughs.

Those were all illusions, of course. Once they looked away, the posters went back to still images once more.

With their experience in the previous worlds, they started by analyzing and interpreting the name of the room, “Sunset Boulevard”. Gao Yang led the group, pondering the same thing while listening to the discussion between his companions.

He came to a halt when sounds suddenly dropped off around him, as if the world had been muted. Moreover, he couldn’t sense anyone with his six senses.

He whirled around. His companions were gone.

The environment around him had transformed without him noticing, too. The sky became rippling waves, and the desert seemed filled to the brim with red seawater. At the end of the path, the half-sunk sun hung at the horizon, its red light sharp like needles, resembling a burning sea urchin.

Hong Xiaoxiao appeared without warning.

Standing by his side with her back to him, she spread her arms and swung them like a duck on land, droning, “The wolf’s coming. Hide. The wolf’s coming. Hide.”

Where’s the wolf?

Gao Yang was about to ask when he heard a click. He turned around and saw a black, coffin-like closet. Its doors opened automatically before closing.

When he realized it, he had already dove into the closet. Through the crack of the doors, he saw Hong Xiaoxiao deflating. She slumped to the ground as a black shadow flashed out of her skin, turning into a giant black wolf.

It looked like a rough sketch done with charcoal, and it looked hungry. Black saliva dripped down from the corners of its mouth nonstop. When the drops hit the ground, they morphed into black marbles and rolled away.

The black wolf stalked around the black closet with its tail between its legs. Gao Yang found the whole thing absurd, yet fear seized his heart all the same; he didn’t even dare to breathe.

“Hey.”

Someone patted Gao Yang on the shoulder. He turned around to find Vermilion Bird.

“What are you doing here, Gao Yang?”

Watch out for the wolf—

Before Gao Yang could warn her, she said, “Here. Help me put on my contact lenses.”

Flabbergasted, Gao Yang saw the small rectangular container in Vermilion Bird’s hands. He took it and opened it, but found no contact lenses.

Where?

Gao Yang was confused.

“Gone invisible?” Vermilion Bird said.

Somehow, it sounded reasonable to Gao Yang. He looked up and realized that one of Vermilion Bird’s eyes was gone, leaving only a black empty socket.

Behind her, a massive eyeball hovered.

“Quick. Help me put on the contact lenses,” Vermilion Bird urged.

“Get out of the way! Putting on the lenses now!”

Gao Yang’s head jerked up. Zhang Wei, Adept Horse, Heavenly Dog, and Raven Shark were flying in the air. They made a circle and carried a giant lens together, flying toward the giant eye. They let go of the lens, and it fell and covered the eyeball perfectly like a cloche.

Like magic, the eyeball vanished.

“All good.” Her eye had returned to her empty socket. Vermilion Bird smiled with gratitude. “Thanks. Got a cigarette?”

“No,” said Zhang Wei.

“No,” Adept Horse, too.

“Stargazing fish,” said Raven Shark.

“Cool,” said Heavenly Dog.

Gao Yang heard a clack. It was Liao Liao, standing behind him.

She wore a baseball cap and held a clapperboard with one hand, a camera held in the other. “Wrong! This isn’t how you act! Start over!”

Act what?

Gao Yang was increasingly confused.

“The wolf’s coming! The wolf’s coming! Run!” Hong Xiaoxiao showed up again, holding Lovely Lamb’s hand as she ran over.

“Give me a sec to touch up my makeup,” Vermilion Bird took out a compact mirror and put lipstick on.

“Squid,” Raven Shark said.

“Cool,” Heavenly Dog commented.

“I’m hungry! I’m eating all the random errors!”

Dr. Jia entered the scene. Wearing a wolf mask, he hand-walked his way to them at an unnatural speed like some sort of alien being. Face blank, everyone fled.

Not Gao Yang. He was terrified and wanted to run, but he couldn’t. He looked down and realized that his feet had sunk into a marsh. He couldn’t extract them.

He struggled as hard as he could, and finally, his feet surfaced, but he still couldn’t run.

He looked down once more to find his feet becoming folded paper. Panicking, Gao Yang dropped down and crawled on all fours, finally managing to move forward.

Walking on his hands, Dr. Jia quickly caught up with Gao Yang. His upside-down face leaned close and sniffed Gao Yang’s hair.

“Gao Yang!” he snarled. “Where’s your vital energy? You owe me a lot!”

I don’t owe you, or anyone for that matter.

Gao Yang continued crawling.

Dr. Jia bit Goa Yang’s shoulder and tore an arm off as easily as one would open a pack of snacks. He hand-walked away with Gao Yang’s arm in his mouth.

Gao Yang didn’t bleed, and it didn’t hurt. But he felt an emptiness inside.

“There’s no time to explain! Come on!”

A race car stopped before Gao Yang. The driver kicked the door open and reached out—Wang Zikai.

Gao Yang brightened up and took Wang Zikai’s hand, but Wang Zikai wasn’t able to pull Gao Yang into the car no matter what.

“Did you put on getting gel[1]?” Wang Zikai shouted.

What?

“Getting gel has fixed you in place!”

I didn’t use it.

“It’s okay. Just hold on! I’ll save you, bro!” Wang Zikai stepped on the accelerator, starting the car. It sped away while Gao Yang remained in place. His arm elongated and soon turned into a thin thread.

Flutter. Gao Yang took flight. Like a human kite, he wobbled left and right in the sky, tethered to the car.

Gao Yang’s fear evaporated. He was safe. No one could catch him while he flew.

“Cut!”

1. Hair gel for hair is commonly known as 啫喱水 (zhu-li-shui) in China. Zhuli is supposed to be the transliteration of gel/jelly. Wang Zikai mistakes it as 咖喱水, curry water, due to the similar written characters. He got it wrong back when he was taking the New Year photo with Gao Yang, Gao Xinxin, and Fresh Snow in chapter 934. ☜