However, to make things worse was when Teacher Xia would test her multiple times a week to see if she was working and it was annoying. Almost no different from College where every time she walks into class, there's a pop quiz. Very annoying. At most, she's begun to enjoy just reading the texts rather than getting tested. Besides, she was already relieved that she didn't have to use entirely scientific methods to fix up this poison. All she needed to something to kill the eggs and other intruders into the bodies and an ointment that would coax out the worm from the brain to either the ear or the nose, but she would not go into further details of it. Since this was an insect and not a real illness, it wasn't as complicated as it would be finding a cure to a real illness. She had once researched for an anti-venom to a deathstalker after a month of research with hardly much sleep or rest.
Before then, she had done a lot more when some stupid teenager thought it was a great idea to raise a terrarium full of Harvester Ants. She had to grab professionals and work with them around the clock just to save him when those ants broke out one day. That guy almost lost his life thanks to the numerous bites all over him.
However, working to find a vaccine to kill a parasite created by supernatural sources was something she has never done and it was the first time in her life that she's used raw medicinal herbs into a vaccine. In the past, she's used chemicals or the little bits of the problem itself to create a vaccine when she worked as a medical researcher shortly after being promoted from family doctor in Elijah's company.
She hasn't told Belen this yet, but it's not like it's his job to save all the people since his main goal should be to survive during this war amongst the demigods. He wasn't committed to her goals, so Willow wasn't putting all of her resources on him, especially not if he would have to sell out her information to another party. They don't have a solid alliance and she has yet to see if the guy was someone she should trust, but Akira said she could give it a go after seeing him when she hauled him from that crashed window room. She doesn't know what led Akira to show such confidence on someone who has yet to awaken or even sound a single voice, but she can trust the fox more than she can trust the demigod and the family.
After all, if they were a real threat to her, Akira wouldn't let her associate herself with them since her ability has already overtaken their contract not long after they entered Beijing, so, if she dies, so will he unless she finds a way to break it. Since this was coming from the fox that wanted to make an entertainment out of her life and her troubles, then there was nothing for her to be guilty of with him. After all, she'll still give him his week worth of fried tofu. She'll just split those portions up and pay it back to him a little bit at a time over the year.
Yup. There was nothing wrong with that. Maybe she'll add a little interest every now and then, but she's paying it to him anyway. There's nothing wrong with it.
Thinking this part in her mind, a wide smile formed on her face as she's also found a solution to her trouble right before her.
"Iris, huh?"
A slow smile widened on her face as she's finished thinking of a solution for Akira's problem and have just found an idea for this one.
"'Is it possible for a demigod to see souls from birth when they're not mediums?'" Akira raised a brow in his child form as he sat on the tall metal stool with the apple she had tossed into her bag before entering the city, "Who knows?"
Willow stirred the pot of soup which she tossed in some dry meat and vegetables she had brought with her. With the limited amount of fresh produce, Willow had to be careful and portion the amount of food. Especially now that the food from the stores around here. She grabbed ahold of the finished soup and raised a brow when she heard her familiar's words. She put it on the metal counter and turned to him, "You don't meet with demigods very often?"
"Not really." Akira shrugged, "I have been moving about places for a long time and I don't see a demigod in the east very often, you know."
Willow nodded with a frown, "I thought so. I've heard multiple stories that people, in the past, are very strict with relationships and personal life. It's not very well looked upon to have a child with someone that the family to approve of and walk away with abandoning the mother and child. Yet, we actually have demigods in the east side, especially when we're talking about the owner of the Heavenly Hound. I've never think he'd take part with having a demigod child when he's known for justice. He wouldn't have a child, yet I met one a couple months ago."
Akira shrugged, "You've known that the greek gods and goddesses often had demigods with humans since long ago. It wasn't big in the past on the east side, but something about that changed."
"Changed?" Willow raised a brow.
"Wars." Akira answered, "Over time, the world came together and connected. During those connections, problems would occur. War would erupt. However, what you, children, don't know is that some of those war soldiers are demigods with their own goals. The problem with this is when a demigod of another culture accidentally takes the life of a demigod. You might think that some demigods aren't cared about by their celestial parents, but, when the parent does and can't do anything to the responsible demigod, things become pretty tense between the two cultures."
Willow frowned, "I figured the war amongst gods must've occurred before if they've made such an agreement between boundaries."
"What you said yesterday wasn't completely wrong." Aki responded, "It wasn't an actual war. It was more of a brawl between gods. In the past, we recall it between a Norse god and a Japanese god. Things would get really heated to the point that, when there were sudden shifts with the land and ocean from the fighting, that's when other beings had enough and gathered the most important figures of the cultures for an assembly. There was a lot of arguments and anger, but we had a good number of celestial that were still sound and stepped in between as a peacemaker. However, that doesn't mean that everyone was at ease when they left. In the past, demigods in the east parts are considered to be occasionally an accident or products of trickery, so they aren't looked well upon."
Willow nodded, "And, then ostracized by both sides."
Akira burned away the apple core and turned into his cat form as he jumped onto the counter.
"Pretty much." He responded.
Willow rolled her eyes and grabbed a hold of the cat and plopped him onto the ground much to his dissatisfaction. He sighed and jumped back on the stool and continued, "However, some of the celestials felt that the number of demigods could hurt them and some began to gather a couple of demigods of their own against the ideas of other gods and goddesses, especially the goddesses. They are against the idea of having demigods, especially with random humans.
So, you can expect there being few demigods of eastern culture, but the majority of them being from the gods. Now you ask if there are some of these children that can see souls such as that little girl. However, there isn't a goddess of death in Chinese culture and you said that mother was a foreigner. It's possible that the mother was a foreign goddess. If that's it, then they don't have to be a figure that governs death of the underworld."
Willow nodded, "So, the mother is most likely a foreign goddess as I thought. Did you see if Li Yan is a demigod as I thought?"
Akira busied himself with cleaning his paws and his face to which Willow shook her head with a sigh. As Willow was about to walk away with the pot of soup, Akira quickly added, "However, just because there aren't many demigods of eastern cultures, that doesn't mean the descendants of those demigods are gone."
Willow stopped in her tracks and turned to the cat with a frown. However, the cat just went on to mimicking cat-like behaviours hoping to annoy her.
.....
As she walked away from the kitchen, Willow knew what the cat at her heel said wasn't false. Her teacher was a good example of that and his child was said to still has some abilities according to him. However, it was unknown how long it would be before she receives an answer. She frowned as she thought about the situation with the ghosts and the zombie-like figures. With her teacher's insight, he wouldn't be a fool to not know what she was planning to do. Upon entering the mother's room, she was surprised to find that Belen was no longer around.
"Where did he go?" Willow raised a brow and turned to the family.
"That big brother?" The boy spoke up, "It seems like he went to the port."
Willow tilted her head in confusion, "How did you know?"
The children should have a language barrier between them and the man, so how did they know? The little girl came over with her paper and pencil and showed her the paper, "He drew us a boat."
The mother frowned and turned to Willow, "I tried to stop him telling him that Beijing isn't by the sea. We're close, but not directly on the coast. But, he was gone before I could stop him."
Hearing this, Willow frowned in thought but shook her head. After all, it's not like he was completely out of her sight yet. As much as she trusted him, there's still a good space for her to observe before she could trust him.
"Are you going to bring him back?" The mother asked in confusion with her daughter on her lap and seeing the woman staying where she was in thought before putting the pot onto the glass table.
Willow turned to her and shook her head, "No need. If he wants to follow us, he'll be back around noon. Now, come on. Let's eat before the soup gets cold."
"Are we having porridge again?" The brother asked.
"No." Willow responded, "We're going to have rice balls and soup in place of it."
In the end, Willow wasn't certain what to do about the family. With the mother's fever finally dying down with the western medicine she has given her, Willow was certain that it doesn't mean that they would be able to survive on their own this time that she was away. After passing out the bowls of soup and the instant riceballs she had found in the abandoned convenient store two days ago. Luckily, the guy had taken the medicine she brewed that morning before he left, though it was annoying to see him so reluctant to consume it in front of the children who readily drank it without hesitation. The look on his face as he watched the mother and children look at him funny as he wrinkled his nose and almost gagged the moment he took a sip of the translucent brown liquid with the scent of wood and earth. She recalled their little conversation.
.....
"What's in this?" The man questioned with a nervous look at the suspicious liquid with little bits of residue on the bottom of the ceramic bowl.
"Some herbs that Aki got from the nearby hospitals this morning." Willow replied as she split up the pills to help dispose of the remaining eggs that could still be in their stomach.
Though Belen hadn't taken in any of the waters around the area, it was still better to be safe after yesterday's rain. Since the eggs thrive in the waters and she doesn't know what sort of demigods are on the enemy's side, Willow knew she needed to be extra cautious and made the guy a portion.