*Multiple POVs*
***
(MC POV)
The girl on the ground was somehow already bounded. It was professionally done just like how she did so back in that stronghold. Even though barely any time had passed between when I saw Yao Ya and Qiao An take her down to where we are now. Qiao An went toward Chen Huang and her sect member, while Yao Ya came towards me dragging that Zhen Huo girl behind her.
Seeing her glare at me like this made me feel like I had done something wrong. In reality there was no way I could of known about Liao Mu, and as I thought about that it made me feel a little better. For some reason though she didn't say a word as dragged closer to me even though she wasn't gagged.
Apparently, seeing me distraught Yao Ya shook the girl in her hands before dropping her leg. There was a minor grimace on her face when she fell, but that facial expression was soon replaced. As she continued to stare at me her eyes went wide and shock shone within them.
Yao Ya as soon as she dropped the leg of the girl bounced over to me and gave me a big hug. She squeezed and squeezed until it started to hurt my sides. I was just about to say something before she let go.
She brought her hands up clasping both of my cheeks as she gazed into my eyes. I was forced to look into her deep green eyes as she spoke to me in a soft and soothing voice.
"Are you hurt Big Brother Cheng? Did that girl do anything to you? It's okay, you can tell me." Once again I was reminded of her charm, but I was getting used to it so it didn't stun me... for too long.
After a moment of respite I reached up and grabbed one of her hands while calmly responding.
"No, it's ok. She didn't do anything to me." Pulling one of her hands away from my cheek I continued looking into her green eyesโ they were just too mesmerizing to pull away from.
"Y-You really did have a girlfriend?! How cruel of you to do this right in front of me! You're even still wearing his clothes!" Hearing the outburst I looked toward the girl on the ground. She seemed to be holding back tears as she look back and forth between Yao Ya and I, eventually setting her sights on me.
"Y-You're a c-cruel man for d-doing this!" She choked on her words throughout the sentence. Eventually she couldn't take it anymore and started crying.
As she did so my guilt skyrocketed, I even stopped paying attention to Yao Ya. Although she did try to kill me I saw the human side of her earlier as she professed her love for "me."
'How are soldiers able to kill people so readily? Maybe it's because they don't think of the other side as human or one of them. As soon as you humanize them everything becomes different for me. It's just like video games for me, the less I know about my enemy the more willing I am to kill them, but as I start to learn more about them(and they're not assholes) I begin to hesitant.'
But then I had another thought,
'What if she's just pretending though? And as soon as our guard is down she'll escape? What if she's doing this to make me feel terrible on purpose?'
As I thought on it parts of an old altruistic side of me came out. Walking over to her I crouched down to look at her. I didn't know why I walked over or even what to do next, but something came to mind. I took off the robe she used to identify me as Liao Mu and draped it over her.
After another moment of staring at me her anger seems to of subsided a bit and her glare dispersed. She closed her eyelids laying her head on the ground to silently weep.
When I turned around, Yao Ya was already standing next to me. I jumped a bit from her sudden appearance, but she then brought down her hand to pull me up. Taking her hand she helped me up with a bright smile before I turned towards Zhen Huo.
"Here, I'll take her over to the others. You don't need to worry about it." Returning a smile to Yao Ya I crouched down to pick her up.
"Are you sure you want to do it? I don't mind doing it." She asked with a slightly worried voice
"Yeah I'm fine, don't worry about it."
"How about we both pick her up? I'll get her head, so could you get her feet?" This time although she asked me a question she had already started as if I said yes.
'I guess I can't stop her. Man I'm so lucky to have gotten her. She's so kind and caring about me. She would even help me with this minor matter.'
Grabbing both her legs I waited a moment for Yao Ya to get her end before we continued toward the others. Chen Huang, Qiao An, Rao Nuan, and that other Spirited Sun disciple stood around a man who sat against a tree.
***
(Yao Ya POV)
After I convinced my darling to share his burden of this woman with me, a number of thoughts ran through my head.
'This is it, the petty creature who committed those horrendous crimes against my darling. It dared to confess her love to him in front of everyone over there! While it did so I could merely watch as my darling was embraced by you. With the exception of Li Lian and I no one else can simply touch him like that!
If that was all then your crime might not be so severe, but you had the gall to even try and attack him! Helplessly, I could only watch from a distance as one of your repulsive arrows nearly lodged itself in him. Such a crime is worse than death! If only others, especially darling, wasn't around I would make you regret even thinking about such things.'
When darling picked up her legs she opened her eye only to meet my own. I knew how I looked at this moment and it was exactly what I want her to see. The pair of eyes that were full of vibrant life that I showed to my darling was replaced by a set of cold-dead eyes.
Her pupils dilated a bit and her mouth was ajar as I picked her up. I placed both of my arms under her armpits which pulled the rest of the body a bit towards me. Darling seemed to notice the tug and turned his head around.
Quickly regaining the life in my eyes I met his gaze.
"Are you ready Big Sister Ya?" He said sweetly
Forming a gentle smile I slightly nodded as I responded, "En"
The distance between where we were to the others wasn't far, but it was enough for what I wanted to do.
Whispering into the creature's right ear I made sure it was low enough for just us two to hear. "๐๐ฐ๐ธ. ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ."
She turned her head to look at me. Her gaze held slight terror within it when she looked into my eyes. Her lips shivered and she was about to respond when I covered her mouth.
"Mn" A low muffled sound exited her mouth as I did so. I had already anticipated her to try and respond, but it doesn't make a difference if she comments or not. Either way, it was safer for me if she didn't talk at all in case she might alert darling.
If she alerted darling and it might change how he looks at me, he might even start hating me. In the end her answer to what I was about to say was all that mattered. Using my free hand I pointed toward my darling who carried her legs.
"๐'๐ฎ ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ. ๐๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ.. ๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ."
She quickly nodded which was to be expected.
"๐ ๐ด๐ข๐ธ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ. ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ท๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ! ๐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ!
๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ, ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ'๐ญ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ. ๐๐๐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ค๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ? ๐๐ฏ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ช๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ, ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ?"
From her frightful eyes her pupils dilated once more as she nodded.
"๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฐ๐จ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ด๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ "๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ" ๐จ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ช๐ต? ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐ช๐ป๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ข๐ด๐ฉ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ช๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐'๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ!"
She quickly nodded once more as I removed the hand which I used to cover her mouth. Her lips were quivering as she continued to stare at me.
She looked at me like I was some sort of monster. I'm only getting a little payback at this bully for what she did to my darling. I'm sure Li Lian would agree with me, maybe I miss her if only a little. I can't wait to show off what I've done!
'I wonder how darling's pet slime is doing. What is it's name again? That's right it's Zheng Da, I wonder why he would take such a creature as a pet. Though it is quite unique.'
That thing is still staring at me for some reason.
"Is something the matter?" I asked it
"H-Huh n-no i-it's n-nothing!!" After my simple question she snapped her head back away from me.
"Zhen Huo, are you okay?" Darling asked the creature as we closed in onto the others.
The creature flicked her eyes to look at me and after a moment I nodded.
"I'm fine, it was nothing I-I swear!" She attempted saying in a non frantic way.
"Uh um, okay then."
We made it to the group, but before we could talk to them we had to set down our burden somewhere. Darling went towards a large tree to set her down beside. As we left I turned to give her a final lifeless glare, before quickly catching up to my darling.