Despite the abruptness, Ace too had a look of joy and happiness on his face as he responded, "Yes Master, there is not a single bone in my body that wants to reject you." He was on Cloud Nine.
She heard the yes and ignored the rest of his words. "Give me your blood."
Confused but compliant, Ace responded by lifting his arm up for her. This was probably the biggest reason why Aida, who was a complete loner and absolutely abhorred the company of others, was willing to tolerate Ace. He was a kind soul who knew when not to ask questions and didn't mind all the mysteries around her. She didn't fully understand why he wanted to follow her, but at least he didn't seem intent on giving her trouble. If it were another person, they would surely be scared of her by this point or ask a lot of questions.
Quickly slashing a main vein on his wrist, she directly sucked blood from the wound. Contrary to expectations, Ace looked extremely enthusiastic and supportive when he saw her sucking his blood.
Aida stopped sucking blood after taking roughly a pint. The wound magically coagulated and closed off the wound. Ace was extremely pale at this point since he hadn't eaten all day. He had rushed to Aida the moment he heard about the outbreak. They also went through a lot of trying moments with Enrageds, heights, and now lost a lot of blood.
Once Aida let go of his wrist, he immediately fell over. Luckily, Aida caught him carefully this time and set him gently on the ground. Then she rummaged her backpack for a snack and some water, and handed it to him.
The people in line with them didn't seem to care about the duo that was now sitting on the floor as they were more concerned about getting into the airport before nightfall. Aida used this time to put her plan into action.
She closed her eyes, while sitting in a meditative pose. Nobody around her knew what she was doing, but internally both Aida and Xiao Ai were working furiously.
An hour later, Aida suddenly opened her eyes and patted Xiao Ai. It was finally their turn to do a blood test. Aida took the lead as they walked into the room with lab equipment.
A lady in a Hazmat suit with blue eyes introduced herself and gave out instructions in a calm and effective manner, "Hi everyone, thank you for your patience. I am Noah and I am the manager of this facility. We need your cooperation to do a quick blood test to make sure none of you have been infected before letting you into the airport. Please understand this is a safety measure we must take to maintain the safety of everyone on site. Thank you in advance for your cooperation."
'Noah huh? That's quite the ironic and fitting name for someone who is here to deal with an apocalyptic event. She is literally the person who will determine whether or not someone is allowed to escape this doomsday event,' thought Aida absentmindedly as she passed her hand to the nurse before her.
The nurse wiped her finger with alcohol, then quickly pricked her finger and squeezed a few drops of blood into a tube and bandaged up her finger. "Apply pressure on it to keep it from bleeding too much," the nurse kindly reminded as she got up to bring her blood to the centrifuge.
Besides Aida was Ace, who was also getting his blood test done. The nurse helping him noticed the scar on his wrist and commented, "That's quite a nasty scar on your wrist." She naturally assumed the worst and thought he had attempted suicide.
"Nonono! This was a cut of love..." Ace was cut off as Aida came over and smacked his head.
She responded casually while rolling her eyes, "Sorry nurse, my brother is a little disoriented because of all the events going on out there. He's alright. The cut was from when he thought the best way to learn how to juggle was with knives."
The nurse chuckled knowingly, "Alright, well you two wait here while we come back with your test results."
The wound on Ace was already fading. It looked as if it were years old despite it having only been an hour since Aida slashed his wrist and took his blood. It was a miracle. If doctors or scientists were to find out about this phenomena, they would surely kidnap Aida and cut her up into pieces to study her in detail.
Ace, however, chose to focus entirely on the wrong aspects yet again. He turned to Aida and said with a serious contemplative look, "Master, you must never drink anyone else's blood. If you ever need it, just drink mine. I don't want your precious body to be fouled by impure blood."
"..." She smacked his head yet again. What was this kid thinking in that brain of his.
Holding his head and looking up with grievances, he pouted while saying, "Master, I finally know why you're called Aida."
Looking over curiously, she wondered for a moment if he actually knew why that was her name.
Continuing, he explained, "It must be because Aida sounds like 爱(Ài) 打(dǎ)." [1]
Aida cocked her head as she thought about it for a second, then nodded in confirmation. She indeed loved hitting people.
This time, Ace was the one rendered speechless.
Giggling at the rapport between the two, both their respective nurses came back right at this moment. Neither Aida nor Ace noticed, but they had grown imperceptibly closer.
"Alright, you two are all clear. Here are the slips that prove you are not infected. Please walk towards that door for a quick security inspection and you'll be inside the airport in no time!"
[1] Aida's name sounds like the Chinese characters Ài dǎ, which means "loves hitting."