“How long can you give her?” Aikenseth asked in a hurry.
It was a race against time. They had discovered a means to save the woman a while ago, but she wouldn’t last until a cure was created. They had wasted too much time to research the cure, and now the patient was literally minutes away from death’s door.
“I just need ten, no, five hours to create the prototype!” Reysen said next to him.
Reysen had thought himself to be a good doctor until this incident. In his opinion, any doctor who could not defeat the Grim Reaper’s scythe was a failure, and he was moments away from becoming that. Moreover, he was childhood friends with Aikenseth and the patient. Sector V was a place where friendship was taught to be worth less than scrap, but they were of the opposite opinion. The entire Sector V could go to hell, and it wouldn’t matter as long as their friend wasn’t part of the casualty. That was how much they cherished one another.
After the woman had fallen ill, they had come all the way to Sector H to find someone who knew a way to cure her. Although they were successful in their search, they soon discovered that the cure needed to be created from scratch. Worse, they discovered that the cure wouldn’t be made in time even if he dedicated all of his time into creating it. Reysen had been close to abandoning all hope when Cillin appeared out of nowhere and offered him exactly what he needed: more time.
“I don’t know. We’ll have to see for ourselves,” Cillin answered before walking toward the bed.
The instant the Hunter shuffled his feet, he immediately felt a burst of hostility and killing intent from Aikenseth. It was just a reflex; it was ingrained in his muscle memory to treat everyone as hostile until proven otherwise. Thankfully, Cillin stopped after just taking two steps toward Aikenseth. Just like Aikenseth, Cillin did not trust him enough to get too close to him. Blood Eye Aiken was infamous not just because of his achievements, but also his temper. God only knows what might happen if he pushed the man’s already thin line of patience too much, not to mention that he had only known of the man today. It would be wise to act with prudence until he had more information on the man.
After Cillin came to a stop, he took out a green pearl and tossed it to Aikenseth.
“Try this.”
The poison afflicting the patient was a strange one. For starters, it was alive. Not only did it evaporate the water in the patient’s body like a miniature fire, drinking water or ingesting any liquid food would cause it to react aggressively and evaporate the patient’s body even faster. Since the poison had spread to every corner of the patient’s body, so IV drips wouldn’t help either. The poison was like a bunch of invisible, water-hating creature that had taken residence inside the patient’s body.
Since drugs or liquid medicine would only worsen the symptoms, Cillin decided that the green pearl would be the best choice. Its affinity with nature and abundant life force would help to prolong the patient’s life.
“This pearl will prolong her life, but how long she’ll last is ultimately up to her.”
Cillin couldn’t give any promises because he knew nothing about the patient. Different people reacted differently in desperate situations. Some rose to the challenge and fought tooth and nail to live, while some just gave up and perished. If the woman was the former, then all was well. If she was the latter, well… that was why he wasn’t promising anything.
Aikenseth caught the pearl with ease and held it for a moment. Neither he nor Reysen had seen the pearl before, but their confidence reignited almost immediately when they sensed its power. There was so much life force packed into the tiny object that Aikenseth nearly shed a tear when he realized there was hope after all.
“How do I use it?” Aikenseth asked without hesitation. Although his suspicion hadn’t changed, the fact that Cillin gave away something so precious proved that he wasn’t with the Armies at the very least.
“Put it in her mouth. She won’t be able to swallow it, but it will improve the pearl’s efficacy,” Cillin answered.
Aikenseth did as he was told, and in just a few seconds the patients’ almost unnoticeable breathing suddenly became stronger than before. Not only was it the first real sign of improvement since the day she had fallen ill, it was clear she was getting—albeit slowly—better and better.
Cillin had five massive green pearls in total, and the one he gave away wasn’t one of them. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t stop a certain gray cat from being miffed because it was part of their collective wealth. If he had to guess, Wheeze was currently scratching its claws somewhere in the ship to vent its annoyance. He would have to buy some cat food to appease it later.
Meanwhile, Reysen was handing Aikenseth a can of medicinal spray to apply on the patient. It was supposed to alleviate her symptoms when sprayed on her skin, but the poison had been too strong for it to have any effect at all. Combined with the green pearl though, is effects should be a lot more noticeable.
Aikenseth was about to do as he said when suddenly, he turned to look at Cillin and Czedow. He hadn’t said anything, but the meaning in his eyes was as clear as day: some privacy, please?
Catching the man’s meaning immediately, Cillin immediately turned around and stepped through the gap on the wall. They could always have their conversation later. After Czedow followed Cillin back to the other room, he put the chunk of metal he had carved out a moment ago back where it was. It was almost like he was closing a door.
Suddenly, Wheeze jumped out of nowhere and clung onto Cillin’s pants. Then, he started clawing at them until they were nothing more but spaghetti-like strings.
“Why didn’t you just kill that bastard? Czedow could’ve taken on the other guy, and I could’ve taken out the minions all on my own! It would’ve been easy!” Wheeze complained as it scratched, “Even worse, you gave away our treasure for free! Sure, you’ve got a dozen of them in your subspace, but every single one of them is worth a ton of money! Lung even told me that their price would increase in the future! I can’t believe you!”
A sound barrier had been set up, so Cillin wasn’t worried that someone might overheard their conversation. He caught Wheeze by the nape, held it in front of his face and said, “When have I ever said that I’m going to give away the pearl for free?”
Wheeze was going to claw him in the face when it mulled over the words and suddenly felt much better than before.
“Did you see the tattoo behind the patient’s back, Czedow?” Cillin turned to Czedow and asked.
“Only a little,” the robot replied while projecting a hologram in front of them. It showed Aikenseth carefully pulling up the patient’s shoulder to apply the spray before he suddenly turned toward them.
“Are those… feathers?” Wheeze suggested.
Unfortunately, they saw nothing but than what seemed to be the tip of a feather before Aikenseth had chased them out of the room.
“What’s wrong with the tattoo?” Wheeze curled its tail before grinning deviously. “Wait a second, are you two lusting over her bo—”
Cillin slapped the gray cat’s head before it could finish. “Is fish poop all you can think about?”
“If that’s not it, then why do you care?” Wheeze complained while flicking its ear.
Cillin produced the document Lung had sent him earlier and showed Wheeze an image. It was a photo of the three current heads of a major force called the “Free Army” in Sector V. The man at the center was none other than Blood Eye Aiken, and he was flanked by Reysen and another person covered in a mask and a cloak. The person of unknown gender was known as “Blue”, and no one, not even the Andrea Family knew much about them.
“The Free Army’s symbol is a blue bird. According to the rumors, Blue was the one who drew it themselves before it was made the symbol of the Free Army,” Cillin repeated a line on the document he received before saying, “It’s obvious how much Aikenseth and Reysen cares about the patient, so there’s no way she’s your random small fry. While it would make more sense that Blue is guarding their headquarters at Sector V while Aikenseth and Reysen left to save the patient, the feather tattoo behind her back suggests a different story…”
Cillin had very good reason to believe that the patient was none other than Blue herself.
I’m surprised they would leave their headquarters completely unguarded. Then again, they probably do not care much for anyone from Sector V, not even those who serve under them.