Chapter 51 - Jin Wang
"Damn it!" Kuo punched a huge tree nearby which exploded into little splinters.
"You three, take thirty people each and form three groups and start looking for the Captain. If you find anything at all, use the emergency flares. It will attract beasts as well but there's no choice anymore, we have to find him. Finding the caravan comes later. Go!" he ordered the Hash, Cav, and Maddy.
Hash was the blond man with dual scimitars, Cav was the girl with blue-haired staff user and Maddy was the last one with the silver shortsword. Kuo had trained these three himself and was their leader for over five years now.
"Yes, leader!" they all saluted and left within a minute after forming three groups. Each going in a different direction.
The remaining six were the newbies, Qin Feng, and another guy that always kept quiet. His name was Jin Wang and he had joined the Red Legion just over a year ago.
He was 24 years of age and only joined the Red Legion because it was the next "logical step" in his career. He wasn't too patriotic or even proud of his current position. He had a lot to say but because he had kept such a low profile at the start, not many people knew he even existed, giving him 'invisibility' within the unit.
He never had any close friends, lovers, or any other relations, but he always wanted one. With an IQ of over 200, he was the smartest in almost every group and always thought rationally no matter the circumstances. But the one thing he had always wanted was a place to call his own, that was why he joined the military to begin with, because of all the stories of camaraderie and friendship but unfortunately, none of those speeches moved him at all or the many dangerous situations he had been in made him get closer to his fellow legionaries.
He wasn't ugly and could be described as cute because of his round face and somewhat short stature but because he never really cared much about his appearance, he actually looked much worse than normal.
*Sigh*
"A newbie idiot captain. I'm kinda tired of this whole military thing man. Just gonna quit when we get back and maybe start working as a guard for a rich family and then retire," he thought to himself when he saw that once again none of the three spirit realm experts had chosen him. But he didn't feel bad and didn't blame them or even feel embarrassed, it was just.....natural.
"We will stay here and hold our positions in case the Captain finds his way back," Kuo said as he stood on top of the small hill made by the debris of the boulders and looked over the surrounding areas.
"For god sakes, that dumbass is going to continue looking for the caravan to prove himself to you guys, the best option is to just follow the initial direction he decided to go and the chances of meeting him would be above 50%," Jin clicked his tongue thinking inwardly. He was good at reading situations and people and everything was extremely simple for him, almost like math.
"Um, Lieutenant, I think we should continue looking for the caravan," he said slowly raising his arm.
"Hmm? And why is that?" Kuo asked with a frown. "This kid..."
Even though Jin wasn't aware, Kuo was told to keep an eye on him by the great general himself. They knew how smart he was and if he could truly buy into the agenda the military was peddling then that would make him a great asset. The only problem was that he was way too anti-social and wouldn't open up to anyone.
"I believe the Captain would put the mission first and foremost and go for it no matter what. Besides the chances of him finding his way back here are almost non-existent. He spent most of the time looking at the token and wasn't paying any attention to the surroundings on our way over, I really think he wants to complete the mission no matter what and would put that over his own safety," Jin tried to make Hao Xuan sound like an actual saint who never thought about himself.
"He was really quiet since the incident at the town, Jin might be right. The chances of him continuing with the mission are much higher," he said to himself.
"Alright, we will continue looking for the caravan then," Kuo nodded his head and led them back into the jungle.
***
Hao Xuan, on the other hand, was in a world of his own. He was more or less lost in the jungle so instead of stressing about it he decided to relax and not let it all get to him.
Right now he was more than 40 miles away from the closest Mad Saints party, singing a song long lost in his memories and swinging his sword around, cutting the branches and bushes to pass through.
"A whisper in the night
Among the bright city lights
Together we watch the horizon
Searching for what was and has been"
He had absolutely no idea where he knew the song from, but he did and didn't bother much about it, chalking it up to his amnesia.
"Run! It's right behind us!" suddenly a loud voice woke him up.
"Hmm?" slightly irritated he looked towards the voice and saw a teenage girl running away from a giant centipede-like beast with a small boy in tow, holding her hand tightly.
The beast made some strange crackling noises, like the sound of something hard being broken and got closer and closer to the kids.
The little boy tripped over a tree root falling face-first onto the ground. The girl stopped and came back to try and pick him up.
"Sister its fine, leave me, you're injured already and I will only slow you down," he said with tears coming down his face but didn't make a single sound.
"Stupid, we have come so far, how can we die here?" She lovingly patted his head when she heard what he said, making her smile. Even in the face of certain death, this little boy thought about others first.
"You would have made a great king," she mumbled, embracing the boy and trying to shield him from the oncoming attack with her own back to the beast that was now just a few meters away.
Hao Xuan was looking the situation unfold from a couple of dozen meters away.
"Now isn't that heartwarming..." he said with a smile on his face and activated both his meridians.
"I'm sorry sis," the boy held onto her as hard as he could and finally started crying.
"Silly boy, it's not your fault," she replied patting his head again. "Maybe in the next lif-"
Before she could finish her sentence, a massive pressure descended.
"Why must you hurt these kids, little beast?" a voice sounded around them.
Both the siblings looked up towards the source of the voice and saw a man with a massive weapon in his hand several dozen meters away from them. He was looking at the beast as if actually expecting an answer.
The beast which was well over 6 meters long also stopped and turned to look at the man.
*Kri*Kri*
Its large gaping mouth which was filled with teeth and a couple of tentacles made a strange noise looking at him.
"Well, it doesn't matter. It's not like I can understand you anyway," the man shook his head with a sigh and lifted his foot.
*VROOM*
A strange noise sounded and the pressure increased several-fold. The man's foot landed on the ground and he was behind the beast now, appearing like a ghost.
*Swish*
The weapon in his hand moved from left to right, he took another step appearing right in front of the siblings.
"Oh, that looks like it hurts. Let me bandage that up," he said looking at the sister's leg which was bleeding profusely.
"Eh- but the beas-" before she could finish the beast that was standing still behind the man split into three with greenish blood bursting out like a fountain and fell down, dead.