58 Volume 3: Zombies (2/2)

Yan Li stiffened, his face twisting bitterly because he knew his Older Brother was right.

”I'm going then!” The younger man announced, roughly grabbing the kidnapper while still holding the barely living little girl in his other arm. As he left through the rough-made hole in the wall, the shame of his cowardliness and uselessness piercing him so deeply tears pricked his eyes.

This was the last time, Yan Li vowed to himself, he would run away in fear.

Once his younger brother was truly gone and safe, Shan Hui gave the corpses a good toss and fled through the same route as Yan Li. He was ten times faster than the corpses when running in a straight line, and was out before they even got to the entrance.

As he ran through the whole, he smacked the sides. Each smack caused a cave-in behind him, until the entire hole had collapsed completely. Once outside he placed both hands on the hill, he expanded his qi until he ”felt” the corpses within.

Another shudder ran through his body. The partially buried corpses were trying to move, to get to him.

What were these things? If the elements were bright lights, these things were filled with… nothing. They were a black hole, a blight, on the world around them. But if that were really the case, they shouldn't have been able to move. Nothing can't create movement. Nothing is nothing. Their very existence was unnatural and made his skin crawl.

With the help of the elements, he used the dirt and rocks to push the corpses back into the rooms within the hill. Once they were there, he concentrated. He did not have great affinity with Fire as his Old Man did, and without being near his power source, it was far more difficult to manipulate.

But he just needed a spark. That was all. After a full minute, he managed to create one.

There was plenty of things that could catch fire, so spreading the fire after the initial spark was much easier to do. He kept feeding the fire, pushing it here and there, making it burn hotter and hotter, until it was white. Smoke could be seen coming out of the other entrance he'd made earlier.

In no time at all, the fire was on the corpses. Eating and burning through cloth, hair, skin, muscle… until there was just bones. And then the bones were brittle and falling apart, and then… ash. When the bones turned to ash, the strange blackness seemed to… implode. The entire hill collapsed in on itself, the lair completely destroyed.

Shan Hui stumbled and sat down with a thud on the ground, sweating profusely. While fire manipulation was easier than fire creation, it was still difficult to do with the limitations he was under.

”Older Bro…” Yan Li spoke up near him, feeling both awed and worried.

”The Old Man will be disappointed.”

”Huh?”

”There's only one kidnapper to bring back. And that won't be enough for him, it's certainly not enough for me.”

”O-oh.”

”Did you find evidence that there were more?”

Yan Li thought for a moment, remembering the size of the hideout and the human bundle he was carrying.

”I think there must have been more than one. That place was too big for just one person. And.. I can't say for sure… but I think there were at least four, including this one.” Yan Li shook the unconscious man he was holding in one arm.

”Three others?”

”Well.. It's just a guess, but those corpses…”

”Hm? Do you mean the corpses were the other people or…?” Shan Hui asked in slight confusion, tilting his head.

”No, no. I found a magical circle that was… it looks like it was feeding off four people. Three had died already, those corpses you fought, but one was alive. This one.” He motioned with a nod to the bundle he was carrying, ”I don't know what the circle was for exactly but it can't be a coincidence one person was left alive and one kidnapper was left behind.”

”I see… I suppose it could be four at minimum, with the possibility of more. It'd be good to know the exact size of the group we're dealing with…” Shan Hui glanced at the tattered, starved human in his brother's arms. ”It must have seen whether there were more and by how many. Wake it up and ask.”

Yan Li frowned unhappily. ”'It' is a little girl. And she might know, but how will she talk? Look at the shape she's in… even if I wake her, would she even have the strength to say anything?”

Even without a closer look, Shan Hui knew Yan Li was correct and that he was being too impatient. It.. The little girl… was skin and bones. Even if she could speak, it was doubtful she'd be able to string two words together in her condition. He grunted in frustration.

”Older Bro, if there are more, surely they can't have gone that far? If we fan out and look…”

Shan Hui rubbed the wrinkle forming between his brows. ”No, I think they've gone quite far. I mean, look what they were able to accomplish and it hasn't even been one shíchén* yet. But if we don't check, the Old Man will be furious, and I wouldn't blame him. I want you to take the kidnapper and the witness back to the mountain for me in the meantime.”

[Author's Note: shíchén = roughly two hours]

”You mean you're staying?”

”I'll try to find the other three or however many…. Even if I can't find them, there might be a human settlement near by and I can ask them if they know of these kidnappers. To have such powers and skills… they must have some kind of reputation? Even if it's just hearsay and gossip, that's better than knowing nothing at all.”

”En, I'll bring these two to the mountains then. Shi Ji and I will come back to help you once we're done.”

”No. You stay there to watch over the Old Man, make sure he doesn't do anything stupid, and keep Mother and Lu Shao company. The fewer off the mountain, the better.”

”But—”

”Yan Li.” Shan Hui gave him a hard stare. ”We grow weaker the farther we are from the mountains. The fact that you can't sense it even now, means that you'd be in serious danger going any further. Go home, do what you can there.”

Yan Li grit his teeth. ”You can't do everything on your own!”

”Give your Older Brother some face, will you?” Shan Hui stood up and patted Yan Li's arm affectionately. ”I know how I look, but I'm capable. My job right now is to get to the bottom of this. Your job is to protect our home while I'm away. Today has proven that even if the Old Man is stupidly powerful, he's still only one person. He can't be every where at once. So help him out.”

After hearing this, Yan Li's face dropped and he nodded, lips trembling slightly. Even though they'd fought all this time, trying to one up each other constantly, in the end Shan Hui was giving him an honorable way out. He really hadn't expected that level of caring from his usually cold and snobbish Older Bro.