“Tell us,” Gao Yang said without hesitation.
The others were interested too, and they leveled their gazes at Dr. Jia.
“I’ll get to the conclusion first.” Dr. Jia put the carved walnuts back into his pocket and adjusted his posture. “The Heavenly Way isn’t the referee, but an ally.”
That dropped like a bombshell, stunning everyone into silence for a good moment.
Pleased with the reaction, Dr. Jia continued, “I believe the Heavenly Way is protecting humans.”
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He paused to give others time to think.
Half a minute later, he said, “I speculate that the Heavenly Way is a higher form of energy, originated from the same source as the energy of awakeners’ Talents, but in a greater dimension. The relationship between the energy of the Heavenly Way and the energy of Talents can be that between twins, mother and child, or supervisor and subordinate.”
“The main difference is that one is static, and one is dynamic, comparable to nature and the higher life forms in nature. You get it?”
Gao Yang had a eureka moment. His perspective opened up substantially.
Dr. Jia lived up to his Talent, Genius. He was able to tackle a question from vastly different angles.
Why did all awakeners believe Heavenly Way to be either a god ruling over all or a coldblooded, heartless referee? Because they were all trapped, assuming the Mist and the Heavenly Way to be one and the same. And yes, they did share many commonalities; they were unknowable, irresistible, coldly powerful, and dominant over all living creatures.
No one had ever considered that the Mist and the Heavenly Way might be different forces!
“Do you mean that the Heavenly Way is humans’ ally, while the Mist...is our enemy?” Qing Ling had caught onto what Dr. Jia meant.
“Yes.” Dr. Jia was confident. “It’s still a hypothesis, but if true, it’ll explain many things.”
“I think I get it too.” Nine Frost had been carefully thinking, and he shared his thoughts. “The Mist has been slowly devouring all isolated islands, while the Heavenly Way has been protecting them and maintaining the facade of a normal world. Us humans, who live on the isolated islands, are naturally the subjects of the Heavenly Way’s protection. That explains why the Heavenly Way prohibits elite monsters from hurting regular humans unprovoked.”
War Tiger laughed. “Old Jia, now I do believe that Vermilion Bird may save you if you die one day.”
“That’ll be the smart move,” Dr. Jia accepted the praise easily.
“No, that’s not right.” Lithe Snake identified a flaw in the logic. “If the Heavenly Way has been protecting us, why doesn’t it just erase the monsters?”
“Yeah.” Gao Yang wasn’t entirely convinced, either. “If the Heavenly Way is capable of making monsters follow its rules, shouldn’t it be easy for the Heavenly Way to just erase monsters? Even if not total erasure, further restriction should be possible.”
“Who told you that monsters are our enemies?” Dr. Jia asked with a smile.
“Are they not?!” Gray Bear exclaimed, being so loud that the driver jumped. Although the driver couldn’t understand what his passengers were saying, he got the impression that they were discussing something serious.
“Monsters go after all awakened humans. If that doesn’t make them enemies, what are they?” Gray Bear thought he had come to understand the matter they were discussing, but he found himself getting even more befuddled. “There are a minor group of monsters taking the sides of humanity, such as the lightbringers, but most monsters are enemies...”
“No, that’s not what this is about,” Dr. Jia interrupted Gray Bear. “I mean monsters are neither friend nor foe. The framework doesn’t apply to them at all.”
The car fell silent.
Dr. Jia was losing them.
“Monsters are...” Before Dr. Jia gave them his answer, his head drooped suddenly, and he fell asleep. It happened so quickly that one had to question if he was acting.
“Hey, Dr. Jia!” Gray Bear was ready to throw hands. “Finish your sentence!”
“Haha.” War Tiger snorted. “I forgot to tell you. Dr. Jia has a sleeping disorder, and he can fall asleep any time without warning.”
“I think it’s called narcolepsy,” Nine Frost said.
“He did this to himself,” War Tiger said. “He experiments on himself all the time and ends up giving himself many health problems. He should be thankful that he’s an awakener rather than a regular human, or we’ll be sweeping his tomb now.”
...
Three o’clock in the morning, the Action Unit boarded the plane carrying the sleeping Dr. Jia, heading to the Ni Nation.
Dr. Jia had slept through the flight, and the flight attendants asked about him. Gao Yang had to patiently explain to them that the man had narcolepsy.
Like a reader who had read through all the book save for the ending, Gray Bear checked if Dr. Jia had woken up every few minutes like he had bugs crawling all over his skin. He was so anxious he felt like he was on a mania episode.
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When they arrived at the Ni Nation, it was nine in the morning.
Finally, Dr. Jia woke up, but he was still drowsy and lightheaded like he was drunk, his body weak and his thoughts messy.
Gray Bear carried Dr. Jia on his back. Every few steps, he would ask, “You awake, Dr. Jia? What are monsters?”
“The summer...the summer sneaks away...leaving its little secret...”
“Huh?”
“Thunders. It’s raining. Time to take the clothes inside...”
“Start making sense. What are monsters?”
“3.14159265358979323846.”
Gao Yang couldn’t bear it anymore. “Leave it, Gray Bear. Ask him when he’s in the right mind.”
“But I’m worried that he’ll just die like that. I hate people who don’t finish their sentences! It’s a sin worthy of the death of their parents!”
They walked out of the airport. The first thing they noted was how dry the air was. All around them was a muddled yellow.
They took a taxi to Zone K, the center of Ni Nation. It wasn’t even half as prosperous as Li City with mostly short buildings only a few stories tall; some were historic buildings, and others modern apartments. There were also many illegally constructed houses, some with precarious structures.
Most of the roads were narrow, and the traffic was bad with all sorts of stands lining the roads and crowds crossing without a care of the cars, looking confident and leisurely.
The driver didn’t find it unusual at all, and he weaved through the crowd, stopping every three meters.
The sounds of car honking, people chattering, stand owners hollering combined to form a chaotic hubbub with its own rhythm. It was a completely foreign experience to them.
Finally, they arrived at Zone K and checked into a hotel. With memory enhanced by Medicine M, they had a cramming session that was a few hours long for the local language, enough for them to hold basic conversations.
Four o’clock in the afternoon, Dr. Jia woke up fully.
Gao Yang sent a message to the group chat for Team Heavenbreaker, telling everyone to go to the buffet on the first floor of the hotel. They would set out after having a meal.
Gray Bear and Lithe Snake shared a room, and they were the last to arrive.
Seeing that Dr. Jia was eating a chicken burrito with greens, Gray Bear immediately rushed up to the table and asked, “Dr. Jia, what are...”
“Gray Bear,” Gao Yang interrupted, not even looking up from the roasted pigeon he was disassembling for Qing Ling. “Eat.”
Although they were speaking in their own language, there were quite a lot of tourists in the restaurant. The risk of exposure was significant.
Moreover, he had been feeling like they were being followed. It was only his hunch, though. He didn’t have any proof.
“We’ll talk later. I’m starving.” Dr. Jia took a big bite of his burrito, his mouth smeared with cheese sauce.
“You aren’t gonna lose consciousness suddenly again, are you?” War Tiger was a little worried too.
“Based on my past experience, I only black out once every week, and it won’t happen in short succession.” Dr. Jia wasn’t too concerned.
Gao Yang smiled and lifted his glass of orange juice. He paused before he drank it. He remembered the glass being clearly translucent. Had it gotten a little tinted now?
He wasn’t too sure.
He enhanced his six senses to the limit and surveyed his surroundings. He didn’t spot anyone suspicious in the restaurant, and his system hadn’t sounded an alert.
Just to be safe, he lowered his glass of orange and continued to eat the other food.
Then he got worried that Qing Ling would drink his orange juice since she was overly passionate about food, and Gao Yang was the one person she didn’t maintain any distance from.
Thus, Gao Yang found the chance to discreetly dispose of the orange juice.
His concern seemed unwarranted though. Nothing happened even when they finished the meal.
Half an hour later, with their hunger and thirst satiated, they left the hotel for the most famous tourist site in Zone K—the Triangular Towers.
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