Chương 25: The Lingering Scent
"Hey, is your sense of smell really sharp?" Shik flew in front of him, his hands clasped behind his back.
'Huh? No, why?' Kobi blinked his eyes speechlessly.
"Well, you said Uros's is dead, didn't you? Your smell value is too little to be able to deduce it from the air, even if he really is dead." Shik blinked his eyes innocently.
Kobi's lips spasmed, 'Oi! You have a more detailed description of me than you show me, don't you?'
Seeing Kobi's deadpan face, Shik laughed dryly, "Yea. Quite a lot of a info on you, in fact, every bit of you is numerically charted. But it's only for me, sadly."
Kobi rolled his eyes, 'It's normal intuition... horned from many similar experiences.'
Shik blinked his eyes, 'But... it's said that you haven't personally taken a life- not a human life!'
Seeing Shik's doubtful expression, Kobi chuckled, 'Note 'personally', you didn't bother investigating my past, that's why you can't see how many I have killed... impersonally.'
Shik's lips turned into a O, "I see. Tch! So sad I can't leave on my own to investigate you."
Seeing him sigh, Kobi's eyes flickered, 'Hey, can you see my personality type as well?'
"Uh!? umm ...Hmm!" Shik nodded while puffing out his cheeks.
'Seems you can't tell me.' Kobi shrugged and focused around him.
Shik chuckled sheepishly and stayed quiet.
Kobi blinked his eyes whilst shaking his head, the emoji displaying his emotional state turned into a relived expression.
"Be careful! There's a small pit here!" Reka drew Kobi back to the present.
"Isn't this too inefficient? Shouldn't we split up?" Mib protested for the tenth time.
"How many times should I repeat myself. It's too dangero–" Reka paused, her nose twitched, "This smell!"
She hurriedly leapt left and started bolting at a fast pace, "WAIT HERE!"
Kobi charged behind her without a single thought and roared loudly, "CHARGE ALONG MEN!"
"YES!" The villagers smiled widely and followed them.
"You..." Reka glanced back at him before shaking her head, her nose twitched again, "T-This scent."
Suddenly, she remembered Kobi's question– Have seen a murdered human?
"No, it can't be!" Reka closed her eyes and shook her head vigorously.
Suddenly, she felt as if she stepped over something soft and her feet slipped.
Letting loose a scream, her body rolled forward, uprooting some grass in her path.
"Hey! Watch out!" Kobi yelled and shot up his pace.
But as he reached where she slipped, his body halted abruptly for a second and he leapt forward.
Not to move again.
He silently kept watching Reka rising to her feet.
"What was that?" She glanced at Kobi, wiping the dirt off her face.
The villagers charged over, "Are you alright?"
But as they reached where Kobi had stopped, their feet froze. A cold chill ran past them.
Kobi took a deep breath in before his eyes snapped wide in dread, 'No... that scent... this is not what I smelt.'
"Hey! Why have you all paused?" Mib frowned and pushed them aside.
But the villagers parted on their own, "Mib... is this... your son?"
"Huh?" Mib's brows furrowed, in confusion, he stepped forward and gazed down.
Strange bugs fluttered around a chewed torse of a human body, despite all the mauling, its head was relatively intact.
"Huh... Uros?" Mib squatted down in a daze. The bugs not even settling in his sight.
Everything felt surreal, as he gazed up and down at this body.
"Haha! Look son, didn't I tell you, you will become a tomato if you keep sitting under the sun for too long? Now look, you are all bright red like a real tomato!" Mib smiled as he caressed Uros face.
Reka walked beside Kobi and gazed down. As she barely caught a few glimpses, her head began to ache and her stomach churned.
Her gut flipped upside down as if everything inside would come gushing out.
Kobi lept forward as his hand danced like lightening and latched onto her mouth. Gippjng it tightly, he pushed her back.
Her trembling pupils latched onto Kobi's face, without trying, her brain tried to delete the earlier scene but it was too late, those few seconds played on an endless loop in her mind.
After a while, her halted breath began to pump again and she meekly patted Kobi's hand which still obstructed her mouth.
Kobi sighed and let her go.
She took out a green stone and hurled it towards Uros, all the bugs instantly darted away. Revealing his chewed body openly.
Many villagers turned their head away, only Mib had the power to sit next to him... and cry for him.
Reka didn't glance at the corpse again, but with certainty, she muttered next to Kobi's ear, causing his eyes to tremble slightly, "Silver Wolves!"
. . .
As the villagers returned with a sack instead of Uros, James found something odd with their expression.
He ran towards Mib and asked in concern, "Uncle, didn't you find Uros?"
Mib kept gazing at the ground in a trance.
"Uncl–"
Mib's hand suddenly moved and crisply slapped James away.
James blinked his eyes, his hair obstructed the sight of the cold ground mockingly jeering at him. His worry still fresh, remained etched without change on his face.
He felt a piercing sting on his cheek, he raised his hand and caressed it... it felt warm.
"You must've cursed my son to death... you should bring your mother and dance on his grave, your wish is fulfilled." Mib didn't speak further and left, followed by some villagers who were carrying his corpse.
Some sighed and left and a few told him what occured and consoled him.
Kobi patted his shoulder, "Tomorrow, after the body is dealt with, don't give him the chance to ask for forgiveness."
He left, telling Reka to encourage James and that he wouldn't be taking part in any of the corpse's matters, including how it's dealt.
He reached the hut, Rio wasn't present and without a second thought, he started his push-ups on the clean floor.
"System, how much time is left before the commission's end?" Kobi asked, finishing his first set of 200.
"Huh? Umm... I‐"
'Don't know?' Kobi's lips twitched.
Shik nodded helplessly, "Uh!... I am not responsi–"
'Yea, yea! You aren't the AI responsible for all this. I know, I know.'
Shik cussed internally, 'I feel humiliated.'
Kobi shook his head helplessly, 'A clock would be good.' He sighed while wiping his sweaty forehead, 'A towel as well.'
He took a half an hour break, before going on and completing his second set of 200.
Kobi, collapsing on the ground, marvelled, 'The people of this world sure are sturdy... I could barely do 50 push-ups with my earthly strength... but after surpassing the normal humans of this world... my count soared straight to 200!'
Shik grinned arrogantly, "Is it not me... the one who allowed you to surpass this world's humans... who is truly awe-inspiring?"
'Where's the bee? Why can I only hear its buzzing?' Kobi glanced around in surprise before scoffing and taking the clear river water stored in a clay pot and gulping it down.
He couldn't call it tasty but he couldn't insult it either. The meh kinda thing.
Shik rolled his eyes, "What bad luck I got stuck with you."
As he was in his third set, Rio walked inside, he froze abruptly seeing Kobi with only his boxers.
"Wh-What are you doing?" Rio stepped back in fright, his hands covering his ting privates. Kobi could swear the little dude said something along the lines of, 'Goodbye, innocent innocence.'
'Shit... this kid!' Kobi shook his head, "Preparing to feast your sister."
"...THE HELL!?" Rio jumped backwards in fright, his tiny body shivered as he glared at Kobi.
"Calm down, I was kidding!" Kobi shook his head, continuing his push-ups.
"Really?" Rio asked, his finger brushed his chin as he pondered on whether to believe him or not.
"Yea? After all, I need to finish you first!" Kobi grinned.
"..." Rio took a step back, a dead smile on his face. His eyes stared into the distance, "BIG SIS!!!"
Kobi chuckled seeing the kid's projection dash away.
'Seems the sun is about to set.' Kobi heaved a deep breath, he still had quite a long way to go before completing his 1000 push-ups.
'But I will get today's spin at least.' Kobi smirked.
As silence started to reign over, Kobi asked Shik, who seemed to be dozing off in mid-air his usual thing to do while not talking with Kobi, 'Oi, Shik! tell me, am I the cause of Uros death?'
Shik's clear eyes opened languidly, "What do you mean?"
'Reka said a silver wolf killed Uros... The Silver Wolf I killed was also gobbled into bones, could they have had been lingering around till now?'
"No way," Shik nonchalantly shruggee him off, "If they were here, wouldn't Reka have had spotted their tracks? Besides, if you hadn't killed that wolf, Reka would've died or mayhe killed it instead. Maybe Rio would've survived, maybe he would not have. You saved both of them. So why are you so concerned about this fatality?" Shik glanced at him calmly.
Kobi nodded and returned to his push-ups.
"You don't seem the type nor talk like somebody who would let things like these weigh him down." Shik chuckled.
Kobi smiled and shook his head, 'Of course! I'm not bothered. It's something else that I wanted to confirm.'
"Huh... what?" Shik placed his face right in front of Kobi's. His eyes glowing like stars... Was there some scheme? Is there a plot?
Kobi speechlessly glanced at him and muttered, 'What a kid!'
Shik's lips spasmed. His innocent smile dried up.
Kobi shook his head, 'Want to know a secret?'
"Aw... no!" Shik shook his head... he wasn't a kid.
Kobi's froze, reading his mind, "PFFT! HAHAHAHA!"
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