Chapter 42: A Howl

"Ne, ne, where are we going? Is it far from here?" The girl followed Zhang Yong, even leaving with him the village, passing the sparse fence.

"I don't know about you, but I am going outside," he said and rubbed his temples. "Actually how about you head back to the village right about now?"

"But I want to play outside. I don't have anyone to play with me." She pointed across the field, perpendicular to the setting sun. "How about walking over there. I want to make a flower crown, so let's gather some flowers!"

She pulled at Zhang Yongs big arm. The size difference between the two of them was incredible; still it was with those brittle arms and hands unblistered she managed to push the bear-like Zhang Yong away. He still could not believe it, this store held incredible secrets, some, he could not even imagine.

Thus, he had no time to waste on quips like entertaining a child. "Sorry, you have got to ask someone else."

"But I want to!" The girl knitted her brows and pouted. She threw her arms down in a fit. "I knew it, you are a bad man after all."

Shou watched silently. "She kind of reminds me of you," he said to Si.

"Huh, why?" Si asked innocently, not comprehending what he meant.

"I still fail to understand how this makes me a bad person. I feel like your values are a bit skewed," Zhang Yong complained.

"No, your values are skewed! Mister Justice, you aren't part of justice at all." The girl continued pouting. She swung her hands around, a method to voice her complaints.

"Justice means standing up for the right thing. Equality, Freedom, Brotherhood, these are all signs of justice," he said and nimbly dodged her attacks. "Whether hero or criminal, they are treated fairly, even if not equally. A circle of karma, if you will."

"I don't understand any of that. I just know someone that makes a child sad is a bad person!" She took a step forward, tripped over a root, and fell to her face—chin first. Her jaw locked tightly on her tongue, and she bit down hard, stopping her complaints almost immediately. The sudden silence shocked even the girl herself, or it was that the pain had not registered yet, as she stared blankly at Zhang Yong.

"Are you alright," he asked her in concern.

The taste of blood slowly settled in the girls mouth, but she was to scared to open her mouth and verify it for real. She remained quiet.

He helped her up, gently lifting her by the shoulders. Her left knee hid a small bruise, but otherwise, she was fine. "Did you hurt yourself anywhere else?" He took out the handkerchief he always carried and bound it around the fresh wound; but not before softly blowing away the dirt first.

The girls cheeks steadily grew bigger, filling with her saliva and small droplets of blood. Still, she continued staring at him with her big beady eyes in silence.

Zhang Yong sighed. "You've got to be more careful."

Finally, the girl opened her mouth and spat it all out. "Blergh." It was red. her sight shifted from Zhang Yong to splatter in the grass.

He knelt down and patted her head, softly ruffling her hair. He tried consoling the little girl, who was holding back her little tears. His face was a little apologetic. "Should I bring you to your parents?"

The girl vigorously rubbed her eyes. "I don't have any." Smiling a little, she kept her eyes glued to her spit. "Dads been gone for a while, so it was only me and my mum." She sucked her lips in. "But she's gone now too, after getting too close to the witch."

"Oh, I see." Soon enough, his mood turned complex, as he now found himself in a state of needing to comfort the girl he so actively drove away. He then realized he was standing with a parent-less child alone in the fields, and when she asked to play he had urged her to leave. The small fear he had borne in the beginning dissipated and in him budded the feeling of disappointment—a feeling arguably a little worse. "Alright, let's go play." The man sighed.

The girls eyes brightened up immediately and the pain in her tongue seemed to have vanished too, though it still remained swollen. A big smile appeared on her face, washing away her blank stare. "Okay!"

"What would you like to do? You said you wanted to pick up flowers, correct?" Zhang Yong helped her up and they walked and talked.

"Mhm." She nodded. "I remember, when I was still with my parents, they would often bring me to the mountains and I would pick up flowers from the fields there." The girl laughed as she reminisced about her past.

"Oh, I didn't know that this place reached the mountains." Zhang Yong noted the info in his head.

She shook her head. "No, I mean a different one, before me and my mum arrived at this village."

"Wait, what do you me—" he said, but he stopped, as an incredible roar reverberated in his ears, making him halt. he rapidly turned his head, and what he saw caused him to set all his questions aside. "Oh, Lord above."

The being was still a mile distant, and hard to spot, but it gave numerous clues for its presence already. Birds flew about, disappearing in the air. The winds gathered like an eminent storm was approaching. The ground shook lightly every step it took. Zhang Yong then realized which direction he had walked to—West.

The last light of the day shone dimly on the black beast, standing ferociously, with its saliva dripping of the corner of his mouth. It had red eyes that glowed in the ember evening, with fur glimmering sharply. It moved disparately, but as it saw Zhang Yong and the girl, it stopped.

"The thing didn't look that menacing from afar," Zhang Yong quietly whispered. in fact, the thing looked completely different than what he saw on the bodyguards screen. For once, it was bigger. A lot bigger.

"I, uh," the girl stared blankly at the beast. "I think we may have to postpone the flower-crown." Her neck started hurting from having to cock her head back this far.

The beast growled.

"Run!" Zhang Yong screamed. He then lifted the girl by her hip and sprinted away. he did not waste any movements while doing so, seemingly using some intricate footwork. "Step of the wind!" He practically flew, every step he took, bringing him a lot further. He used all his energy from the beginning on, exerting everything he could.

Ah Liang, watching through the screen, screamed out, "what precise execution! I see no wasted movements!" His eyes glimmered faintly, but when his sight landed on the terrifying beast again, he turned silent.

The beast tilted its head. It bent down, pushing against the ground. The flowers it trampled on were crushed with the grass and dirt. It howled once more, and then it jumped. The huge thing looked like it was hovering in the air, its limbs stretched out. By the time it landed, the distance Zhang Yong had painstakingly built, disappeared. Evidently, the beast left no route of escape.

"You've got to be kidding me."

He looked at the blank-faced little girl. She pulled at his sleeves in silence. "Uhm, I have an idea." the girl said. "If you let me go, you may be able to escape. Since you are fast, you still have a chance if I act as bait."

"Don't joke around!" Zhang Yong shouted. He wondered for the first time, if he died, he may revive, but what happened to the citizens of this world?

Maybe it did not matter, since they weren't real.

He could simply logout, chalk this loss up to his misfortune—too bad—and when he returned to the real world, have a blast talking about what he experienced here.

However, he could not do that. When he looked at the little girl, he could not do that. He laughed, though he did not want to. Quite the turn of events. Just a few hours ago, he could not help but wish to escape from her, now he could not leave her.

Well, more than anything, he did not want to give up his morals, even if this world was not real.

"So that was why the outside is dubbed dangerous." Zhang Yong started to pant. He grew dizzier by the minute, and his sides started to ache a little—a feeling he had not felt since a long time. " Is this what the screen meant with, 'an illusion can be realer than the truth and danger can come unexpectedly'? What a sinister world, I've got to voice a complaint afterwards." He could not feel his legs anymore, and they moved only subconsciously. It was like he stood afloat, on a weightless cloud—though it was rapidly dissipating.

"Mister Justice, maybe you are an alright person, after all." The girl grinned, though in Zhang Yongs eyes, they looked a little sad. She pushed herself out of Zhang Yongs thick arms, and she hopped out. The girl fell to the ground, due to the momentum. When she stood up, she spat. No blood this time.

"What are you doing," Zhang Yong looked at her in horror. He stopped and stumbled, rolling in the grass, Luckily, he had trained his body well, to not catch any bruises.

The girl stretched her hand out, she seemed to say something, but the abrupt howl of the beast vastly overshadowed her small words.