Although he could hear Yul calling him, he felt tired and didn't want to open his eyes. After continuous hearing Yul calling his name, Hajime tried hard and slowly opened his eyes. It was not clear when Yul's face appeared in front of him, but Hajime could tell from the voice that the person holding him at the moment was indeed Yul. "Did we... win?" he asked.
Yul turned to look at the headless Onon lying on the ground, and then looked at Hajime. He smiled and said, "Yes. Because of you, we won."
"That's good," Hajime said with a smile, and then fell unconscious into Yul's arms.
The magical bangle that surrounded Gang and the others quickly disappeared and reappeared on Hajime's left wrist.
U-ri rushed towards Yul and Hajime. "Let me take a look at him," U-ri said, looking at Hajime's hands.
At this time, Michio and Abrafo had already walked up to Hajime and the others. Abrafo asked, "U-ri, how is Hajime? Is he dead?"
Michio said, "Why are you cursing him? You know very well that Hajime will not die."
Abrafo said, "I'm not cursing him. If he died, I would start building a stretcher or something to carry him."
"He didn't die, he passed out from blood loss," U-ri said, looking up at the tree. "So, that's how Hajime created hundreds of Yul when we were trapped in Skull Forest."
Yul said, "Hajime said he could create anything he came into contact with, but his creations would not be as powerful as the original host."
Abrafo frowned. "You knew about this, but you never told us."
Yul said, "I don't think it's necessary."
Abrafo shook his head, looked at Yul and said, "How can you say it's not necessary. If you tell us, we can... Shi..."
Shi smiled at Abrafo, walked up to U-ri. "Here," Shi said, handing U-ri a small glass bottle. "This is the antidote to that poison dart."
U-ri said, "Thank you."
Shi smiled and said, "No, thank you. If it had been you and the monk, I might have died in those collapsed tunnels." He turned and walked away.
U-ri picked up Hajime's backpack and pulled out the blanket. U-ri looked at Yul and said, "Let him sleep. It will take some time for him to regain consciousness." He covered Hajime with a blanket.
"U-ri..." Yul said, looking at the two injured participants. "Go to the two participants and look at their wounds."
U-ri said, "I will." He grabbed his bag and walked towards the two participants.
Michio put down his and Yul's backpacks and said, "Abrafo, why do ask Sir Shi to wait for you?"
Abrafo said, "I originally wanted to help Lixin and then come back to him, but we were pushed into another tunnel, which led us here."
Michio said, "He refused to leave that post. He wanted to wait for you to come back to pick him up. If it weren't for Prince Bong, Shi would not have come out of that place with us."
Abrafo was taken aback. "Really?"
Michio said, "Yep. I could tell by the look in his eyes that he would rather wait there to die than come with us."
Abrafo chuckled. "I didn't know he would be so obedient." He looked at Shi who was treating Lixin's wounds. "Ah... Lixin is such a lucky bastard to have someone like Shi."
Michio looked at Abrafo with a smile and said, "I think you're luckier. You found yourself a prince."
Abrafo spat on the ground. "Ptui! You are a monk, so you should have no attachments. So, when did you become a matchmaker?" Abrafo frowned and shook his head wildly and happened to find Bong sitting alone by a bush a few yards away from him. "Speak of the devil." He turned to look at Michio. "Michio, do you have any spells that can make certain people you don't want to see disappear from your sight?"
Michio said, "Yes."
Abrafo asked, "What?"
Michio smiled and said, "Just dug out your eyes, and you will never see the people you don't want to see again."
Abrafo hit Michio twice in the back. "Bastard monk." He stood up. "I'm going to see if there's anything to eat."
Michio stood up and said, "I'll go with you."
As Abrafo and Michio walked past Yul, Yul said, "Be careful."
Abrafo said, "If the scorpion lady comes back, call us."
U-ri returns to see Abrafo and Michio missing. "Where are they?"
Yul said, "They went looking for food and water."
Walking through the woods, the two Tanzanies came across a small waterfall flowing from the side of the mountain. There are hundreds of small green trees surrounding the area. All the two Tanzanies could see were green trees with purple fruits and green trees with golden berries.
Abrafo looked at the tree nearest him. "These trees look exactly like the trees in our backyard, but why are there only golden berries and no transparent berry?" Abrafo said, looking at Michio.
"If there's nothing else here, I think we have to eat golden berries and the purple fruit in order to survive," Michio said, put his hands on both side of his waist.
"Are you out of your mind," Abrafo said, walking in front of Michio. "The one in our backyard is probably safe to eat, but who can say the same about these. Let's go ahead and see if we see anything we know for sure is edible. Worst case scenario we could eat the peacocks."
Michio said, "Oh, speaking of peacocks, there are a lot of feathers around, but I didn't see a single peacock around."
Abrafo stopped and took a closer look at his surroundings. After studying for a while, he found that what Michio said was true. Since entering the Phoenix Chamber, they have not seen a peacock. The only times they saw peacocks were the two times peacocks attacked them. It made him wonder if they were on the right path.
"You are right," Abrafo said, looking back at Michio. "Are we not in the Phoenix Chamber? Or maybe we are going in the wrong direction."
Michio said, "I'm thinking the same thing as you. U-ri said peacocks are peaceful creatures, but those who attack us are not so peaceful."
Abrafo said, "Let's get some water first and then go back to the others. We'll wait until Hajime regains consciousness and then we'll think about where to go next.
Michio took out his leather bag and started filling it with water. "This is a better place to rest at night than next to those tunnels. I couldn't close my eyes knowing that we had creatures that could attack us at any moment."
Abrafo closed the lid of his water bag and said, "I agree with you. At least there is some fruit here, but it is too late to move camp now. Let's rest for the night."
"Since there is water here, why are there no fish?" Michio complained as he looked down at the creek and pond covered with large and small rocks.
Abrafo chuckled. "If there is nothing else to eat, we will have to catch a peacock," he said, looking at Michio. "Michio... do you think Yul would mind if we took another person with us on this expedition?"
Michio handed Abrafo a filled leather bag and began to fill another. "What do you mean?" He stretched out his hand and took a sip of water.
Abrafo said, "I would like to invite Shi to join us."
Michio coughed a few times and then cleared his throat. "Shi? Why Shi?" he asked.
Abrafo said, "I think Shi will be of great help to us. If we return to Tanzang, he will live a better life and no longer be anyone's slave."
Michio said, "I personally think Prince Bong is more suitable for this expedition than Shi."
Abrafo asked madly, "Why?"
Michio said, "After fighting those scorpions with him, I think he is quite courageous in making life and death decisions. Moreover, I think he is more compatible with you than you are with Shi."
Abrafo threw a handful of water at Michio. "Wash your mouth and speak human language," he said, grabbing the filled leather bag from Michio's hand. "To be honest, I don't want to see him again. I think I must owe him a debt in my previous life. Therefore, in this life, he aimed at my life just like a bull aiming at red cloth. "
After Abrafo and Michio filled their water bags, they picked up some fruit and returned to camp. When they arrived at the camp, they found that Hajime was already awake and everyone else had already sat down to eat. Abrafo dropped the leather water bag next to U-ri on the ground and saw Shi walking towards them with Heng holding a handful of wood.
Abrafo stood up quickly, walked to Shi and grabbed Shi's wrist. "Wait," Abrafo said.
Shi quickly pulled his hand away. "Sir, Abrafo, please be careful with your behavior. I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea."
Abrafo said, "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to get you in trouble. I just wanted to let you know that I'm glad you came out with my friends. I was worried you were still in there."
"I originally planned to stay inside and wait for you and Lord Lixin, but your friend threatened to shoot me, so I came out," Shi said. He looked at Abrafo. "Sorry, I disappointed you."
Abrafo laughed and said, "I'm glad you didn't obey my orders. I have something to ask you."
Shi looked at Abrafo and asked, "What?"
Abrafo said, "I would like to ask you if you would like to join our team and return to Tanzang with us."
Shi said, "Sir Abrafo, I am a gift to Lord Lixin. Without his permission, I can't go anywhere." He smiled at Abrafo and walked away.
Abrafo sighed disappointedly, shook his head, and walked back to the other four Tanzanies.
Bong looked at Abrafo and Shi from a distance, and frowned angrily at Abrafo who was flirting with Shi in front of everyone. He gritted his teeth and said, "Shameless uneducated men."