There's no plan C

"Ling, are you okay?"

"...no, I am not o--*Barf!!! Ugh..."

In the same forest under the dark and still night, Ling who is currently crouching on the ground while vomiting, and his senior who was worried sick after looking at the 6 years old boy that keeps doing so unfortunately still not that far from the place they were just a moment ago.

'This is the first time I...Aghhh!!!'

*Barf

Ling urges to vomit just keep coming out even though there's nothing left on his stomach, making his limb weak, and can't walk anymore.

"...Senior, I am fine. Let's move out of here as fast as possible."

"But, you look pale. Are you alright?"

"I am 100 % sure that once they found their comrade killed like that, they wouldn't hesitate to kill us anymore. Whether I am okay or not doesn't really matter to us anymore."

'But, I hope they are nice enough to let us go'

Though he said so, Ling actually hoping for the complete opposite of it. Unfortunately, he is a realist, so he knew such a thing was even more impossible than the sky falling downs out of the blue.

Looking at the still dislocated limb of his senior, Ling then takes a deep breath to calm his nerve and then starts to carry him on his back again. Glancing back once and confirming that no one is around, Ling starts to walk forward and leave the place as fast as possible.

'Almost...Once we reach the outer skirt of our sect, then...'

He feels that it might be possible to leave the forest before the people that he brought here caught up to him.

"YOU BRAT!!!!"

But, unfortunately, when he almost getting out, he then heard a shout full of anger from behind, getting closer within a second. Hearing that shout, Ling who then felt that his head almost breaking from headache can't help but take a sigh of helplessness, and then put his senior down.

"Wait, Ling. We can still make it! We are almost out of the forest, you know!?"

"...No. You do remember that these kinds of people throw weapons too, right? It's way too dangerous to put my back with that kind of person behind us. The time before, they still didn't understand what's going on, and we took that confusion to slip out. But this time...no chance"

As Ling trying to explain his conjecture toward the now sitting senior, the person who is shouting so loudly that it reverberates to the whole forest finally appears in his sight. He had a hoodlum appearance, with dirty clothing, some weapon on both his waist, and an unkempt appearance such as messy hair and un-shaved beard.

*Swish

But, a gleam of something which actually flying at full speed toward his face flash way earlier than the man description could even fully processed on his brain, making the now holding short dagger that is Ling made to reflexly swing his hand to swat that thing whatever it is to the side.

*Clank!

The sound of both metals collided reaches his ears, but Ling didn't bother with such a trivial thing and keep looking forward with full concentration. The man who just throws the dagger flabergasted when he saw a boy actually manage to parry his full force throws even though the distance might recede its force.

Looking to the side a little bit, the man manages to catch a figure with dislocated limbs, and then a certain realization falls on his mind.

'It's actually the boy who killed brother. Don't tell me, that guy actually ask us to...That mother***** dare to look down on me!!!'

Recalling a conversation not that long before he gets here, the man suddenly felt his mind blanked white and his chest hot with anger. Without delay and hesitation, the man then controls the Qi inside his body and directs it toward his right hand, before then swing it toward the little boy that does not even reach his chest yet.

*Swoosh. Bam! *Crack

There is no heaven-defying boom, only a little dent and a crack that appears on the ground that's shaped into a fist.

'Holy!! One hit and I might explode!'

But, it is more than enough to put the little Ling to deep slumber with only one hit to the stomach. A crack might not even appear when he from his past life swing a hammer with a full swing to the ground, and yet it now even shaped accordingly.

One can imagine the power and penetration that dwells behind such a thing.

On top of that, the man didn't even look down on Ling. Not even caring about dignity, the man who just punch the ground then grab a handful of sand and pebble and throw them toward Ling.

"Ahhh!"

Ling who never expect that a martial artist to use such a petty trick then covers his eyes while screaming, making the man take that chance and take out his sword...

*Shiing.

...and swung it toward Ling's neck just like how his brother killed.

That sharp edge without even the slightest difficulty then cuts that little boy's necks clean, that is what the image that the man imagines.

But, what comes afterward was Ling who actually dives in, with his reddened eyes opened widely and tears flowing down on the corner of his eyes. The man who already swung his sword couldn't retract it in time, and thus he could only awkwardly take a step back while his momentum actually still going forward.

He thought that the boy would take that chance to kill him off, and so the man who was panicked and decide to create a distance. Unfortunately, the man who keeps his sight toward the boy's dagger failed to react in time when the boy actually uses his other hand to take out a powder-like thing and throw it at his eyes.

"Ahhh!!!"

This time, the man who was actually getting his eyes rendered useless.

'Now!'

But, unlike sand and pebble, the powder Ling used was specialized in making eyes stung so much that it gave people who take it feels like their eyes being dug out.

*Swish

*Tang

Unfortunately, this time, the man didn't come alone.

"Brother, fall back!"

Hearing the sudden entrance of someone he didn't realize, Ling who got his dagger stopped just when it almost reaches the man's neck flinched, and then direct his sight toward a certain place.

There, he sees a man who is running at full speed toward where he came from, both his hand holding a dagger, ready to be thrown anytime. Gritting his teeth, Ling who knows that it would be an impossible challenge to fight both of them together decides to bet it.

This time, he didn't go for the man who got his eyes done in by a powder, but the other who just coming closer. With the man who is blinded on his side, Ling who actually ignores such a chance makes his plans, and he then lowers his center of gravity, making him look as if crawling on the ground.

'Eh? Does he actually go for me instead of brother? Is it a feint?'

The man who just comes feels anxious for some reason, so he narrows his eyes in order to capture every movement that Ling might make.

This time, however, Ling didn't make any move whatsoever, and only coming closer as if didn't plan on doing anything.

'What is he planning' what was on the man's mind when he knows that he is within Ling's strike zone. Not wanting to waste any time, the man then swings his blade full force toward Ling to kill him off directly.

At that time, he saw it.

A glimpse of change that Ling's made right before he swung his blade, that its a shift in his body to the side a little, and then upper his center of gravity as if preparing for an impact.

*Kwang

"Brothe---!"

...Watch out, would probably what the man trying to say but stopped in the middle.

Because, Ling who he thought want to fight him to the end, actually jump backward and use the impact from his killing move to be thrown right at the place his brother standing at...and kill him with a stab him to the neck.

*Splosh

The sound of sharp things pierces people's skins and flesh, along with a gush of blood make Ling's face visibly paler. But, he got no time to worry about trivial things such as his own psychological turbulence.

"BROTHER!!!"

Because he now has another killer who wants him dead right on his back.

With his hand still on the dagger handle, Ling who was dangling because of his height after jumping to reach the man's neck decide to let go of it and planning to move away.

*Grab"

"Go...*Cough!...t...you"

Unfortunately, the man who hadn't died yet muster his last consciousness to hug Ling right before he sways to the side when his body started to get even more difficult to be controlled.

Getting out of the man who lost his blood and on the verge of dead actually not that difficult for Ling, someone who can carry other's who is clearly bigger than him.

But, it needs time, and, exactly that time thing that didn't let to waste by the other man who got yet another of his brother killed within one day.

With eyes full of madness, tears flowing down like a broken dam, and face scrunched up into a reddened tomato mess, the man then dash toward Ling with his sword swung wide, not caring about its reach that might slice his own brother while at it.

Panic might be an understatement.

Ling, who uses all of his strength to kick the chest of someone who hugs him desperately saw within the slow-motion that a sword with its gleaming sharpness come closer toward his body, right when he just got away from it and currently still on mid-air.

'I won't make it!!'

*CLANG!!! *Slosh!

The sound of metal and flesh being torn reverberates within the forest as Ling then flung like a broken kite and then rolled around multiple times on the ground before then stopped, motionless.

On the ground around him, the puddle of red water starts to flow, proving that the attack from before indeed manage to hurt him.

Yet, the man didn't glance at Ling, and only standing there with a blank expression as he looks down toward the now breathless brother of him.

"Brother...I am sorry.", said the man with a monotone voice as he crouched down and then closes his brother's eyes.

Silent.

With Ling who remain motionless and his killer who still mourn his brother's died, the only one who still has a little sanity left was only the senior brother that Ling tried to protect from the beginning to the end.

"L...ing"

With a horror-stricken face, senior Buld keep looking at his junior brother then crawling on the ground, with tears and trembling lips as he keeps his mouth shut as if afraid his cry might alert the mourning killer.

*Shaaash Shaaash

Just when he was about to reach his junior...

*Stab

...a dagger silently embedded on his stomach.

With eyes that are becoming heavier, the boy who tried to at least see the face of his junior brother finally couldn't resist that heaviness anymore. With his limped body falling down to the ground, he then in the end closes his eyes, right beside the junior brother of his who keeps protecting him without running away till the end.

...

*Clap *Clap *Clap *Clap

This happened when the boy named Buld closes his eyes.

In the forest where three corpses lying in the puddle of blood, one lone man with his back crouched in front of one adult's corpse suddenly flinched when he heard that clapping sound that eerily didn't fit with the heavy atmosphere of the dead.

Raising his eyes that shows no light of will to live anymore toward that sound, he then saw a man, a boy with a quiet chubby cheek and clean disposition currently sitting in one of the tree branches with his kind smile.

On his side, there are packs of peanuts and sunflower seed laying with some of it already emptied out.

"..."

The man didn't say anything at first and only direct his empty gaze toward the chubby boy. Then, he suddenly shows a sneer, a mocking laugh when he saw the snacks, and the still kind smile even though three people actually killed right in his presence.

"...What? You already track us all the way here and thought that it's a waste to let me go?"

"Haha, I am not that shameless. I already promise you, brothers, that as long as you can kill the boy who killed your third brother, I wouldn't chase nor do track you anymore."

"..."

He didn't reply, but his cloudless eyes a moment ago start to show a red light after he heard the chubby boy reply.

"You knew...that one of us would die on that boy's hand."

"No."

"Lying."

"Why do you think so?"

"..."