The Creatures That We Are
Chapter 1302: Coda + Afterword

Chapter 1302: Coda + Afterword

Shanqing District, Li City. April 1st, 2018.

Late at night, the bell rang at a high school, announcing the end of the evening study session. In less than a minute, a black-haired boy rode out of the front gate, the first to leave school.

Usually, he would’ve had a leisurely walk out with his friends, pushing his bicycle along. He would buy late-night snacks at a street stand or even go to an internet cafe to play games for thirty minutes with his friends, before heading home with an excuse forming in his mind.

But not tonight. It was his eighteenth birthday, and his family was waiting for him.

He raced along the streets. When his phone rang, he picked up.

“Brother, why haven’t you returned?!” asked a girl.

“I just got out of class. I only have two wheels. I can’t fly!”

“Hurry, Son! The food is getting cold!” said a man.

“I’m taking shortcuts!”

“We’ll just reheat it. Don’t go too fast. Safety first,” a woman chimed in.

“Don’t worry!”

“Grandson, I just tried the cake. It’s sweet,” said an elderly woman.

“Then you should have more... I’m hanging up!”

He ended the call and quickened his pace, standing up as he pedaled with his bangs flying around in the wind. He shouted, “Go! For my gifts!”

The bicycle flew through an alleyway. He was going to ride past a dark corner when his heart skipped a beat. He braked for a quick stop.

He didn’t know what was wrong with him, but a strange panic had seized his heart. It felt like something terrible was going to happen.

Slowly, he turned to the dark corner. There was nothing unusual about the narrow passage. A lonely lamp shone on two trash cans filled to the brim, swarmed by flies. That was it.

The April wind whooshed through the alleyway. The boy closed his eyes and felt the wind kiss his face. It was nice.

His unease faded. He chuckled at his strange bout of panic.

“Idiot.”

He shook his head with a laugh and started pedaling again. The carefree eighteen-year-old rushed back home.

It was a normal day. Nothing unusual happened.

The End

Afterword

I went through my playlist for a song to accompany me, but after some time, I decided against it.

That was about how I felt.

Finally, I finished Creatures that We Are. I was neither happy nor sad. I was relieved, deeply so.

First, I had to thank my “roommate”, Miss Jien. She was my editor and the first reader of the story.

As a reader, her reaction to the story always inspired me.

Moreover, when the novel saw few readers in the beginning, and I found myself drowning in self-doubt, it was her recognition and encouragement that got me through the difficult time, allowing me to keep writing.

As an editor, she patiently discussed the characters’ feelings and fates with me. She even knew some of my characters better than I did, which directly or indirectly led to many memorable scenes in the novel.

In the later part of the story, I was physically and mentally exhausted from stress and illness; I took shortcuts when writing without realizing it. It was her objective perspective and unrelenting urging for me to rewrite and fill in the holes that prevented the story from becoming a regret.

Most importantly, she was my greatest mentor in the lessons of love.

Without her, I would’ve been a lesser man who did not know how to love, and the love portrayed in the story would’ve been much worse.

I also have to thank my friend and manager, Dami. She took care of everything other than the creative process. She never pressured me with deadlines. And she had to take care of the unreasonable requests I made when I was ill, working hard to give me the best environment for writing.

I’m grateful to the friends who encouraged me to go into online novels and offered me valuable advice, as well as those who have helped me with revision and catching mistakes, offering me comments. Don’t worry. You’re getting your books and free meals lol

And thank you, editors of the platform, for understanding and supporting a NovelFire that updates every month or even every season.

Finally, a big thank you to all my readers.

I’ve always wanted to tell you this: without you, Creatures that We Are would never exist.

I’m being completely honest here. I’m not someone who can endure the loneliness of writing. Between my passion and having food on the table, I would choose the latter. Had it not been for your support, the story would have been a complete passion project, and I would’ve ended it prematurely without as much care. Thanks to your support, I was able to put aside other work and devote myself fully to writing the story.

That wasn’t all. Your interest, comments, criticism, and discussions all fueled my drive to write, giving me the momentum to keep going. Without stopping, without any reservation, I exhausted all the experience and inspiration I had accumulated in my life to complete this long answer sheet.

When I realized it, I had already written a 3-million-word novel with hundreds of characters and a complete list of Talents (If I ever go bald, the list will be the culprit).

The longest novel I’d written before is 600k, and I finished it over several years.

If someone had told me two years ago that I would end up doing this, I wouldn’t have believed them.

It’s the same for Gao Yang. If Baili Yi had told him that he would become a hero at his eighteenth birthday, he wouldn’t have believed the man.

Of course, my life story did not compare to Gao Yang’s.

I just mean that we are each the protagonists of our lives. We cannot read the script to find out if an accident will arrive before the sun rises again. It’s all we can do to live our lives to the fullest and seize the present—to seize every opportunity we encounter and do our best. Never blame the world or get hung up on our success and failure.

We have nothing outside of love. But with love, we have everything.

If there is a god in the world, They would be a novelist, I think.

Novelists create a story, featuring characters that share commonalities with them but aren’t the same.

When novelists watch their characters forge their destiny, it’s akin to God watching us find our purpose.

I’m still looking for mine. What about you?

Peng Pai

April 1st, 2024