Zhang Heng lowered his utility knife and sliced through Zhang Jinli's thumb until flesh and blood were seen. In this unnaturally still world, living beings defied the laws of physics, and no blood flowed out from the small cut on the boy's thumb. Now, Zhang Heng could finally see the color of his blood.
Surprisingly, his thumb's blood was in a different color from the blood on his leg. It was red. To be safe, Zhang Heng scraped away all the dried blood on his leg, and found that only the top layer was black. It was still the regular red blood underneath it. From here, he confirmed that Zhang Jinli wasn't the creature and was just an ordinary child from the orphanage. That said, he figured that the kid might be connected to the creature somehow, willing to shoulder the blame, conceal the bandages under his blanket, and even take an arrow to his calf. Even an adult would think more than twice before attempting such brazen feats.
