Chapter 23: War

"What is the point of that "guessing game"?" Suddenly, a voice from the side disturbed Xin's thought process.

"Can't you just tell everything straight?" Was that an expression of annoyance or a question? The boy wasn't sure.

"Because I want to, woman. Crawl back to your corner." Ying Zheng gave her a glare and then returned his glance to Xin.

"So, kid. Poison, who else has been poisoned recently? You should know."

"I do." And too well, he wanted to add, for that day was deeply engraved in his mind.

"Brother Hao, right?"

"Spot on, Tong Hao and his autistic brother… how was his name?"

"Brother Ji." And what does autistic mean?

"Yes, that one. Muscle-head. They were attacked and poisoned, and by same poison, as far as can tell. I visited Tong Hao after the "treatment" and asked him several questions. He was told not to reveal anything as to prevent a premature panic, but there are always right words."

"You threatened him?" Asked the girl with a disdainful smirk on her face. Xin looked at her and then at Ying Zheng, now warily. It was possible.

"Who's talking there, remind me? And no, what do you take me for? You too, kid, stop staring like that. I've just pressed on his compassion, told that I would go to the forest too soon, and he just revealed me everything after several attempts to talk me out of that. He's a good guy, really. Anyway, the same poison in him, in the deer, and in the wolf, too."

"In the wolf?" Xin suddenly went pale. Wait, it was obvious. The wolf had been eating the deer before, and now they have eaten the wolf then... He went even paler and stood up.

"Don't worry, I've dealt with it while cooking. What do you take me for, again? It is easy to detoxify." Slowly Xin sat down once again. Too many worries recently.

However, one thing was still worrying him. This time, though, he decided to think a bit before making an assumption.

"You've removed the poison but… You wouldn't have been able to save the leg of Brother Hao because he was alive, unlike the wolf, or maybe because the poison was deeper in him?" These were logical assumptions, one could find many of them.

"What are you talking about, if I was there, I could've easily treated him without butchering."

"What?" His answer was shocking for Xin. The boy hurriedly said:

"But doctor Shi, he had to sever his leg!"

"Yeah, Shi Lang's a military surgeon. These guys always cutting when they don't know what to do; kind of work at times, but generally they are extremely incompetent. What's more, while the antidote isn't my invention, it has been developed only recently. At the time of the Colonization War, this kind of poison seemed incurable, so I can see why he decided to amputate."

"But… then… It was in vain?" Xin remembered the face of Tong Hao, his voice, how he had to rely on Ji to walk.

That man wished to achieve something and wasted his life traveling the Unknown Regions. And everything in vain. He could accept if it was due to a sudden attack, but it was because of a coincidence, and…

But wait, isn't that was the same. Tong Hao was injured in the forest, Tong Hao was treated wrongly. What's the difference if it one or two unlucky accidents?

Xin was extremely confused; he didn't know what to say. For some time he was just staring at the ground. Then he shook his head and looked up. Ying Zheng has still been gazing at him, but now there was that thing, "smoke tube" in his mouth. He took it with his fingers and turned his eyes to the starry sky.

"Sometimes shit just happens, kid. Anyway, back to the point and let's finish with It. We have two cases of poisoning, done by different parties."

"How can you tell?" Asked Maha.

"Well, in the first case two warriors at the Third Stage of Qi Gathering were injured and barely managed to ran away. In the second there were two, maybe three deer. The warriors are much faster so unless the attacker got crippled along the way it was someone else, much weaker. So, kid, I'm expecting you to say something."

Xin mustered his thoughts. No point in the past now; he started thinking about the whole situation. It could be very important.

The whole case said by Ying Zheng could be easily explained. Maybe there were two different beasts, a strong and a weak, or a mature and a young. All things were quite clear, except for one that he, for some reason, hadn't stated. Why? It was the most important.

"There were other injuries on brother Hao, not all of them were of poison." His wounded chest for example. Xin still could remember it clearly.

He started waiting for Ying Zheng's answer. For some reason, he frowned slightly. Had he said something wrong? The boy looked around: nothing but silence.

"Relax kid." Finally said Ying Zheng while massaging his brows.

"I mean, I've explained you two cases: three were injured, two were poised… Ah, whatever, you right."

Xin was slightly embarrassed. He's solved the riddle but the wrong way. Should he be proud? More or less?

"If that Tong Hao told you already, why won't you just say it?"

Sounded Maha's voice.

Xin expected Ying Zheng to answer spitefully, but he, in turn, just froze. Then turned his face to Maha, Xin could swear his neck was creaking during that process and said:

"I don't know."

Xin almost fell down.

"Then tell it straight, idiot."

"Well, if you insist. Soon there will be another war, that's my point."

After his words, it all became louder. Only in Xin's mind though. His eyes went wide. Maha also frowned.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Tong Has was attacked by two beasts; one of them was venomous, the other not. So, two different species, cooperating. It is generally impossible, even intelligent ones tend to keep themselves to their own kinds. The last case of cooperation was during the Colonization War. Also, if that was an individual case it wouldn't matter much, but the deer wasn't bitten or cut. Rather it was shot. Have you seen the arrow? There was the same venom on it."

"Is it rare for bow-using beasts to use that toxin?" Asked Maha.

"Yes, very. Animals can't channel Qi to weapons, they don't know any techniques. Therefore bows are used only by very weak kinds. It is almost impossible for them to hunt a Swamp Python whose poison it was, they can only gather it from rare corpses. It is precisions for them, and they wouldn't use it on a mere deer. Therefore, it was given to them. Again, cooperation. And now of three different kinds. See? "

"But, maybe they are just getting along." Said Xin.

"They can't. Most beasts are against coexistence, it is alienating for them. They can use it only as a forced measure, and their horde can have only one goal."

"I see." Maha nodded.

Xin did too. But, if that is true shouldn't they tell the others? His question was answered before the boy could state it.

"We don't have have to report it. The government has already sent forces to investigate. They told Tong Hao to be silent, after all. We should just keep going, and the sooner we leave the beast-alliance inhabited territories, the better.",

"Well, that's my opinion, I'll go check the perimeter."

Suddenly, Ying Zheng stood up and vanished in the forest. It was so abrupt that Xin comprehended what had happened only several seconds later. Then he turned to Maha. She was staring at the place where Ying Zheng disappeared.

"That man… For some reason, he loves to teach others, with questions and statements, but he never plans it beforehand. Each time it goes wrong he turns bitter and walks away. Passion without mind, form without substance. He has a making of a terrible teacher."

"There is so much wrong in what he expected you to say and said himself that I can't even begin to address it."

"He did it before?" Xin thought about his speech about luck. That was a similar situation.

"Yes, he does it almost every day. At some point, I think, he became tired of going out of his own house and placed me outside."

…What a peculiar man.